Mark Carwardine

1 month ago | discoverwildlife.com | Mark Carwardine

There was quite a hullabaloo when four lynx were spotted running wild in Cairngorms National Park. Even first minister John Swinney joined the fray, condemning whoever released them and declaring that he was “enormously grateful” to all those who helped capture the hapless animals in snowy woodland near Kingussie. Despite some melodramatic claims to the contrary, they were not a threat to the public. Lynx are not considered dangerous to humans.

2 months ago | discoverwildlife.com | Mark Carwardine

We Europeans are incapable of living alongside predators. We blithely expect people in Africa and Asia to share their homes with lions, tigers, Komodo dragons and a host of other potentially dangerous animals without question. So why can’t we be as sympathetic and enlightened about predator conservation as they are? The latest guilty party is Sweden – which has unleashed another season of hunting hell on its brown bears.

2 months ago | discoverwildlife.com | Mark Carwardine

Fox hunting is illegal. I may be stating the obvious, but ‘illegal’ means it’s against the law – like smuggling heroin or stealing a car – and therefore you’re not allowed to do it. So how come last month hunters on horseback accompanied by a pack of baying hounds chased a fox right past my village? Throughout the winter, hunts up and down the country will be sticking two fingers up at the law and purposely setting packs of dogs onto foxes for ‘sport’. What is fox hunting and why was it banned?

Feb 28, 2025 | telegraph.co.uk | Mark Carwardine

No one ever says: “I can’t remember if I’ve seen a whale”. A close encounter with one of these larger-than-life leviathans is a life-changing experience. Over the past 40 years, I’ve spent countless hours watching all sorts of whales, all over the world – and I still look forward to my next encounter as if it were my first. It’s no surprise to me then that whale watching is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the travel industry.

Nov 11, 2024 | discoverwildlife.com | Mark Carwardine

People often say you shouldn’t go to Iceland or the Faroe Islands because they kill whales. But that argument applies to almost every country in the world: we are just as bad in England for killing badgers, says Mark Carwardine. In the same vein, we certainly shouldn’t be visiting anywhere in the Mediterranean. Every spring and autumn most Mediterranean countries permit the shockingly barbaric (and illegal) killing of tens of millions of songbirds. It’s a wonder there are any left.