Green Holidays

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Now, things are hotting up! You should now be able to identify some of the UK’s most common birds, and it is hopefully making you not only look forward to going out and looking for these species – but also making you want to find out what the other ones are….

So let’s not disappoint you with this next bunch of the more noticable birds – and lets have a bit of fun today.

The following 5 birds really can’t be mistaken for anything else as they are unique in their appearance – however, they are rarer than the average bird and can be quite shy:

Kingfisher:
This one is so easy to spot with it’s bright blue colouring in flight.

There is no other bird in the UK that is aquamarine in colour and that you will normally only get a flash of as it darts along a river bank.

When they alight on a branch or twig, you get to see a whole different side of them with their bright orange breasts and patterned heads.

photo credit: neal young.

They can sometimes be found near beaches, estuaries and other waterways, but a quiet river with a steep sandy bank is their prefered habitat.

They are a protected species though, so do not disturb them in or around a suspected nest or if they have young present – otherwise they could abandon the nest and you could get into hot water if publishing or sharing any of the images!

Hoopoe:
Not a commonly seen bird – but one that you won’t forget as these birds have got a very unmistakable head crest as well as a bright black and white wing and tail patterning.

photo credit: Alan Manson

They also have a very long curved bill which would only normally be found on wading species – but this bird is rarely ever found near the coast – or infact any water.

They feeds on insects and worms in orchards, agricultural land and vineyards only in the summer (if at all), and are really only seen in passing and alone. They do not breed in the UK.

Puffin:
Do I even need to describe this one?

I think virtually everyone could tell a puffin from any other seabird – and even any other auk – by their crazy patterned beak and comedy face!

photo credit: Joanne Goldby

Golden Oriole:
This bird will make you think you are on holiday in the tropics with it’s rich yellow and black colouring.

photo credit: brian.gratwicke

Although very secretive you can still get a good look at these birds if you know where to look for them; namely poplar plantations in Suffolk, of flying along the south and east coasts on migration around May and August.

These birds are best searched for by song – so get used to their distictive call before you head out looking for them!

Avocet:
This slight black and white wader is the emblem of the RSPB – and for good reason.

It was virtually wiped out in the UK, and the RSPB managed a great conservation project that saw them bounce back. Now you can see them all over the east coast in the summer and down in the south-west over the winter.

They can be mistaken at a distance for gulls, but through your binoculars you will see their noticable black and white markings, their delicate upturned bill and their long blue legs!

photo credit: spencer77

I know these were all a bit less common than some of the other birds covered so far in these guides – but sometimes it is noce to see the most striking of our birds to bolster your interest.

Yes, its great to be able to identify those smaller garden birds that you see regularly – but it is such a thrill to see something so different, bright or elusive!

Next installment will be the most common birds of prey…..

Have you ever put into words your close encounters or your love of the landscape?

Every year BBC Wildlife Magazine offer you the chance to not only be published in their magazine – but to win a wildlife experience in some far-flung destination desperately in need of volunteers and research.

All you need to do is write a short passionate story about something you love or have experienced that you want to share with others to help them see another side of nature – your version.

Whether you want to describe the fox family living in your garden, that one off encounter with a tiger in India, your hopes for conserving a small patch of endangered wildflowers or even your first-hand description as you witnessed a tornado rip through a field near you!

As long as it was something outside – and could appeal to anyone interested in the ‘great outdoors’ – then get your pen to paper and write out your thoughts!

The Competition:
Don’t worry if you can’t think of anything for this years competition (closing date 30th April 2011) – but you can start thinking about next years entry.

Nature writing normally means that you have captured your thoughts while caught in the middle of things – or that you have a lot of experience in your subject – so know it inside-out. Needless to say, you can’t just pluck such a story out of thin air.

They offer plenty of tips for your writing and you can read past winners tales too – but only be inspired by yourself.

The hardest part will be reducing your passion down to just 800 words – so don’t even worry about all the judging and the other people entering – get your story straight first.

photo credit: whyohwhyohwhyoh

(Click picture to play)

What If I Can’t Write?
Not everyone feels comfortable writing – so BBC Wildlife offer other competitions too – including poetry and photography.

Whatever your passion, experience, age or ability – they offer something that you can sink your teeth into!

