Wildlife January 2012

[Maggi Young]

..... and Svalbard hillsides coloured pink by Saxifraga oppositifolia... with skinny polar bears eating fluffy goslings.....

[Lesley Cox]

It would be too much to hope that the programme will be shown here, with our so-called "public" broadcaster now intent only on ratings and showing as much crap as possible (re-runs of "My Big Fat Gipsy Wedding" and other similar garbage), though I see Attenborough's "Frozen Planet" is to start after the weekend. Incredible!

[Lina Hesseling]

Lesley, Frozen Planet is great. But do you know they are cheating?
The birth of the icebears is in the zoo in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
But it does look great!

Enjoy, Lina.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Lina, yes, our TV did say a week or two ago that the polar bear births were "faked" or rather in captivity, not in the wild. Understandably I guess and yes, I'll enjoy the programme very much.

[Anthony Darby]

Nothing changes. My biology teacher, when I was at school, said the capture of the manatees is Attenborough's 'Zooquest' was filmed in his hotel's pool, at the bat cave he "hacked his way through the jungle" to get to is on a main road with a hotel opposite!

[Tony Willis]

Does it really matter,it must have been obvious given a bit of thought that some sequences would be subject to artistic license. People are so critical,and we get to see things that we would never be able to see ourselves. Enjoy it for what it is.

[Hoy]

I think it is almost impossible to film the confinement (can I say that of bears?) of polar bears in the wild. You can't prepare a den in adwance as the bears dig in anywhere in a huge snowdrift and you can't easily do it later with a bear inside either.
The labour and birth is the same anyway.

But I will still say it is cheating if they say it for something other than what it is.

..... and Svalbard hillsides coloured pink by Saxifraga oppositifolia... with skinny polar bears eating fluffy goslings.....

I visited Svalbard once for a week but neither did I see saxes nor polar bears - this was in early May and all the land was still snowcovered. Had some nice snowmobile trips to different locations though and counted several reindeer. I also saw the very last musk oxen on the archipelago; they had died that winter.

I don't like snowmobiles when I meet them when skiing but they are very funny to drive!

[Tony Willis]

This butterfly was on the back door this afternoon and the temperature is +3c

[mark smyth]

Tony the butterfly, small tortoiseshell, must have been disturbed while hibernating

[mark smyth]

keep watching ....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6tCtM8UEQv8#t=43s[/youtube]

[Tony Willis]

Mark

that is what I thought but how  it managed the energy to fly about in such cold weather is what amazed me.

[Lesley Cox]

Really nice ad Mark. Who wants "mild" cheese anyway?

[Hoy]

Send me some ounces of that Cheddar, please!

[Maggi Young]

Really nice ad Mark. Who wants "mild" cheese anyway?

Errrr..... I like a nice piece of Wensleydale.......

[fermi de Sousa]

Really nice ad Mark. Who wants "mild" cheese anyway?

Errrr..... I like a nice piece of Wensleydale.......

"I don't care how runny it is!"
I have a feeling this may degenerate into a "Cheese-shop" sketch very quickly!
 
cheers
fermi