Tuesday's Dawn Chorus brings you five reasons to be cheerful — or six, if you count turning an austere City institution into a brightly-coloured Christmas delight.
‘A wholesale fightback’: How ecosystems are coping with climate change
Human efforts to help boost ecosystems around Britain are paying off in encouraging ways, according to an upbeat report at the weekend on the places where Nature is doing really not too badly, thanks very much.
Gary Hartley’s article —which in The Observer on Sunday — picks out five examples of places where Man and Nature are working together to cope with climate changes that have brought increasing extremes of weather to these shores in recent years.
Butterflies in the Cotswolds, native mountain tree breeds in the Scottish Highlands, once-threatened orchids in Norfolk which have come off the endangered species list, soil regeneration in Yorkshire and the ‘stage zero’ restoration of Nature at Porlock Vale in Somerset were the examples picked out.
None of this is to suggest that complacency is warranted; quite the opposite, in fact. Hartley’s point is that in all these cases, it’s giving Nature a helping hand which has made the difference. ‘After a nudge, ecosystems are often doing much of the heavy work themselves,’ he writes. ‘Inspiring examples can be the root of a wholesale fightback.’
Quiz of the Day
1) Which member of the Rolling Stones appears in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End?
2) Which English king was the last of the Plantagenet dynasty?
3) Which animal appears in the logo for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)?
4) Petrology is the study of what?
5) A traditional haiku is made up of how many lines?
Answers at the bottom of the page
The Really Rewilding Show
Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell tell the almost unbelievable tale of Britain’s first rewilding project in the film Wilding, which came out earlier this year. Well, it’s now out on DVD and Blu Ray just in time for Christmas, and comes highly recommended. If you’re yet to be convinced, listen to Isabella tell James Fisher all about what happened on the Country Life Podcast. And then obviously subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Audible.
Who says bankers are boring?
The Royal Exchange in the City of London — which has been the centre of commerce in the Square Mile for almost half a millennium — has been given a Christmas makeover which… well, the picture says it all: candy cane columns, baubles and fairy lights all around. The seasonal makeover is the brainchild of creative agency Fier & Folk and will be in place until January 4th.
Credit: John Sturrock / Fier and Folk
The average house price in the UK…
…is back to a new high of so close to £300,000 that we’ll just call it £300,000, at least according to Halifax figures last week.
But what does £300,000 buy you around Britain? We took a look at the weekend and the results might surprise you…
That’s it — we’re back tomorrow
Quiz answers
1) Keith Richards
2) Henry III
3) Panda
4) Rocks
5) Three
