A Day Out in Barnes!!!

Linda needed to get the kids out of the house. The kids were excited until they realised their mum wanted to take them to Barnes for the day. Little did they realise.......

“Who fancies a day out exploring and seeing new things?” On hearing this my kids were wild with excitement. What could it be? A day out at Lego – Yippee!! Perhaps mum is taking us to the park for a change and not dragging us around B&Q today... Ooh Ooh we cant wait!! But then she comes out with a gem “OK lets go to Barnes”... Barnes, what is that? We are going south of the river, sounds really boring, what could be in Barnes? It really doesn’t sound like an exciting day out exploring. My kids settle into the back seat of the car deflated and fed up, knowing that this is going to be another day of boredom.

As we approached Barnes, there were shops and my kids were so bored of sitting in the car, their faces said it all – "oh no not more shopping", but then we turned left off of the high street. As the sat nav said “you have reached your destination” the kids peered out of the window and all they saw was a gravel car park – “Wow Wee, we are in for a really fun day out, NOT!!”, came from my oldest daughter’s mouth as she rolled her eyes – a look I am getting used to.

As we walked over the bridge to the entrance of the London Wetlands Centre the traffic and hustle and bustle of ordinary life seemed a distance memory. We bought our tickets and went through into the courtyard to begin our adventure. Apart from the odd plane going overhead to and from Heathrow airport, this place is a haven.

We saw all different types of geese, swans, ducks and more exotic birds and we completely forgot that we were so close to London. We hooked up with a group of people who were following a keeper feeding the birds. When the birds saw the keeper they became very vocal and couldn’t wait to be fed. It was funny to see them all quiet and going about their own business and when they realised that lunch was on its way how excited they all became.

We walked around for ages, enjoying the tranquillity and beauty all around us. We hid in the hides and tried to spot unusual wildlife, peered into ponds hoping to see something looking back at us and took funny photographs of ourselves with plants that we had never seen before.

Back in the courtyard there were several buildings that looked interesting but we just didn’t have enough time to explore them all. We went to the shop and then upstairs we found a childrens’ discovery area which looked really good.

Job Done! Happy Children

My children were so disappointed to be leaving the Wetlands, even though we had been there for several hours, both of them said in unison “can we come back again soon?” I would call that a pretty successful day out – wouldn’t you? Job Done !

Please note: I would advise taking a flask of hot tea or coffee and a warm coat as it does get cold. If you are going with children take some snacks with you but please remember to take your rubbish home with you.

For Discount Tickets if you fancy a trip try here

Written by Linda Trup for Animal Days Out

What's The Harm In Daddy Long Legs?

The last few daddy long legs have managed to bumble their way in to the house and are now flapping against a tall standard lamp in the corner of the living room. Like a man trapped in a prison cell, they can't seem to break free from the glow of the lamp as they fly into the lampshade time after time. It's like watching a plane crash land as it bumps into the ground and then lifts up a bit, hovering for a few feet before hitting the deck again. I had left the front door open as I carried out my ritual of emptying the day's re-cycling into the outside re-cycling bins and without hesitation the hallway light had attracted the bungling bugs as though a sign with 'Utopia' had welcomed them in.

It's amazing how many people are scared of these harmless creatures.Some people react with horror as though they are just about to face a firing squad. What is it that frightens them? Could it be the apparent random movement and dis-organised flight of these gangly creatures? Is it the buzzing noise that sounds as though everything they touch is charged with static electricity? Could it be the 'stinger' on some of them that looks a quite nasty piece of equipment?

So what exactly is a daddy long legs? It's a nickname given to the crane fly. Crane flies belong to an insect family called Tipulidae. The larvae of the crane fly has an equally unusual name in that they are known as Leatherjackets. In other parts of the world the crane fly is also known as the Mosquito Hawk, Gallinipper and Gollywhopper.


So what is this insect with more nicknames than an American wrestling star's tour? There are over 4,000 species of Crane Fly. The crane fly we all know and love has a long slender body with six brittle legs. The legs will detach from the body if the the crane fly is trapped. A favourite pastime of children seems to be to pull off crane fly legs to 'see what happens'! They have two strange antennae just behind their head. These are in fact called 'halteres'. They are the remnants of wings that have evolved into balancing devices. They obviously don't work very well with the crane fly though!

The 'stinger' is in fact called the 'ovipositor'. It's on the end of the female abdomen and it's where she lays her eggs from. It's completely harmless and does not sting at all.

