Eco Holidays

posted by Catherine on Sep 22

If your kids are always asking how long until we get home – think on your feet!

There is plenty going on in the countryside even when it all looks a bit bleak – maybe not noticable to us adults who are just thinking about the weather and the route back to the car.

But to the kids; the autumn cold weather and wildlife is nothing but one huge adventure!

So here are a few things that might inspire you to think about the fun side of things. Maybe walk less distance and do more things – that way you can keep the kids happy rather than constantly making them catch you up!

Don’t Leave The Leaves:
Plan to gather up all the leaves you can find that have fallen from trees into one great big pile – and then run through them kicking them up in the air! This game is so easy to play over and over again!

Autumn Gathering:
Why not use the opportunity to search the woodland floor for branches and twigs to build a secret den? There are no wildflowers in the way; just leaves, moss and building materials!

photo credit: Steve-h

Counting Conkers:
Depending on the woods – there should be plenty of conkers for you to collect – still in their spikey shells! Once you have a winner (and some string) you can set up your own tournament!

Searching For Seeds:
It’s not just conkers you will find – there are hazelnuts, acorns, berries and even helicopters! Why not try to guess which ones need to be eaten by animals and which ones float in the wind!

Puddles And Painting:
Find some different coloured berries, grasses and muds and mix up your own paint pot to make your own autumn scene – using real leaves and twigs if you want!

Get Lost!
Why not set up a treaure trail using chalk marks, wooden arrows and leaf designs. Follow the clues through the woods to the treasure – hopefully a nice picnic!

And – it doesn’t cost a penny or require any great planning!

posted by Catherine on Jul 16

Why not celebrate something special as your annual holiday?

More and more these days, you see that people are celebrating everything big. No longer is turning 50 just an excuse for a friend to hang a huge embarrassing bed sheet on a local roundabout with your name on it.

Now we want a massive celebration to say that we have done virtually anything from leaving school, to losing weight, to turning almost any age, and even getting a new pet!

Aren’t we just over celebrating for the sake of it – using valuable resources for bunting, balloons, non-recycleable party novelties and just too much junk food?

photo credit: havankevin

Turn It Around:
If you do want to celebrate virtually anything – why not make it an eco friendly adventure instead?

Rather than having all these little parties and having everyone fill their evening with repeated driving to and from various venues over the year – why not focus it all on one great big event?

Imagine your family and friends renting a huge house in the countryside for a week or two. With enough of you sharing, you could hire out a mansion, part of a castle or a whole farmhouse.

And when you are sharing with 10 people that £2000 a week doesn’t sound to bad – just £200 a person for 7 nights accomodation in an amazing property that you just couldn’t experience by yourself.

Added Bonus:
And with this great big event occuring you can roll all those smaller things into one great big one – and it will probably be cheaper for everyone – and more memorable.

Added to this is the eco bonus that there will be less waste across this one eco holiday – and if it becomes a regular thing – then people might take less holidays abroad as this will count as their 2-week break.

Also, if you are all going to the same place, doing the same things and eating the same foods – you can share cars, buy bulk goods and cook large amounts of the same helathy and local/organic food for everyone rather than buying trashy nibbles and party cakes.

And there needn’t be a party balloon or any bunting in sight!

posted by Catherine on May 14

Rather than recite facts to your kids out on a walk – let them find it out themselves.

Why not spend a while at home creating a wildlife, tree or plant id guide yourself – specific to your local woods, park or open downland. Maybe even specific to the season!

Most field guides contain ‘all the plants in Britain’ or the ‘Birds of Europe’ – when all you need is the small number of common plants or animals living near to you at that time.

When searching through a field guide, you will have to sift through hundreds of species that will never grow where you live, or in winter – but they are still hindering you in the book – taking up valuable pages.

photo credit: kasthor

Also, you might think you have seen a certain species, only to find out that it is only found in the remote snowy highlands or on volcanic rock only – and you are in a city park!

Be Specific – But Not Fussy:
Find the most common species to where you are and focus on them – there is nothing more dissapointing to an amateur wildlife detective than not finding in your guide – the very thing you are looking at on the ground.

