Green Holidays

Your actions alone can make the countryside a better place for yourself and others.

By sharing your adventures – I don’t mean inviting other people along to your picnics, dog walks or countryside rambles – I mean allowing them to have as much fun as your yourself would expect.

Your actions can directly affect other people who are within a few feet or even a few miles of you while you are outdoors – but they can also affect people who follow in your footsteps a few weeks or even a few years after you.

How you may wonder? But it is all quite simple.

The Countryside Shop:
Every inch of the countryside is owned and managed by someone. Whether it is a private landowner, a charitable body or your local council – someone is looking after the land and using it or maintaining it according to their needs.

You are however, permitted to walk through their land, fields, forests, glades and even gardens on footpaths (or for a small fee) if they are on a footpath, bridleway or other right of way. But you are only a visitor.

Imagine the countryside as you would a high street shop. You are allowed in – even welcomed in – but there are unspoken ‘rules’ – like a society code. For example you can just go in and break things, scream and shout, play loud music, drop litter, let your dog run wild, allow your kids to climb on display areas or run into ‘private’ areas or eat their food and scare of other customers.

Yet people do this in the countryside all the time.

What Happened Next?
Well, firstly in this shop – you would be seriously affecting their profits – and just like any business they react to problems and can’t afford to lose money.

But how can they make money if you are scaring off their other customers and have left the shop in such a state that they have actually spend money to fix things and replace broken stock. However, some things are irreplacable – so they may never have them in the shop again.

And secondly, they may well introduce a few rules to make sure that these things don’t happen again, like not allowing children or dogs, closing off certain areas at certain times, charging people to go in to get some money back and changing what they sell.

In the same way, landowners who suffer from vandalism, injured livestock and crop damage may put up extra fencing and funnel the ‘humans’ down a thin footpath rather than allowing them free access to the land.

photo credit: Crystian Cruz

Other Changes:
They may also be forced to lock gates, block entrances to farms and other buildings that aren’t actually on the footpath but were a beauty or were of great interest to walkers like yourself.

They may have to introduce entrance fees to car parks or other areas to re-coup some of their lost funds – which you will have to start paying if you want to visit the area – or maybe close off the ‘free parking’ that they had allowed on their land until all the rubbish that was dumped their was costing too much to have removed!

And damage to certain rare plants or wildlife species may be too much for that species to survive there anymore – so it will be lost forever just becasue you wanted to take that unusual plant home with you!

So noise and vandalism can affect more than just other walkers on that day – and carelessness, selfish actions and laziness can change the very landscape we love over time.

The countryside can’t keep going in its current state if we don’t do everything we can to preserve or improve it. If landowners can only run their business by shutting out humans – then that is just what they will have to do!

You know how to pack a rucksack properly – but what about save a life?

We all learn to pack our racksacks top heavy, learn which wildfood we can eat, how to get our tents back in their tiny bags, how to purify water and how to run away from a bear.

But what about help another human being?

When was the last time you took a first aid lesson? At school, in your teens or because your workplace told you to go?

Why do we wait – when our friends or family could get injured at any time!

Things that we learn on these courses could save other peoples lives – as well as our own, so why don’t we sign up in droves?
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What are you going to do?
Things change all the time in medicine and first aid – so some things your parents told you or that you learnt over 5 years ago might not still be current – like laying a person who fainted on their back with their legs raised. Wrong.

How about pinching the top of the nose and tipping the head back to stop a nose bleed! Wrong. Putting soothing creams or lotions on a burn – WRONG!

You don’t even check for a pulse anymore – there are better, more effective ways to save a life.

Obviously we all hope that we never have to deal with an emergency – but if you like to travel a lot – especially out in the countryside, emergency first aid could be your only chance of survival.

Call The Emergency Services!
It is all well and good to assume that the emergency services will come and save the day – but if the casualty isn’t breathing or is bleeding heavily – then 10 minutes is too long to wait. And you will probably be out in the countryside or up a mountain!

photo credit: Adam Tinworth

So, you could save someone by starting first aid straight away.