The crane fly spends the majority of it's life as a leatherjacket (larvae). The leatherjacket lives primarily in lawns feeding off the roots of grass and other plants. It is considered a pest in somecases as large areas of prize lawn can be damaged causing bald patches.

Around late July, August and September leatherjackets start to emerge from the soil as crane flies with just one purpose in life. They mate within 24 hours and then die.

Along with spiders, the daddy long legs is one of the most feared of all insects that invade our homes. Yes, that's right! It does not sting, does not bite, when you touch it it's legs fall off and it flies like a model aircraft in the hands of a chimpanzee.

The next time you find one in your home, cup it in yours hands and release it in the garden. The poor thing needs to mate before it ends up in daddy long legs heaven!

Written by Nature Boy for Animal Days Out

Polar Bear Points To The Bigger Picture

The story was a little late surfacing this year, but nether the less the melting Arctic ice caps got 5 minutes of air time on BBC Radio 5 Live recently. As sure as The Pope is a catholic, the story always emerges at some point at the end of the summertime as of course the full effects of the melting ice shelves can be measured and seen properly. The 5 Live presenter quite rightly highlighted that the already endangered Polar Bear was amongst many animals in the region struggling to survive in their rapidly receding habitat. The guest 'expert' on a line from some American institution agreed and nodded accordingly. (OK, it was radio, but I bet he was nodding in agreement!). Then to finish the interview as the travel news jingle started, the presenter asked, "Well, just what can we all do about it"? 

What can WE all do about it?!!

It's like going up to the governor of the Bank of England and saying "Can I lend you a tenner to tide you over, as I've heard you have a national debt of a few billion pounds". It was if the answer could be summed up in 10 seconds and then we would all go off, do whatever was required to halt climate change and then sit down with a cup of tea with a feeling of deep contentment that we've just saved the world.

Don't get me wrong. I am an obsessive recycler and eco-warrior. All my light bulbs are low energy, I always turn off my TV rather than leave it on standby and I cycle (bike) everywhere. My carbon foot print is about the size of a field mouse. Am I really going to make a difference by having the walls of my house filled with foam. I suppose my point is that it has to be a collective global effort. If I'm making an effort why can't the USA and China agree to sustainable carbon emission limits at the next international meeting on climate control? At the last Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen in December 2009, they could only agree to disagree. Now with 'Climategate', internal politics have again got in the way of common sense. Is there any hope? Not only can any of the major players not agree at national level, but those who did agree have been rather economical with the truth and now they all disagree. If that makes any sense!!

For very different reasons I don’t see how both the USA and China can agree to limits that they need to aim towards. China is still in the midst of its own industrial revolution. As for the USA they just won’t give up ‘Big Things’. My equivalent footprint in the USA would be that of a Brontosaurus.

How do I know? In the summer of 2009 my family and friends visited and stayed in Florida for two weeks. On arriving at Stanford Airport, our first port of call was for car hire. I had pre-booked an Economy Four Door Saloon. Now where as I may have expected a 1.2 litre diesel - USA don’t do diesel - Ford Fiesta equivalent averaging around 45 miles per gallon, we got a 2.3 litre V6 Ford Fusion where we were lucky to get 24 miles per gallon. Of course it was an automatic as well. And that’s economy!

We had rented a 5 bedroom house near Kissimmee. On arriving every light bulb in the house had been switched on to give us an illuminating welcome. Now this house had every mod con you could possibly think of. There were so many switches and buttons, it took the first week to work out what they all controlled. Every room had air conditioning and a large ceiling fan. All but two rooms had a television. Outside was a swimming pool and spa pool with spotlights that changed colour every 5 minutes. There was even an outside ceiling fan! Incidentally, someone had switched the outside fan on by accident and nobody could work out how to switch it off. After three days, I finally tracked the ‘Off’ button to stray remote control.

I was intrigued to find out what sort of equipment ran the show. On investigation I tracked down some serious hardware that took up the whole length of one side of the house. I found the swimming pool filtration system, the spa pump, the air con condensers and a couple of other large lumps of metal paraphernalia. I’m convinced there was enough hardware to run a town the size of Brighton. On one occasion we broke the sink disposal unit by trying to get it to ‘eat’ some melon skin. Thinking a fuse may have blown I tracked down the fuse board in the house to investigate. It looked like the National Grid control centre, so I thought I best leave it alone.

