These images are amazing. The boars and wolves! The hunters much more worrying. Where we are in Brittany the hunters have killed so many foxes that the mouse population is completely out of control with Lyme Disease becoming more rampant -- all the made knock ons of taping out predators :( I once had dinner with a wolf -- he was one that was owned to help with tracking missing people and was in a restaurant in the Var with his keeper, relaxing under the table. The friend we were visiting helped with the training -- getting lost and found by the wolves.
Man that was fantastic. Love the wolf images. I was a bit surprised how slender they were, the wolves in Sweden tend to be heftier, but I guess that might be a consequence of the more challenging temperatures.
I totally prefer your Luna terminology. I'm sure you already know but the whole "Alpha" thing is a misnomer based on studies conducted on captive wolves where the behaviour is obviously perverted by circumstance.
We also have the so-called traditionalists here too, who want to kill everything their grandparents wanted to kill, regardless of the totally changed environment (not only the natural but the social as well, there are subsidies etc. for loss of livestock to wolves these days that didn't exist in the past). But yeah, no need to rant on about the failure of people to mature and grow with time I suppose.
Anyway, thanks so much Alexander, that was a really absorbing new element to your always brilliant offerings. I'm very grateful :)
This was excellent, the writing and the trailcam footage.
I have a memory of seeing a wolf outside the window when I was living in Lapland, but I've almost convinced myself that it can't be a real memory. I must message my friend I was with and see if she remembers it too. I also think I saw a wild boar, but it was so fast it could have been any beast, running past me whilst I was walking to work (again in Finnish Lapland).
I loved this, thank you! Living in Aotearoa, a land of birds, all mammals here are introduced (except for one tiny bat). So it's always very fascinating to me to see an ecosystem that's full of so many fascinating mammals. Do you know Sarah Hall's novel The Wolf Border? She imagines a scenario whereby wolves are released back into Britain. At Knepp in Sussex, a rewilded farm, the natural predators would be a lynx or a pack of wolves; that was unworkable in a farming district, so their ecosystem lacks predators. Here our apex predator was a giant eagle. Another thing I think about sometimes is that in Europe, there are other countries you can borrow analogous animals from. For instance goshawks were reintroduced to Britain by falconers by way of a 'buy two, let one go' policy. Here there's nowhere else that has our animals, so they're gone forever. What I wouldn't give to see just one moa!
Alex — apologies for my tardiness — that was absolutely thrilling!
Aren't the hoglets funny, not long ago, returning from a friends house, I watched two families of boar and youngsters cross the road ahead of me and all file off through a gap in the hedge, I had stopped the car to film them through the windscreen only to find I'd forgotten to hit record! I was furious, there were at least 16 striped hoglets, tiny too for this time of year and two sows.
Oh but the wolves! You make me wish not only for a trail cam but the wolves to capture on its screen also... really!
I went to visit these magnificent creatures at Les Loups du Gévaudan in the Lozère in the Aubrac Mountains back in May. Part of the never to be forgotten (not for reasons of delight) three day school trip with 167 kids in tow. (NEVER AGAIN8!) Gévaudan is the biggest open Parc in Europe covering 20 hectares (no where near big enough obviously, especially considering the number of wolves within) it was interesting though and most of the wolves looked healthy, it was obvious the owners adored each of them and they were numerous, rescued from many different parts of the world, some as far as Mongolia. They are hounded by the government and locals alike. The day we arrived they had just had notification from whatever environmental bureau concerns itself with these matters, to ship out a further six wolves, not the month before it was three...
Sadly, if these beautiful Lupas were to be present here they would be as haunted by the local huntsmen as fox, boar and badger, the gunshots at this time of year are relentless. I do my best to thwart each hunt but time and the risk of my own life (excited young bucks with the fingers on triggers are not to be trusted) means little success. It breaks my heart.
Thank you so much for sharing these images with us, what an absolute treat to begin my day! I can't wait for spring and your next hike up the mountain.
Apologies for the ramble... I hope winter isn't too brutal for you this year, I am speechless to see temps of 21c here tomorrow and snow for less than a week later... dear old MN up to skulduggery again! Much love x
The best things we've caught on camera - the best way to catch any creature - are the life patterns and habits of our wild and free neighbours - including all manner of birds, mice, voles, roe deer, foxes, hedgehogs and pine martens. The thrill of checking the camera and finding a newbie comes close to feeling the privilege of getting to know our regulars well. Little changes in the body form and a freshly demonstrated interest in something off camera are always intriguing and simply make us want to be better friends with our visitors. They are so much a part of our lives here in the far north of Scotland.
Absolutely magical, Alexander! To see those wolves... and the boars, yes, but somehow the wolves steal the show (for me, anyway). Merci beaucoup de partager ces videos avec nous!