Immediate Action:
I can’t teach you first aid in this article – but I know that making sure that someone is breathing is more important that calling 999 in the first instance. The time it takes you to make the call is more time that they aren’t breathing.

By first checking the airways are clear and listening for breathing you could have done all that was needed to save a life. People who are unconscious and on their backs can suffocate on their own tongue – so by you moving their head to free the tongue – you can help them breathe again. Then, by putting them in the recovery position – and knowing that they can still breathe – you could have just saved their life.

However, if you make the call first; all the while you are trying to describe where you are for the emergency services to find you – they will be getting worse.

First Aid is about dealing with the most critical thing first – like not breathing. There is no point stopping them bleeding if they aren’t breathing, and no point moving them into a more comfortable place if they aren’t breathing either.

And an Emergency First Aid course can help you understand why things are important and when they are not. The course will help you gain confidence in your actions even if they seem rather odd and ‘different’ to what other people are saying.

You would have taken the most up-to-date course (to protect your friends and family) so it will be the best you can do for a stranger too!

And thank you for caring.

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!

If you took part in the recent RSPB garden count – you may well have started on your way to spotting the 270 birds commonly found in the UK.

So why not keep it up?

I have put together this series of informative posts to help you through all the easy species, first. Then there will be the ones that you need to go on a walk to see and gradually we will get onto the birds that you will have to seek out for yourself – like the elusive White-tailed Eagle or the niche dwelling Capercaillie!

There is nothing better sometimes than knowing what a bird is by just checking off 1 sign, like ‘it has a red stripe so it must be a ????’ or ‘it has yellow legs so will be a ????’ Sometimes once you know the general appearance of a bird ‘type’ like a sparrow, warbler or grebe, you can seperate the individual species by just 1 thing.

And these guides will not focus on all the latin names and scientific groupings etc; there will be no use of fancy ornithological words like ornitholigical, tertial tip or emargination. Just easy to use visual descriptions of the birds that you will see while out walking in the woods, wetlands or your own back garden!

But to start you off before we lose you in geese and gulls; we will list the top 5 birds that you may well have seen this week or have probably already seen at some point in your life!

Robin:
This one is easy to spot with it’s bright red breast – and you can easily pick them out in the snow as they are quite bold little birds and use human garden tools and furniture from which to spy their insect prey! And they will come close to humans too if you feed them…..

photo credit: fwooper

Blackbird:
Another common species that just loves to run around garden edges looking for food under leaves and garden waste. The males are black with orange or yellow bills and feet, where the females are browner in colour. You can spot them from their loud warning call as you scare them off…..

photo credit: Keith Laverack

Magpie:
A larger bird that has such distinctive colouring that you will know when you have seen one. Their black and white plumage and their flap-flap-flap-then glide flight pattern will have you ticking off this species in a flash!

photo credit: goingslo

Pheasant:
If you live near the countryside or walk your dog in the fresh air, then you will no doubt have seen a rather handsome brown bird with a perfect white collar around his neck, large red wattles and nice long tail feathers – this is your male pheasant. Females have the same long tail and also frequent large country gardens, footpaths and cultivated fields but don’t have the fancy head! They both fly off clumsily and noisily when you get too close!

photo credit: gerrybuckel

Mute Swan:
I used to live on a canal and could see these all day long – but if you live elsewhere they aren’t difficult to find on any large body of fresh water, like a river, canal, lake or in a local nature reserve. Out of all the swans in the UK, the Mute Swan is the easiest to identify by its bill alone (handy really as all 3 common swans are totally white); it is the only one that has an orange bill which has a large knob of black on the top where it meets the eyes.

photo credit: TossMyPancake

So, if you have already seen these ones, then join me for the next 5 real soon – and make sure that you have seen these all again outside and that you know them inside out – as many other birds look very similar to them but for one or two small details. So only when you know these well can you learn some of the others coming on the list!