Now I’m not saying that the Americans have no awareness of saving energy. The local radio stations carried adverts advising their listeners to save power at regular intervals. Advice like, “Turn down your air conditioning and don’t leave a ceiling fan on if you are not in that room”. Useful advice like, “Do you really need your swimming pool filter on all day long?”  I have American friends and the awareness is definitely there.

There is no getting over it. America is big and everything that is part and parcel of American life is big. It would mean a huge life style change for many Americans to change and it would not be a popular vote for the politicians to start taking luxuries away or taxing them.

Climate sceptics in the UK have been asking why Britons should switch off lights, turn down central heating and avoid foreign flights in order to save carbon when the Chinese are increasing emissions at an ever increasing rate and the Americans find it hard downsizing.

Of course with the advance of industry in developing countries, it's not only the climate that suffers, something else has to give as well. I'm not sure whether anyone has noticed but we seem to be losing quite a few animals around the world. Not only animals, but apparently one third of the entire world's species of animals and wildlife in general are endangered. We are basically moving into areas where they used to live either through industry or building new towns and cities and they gradually die out because their homes are flattened. In a nutshell, the overall affect of building on green field sites and knocking down forests and putting people and industry in its place increase carbon emissions across the globe.

This brings us nicely back to the Polar Bear. It’s a cycle that re-cycling won't fix on its own unless all nations and all governments get their act together. They have had so many chances recently, but it's a political shambles. Until there is a collective effort the only place you are likely to see a Polar Bear in the future is in a zoo that can afford some decent climate control.

Written by Nature Boy for Animal Days Out

Nature Boy Notes - Originally written in September 2009 and adapted for 2010. To be quite honest, call me a pessimist, it may as well be September 2014 as not much is going to change at the current rate with those in charge.

Learning To Love Butterflies

 
Although Linda had a 'thing' about insects, she not only overcame her phobia, but she ended up committing to being a 'mum' to more of the critters next spring!

I recently took my two children and husband to Butterfly World near St. Albans in Hertfordshire. My youngest daughter learnt all about bugs and beasties at school and was very excited to go there.

I was looking forward to taking some amazing photographs of these colourful beauties but was also dreading being in an enclosed space with them flapping around my head and landing on me. I am not an insect lover and although I like to look at birds I hate anything flapping around near me as it freaks me out. I was just hoping and praying that I would be able to wing(!) it without my kids making fun of me running around screaming.

The first hut we went into was where the caterpillars were munching through plants and these cute little critters were very happy to be gawped at whilst enjoying their afternoon tea. At the far end there was a cabinet where the chrysalis’ were placed and kept until they were ready to hatch into beautiful butterflies. There were a few new butterflies in this cabinet who were waiting to go to their new home across the walkway into a huge greenhouse type building.

Another hut was a learning area where you could take a magnifying glass and take a look at very large caterpillars in huge glass jars. Also on the tables in the middle of the room were sealed dishes with butterflies in, so you could pick them up and take a good look at them. On the walls were posters on how to identify different species.

I took a deep breath and braced myself as we headed towards the greenhouse with the flying butterflies. I think my children could sense my nervousness as we entered the door but I tried to hide my feelings. It was amazing to see so many butterflies happily living in this man made environment. In the middle there was a table full of butterflies eating bananas. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. From now on I wasn’t going to throw another brown banana away, just split it lengthways and put it on a table in my garden for the butterflies to feed. We were able to get really close to these feeding owl butterflies and we even saw eggs between the wings of one of them. Another two were mating and loads of them were flying around.

I was squirming and closing my eyes when the butterflies flew too near to me but there were other people around and I didn’t want to show myself up. It was very difficult to get photos of them as most of them closed their wings when they landed. I got my kids to blow on them and eventually they did open their wings up but unfortunately my camera was not fast enough to get any good photos. Also my kids were all red faced and out of puff by the time we left the greenhouse.

Outside there were many different gardens to walk through that would give inspiration to any budding gardener. At first my kids were bored by the gardens until we reached “Through the Flowerpot Garden”. All I can really say is WOW. We were transformed into insect size people and were able to get inside huge flowerpots, walk through the prongs of a gardening fork and my kids even got inside a box of matches. They were in their element running around and pretending to be insects.

There were other fantastic gardens to walk through and at the end you can get refreshments and sit inside a large greenhouse to enjoy the scenery. Even my husband was in awe at the garden ideas and he is not a keen gardener at all!