I have done it many times myself, only to then have to resort to reading about all the most likely alternatives to see if they ‘could’ be the one – or taking a photo to show someone more in the know than me! Very frustrating!

So, save the kids the trouble of being stumped by another yellow flower or brown bird and only show those you know are found here – or settle for the family or genus rather than the actual species. For example knowing that a plant is a violet is good enough for the kids – they don’t want to get bogged down with the fact that there are actually around 500 species of it around the world!

And a ‘warbler’ is good enough for basic bird id – considering even regualr bird-watchers can’t always tell them apart without scopes, songs and the bird to sit still for about 30 minutes on a noticable branch with the sun shining on it!

Make It Special:
Also, rather than prattling on about it’s distribution, egg size and mating ritual; focus on its benefits to the environment or the landscape.

Why is it there, not somewhere else? Did we plant it or are we trying to get rid of it? Is it edible or useful around the home? Do butterflies feed on it, does it attract bees or is it poisonous!

All of these things are far more interesting to a child who is new to the world of wildlife and nature. You don’t want to bore them with charts and maps – you want to inspire them with ideas and let them feel like they have achieved something in the process.

You never know where it might lead them in the future!

posted by Catherine on Apr 27

Would you know what to do if you found an unconscious person while out on a walk?

How about if a friend of yours just suddenly fainted, cut themselves, feels unwell, or had a burn? If you said no – or aren’t sure, then you should think about going on an Emergency First Aid course.

Many people only do a First Aid course because they ‘have to’ for work or volunteering – but why should we be forced to do it? Why haven’t you thought about saving your family and friends in an emergency rather than having to help a random person who happened to visit your shop or office?

Why do we wait to be asked to learn such and important skill – we should be climbing over each other to get on a course!

And it isn’t about what to do with the casualty either – it is about assessing your needs as well as those of the patient. And your actions also affect the emergency services and complete strangers who could be 30 miles away from you.

How? Well think of the larger picture as well as just your little part in it.

Just You:
Before helping anyone in an emergency situation – you should check that you are safe to help in the first place – there is no point you getting injured, electrocuted, trapped, burned or drowned as well as the casualty! And if you do get hurt – who will be there to help you?

Don’t forget that 999/911/122 calls will get routed through to the emergency services even if you are in an area with no mobile coverage – so if in doubt about your safety – call them first for advice.

The Casualty:
If you can get to them safely – then you need to assess them before you call the emergency services – as you will need to know a bit more about them. For example, if they are not breathing at all – then those first few minutes could be vital to their survival, so don’t waste them trying to make a phone call!

And you might find that they are not that seriously hurt or were just sleeping! Needless to say that if you do call out a helicopter or ambulance for someone who ends up telling you that they were just sleeping or drunk – you have wasted a lot of peoples time and resources.

photo credit: Artotem

The Complete Stranger:
He was just in his garden at home when he started getting chest pains – they didn’t go away when he laid down so he struggled to the phone to call an ambulance as he thought he was having a heart attack.

He speaks to the emergency staff and they tell him that they will be there as soon as they can – but they know that their last ambulance is on its way to that collapsed casualty in the woods 15 miles away.

Your casualty turns out to be hung-over while that complete stranger is getting worse! There are a limited number of emergency vehicles in any one area – so make sure that you don’t waste their resources by calling them for a non-emergency.

The Emergency Services:
Obviously if you find an unconscious person anywhere who is not responding to your loud voice or a firm shoulder pat (as they could be deaf) – then you should clear their airways and make sure that they are breathing and then call the emergency services for advice.

However, you must assess their situation first to be of most help to them. They have been trained to save lives and have the equipment to do so – but if they are 20 miles away from the casualty then they can’t do their job.

There are also alternative emergency advice solutions – particularly if the casualty is conscious and not in a life-threatening situation. Taking them to one of the many minor injuries or illness clinics is a great first option, calling NHS Direct (UK only) can answer many of your questions and advise you of the best course of action.

