So .... an ailing old man 99 years of age has died.
That is a sad human story where the grief and mourning of the family concerned is of course fully appreciated and understood.
However, it should be a private matter which is dealt with privately, just like the 130,000 plus deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic in the last year where families have often not been unable to be with their loved ones at the end or attend their funerals.
Every human being is indeed equal in death at least. Death comes to us all and every family feels the pain and grief of loss.
There is absolutely no need for day after day of wall-to-wall 24 hour media coverage. Surprisingly (not), there are many other issues of far greater importance going on in our country and in our world that deserve our attention, not least the climate emergency and the loss and extinction of biodiversity across the planet.
To their great credit, the BBC actually set up a dedicated complaints form on its website due to the huge volume of complaints that it was receiving about the cancellation of its programming schedule .... see here, here, here and here. All the BBC channels and ITV saw a collapse in their viewing numbers due to their completely over the top coverage of someone's death. Channel 4 and Channel 5 maintained their schedules whilst still reporting the news.
We are not all mourning. I certainly don't mourn someone who was a racist and a misogynist and someone with extremely dodgy environmental credentials (how exactly does someone square being President of the WWF for over 20 years whilst engaging in hunting and bloodsports?).
We do not all indulge in the fawning deference and idolatry of the flag-waving monarchists and royalists.
We do not all support an outdated, archaic, undemocratic and unaccountable monarchy with an unelected head of state.
So it is now Saturday .... and the totally excessive media coverage continues unabated.
Fortunately, I had already planned to follow the day-long Reintroduction and Rewilding Summit organised by Birds of Poole Harbour who are leading on the Poole Harbour Osprey Translocation Project in partnership with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation (which is also leading on the re-introduction of White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Wight).
The event was hosted by the brilliant, as ever, Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin of the Self-Isolating Bird Club.
This was a quite exceptional event with some amazing speakers and short films all demonstrating the urgency of repairing, restoring and rewilding our natural world and reintroducing species that have been lost.
One of the contributors, Elliot Newton of Citizen Zoo, gave probably the best analogy of what we need to do that I have heard to date. Nature is an inter-connected and complex puzzle. We have trashed it. We need to put the pieces back together.
I was aware of most of the speakers from social media and their articles and books, I have seen several of them speak at events and I have also met and spoken to some of them.
I was particularly impressed with the contributions of Roy Dennis (a true hero of conservation and reintroduction projects since the 1950s), Derek Gow (passion on steroids doesn't even begin to describe this man!), Benedict Macdonald (a man with a rewilding and reintroduction vision laid out in his excellent book "Rebirding") and Peter Cairns (the man behind Scotland: The Big Picture, a vision for the rewilding of a whole nation). However, the number of younger people contributing was also very encouraging.
Amongst the daily news of the climate emergency, the degradation and destruction of the natural environment and habitats and the loss and extinction of biodiversity, this whole event inspired vision, optimism, inspiration and hope for a better world.
The many rewilding projects in Europe (see Rewilding Europe) and the example of the incredibly successful Knepp Estate in the UK, other emerging projects in the UK plus the work of Rewilding Britain all show what can be achieved in relatively short timescales to repair and restore our natural world, create profitable eco-tourism and sustain rural communities and economies.
However, there is still so much to do. There is too much talk followed by consultation followed by more talk in the UK and little, if any, constructive strategic action led by Government. The delays and prevarication around a strategy for the reintroduction of Beavers which provide huge benefits for the environment, other wildlife and us, is a classic example.
Just get on with it. Be more ambitious. We live in one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. We must urgently repair, restore and rewild our natural world and reintroduce species that have been lost.
Well done to everyone who contributed or who worked behind the scenes to make this online event work so well.
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