Everyone is different – and their version of events or the way they can share their experiences and knowledge will be different too. By all means try your hand at everything, but some people are naturally just better at some things – but it can take a while to figure out what!

Visit their website for ideas and inspiration – and maybe I could be reading your story or admiring your photos on their website soon!

When you see those cute baby lambs running around the fields – what do you think?

Cute? Fluffy? Adorable little clouds? What about biodiversity lynchpin? Wildflower saviour?

These last 2 might not immediately spring to mind – but this is what sheep do, and have been doing for hundred of years. And these cute lambs are the next generation of grassland guardians. It’s all part of the countryside cycle.

Even if the lambs won’t live long enough to see next Spring – they are an essential part of the lifecycle of the farm and the surrounding grasslands. Without the lambs, there would be no grasslands – and maybe no farm either!

How Come They Are So Important?
Well, it’s important to first realise that grasslands are a man-made environment – or sheep-made as it happens! Without mans intervention there wouldn’t be grassland habitats.

And it is because of the sheep that the grasslands exist today.

photo credit: anemoneprojectors

They mow their way across hillside areas that can’t effectively or economically be farmed by other means – and they eat almost everything low to the ground in their paths. This includes the shoots of trees, scrub plants and bushes – and as a result the grass stays as grass.

If you take sheep off of a meadow for a few years, it will be covered in prickly bramble, spiky gorse and possibly some small trees.

And wildflowers don’t grow underneath brambles.

It’s Not Just About Flowers!
Without the flowers, there wouldn’t be any food for butterflies and other insects – which in turn are food for birds and mammals – which in turn are food for larger birds and mammals. So basically the whole food web of a grassland habitat would be lost. Possibly forever.

As grasslands shrink due to the low cost of meat and the rising costs of running a farm – these habitats are split up and become a fragmented mosaic of restricted areas – useless for breeding wildlife and wind pollinated plants. So one by one the plants and animals start to dissappear from the fields until they are all gone.

Imagine your local open access lands covered in bramble up to your knees? Don’t you want to be welcomed into a picnic-inducing field of pink and yellow wildflowers in rich deep grass? Well there is an easy way to make sure that you can – go see some spring lambs!

By supporting your local farmers – you are supporting your local landscape – and ultimately protecting the habitats that attracted you to the countryside in the first place.

I couldn’t bear to think of the South Downs, Exmoor or the Lake District without its rolling fields of grass and sheep!

All it takes is for you to coo over the cute baby lambs!

photo credit: jpockele

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Did you know that it is illegal in the UK for you to take a close-up photo of a baby barn owl?

This little known law is part of the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981) where there is a list of species that receive full protection of the law – and this protection includes reducing the disturbance of the nesting young or recently fledged young of all the species on it – and this includes Barn Owls.

It also includes other seemingly random species such as Brambling, Fieldfare, Firecrest, Kingfisher, Bewick’s Swan and even the little Crested Tit!

All these species are among the 80+ protected wild bird species that frequent the UK, which can be native or just passing through.

There is, of course, already a law to protect all wildbirds from being intentionally injured, killed or taken from the wild – and the same goes for their eggs – but there are some exceptions.

In the case of the Barn Owl and the Kingfisher – they are for greater protection; whereas in the case of the Mallard or Woodcock – it means lesser protection at certain times!

photo credit: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Northeast Region

These schedules also cater for captive-bred ‘wild bird’ species such as birds of prey and other more common species such as Magpies, Blackbirds and Goldfinches. And also the sale of wildbirds that have been killed legally and the rehabilitation of injured birds.

Game birds are not covered by these particualar laws however, but are covered under the separate Game Bird Act, which fully protects them outside of the Open Season.

The Bird Schedules:
There are 4 such catagories (which may have several parts) which cover those endangered birds to be protected as well as those species which can be killed or sold, and they lay out as follows:

Schedule 1: Full protection at all times (or during the close season for a specific 4 species). To get close to young, nesting or breeding birds in this list – you will need a licence (or you can visit them in specific reserves).

Schedule 2: Birds which may be killed or taken outside of the close season only – but not sold – basically to be killed to protect crops or other interests or to be killed for food or for sale as per Schedule 3.

Schedule 3: Birds which may be sold; either dead at specific times, or alive if captive bred and legally ringed. These include certain ducks and wood pidgeons to be sold dead; and siskins, song thrushes and other ‘garden’ birds that can be kept as ‘pets’ and displayed at bird shows.