Grab your camera and document your journey if you like – it can make your travels more memorable.

See you soon…..

And if you want to know more about the fancy terms and descriptions used to identify birds, please look for my Bird Identification Guides – Technical Data series.

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!

Found something strange – or beautiful – but have no idea what it is?

As long as you have a picture of it, then there is a new way to find out what on earth you have just seen.

It could be something common that you just haven’t seen before where you are visiting – or it could be a species that is new to your area (through land use changes or seasonal migration) and you have been one of the first to spot it.

Basically, the Open University in the UK has set up a database of images of everything in the natural world – as well as people who can tell you what it is.

Rather than just asking a few friends, searching through your field guides or just admiring it for what it is – you can now find out for good.

iSpot:
Not another iPhone application as its name insinuates – but a whole nature database online that can sort out the clustered bonnets from the milky bonnets, the brown bear from the black bear and the large white from the marbled white.

Basically, you can upload your pictures and some basic information about it and leave it to others to identify. You can have a guess yourself, and others will either confirm or deny this – basically like a forum.

You can also help identify other wildlife for photographers as well. It may be that you have experience in fungi – but have taken a picture of a strange insect on that fungi. You can find out what the insect is in exchange for identifying some garden waxcaps or woodland earth star!

photo credit: Marek Komorowski

It is divided up into categories including: mammals, birds, fungi, fish, etc and you can just look at some great shots, see different colour variants of common species (like white deer and black squirrels) or just use the labels to find out where these animals were seen so you can go and look for them yourself.

In Addition:
There are also links on the sites for further reading, related surveys, tips on identification and links to other useful id and specialist websites.

The OU have also recently launched a short course to run alongside iSpot and for all those people who haven’t taken a degree or had experience in the field before.

It’s called Neighbourhood Nature and can take you as little as 5 weeks or as long as 5 months depending on your other commitments. It allows you the support to run your own local field study relating to any area that you have ready access to and a keen interest in like a local woodland behind the houses, a nearby nature reserve or even a disused railway.

Nature is everywhere – and by working alongside your tutors and the experts on iSpot, you can find out what is living there and why – and anything you can do to keep it there or improve the number and diversity of plants and animals there.

So, if you have been meaning to get qualified in something ‘outdoors’ or to help brush up on your basic skills before embarking on a longer or higher level course – then maybe this course could help you out.

Also You Might Like To:
Obviously, signing up to volunteer with nature-related charities in your area will also enable you to experience nature first hand, access some great habitats, learn from experts and it could always lead to a larger project or a permanent job somewhere down the line.

And if anything, get a camera with a good zoom and an even better macro – and practice observing things – or take a basic photography course. Trying out the different settings is one thing – but knowing what to look out for is another.

You might take a great picture of a striking plant – but then get home to find out that you needed to find the berry, scratch the bark or see what other plants were around it to get a 100% ID. But until you make those mistakes and get annoyed with yourself – you won’t get any better at identifications.

It’s alright relying on others for rare species and all those ‘barely indistinguishable’ lichens – but you should really start to build up your basic id skills in the field if you are planning any sort of career based on nature.

So grab your camera, field guide and waterproofs – and get outside!

Green Travel keeps working even when you have stopped!

Now we all know that parking in town can be a complete nightmare at the best of times – and I suppose that is why we favour purpose-built car parks as a result.  They usually have clearly marked out car-size spaces for everyone to park in and arrows telling you which way to drive so you don’t bump into other drivers!

That way – we all know that they have worked out the greatest number of spaces that that particular car park can hold and everyone can fit in with no wasted space – or accidents!

However, not so for the country car park or the long parking bays with only the end zones marked out.

How is it best to park in these spaces when you first arrive?

Eco Friendly Parking:
Now you might not think that where you park could have eco friendly – or not so eco friendly – consequences, but it does.