But nothing beats getting your own skills in Emergency First Aid – that way you can help your friends and family immediately – and offer the correct help to others in need.

You’ll never regret taking the course – only not taking it.

posted by Catherine on Apr 10

Throw out that traditional ‘city’ guidebook – write your own eco adventure guide!

We all try to make sure that we see the oldest church, tallest tower, biggest fountain or a giant shoe – but what about the landscapes surrounding us? Do you find out where the local wildlife lives? Where the local people go and relax or where the more remote landscapes off the tourist trail are?

If not – then you aren’t having an eco adventure – you are having the same ‘adventure’ as a thousand other tourists who passed by.

By finding out a bit more about your destination first, you can discover so much more when you are travelling – and will have a better eco holiday that you ever imagined.

The Landscapes:
It might sound boring to research the rock types and weather patterns of your holiday destination – but by finding out things like whether the rock is ‘hard’ (granite) or ‘soft’ (limestone) you would know whether there would be a lot a water on the surface, the likelihood of caves and what plants and animals you could see.

photo credit: DaveBleasdale

For example softer more porous rock types like chalk and limestones don’t hold water so will be reasonably dry landscapes and any water features will usually be seasonal or man-made. And this affects the wildlife and plants you will find.

Other rock types might produce totally different effects and environmental diversity – which could make for some very interesting places to visit on your vacation.

The Locations:
By looking at the niche habitats and weather patterns – you could find out where the most pleasant places to visit are.

You may well avoid India in the monsoon, and the Caribbean during the hurricane season – so why visit a desert at the hottest time of day, or a tropical coastal location before the afternoon sea breezes come in?

Locals know all the secrets to making the most of the day – so if the locals don’t go out until the afternoon – you know to copy them! What do they do instead and where do they do it?

I remember when I first went to Malta I was back in my flat by 6pm and stayed in all night as I was totally knackered from all that sun. But 1 night I needed something important, so popped back out to the shop and found the entire local population out on the boulevard socialising!

Kids on bikes, couples, babies in strollers and games of chess all going on – there wasn’t a single seat free for about 2 miles of promenade! I had wondered why the prom was so wide with so many benches when I hardly ever saw anyone there – but of course it was too hot during the day to sit in the sun!

Learning a bit more about somewhere isn’t so hard – and then you could find you get a lot more from the experience.

posted by Catherine on Apr 3

As part of the ‘Making Wildlife Watching Easy’ series, here’s a nice simple wildbird guide: How to tell the difference between Rooks and Crows.

These 2 large black (and noisy) birds can be seen in both town and countryside. They are both quite heavy-looking and are often seen in groups – usually in trees. But although they look virtually identical from a distance, they have some very different features when you look more closely.

So, what are the key features to help tell them apart?

Well, the main differences are with the beaks, the legs and their habits – the easiest to spot is that the beak of the rook is larger, has 2 colours on it (black tip and cream toward the cheeks) and looks a bit scarier!

photo credit: foxypar4

Once you can spot this – all the other differences aren’t important. However saying that, I still have a bit of trouble getting them to stand still so I can have a look!

And although pictures of them side by side can clearly show you the differences, when they are flapping about or up in the air – it really isn’t that easy first few times, so this is where you can use their behaviour to help you. Rooks are nearly always in large groups and rarely ever alone, whereas crows will often be solitary or in a small family group.

Visually, these are the main differences – and I have written them down only if they are clear differences rather than ‘a slightly rounder tail’, etc. These things should be clearly noticable with or without binoculars:

Rook – Pointy beak that has black tip and is exposed right to the eye.
Rook – Ruffled looking all over with noticable spikey head and untidy leg feathers.

photo credit: foxypar4

Crow – Shorter, more curved beak which stops at the face and with feathers on top.
Crow – Neat rounded head feathers, with neat little ‘trousers’ at the top of the leg.

photo credit: dustpuppy

Obviously there are natural variations to both birds that you can only tell through experience – for example juvenile rooks are lacking the fully exposed beak and therefore they resemble a crow from a distance.