These images are amazing. The boars and wolves! The hunters much more worrying. Where we are in Brittany the hunters have killed so many foxes that the mouse population is completely out of control with Lyme Disease becoming more rampant -- all the made knock ons of taping out predators :( I once had dinner with a wolf -- he was one that was owned to help with tracking missing people and was in a restaurant in the Var with his keeper, relaxing under the table. The friend we were visiting helped with the training -- getting lost and found by the wolves.
Man that was fantastic. Love the wolf images. I was a bit surprised how slender they were, the wolves in Sweden tend to be heftier, but I guess that might be a consequence of the more challenging temperatures.
I totally prefer your Luna terminology. I'm sure you already know but the whole "Alpha" thing is a misnomer based on studies conducted on captive wolves where the behaviour is obviously perverted by circumstance.
We also have the so-called traditionalists here too, who want to kill everything their grandparents wanted to kill, regardless of the totally changed environment (not only the natural but the social as well, there are subsidies etc. for loss of livestock to wolves these days that didn't exist in the past). But yeah, no need to rant on about the failure of people to mature and grow with time I suppose.
Anyway, thanks so much Alexander, that was a really absorbing new element to your always brilliant offerings. I'm very grateful :)
This was excellent, the writing and the trailcam footage.
I have a memory of seeing a wolf outside the window when I was living in Lapland, but I've almost convinced myself that it can't be a real memory. I must message my friend I was with and see if she remembers it too. I also think I saw a wild boar, but it was so fast it could have been any beast, running past me whilst I was walking to work (again in Finnish Lapland).
I loved this, thank you! Living in Aotearoa, a land of birds, all mammals here are introduced (except for one tiny bat). So it's always very fascinating to me to see an ecosystem that's full of so many fascinating mammals. Do you know Sarah Hall's novel The Wolf Border? She imagines a scenario whereby wolves are released back into Britain. At Knepp in Sussex, a rewilded farm, the natural predators would be a lynx or a pack of wolves; that was unworkable in a farming district, so their ecosystem lacks predators. Here our apex predator was a giant eagle. Another thing I think about sometimes is that in Europe, there are other countries you can borrow analogous animals from. For instance goshawks were reintroduced to Britain by falconers by way of a 'buy two, let one go' policy. Here there's nowhere else that has our animals, so they're gone forever. What I wouldn't give to see just one moa!
How exciting - your footage is amazing!
Alex — apologies for my tardiness — that was absolutely thrilling!
Aren't the hoglets funny, not long ago, returning from a friends house, I watched two families of boar and youngsters cross the road ahead of me and all file off through a gap in the hedge, I had stopped the car to film them through the windscreen only to find I'd forgotten to hit record! I was furious, there were at least 16 striped hoglets, tiny too for this time of year and two sows.
Oh but the wolves! You make me wish not only for a trail cam but the wolves to capture on its screen also... really!
I went to visit these magnificent creatures at Les Loups du Gévaudan in the Lozère in the Aubrac Mountains back in May. Part of the never to be forgotten (not for reasons of delight) three day school trip with 167 kids in tow. (NEVER AGAIN8!) Gévaudan is the biggest open Parc in Europe covering 20 hectares (no where near big enough obviously, especially considering the number of wolves within) it was interesting though and most of the wolves looked healthy, it was obvious the owners adored each of them and they were numerous, rescued from many different parts of the world, some as far as Mongolia. They are hounded by the government and locals alike. The day we arrived they had just had notification from whatever environmental bureau concerns itself with these matters, to ship out a further six wolves, not the month before it was three...
Sadly, if these beautiful Lupas were to be present here they would be as haunted by the local huntsmen as fox, boar and badger, the gunshots at this time of year are relentless. I do my best to thwart each hunt but time and the risk of my own life (excited young bucks with the fingers on triggers are not to be trusted) means little success. It breaks my heart.
Thank you so much for sharing these images with us, what an absolute treat to begin my day! I can't wait for spring and your next hike up the mountain.
Apologies for the ramble... I hope winter isn't too brutal for you this year, I am speechless to see temps of 21c here tomorrow and snow for less than a week later... dear old MN up to skulduggery again! Much love x
The best things we've caught on camera - the best way to catch any creature - are the life patterns and habits of our wild and free neighbours - including all manner of birds, mice, voles, roe deer, foxes, hedgehogs and pine martens. The thrill of checking the camera and finding a newbie comes close to feeling the privilege of getting to know our regulars well. Little changes in the body form and a freshly demonstrated interest in something off camera are always intriguing and simply make us want to be better friends with our visitors. They are so much a part of our lives here in the far north of Scotland.
Absolutely magical, Alexander! To see those wolves... and the boars, yes, but somehow the wolves steal the show (for me, anyway). Merci beaucoup de partager ces videos avec nous!