We then walked back to the cafe and shop as it started to rain. I loaded up my trolley with buddleias and other plants which would attract bees and butterflies, my kids were loading up a basket of goodies that they wanted and my poor husband just looked on whilst we spent his money !!

I have now been converted and I even allowed the kids to buy a live butterfly pavilion. Apparently you send off the voucher in the box to this company and they supply you with the caterpillars and all the food you need to give them and once they turn into chrysalis’ you then put them inside the butterfly house and watch them turn into butterflies. We are looking forward to trying it out next spring.

We have since bought a nectar feeder and wildflower seeds to entice bees and butterflies into our garden, so we are set to help out the wildlife in Hertfordshire.

At Butterfly World they are currently building a biome which will be completed in the Autumn of 2011 and this will be the biggest butterfly experience in the world.

Linda visited Butterfly World Project near Chiswell Green, Hertfordshire. For more information check out their website at www.butterflyworldproject.com

Written by Linda Trup for Animal Days Out

Foxy Loxy

...and Foxy Loxy ate Chicken Licken, Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Drakey Lakey, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey, because that's what foxes do!


The story of Foxy Loxy, the cunning fox who lured the farm poultry into his den to feed his cubs after they all thought the sky was falling in and he promised them he would take them to the king.

During the summer, the red fox made the news headlines for all the wrong reasons. It seems the red fox is a bit like marmite! The public either love them or hate them. There have been a number of low level reports of urban foxes entering houses, but the mauling of two twin baby girls in East London in June caused uproar and opened the debate on how to deal with the vast amount of foxes living in urban areas. There are an estimated 10,000 urban foxes living in London and the suburbs alone. They are highly adaptable creatures and have seamlessly integrated into the towns and cities from the countryside. They are normally spotted wandering around gardens and town centres at night searching for food to take back to their den. Most foxes will run away if approached, but there is evidence that some are becoming much bolder and in extreme cases invasive. Most councils deal with fox complaints by despatching a pest controller to set traps to snare and 'humanely' kill the animal. This of course is a short term solution and only highlights that councils don't have any long term direction or plan to deal with an issue that will only become more high profile as the fox continues to evolve and adapt to city living.

Is it that the urban red fox is adapting to the presence of humans to the extent where by they are getting tamer? Are they actually evolving into much different creatures compared to their country cousins? It's quite clear that some are adapting quicker and faster than others living in the same urban areas. As time goes on, will the foxes that show these tamer more bolder traits pass on their genetic characteristics to 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation cubs?

It's clear that the majority of urban foxes get along with their business in harmony with the human population and at worst are only seen as a petty nuisance for rummaging through rubbish bins, digging in the garden or fouling gardens to mark their territory. Foxes also get along well with domestic pets, generally ignoring cats and keeping clear of dogs. Foxes become more prominent to households during the breeding season, especially at night when the screaming and barking can keep people awake and start the local domestic dog population into a barking frenzy.

Traditional fox strongholds have been engulfed by sprawling towns and cities throughout the decades. Many other creatures losing their habitat in this way would struggle to survive. The fox though is incredibly adaptable to new environments and populations self regulate themselves due to their territorial approach in any given area. This is why the urban fox population is quite stable and will never get completely out of control. With no natural predators in the urban jungle, only disease has threatened the fox. When sarcoptic mange spread during the early 1990's, both urban and wild populations declined. You can still see the occasional fox that shows the tell tale signs of mange with fur loss and the usually bushy tail looking sad and withering.

Anyway, back to the original questions posed earlier! It is possible that the urban red fox is evolving due in part to the continued natural adaptation of the environment, their ability to source a wide range of food sources, and continual interaction with humans. Urban foxes can be seen wandering around during the day and will quite often casually stand their ground if approached to a certain degree. Some foxes are regularly fed in people's gardens. They have become used to leftovers on the lawn or titbits on the patio.

The recent story of twin baby girls being attacked by a fox is of course very upsetting. Did this fox have mental issues, was it sick and desperate or was it just showing natural instinct mistaking the baby girls for fair game. The only difference of course that instead of pillaging the farmyard, the foxes are now entering people's houses and gardens. The real story thankfully is that these type of stories only surface once in a while and in context the domestic dog is guilty of a much larger percentage of attacks on children than foxes.

Meanwhile back in the suburbs as another piece of woodland gets knocked down for the development of some starter homes, foxy loxy is just waiting in the wings for the building to finish so that he can make his new home underneath someone's garden shed.

What Is The Point of Zoo's?