Jackdaws and Ravens are also black and really shouldn’t be confused with crows or rooks! Both are completely different sizes and it won’t take much looking to tell them apart.

Jackdaws are considerably smaller and have an almost silver sheen to their feathers and a clear black forehead that is easy to see when they land. They also have really bright yellow eyes! They are often seen with flocks of rooks so you can compare their size.

photo credit: Maxwell Hamilton

Ravens on the other hand are huge! If you saw a raven on the ground without any scale – it would look just like a crow – however, if seen next to known plants or other birds you won’t mistake them.

They are about the size of a herring gull where as crows aren’t much bigger than a magpie! They have over a meter wingspan in flight and an obvious wedge shape to the tail too.

posted by Catherine on Mar 25

The sun is shining and the lambs are hopping round their field – or are they?

When we see little lambs bouncing around in the sun – we can only think of how cute they are. Out come the cameras and the high pitched voices as we point at them with our friends and children.

But did you know that those little sheep are fighting to keep adonis blue butterflies breeding in southern England?

How? Well, it isn’t like they are waving banners about or stopping urban development in the area – they are just doing what they do best. Eating grass.

An Easy Life:
Basically, these sheep are grazing the hillside landscapes that blanket the south of England as well as other sloping grassy surfaces around the world because that is what they are good at.

Sheep thrive in these niche landscapes due to their breeding – or our manipulation of their breeding – and so they have changed the way things look around them. And as a result of that have helped to create habitats where wild flowers and insects thrive.

But these habitats are man-made (or sheep-made) and a few years of no grazing, and all the plants, insects and birds are at risk of being lost!

Without the sheep mowing the hillsides flat – including shoots from all other plants, bushes and trees – the grass would soon become covered in scrub, brambles and gorse, which in turn would become overgrown and then allow for tree growth.

How You Can Help.
Now that farming is becoming less and less profitable, sheep farmers are limited to the amount of sheep they can keep for this valuable biodiversity control – and so flocks are getting smaller and grasslands are shrinking.

So are wildflower and insect populations.

So, when you local farm invites you inside to watch the lambs, stroke them, hold them and maybe even take a ride around the farm in a tractor – he is really asking you to help make sure that the sheep can stay.

And ultimately, he is asking you to save your local grasslands and your local landscapes.

Could you imagine your local open spaces covered in prickly bramble and spikey gorse bushes instead of fields of soft picnic-inducing grasslands?

All you have to do to help keep them that way – is to pay to go and see some cute lambs; your local species and habitat saving warriors in disguise!

photo credit: Tim Pokorny

posted by Catherine on Feb 22

Why not take an extended eco holiday to a part of your past?

These days you can buy yourself a genome-realted DNA test that may well help you to see where your ancient ancestors came from or travelled through on their journey to becoming you!

It is currently believed that around 60,000 years ago the first humans started to move away from their original homeland. Theories still abound as to why they moved and how they managed it – but basically from those first steps – they sowed the seeds for all the thousands or cultures, languages and peoples that we know today.

Some of these groups are still very isolated such as island communites, whereas others are now highly mixed up including many capital cities like London and New York.

Over thousands of years of migration, settlement, working and trade; cultures have met, mixed and moved on. But where does your history come from – where has your distant family been living all this time?

Genome Testing.
It is now possible to buy a testing kit for yourself or a friend that will tell you about the journey of your ancestors as far as we know it.

There have been many studies over the past few decades that have found certain ‘markers’ in human DNA which can be plotted on a map of the world based on where these markers are found within indigenous populations still living in those locations.

For example, certain markers found in indigenous people living on Island A will be identified as different to all other marker combinations, so if your DNA is found to have most or all of those same markers, then you can almost guarantee that your ‘family’ were there too at some point.

And as humans moved from Africa across Asia, Europe and the Americas, they left a trail of these similar markers – and it is these markers that the DNA test can highlight for you.