Take for example the person parking infront of an entrance or right infront of a sign that says ‘Do Not Park Here’  You can tell immediately that this car could cause other people some trouble – wasting their time, their money and possibly causing an argument.

But can you see how they are also reducing the revenue of local services, decreasing visitor numbers for local attractions and businesses as well as possibly affecting the number of people that visit that location over the next 50 years!

Obviously these are scaled up problems – but if you arrived in a town or remote beauty spot only to find that you can’t park anywhere or others have been irresponsible – you might never return.

If you had to drive 40 minutes to visit an old church and you could never find a space there – would you keep going back year after year?

Or you just wanted to grab a quick snack and there was never a space outside the shop when you drove by – wouldn’t you just find somewhere else?

But what happens to those places when you decide to go elsewhere?  Who buys their products, uses their services or donates to their cause?

Think About It:
So, what can you do to make sure that you don’t affect your local services when you pop into town or drive into the countryside to walk the dog?

Firstly – think about how you can maximise the number of spaces in the place you are visiting.  Put simply – always park up to the edges or the spaces and close to any other vehicles on site.

photo credit: Blyzz

If there is a car in the middle of nowhere and you park away from it in the middle of nowhere too – how can you be sure that an exact number of cars can fit into the gap you have left? Surely you have been looking for a space before and thought ‘if only that car was a foot to the left it would create enought space for a whole car’.

Obviously nothing you can do about it while you wait – but very often when that person does move – someone else parks right in the same place themselves – just the 1 car instead of 2.

And those thoughtless people who park half a car away from the end of a bay!  I mean there was no reason not to park up the edge of the bay – leaving all the rest of the bay free for other vehicles – but they chose to just park wherever they wanted making sure that other people couldn’t park close to the shops/doctors/hotel/castle/seafront/etc.

Your Choice:
Now I know there are lots of different size cars on the road, and it seems a bit weird to park next to another car when the rest of the car park is empty – but it won’t always be empty.

People need to visit places to keep them there – and so surely, the more people that can park close to where they want to go, the more money they will spend there.

And it’s not all about using public transport either – I mean if I am on my way home from somewhere in my car and need to grab some bread or milk – I don’t want to have to walk miles to get them – I want to be able to pull up and park real close to the store and pop in and out in a second.  So, if I can’t get close in the car – I will go to another shop where I know I can.

Not everyone can walk a long way either and buses don’t go absolutely everywhere – so people do need to use their cars to get to places – and so rather than just pulling up somewhere are parking without a care for anyone else – think eco.

If you want that store to be there for your convenience – then you need to help it get as many customers as it can to turn a profit.  If you want to keep using that car park near the National Trust woodland – then make sure as many people as possible can park there are pay their money to keep it open!

If you park for too long in a space, take up more than 1 space or block other road users – you are harming the very services and locations that you are using yourself.

You might have driven there in as ‘green’ a way as you could – so don’t spoil it when you get there!

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I counted in 3 different locations for the bird count, my mum’s, my niece’s and in my own garden!

And I was quite intrigued by the results, as I live in a village next to a small nature reserve, my niece has a huge lawned garden in the suburbs and my mum has a tiny garden in a town filled with greenhouses, pots and bottles for her allotments!

So who saw the most species?

Well, the species in all 3 gardens contained some common elements, but my mum’s tiny garden saw the most individual species – and was the only one to see a tiny wren!

The Counts:
I chose to help with them all as I can better identify birds than my mum and my niece is only just getting interested in nature – so what better way to help her learn some of the most common garden birds?

All 3 counts were in the afternoon, mum’s from 1-2pm on the Saturday, followed by a quick drive to my niece’s for a 2.30-3.30 slot.  My garden count was on the Sunday afternoon – I was saving the best until last.  Or so I thought!

I get all sorts in my garden with small flocks of long-tail tits raiding the orchard for food, jays screaming through the woods and blue tits virtually over-running the feeders – but they weren’t about when I did my count! Neither were the partridges or pheasants that often cross the lawn!

