Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Nettles, hedge garlic, sticky weed: Britain in May is a lush salad bar that I can’t resist, and it’s doing wonders for my skin I had a daughter during one of the bone-cold early months of this year, which means that my full-time job is now to produce a yield. Between the hours of dawn and midnight, with a few lactic minutes in between, I am a feeding machine for a new person. And it is this, perhaps, that has led to my somewhat strange new eating habits. Pregnancy may traditionally be the time associated with cravings and aversions – the old cliches of sardines and jam, coal and creosote, bread and crackers. But here, in my postnatal feeding frenzy, I’m eating nettles by the handful. I am chomping on sticky weed. I have been biting the heads off dandelions (bitter – like really serious dark chocolate) and sucking the nectar from inside honeysuckle. This recent chlorophyll gala has, of course, coincided with England’s greatest month: May. Some of us love the look of May, some of us enjoy the smells. But for me, this year, the greatest heady, verdant, leaf-rich pleasure of my life is to eat May by the bushel. Nell Frizzell is a journalist and author Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

New rules for zoos and aquariums include guidance on elephant enclosures and ban on touching fish Zoos will be obliged to boost conservation efforts and improve animal welfare under the first revision of mandatory standards for the sector in more than a decade. Under the update to the Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain, last set out in 2012, elephants will need to be kept in larger enclosures and birds of prey must be kept in large aviaries rather than being tethered. Continue reading...

Two-month-old black bear, who was starving in a California forest, is youngest cub the San Diego center has cared for Human bears, some would say, are taking care of a two-month-old cub that spent days without his mother, starving in a California forest. The small black bear cub was rescued by campers in Los Padres national forest after being found alone and starving. The infant bear is now recovering at San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, and is believed to be the youngest cub the organization has ever cared for. Continue reading...

The TV naturalist’s comments come after a Guardian investigation into the complex supply chain behind the fish on sale on Britain’s high streets Read more: The hidden cost of your supermarket sea bass Naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham has condemned British supermarkets for a “dereliction of duty” over food labelling and sourcing, as a joint investigation by the Guardian and environmental website DeSmog reveals that the retailers are selling fish from farms that import large quantities of fishmeal from Africa. Factories in Senegal grind down small, edible fish into meal that is then sold on to fish farms in Turkey, fuelling unemployment and food insecurity in the African country. Continue reading...