Just prior to the general election Labour's Charities Minister Angela Smith denounced zoos as "relics of the Victorian era" and said it was "inappropriate to keep wild animals in captivity in this way". She went on to say that "Target dates should be set for the final animals to be imported and the last zoo to be shut". Labour Party Animal Welfare Minister Jim Fitzpatrick quickly responded to the comments stating that, "there are no plans to shut down zoo's" and that Ms Smith's comments were expressing her own view and did not reflect government policy. Even DEFRA felt obliged to pipe up that there was "no plans to ban zoo's".

Talk about stirring up a hornet's nest!

So is Ms Smith accurate in her assumption that zoo's are out of date and nothing more than a collection of animals to stare at, or is she terribly out of touch with the current generation of animal, wildlife and nature attraction initiatives in improving animal conservation and welfare?

We at Animal Days Out refuse to get drawn into a political debate. We are aware that no matter what Ms Smith's own personal thoughts were, to express them just before a general election was at best naive. Do her arguments stack up?

Captivity

Ms Smith's primary main issue above all others is that she believes that animals should be free in the wild rather than captive. In an ideal world we would all agree with this point of view. It would magical to live side by side with animals roaming free in the wild. Realistically though, there is an ever shrinking number of 'wild' places left on this tiny planet of ours. Whether it's the rainforests, the plains, the mountains and even the oceans, the biggest single most threat to animals has been a loss and destruction of their habitat. This is why so many species in the world are endangered or on the edge of extinction. Man has systematically destroyed the natural habitats of one-third of all the known species on Earth according to the world's leading authority on conservation, the IUCN. Would we release all captive orangutans back to Indonesia where 2 million hectares of rainforest are destroyed every year? Should we send captive animals back to Africa and let them take their chances from being poached for their ivory or to be shot and eaten in the very poorest of nations, where perhaps animal welfare is not on the agenda? Even the safari park reserves in Africa are really professionally managed areas of land and are not truly 'wild' with the animals living there technically captive. Without universal global agreement of every government of every nation in the world, un-conditionally signing a strict legally binding UN directive, it would surely be a death sentence to release captive animals back into the wild. Most governments can not even agree on climate change, let alone on animal welfare.

Animal Welfare

Long gone are the days when animals were kept in cramped enclosures in zoo's. Most zoo's and wildlife parks in the UK have built large free-roaming areas specifically designed to provide a suitable habitat aligned to the creature comforts expected from each individual species. Many attractions have replicated large areas to the finest detail, ensuring that the environment mirrors their natural habitat. Zoo's and Wildlife Parks have an array of experts working for them at ground level. The Victorian curiosty has been replaced by a professional business with animal welfare central to it's aims and objectives and regulated strictly by European and British law. The majority of our UK animal attractions are directly involved in overseas projects and initiatives with animals. This can involve managing land, supporting new and on-going projects and rescuing distressed or orphaned animals.As Charities Minister, we are surprised that Ms Smith fails to recognise the many charities supporting captive and wild animals. In fact many of the zoo's and wildlife parks are registered charities directly or indirectly supporting animal welfare in the UK and abroad.

The only chance of survival for some endangered species is the captive breeding programs that many of our zoo's and wildlife parks have undertaken. This has improved the population of many endangered species and allowed many to be re-introduced back into their natural environment.

Education

Ms Smith continued "You can understand the Victorians who were amazed by what they saw when these specimens were brought back because they couldn't travel, but now people can travel and they can see animals in amazing films and television documentaries". Will the children of tomorrow be limited to experiencing wildlife on television documentaries or through their home computer or Nintendo Wii? How can they possibly understand the issues of endangered species and animal conservation by building a succesful farm in Farmville. If today's generation do not get access to animals in the flesh, they will never truly build an affinity with them and understand their plight.

Schools up and down the country use the excellent facilities at many animal and wildlife attractions as part of their educational syllabus. They can get close to nature and experience the texture, smell and sounds of wildlife. They can then relate to animals they have seen at close hand to animals they have seen on TV. They understand they are real and not two-dimensional images.

It's not only children that benefit. Adults can benefit from the education gained from just one visit to a zoo or wildlife park. Many are oblivious to the plight of endangered species and are truly shocked when they learn about some of the harsh facts threatening the survival of certain animals and wildlife.

Yes, in an ideal world all animal, wildlife and nature lovers would want animals to be free and wild, but unfortunately we are a long way from living in perfect harmony with wildlife in an ideal world.