And I forgot that birds flying overhead don’t count, so that ruled out the gulls, buzzards and red kites that regularly turn up here.  Only things that land on the ground counted – and they needed to show up in that hour! 

Both Saturday counts took place from upstairs windows with the Sunday count from outside on the step – but this kept attracting to cats to come over in the hope of a stroke – not so good for birds!

The Results:
Well, there were some species that we all saw and as expected they were blackbirds, magpies and wood pigeons – all very common everyday, but I was quite surprised that both the urban environments saw collared doves and blue tits when my garden saw none.  Where had they gone for the hour?

My nieces garden had only 1 species that wasn’t found in the other 2 gardens, and that was a group of 20 (that I counted) rooks all squawking away in a great big fir tree!   The other 6 species were all shared with at least one of the other locations.

My mum’s urban garden brought up some great species including 3 song thrushes, a wren, 5 house sparrows, 26+ starlings and pied wagtail!

Great stuff for such a small space and so close to so many other houses.  Maybe it was all the containers and buildings that had attracted insects and other delicious invertebrates that were irresistible to these types of birds.

My garden had some equally interesting species that included a great spotted woodpecker, a pair of bullfinches and some jackdaws. 

But I still thought that my mum’s garden had more life in it than I thought it would – and that’s what made the count so much fun!

Go to the RSPB website and send in your results, and you make a difference!  You might have seen all my ‘missing’ species!

Did you know you could invest in a castle, a meadow or a farm?

It may not be common knowledge, but locations both home and abroad are actually run like companies.

One example is with a recent case of ‘disgruntled’ Bournemouth in the UK. The UK Weather Agency decided that the delightful seaside town on the English Channel was going to have terrible weather over the Bank Holiday weekend – however it didn’t!

Now, Bournemouth Council are trying to sue the weather agency for losing them £1 million in ‘tourist bucks’! Tourism bosses said that over 25,000 visitors stayed away for fear of rain!

I know you might not think it, but if you don’t visit or support stores and companies from the regions you love – then who is to say that they will remain? I don’t mean that the towns or countryside will become people-free – I mean that locations will change to more profitable options.

Open fields filled with wildlife may be churned up for crops or sold for housing. Cute cobbled streets filled with cafes and gift shops won’t stay open if they don’t make money – fast food outlets may well replace them!

Supporting Shopping!
You need to actually visit these locations and spend your money locally. Stay in locally-run hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, eating in local cafes and buying locally made souvenirs.

If you travel to your favourite hide-away but stay in a hotel chain, eat McDonalds and buy souvenirs ‘made in China’ – how can you expect the local population to make a living and keep their businesses up and running?

Support Your Heritage!
If there is a castle that you like the look of or a large stately home – make sure you pay to go inside.

Just looking at it from the outside is all fair and good and it may be amazing! But unless you actually spend money at the site – you are not helping it to stay alive!

Yeah, you might mention it to a friend and they go there for a look too, but unless there is money going into that area – it might not be worth keeping the castle open for tourists. It’s a business, it has to employ staff, clean and maintain the building, trim and plant the gardens and advertise it’s good bits.

How can it do that if you just peek at it across a wall or over a hedge? Without customers like any good store of restaurant – it will have to close.

Joining a Heritage charity or society can help to fund renovations of such buildings allowing them to remain for future generations to enjoy and you can be a part of that.

Supporting Habitats:
But how can you support a field or river? They are free to visit and they are just there.

Well, by becoming a member of a nature or wildlife related charity or business that has projects in that area will make sure that they have the funds where necessary to purchase or develop open spaces for the benefit of the existing wildlife. It may also allow funds to re-introduce native species that have been lost.

By telling your hosts that the reason you came here was for the river/beach/woods/wildlife/etc will make sure that they know what is making them successful. If they know they get most of their guests to see the rare so-and-so – they will all make sure that it stays right where it is! And your money can really become a powerful tool.

