Wild Britain - Channel 5
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:19 am
Here is the link on catch up:
https://www.my5.tv/wild-britain/season- ... in-forests
It was nice to see it. Some beautiful filming and enjoyable woodland scenes.
When will a narrator (or presentation team), see a need to stress the importance of an ecosystem from 'the bottom up' without such a strong emphasis on the creatures at the top of a food chain?
The way it was presented (like many wildlife documentaries are), was a bit like "making a cake, starting with the icing'.
Insect populations (that feed bird populations) have 'collapsed' in many places in the United Kingdom in recent years. Some of it due to modern 'fast farming methods'.
To present birds as 'tree saviours' from caterpillars that attack them is to misunderstand our native wildlife ecology without a mention of 'invasive species' that often do not have a natural, native control (that is why they are invasive).
A problem with 'bird feeders first' can leave an artificially high population of animals at the top of a food chain that then puts extra pressure on the wildlife below it.
The relationship between Wild Boar and bluebells, I didn't think was fully explained. Many people do not like the aesthetically displeasing mess a Wild Boar can make of a lawn and that kind of understanding can influence the way such programmes are presented.
Ragwort and other flora.
Whatever livestock animals are used (or left) to graze to manage a landscape, they have a dietary preference so to maintain wildlife diversity, areas could be (or should be) set aside, where their favourite foods are left to flourish as well as an animal cull which can be necessary, with a better understanding of the whole ecosystem.
That leads me back to my first point:
'When will a narrator (or presentation team), see the need to stress the importance of an ecosystem from 'the bottom up' when looking at pyramid shaped food chains?
https://www.my5.tv/wild-britain/season- ... in-forests
It was nice to see it. Some beautiful filming and enjoyable woodland scenes.
When will a narrator (or presentation team), see a need to stress the importance of an ecosystem from 'the bottom up' without such a strong emphasis on the creatures at the top of a food chain?
The way it was presented (like many wildlife documentaries are), was a bit like "making a cake, starting with the icing'.
Insect populations (that feed bird populations) have 'collapsed' in many places in the United Kingdom in recent years. Some of it due to modern 'fast farming methods'.
To present birds as 'tree saviours' from caterpillars that attack them is to misunderstand our native wildlife ecology without a mention of 'invasive species' that often do not have a natural, native control (that is why they are invasive).
A problem with 'bird feeders first' can leave an artificially high population of animals at the top of a food chain that then puts extra pressure on the wildlife below it.
The relationship between Wild Boar and bluebells, I didn't think was fully explained. Many people do not like the aesthetically displeasing mess a Wild Boar can make of a lawn and that kind of understanding can influence the way such programmes are presented.
Ragwort and other flora.
Whatever livestock animals are used (or left) to graze to manage a landscape, they have a dietary preference so to maintain wildlife diversity, areas could be (or should be) set aside, where their favourite foods are left to flourish as well as an animal cull which can be necessary, with a better understanding of the whole ecosystem.
That leads me back to my first point:
'When will a narrator (or presentation team), see the need to stress the importance of an ecosystem from 'the bottom up' when looking at pyramid shaped food chains?