Schedule 4: Captive Bred birds which must be registered and ringed if in captivity (mainly raptors). These birds need to be registered and you must have genuine proof of breeding and hatching. If you find an injured bird that happens to be listed on Schedule 4 – even if you intend to re-release it shortly – you should inform the appropriate authority as they may need to be registered.

photo credit: luc.viatour

Your Actions:
So next time you see the opportunity to photograph any nesting bird – think about what that means.

If they have made a law that specifically prevents human from getting close enough to a Schedule 1 species – as it would disturb them – think again for all birds and other wildlife!

If they think that getting that close could prevent birds from nesting at all or may make them to abandon existing young – then what harm are you doing being that close to any species?

Even with the fantastic zooms on cameras these days – you still have to be quite close to get a great shot – so what if you got a great shot of a nest, but after you left all the young starved to death after you had scared the parents off!

When trying to film or photograph nesting birds – or any birds really – it is best to set up a hide (or use one at a reserve). Birds get used to them and so aren’t so affected by all the keen photographers snapping away at them. And some reserves set up hides to be really close to the action just for this reason.

So, if you are going to enter a photgraphic competition with your nest shot – make sure it’s not a Schedule 1 species – otherwise they may ask to see your licence………. and I’m sure you don’t want the associated £5000 fine and accompanying prison sentence instead of first prize!

If you saw tree weighed down with Ivy – would you take action?

Sometimes a mature tree is so overwhelmed with Ivy that it is surely doing it some harm – and haven’t you sometimes found Ivy-covered fallen branches on the ground after bad weather?

And during the winter months a deciduous tree with none of its own leaves looks verdant with a heavy covering of large, dark green Ivy leaves instead!

And because the tree, or trees, are in what appears to be an untended area of woodland – isn’t it best that you take things into your own hands before the tree is damaged or gets pulled down under the shear weight!

Would you resolve to come back next time with some seceteurs or a small hacksaw?

Every Tree Has An Owner:
Many walkers seem to think that areas of land like woodland, grassland, hills and mountains are not owned by anyone – they believe that they can do anything they want on this land as it doesn’t say ‘Private’ on the gate!

However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Every patch of land close to your home has an owner or a guardian – and you may well have rights to walk across that land – but that’s about it.

You can’t – as many people seem to think; cut down Ivy, dig up plants, bury dead pets, abandon cars, take wood for fuel, camp overnight or hold a party there.

Would you appreciate anyone doing that on your land or in your garden? No, I didn’t think so.

You can of course, speak to the land-owner or guardian about doing any of these things, but obviously they may charge you a fee and/or just say ‘No’.

They May Have Plans:
Now we have established that the tree – and the Ivy – is owned by someone, so it is pretty clear that you don’t have the right to cut them down. But what makes you think that they don’t want the Ivy to grow on their trees in the first place?

Had it not occured to you that the Ivy has just as many benefits – if not more – than just the bare tree itself?

photo credit: cdsessums

For example, Ivy is famous for its ability to live through the winter (and that is why it is in many a festive songs) – so it is one of the only plants which has food and leaves in the harshest winter months.

After all the deciduous trees and bushes have dropped their berries and cast off their old leaves by September – the woodlands should be empty of birds, insects and mammals. However, the wildlife in an Ivy-filled woodland can still feed on, and live in, the great swathes of rich green Ivy that remain on trees, even in the frost and snow!

A bare tree in winter is a cold and unwelcoming place in which to hibernate or to hide from the icy weather – whereas the nooks and crannies formed by decades old ivy stems are a perfect safe haven!

How You Can Actually Help:
If you are really interested in learning more about woodlands; plants, trees and wildlife, then you should consider joining a volunteer nature conservation group as well as doing some reading of your own.

Obviously you will find out that cutting down Ivy is actually detrimental to the woods and it’s wildlife – but you will also find out how to manage it for the better, which plants are signs of an ancient woodland, and which creatures you are likely to see there.

You also get to cut down plenty of plants that are not wanted in other areas – for example scrub on grasslands. Nature wants to gradually replace grasslands and heaths with trees and forests – however, these 2 habitats are vitally important for certain wildlife – but will not survive on their own.

By learning about natural succession and habitat management – you will be far more help to the environment than illegally hacking down Ivy plants in your local woods!