These markers can be found for both your maternal linage – through your mother and then her mother and then all the mothers for ever; or paternally through your father, then his father, then all your family’s fathers (however only males can follow their paternal lineage due to the ‘Y’ chromosome – as ladies don’t have one!).

This tracing backwards doesn’t give you a list of all their names and addresses of course, it just tells you whether your markers are found in certain populations over time and in which areas and countries.

Wow!
This is of course something that could change your life. Especially if you have no idea what your ancestry is and find out that most of your past relatives were from a totally different continent to what you thought.

I know skin colour and your direct relations might give you a clue to more recent family ties over the past 100 years (like the last 3 generations of my family were all from Europe) – but they can be hiding a whole host of other relatives over the past 59,900 years that are hidden within our genes!

And finding out that your history is focussed in a whole new landscape could be the very input you needed to find a new path in life. What if you could travel back to that place for an extended period of time; learn about who still lives there and past events.

And if it is still a developing region – there may be volunteer or teaching opportunites close by so that you could actually be helping people still living in that very place who share a similar past to you.

If you are interested in learning more about yourself, then maybe take a look at one such Genome Project and take it from there?

photo credit: Lordcolus

posted by Catherine on Oct 20

Skiing can be a great eco holiday choice if you go to the right places!

Obviously, if you have a ski resort close to your home – then it will be a far better eco holiday choice than one in the sun on the other side of the world!

It’s far better to go to a ski center that is only a drive away rather than a flight; such as an Oregon ski trip for those in the States.  Rather than travel all those carbon miles to Europe or Chile – stay home! 

An eco adventure in the snow is also more likely, as there are animals and birds that you might not see if you travel to warmer climates – or travel to other continents even.

The Wildlife:
Some wildlife species that live in colder climates or up at high altitudes don’t get so many visitors and admirers as say dolphins and turtles – but they are equally important for biodiversity and the environment.

By visiting these areas on your vacation – you can be indirectly helping to make sure that they stay there. And this goes for plants and trees too!

There are certain plants and trees in and around ski resorts that are necessary to actually create the ski resort in the first place! Without certain land formations, plant cover and wildlife habits – the snow may lay differently, not settle on mountain sides – or be trampled before you get on the slopes.

And the fresh snow is great for finding animal footsteps!

photo credit: razvan.orendovici

The Resorts:
Some ski resorts do get a bit of bad press about the stresses that they put on the local area – but other smaller or less ‘tourist hotspots’ locations can give you equally great skiing – but without the eco disaster trail!

By searching for local ski centres, as well as discount ski vacations in your area (as new or expanding companies like to offer promotions), you could find a real gem of a resort or location – that is under-crowded!

Also, they may well be only just starting to make their business eco friendly – and you could help them with that! By making suggestions and acting responsibly – you could help shape their policies with regards to their eco activities.

By asking about their waste and recycling facilities, and showing a keen interest in the local landscape and nature – you could infact encourage them to offer certain services in the the future.

I mean if you ask then to show you the local geysers/mountains/forests/wolves/bears/waterfalls/etc are – then they will know that this is an area where they could improve the customer services they offer in an eco sense. And to offer a wildlife service – you need to make sure that the wildlife is there!

Needless to say – if you offer a whale watching tour you want all the whales to be healthy to make a living – so you might make sure that the water isn’t polluted and no new mines or factories open up in the area. The same can go for all wildlife – people keep an eye on them to make sure that they are OK!

The Equipment:
And finally – all that ski equipment you need. Well most great ski resorts – like in Oregon – have plenty of ski shops – crammed full with different equipment.

Whether you want to buy your own eco-label goods when you arrive, or whether you want to hire the larger items (to save the hassle of transporting them to site) – you can.

Obviously there are plenty of other services available at these resorts – and you can be as eco friendly as you want to be while you are there.

Whether you try to eat only the local foods and fresh caught game or whether you plumb for self catering and supply all your own foods is entirely up to you. Heated rooms by flame or by electricity – again – it’s all down to you.

Just remember that a holiday close to home is already more eco friendly than any other holiday – regardless of what environment you are in.