Supporting local organic farms can also keep nature in your neighborhood by leaving fields fallow or leave woodlands and hedgerows standing rather than having to sow crops instead.

Paying more for your food also makes a difference. If you are always buying the cheapest products – especially animal products – the farmers are having to make money from elsewhere – and that could include destroying that patch of riverside meadow or expanding smaller fields into super fields to make ends meet.

The Circle Of Life.
Just like a business – a farmer, landowner, town, or country all need to get support or financial rewards for their actions to keep doing them.

If growing apples makes double the amount that growing cucumbers does – then they grow apples. If selling burgers makes more money than locally made ice cream – then burgers it is! If more people want huge hotels rather than cosy holiday cottages then guess what?

Your everyday choices can make or break a holiday destination, can affect the shape of the high street and can destroy or encourage wildlife and open spaces.

So next time you think of your favourite place – make sure you make the most of your time there – supporting the destination and making sure it’s stays just how you like it!

Great tips on how to minimise your traveling ‘footprint’ in fragile or little visited locations.

We all love traveling to isolated, pristine environments where we can experience nature as it was meant to be.  We don’t want giant hotels standing on the beaches, or wide, busy roads leading into the wilderness – but if you want to go somewhere special – you need to take precautions.

I’m not talking about those for your own safety and health while traveling – I’m referring to the impact you will have on those environments.  And how you could ruin them before anyone else has had a chance to enjoy them – sometimes without even meaning to!

Here are some simple tips to make sure you really do ‘take only photos and leave only footprints’!

Keep Erosion To A Minimum:
When hiking through delicate ecosystems, try to keep to the paths to avoid damaging plants unnecessarily.  If people all start to walk side by side just because there is room to do so, the path eats away into the location – and can only get wider each time. 

Also, if enough plant material is trampled when you take a short cut, others who visit later may think it is an actual path, and start to enlarge the route – damaging more land.

Pitch Your Tent Eco-Wisely:
Choose a site for your tent that doesn’t cover native plants or flowers.  Always try to find a sandy or un-vegetated area to settle your ground sheet – otherwise you could be squashing or killing delicate ecosystems or slow-growing wild flowers.

In addition, don’t settle somewhere that is too close to water as you could prevent shy animals from approaching their water source.  Or get your belongings washed away after heavy rain!

Deposit Your ‘Waste’ With Care:
If you are outdoors long enough to need to ‘go’ then make sure you are sensible with your choice – and make sure you are off the main path! (however, this isn’t an excuse to violate ’rule 1′). 

In hot climates, make sure it is buried several inches underground – and to the lower edge of the path.  In rocky regions cover it with leaf litter or rocks, and make sure you don’t leave your toilet paper in the wind!  Either burn it or better still take it away with you – as with feminine hygiene products and dispose of in a bin!

Don’t Pollute Rivers:
Goes as an ‘obvious’ really – but not many people take biodegradable eco-friendly soaps and shampoos with them when camping!  Let alone washing up or cleaning products!

Also, try not to use them in the watercourse itself.  Ideally use a bucket or similar, then throw the waste water into the ground away from the stream or lake, so the ground can absorb most of the chemicals instead.

Depending on where you are and in what country – make sure that you don’t upset local communities by splashing around in water that they use for drinking or are trying to fish in – otherwise you could cause possible friction in the future for other tourists in the area.

Cooking Over Flames:
When thinking of starting a campfire – make sure you are legally allowed to do so – never assume that you can start one anywhere as they are by no means harmless!  And never leave a burning fire unattended.

Ideally, you would use an area that is already burned, or an area that is not covered in plant materials either dead or alive – dry or dead plants can act as fuel across the ground.  And make sure nothing is overhanging so make sure it doesn’t heat up and burn.

Only use fallen branches and wood for fuel – rather than dead branches still on trees – they act as an important natural habitat for birds, insects and mammals.  Also, don’t make it larger than you need as wood is a valuable resource in many communities.

Happy Camping!