Think how much more you could achieve overseas if you were learning as you travelled?

Many of us seem to have a real passion for something – but have no certified proof of our skills in that area.  Take for example those of us who spend hours trying to get the best view of that elusive woodcock, or days collecting hazel nuts to find out if there are dormice close by.

There are many more examples of people who follow a passion without a thought for the amount of time and money it takes up – people like you.

Yes, we all have qualifications in this or that for our work, or have been sent a various courses over the years – but this is a means to pay the bills.  I mean who would have thought you could earn a living counting trees, weighing turtles or promoting bee-keeping!

But these days with the right experience – you can!

Why Study?
Well, you may well be taking some previous experience with you on your green volunteering adventure, but how much more could you offer your team if you were learning more along the way.

Imagine knowing bushcraft skills already before you start your volunteering in the Amazon – but then studying ecology or statistics in the evenings so to make better use of the data you collect.

photo credit: Speculum Mundi

Or you have listening skills that you put to good use working with disadvantaged families in Bangladesh – but then study teaching or life coaching skills in the evenings to further enhance the support you can offer.

Not only would you be offering them your existing skills – you would be increasing your worth 10-fold with these new skills along the way.

And many course and projects need you to write reports and complete projects – now what better way to get results than to actually be participating in active projects overseas – actually working hands on with an exciting and unusual project.  You won’t be writing about a new supermarket in your coursework will you?

Your Future:
As you can imagine when you add together the experience you will have gained volunteering in the first place with a certified course, diploma or foundation degree – you will have made very good use of your time.

Returning home could open up a whole new vocation window – and that’s if you even come home in the first place.  Why return to that office job in the city when you could be working in a jungle office, or returning to that tower block when you could be surveying under the ocean instead.

Working with people and animals really can pay the bills if you just turn your passion into a skill by quantifying it.

And then you could become the worker instead of the volunteer!

If you collect berries for making pies, drinks, puddings – where does the plant go?

Now we know that certain berries are great for puddings like blackberries, some are good for drinks like juniper berries and others are great for a whole host of other yummy tummy fillers.

But have you checked that those berries are not locally threatened with extinction?

It only takes a little bit of your old biology class to remember that the berries that plants make contain the seeds of that plant - and if the seeds don’t hit the ground – you don’t get a new plant!

So, needless to say, if you eat those seeds or throw the seeds in your bin – you are preventing a new generation of berry plants from germinating.  And that’s ok if they are a garden plant that you have brought and grown in your garden – but if you go on a wild berry hunt, you should really check on your species before you go stealing it’s fruit!

Case In Point:
Take juniper berries – great for gin making – but locally threatened in certain habitats.

Also, the berries take up to 3 years to fruit on the plant itself and another 2 or more to germinate into a new plant – so it’s berries are at least 5 years in the making.  And of course, not all berries contain fertile seeds in the first place!

Junipers are also very fussy about where they grow and as a result many juniper stands (groups of junipers) are not producing young plants in certain habitats across southern England.

Well, how could they if you are using all their berries each year for your festive fun!  Yes, wild mammals and birds also eat the plants and berries – but you are just adding to their woes!

photo credit: oskarlin

By all means in Scotland, where the plant is very common and widespread, take some berries – but still make sure that you don’t pick all the berries of any one plant or in any one stand otherwise you are just being a bit selfish towards nature’s efforts!

And according to local by-laws; you may not even be allowed to pick plants and berries in certain nature reserves or on protected land – or even beside footpaths or bridleways if it passes through private land.

And there may well be a good reason for it – don’t assume these berries go to waste if you don’t pick them. Nature takes care of these things; with mammals and birds eating the fresh produce and the invertebrates finishing off the waste materials!

Wild Food:
There is a big drive towards ‘wild food’ at the moment with mushrooms, berries, plants and game all making it onto the apparently eco friendly menu – but think about the bigger picture in all cases.

Yes, it’s lovely to kill off some wild deer and feed 30 of your friends at a wedding – but if everyone did this there would soon be a very noticeable shortage of deer!  Same goes for ducks, boar and fish.

And foraging for mushrooms is actually where you pick and eat the fruiting bodies of the underground fungi (just like the berries of the juniper bush) so you could be preventing the next generation of life for them too!

Conclusion:
Just because nature grew something for free and you happen to be near it – don’t assume that you should take it!  Think about the long term.  Think about 10 or 20 years down the line for that plant or animal.

I mean – have you checked which native plants or local habitats near to where you live are threatened?  Would you even look it up before you head out for a walk in the countryside?

We are in a bit of a bind over biodiversity at the moment – so it seems a bit selfish to try to stop people in Borneo from felling rare trees and killing orangutans, if we are basically preventing threatened species from growing and eating our own variety of ‘bush meat’!

Perhaps we should start to be a bit more concerned about these things – otherwise getting yourself and your kids back out into nature could actually be hindering or destroying the very plants and animals that we wanted to get closer to in the first place!

Thinking ahead to what you enjoy on holiday can influence your savings!

Did you think that your savings just sat in a drawer at the bank the whole time – earning you interest by just being there?

No, of course not.  Your money is sent all around the world by your bank or financial company and invested into all sorts of ventures from gold to technology, and from energy to vaccinations.

But what if your bank is funding things that you disapprove of?  Have you even asked them who they lend your money to?

Why Should You Care?
Well, firstly – you surely don’t want to be giving your money to any company that isn’t environmentally friendly do you?  Or a company that abuses people or landscapes? 

Would you give your money to a company that clears forests, pollutes waterways or displaces communities? Or one that abuses people, destroys homes and causes illness and disease?

What if you are spending money each month donating to charities which are using your money to fight certain developments – yet your savings are helping to fund the other side.

One set of funds is destroying a habitat – and you other money is trying to clean up the pieces!

What Could You Be Doing?
Well, you could be responsible for destroying the very places that you want to visit in the future. 

Your funds could be clearing landscapes for farming, energy exploration, transport connections, and any number of other technologies without you really knowing that you are doing it.

photo credit: L Gnome

If you were only looking at the financial returns at the end of your term or for when you retire then you are missing the point of the word: investment!

What is the point of investing in purely your own financial future – when the rest of the world is still being changed beyond your control.

So what you should be doing is making sure that the companies you invest in are doing what you want them to be doing.  Check with your bank where they are sending your money before you give it to them.

You try to only travel with ethical companies and you buy products that are fair trade and sustainable – so why not check where all your money is going in the bank!

You could be paying an oil drilling company to cut holes in the Amazon with your pension – and also giving to a charity to try to relocate all the people and animals that used to live where an oil well is now situated.

And if you want to ever see those orangutans in the wild – make sure your savings account isn’t funding oil palm plantations!

You can do a lot of things with your money – so plan to spend it well!

If you want to live in a Mediterranean climate – carry on regardless!

Climate change is real – and is happening every day.  Your choices every hour, even every minute are making it a reality.

You may well now be bored of hearing that you should ‘turn off your lights’, ‘don’t leave the TV on stand-by’ and ‘turn down the thermostat by 1 degree’ – but people still aren’t doing it!

I can visit a friends house and see these very basics being ignored; and taps left dripping, single item washes and radiators heating empty rooms.  People just aren’t taking this whole thing seriously.

And as a result – the world is getting warmer……

Your Green Holidays:
So, you need to make sure that the people you are paying your hard earned money to for holidays, trips and other services are doing their bit.

If you want to stay home and admire the beautiful Lake District, the Fens or some beautiful coastal villages – then you need to make sure that they can survive climate change:

If the temperature of the Earth rises just 2 degrees – you will no longer have those clear lakes.  The warmer weather will encourage flash floods – which will in turn encourage algal growths – as well as reduce the amount of water reaching the ground.  And with less water falling as rain in the first place; humans will need to ‘take’ more of it for survival and industry – so you won’t be finding it laying about in ponds and lakes!

Higher temperatures will also bring rising sea levels – and so the low-lying Fens will soo be underwater.  Just a meter sea level rise could see vast swathes of eastern England permanently underwater.  All that land which was so carefully drained for farming will be lost to ‘poisonous’ salty marshes – useless for human agriculture and living.

Rising sea levels and increased storms will soon put an end to a trip to the seaside!  Many cliffs and low level defences will be overcome by violent storms or just increased erosion.  Many houses are lost each year already due to this effect – but it could be worse if it happens when the country is already stressed.  Funding won’t be available to save a few cottages from destruction when the capital is under threat too!

photo credit: Orange County Archives

Higher temperatures and less rain will also mean that your local species will start to be outcompeted by more drought-resistant plants and animals.  Gone will be the oaks and chestnuts and in will come the corks and palms.  Apples won’t get their frosts so will soon die out and we will have oranges and lemons instead.

As a result, all the insects and fungi that feed on these plants will be gone too – and it feeds up the food chain.  If there are no insects to feed the blue tits and robins – they will be gone too – and the owls and hawks and foxes that feed on them?  If the seeds of these trees are no longer available – then what will the squirrels and deer eat?

Your Impact:
By all means carry on going on your trips – as your money spent on local services is vital for keeping these places alive and cared for – but make some demands of your own before booking.

I know it all sounds a bit petty to ask that your towels aren’t washed every day and food is locally sourced – but unless you do these things you are directly contributing to climate change and the ultimate demise of the English countryside.

You often hear the quotes of ‘if everyone in the world did A, then we could save so much of B’.  But everyone in the UK isn’t even doing A – so how can we make a real difference?

With your money. 

Money really does talk in the service industry – and if someone is running an eco friendly hotel and bed and breakfast; they should be encouraged to keep that up – with your money.

People who don’t make an effort to be green and continue to waste resources, waste water and buy cheap plastic over-packaged products should be left out of your holiday plans – ie: no money – you don’t stay with them at all!

They can either change their ethics to stay in business – or you can make sure they become extinct instead of our native wildlife and plants!

Could Supporting Local Bee Farmers Help Reduce Demands On The Environment?

We need to think big these days – and certainly look to be sympathetic to the developing world – who are living in conditions similar to those that we were only a few 100 years ago.

They are mainly subsistence farmers or herders who live on what they can grow and the little that they can sell.  They have to rely on resources that are local to them and are as good as free – just as those in the US and Europe did not so long ago.

Now, unfortunately – we are painfully aware that living like this is not going to be possible for the millions of people now currently living in the developing world.

The climate is changing to make herding and farming virtually impossible in some areas; the population has risen to ridiculous and unsustainable numbers making a few trees for the family firewood become a whole woodland for the expanding village; and the demands of the (comparatively) richer individuals are stripping whole countries bare of resources, taking land and water from local people and dumping waste in their backyards.

So – What Can We Do?
Well, as we know what is currently ‘damaging’ to our planet – we can use our buying power to make the right choices.

Just as back home – what you buy determines what manufacturers make – the same applies to internationally traded goods.  Although the honest truth sometimes slips by us:

If you keep buying illegally logged hardwoods (ie. by not opting for FSC approved alternatives) you are actively supporting the destruction of the rainforests and the extermination of orangutans, jaguars, and the endless number of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and plants that depend on them.

If you keep buying any old fish or seafood that you like the look of (rather than opting for MSC approved sustainable alternatives) you are actively supporting the extinction of many endangered species that are being over-fished.  You are also actively supporting the wasteful and destructive nature of bottom-trawling and long-line fishing that are killing off more than just the fish you get to eat; this includes all sorts of birds, mammals, other fish and sea creatures.

I could go on with this list – but sometimes we don’t think or the end result of our ‘easy’ food choices.

Alternative Living:
So back to the bees: They reproduce extremely fast, do all the hard work themselves and don’t need a huge amount of space to grow. What a great alternative to cattle and dessicated crops! But they need someone to buy the honey.

And so, if a family has chosen to ‘farm’ these insects rather than farm something illegal or damaging to the environment – then shouldn’t we support that?

All across the globe we are trying to help communities to become more self-sufficient and sustainable by introducing bee-keeping, fairtrade specialist products and co-ops so that they don’t have to plunder their local area just to survive. 

We are also helping to make sure that they have access to biomass heating, solar cookers, water purifiers and education and skills so that they don’t have to depend on limited rainwater, local forests, bushmeat and food handouts.

So, make sure that you support these efforts back home with your shopping choices.  If they are making something that you don’t buy – then they won’t be sustainable alternatives, will they?

If they are saving the rainforest and it’s endangered wildlife buy manufacturing fairtrade honey, organic coffee or FSC approved furniture – then you had better make sure that you buy it over the ‘not so eco friendly’ alternatives.

If not – then they will have to go back to living off the land – even if that means killing another tiger, clearing some lush forests or over-grazing their land with cattle.

Your choice!