Lockdown: live interviews, podcasts, awards and articles

As July draws to a close; our first month of the ‘easing of lockdown’ here in the UK, it felt like a good time to reflect and share some of the cool things I’ve been involved in over these last few months, regarding wildlife and conservation communications outside of this blog…

Food For Thought live interview with Dan Richardson

I’m so delighted to share with you a recent live chat I had with the wonderful, compassionate, animal advocate Dan Richardson. Dan is a patron of Born Free Foundation, an ambassador International Aid for the Protection and Welfare of Animals (IAPWA), Naturewatch Foundation and Action For Rhinos and one half of ‘Food for Thought’; an interview series to accompany a documentary of the same name.

It was such a pleasure and an honour to be invited to join Dan Richardson on the series of live-stream interviews with heroes from the world of animal conservation and welfare, filmmakers, actors and others involved in the shift towards a kinder, more compassionate future. You can watch the full interview above.

Food For Thought is an in-production documentary which explores the driving forces behind the phenomenal global shift towards a plant-based lifestyle. The film is being produced and directed by Giles Alderson and Dan Richardson.

Conservation Careers Podcast

Have you thought about starting a blog? Are you passionate about writing and communicating and want to share your thoughts, experiences and opinions? Will it make a difference?

I was delighted to be featured on Conservation Careers Podcast during UK lockdown, tracing back my career path to date and how my blogging journey has run alongside it. You can listen on the player above.

Button and Squirt interview

A huge thank you to Button and Squirt for featuring me in their Working With Wildlife blog series.

The Working With Wildlife blog series is a series of interviews with people who work within the animal industry and those that are on the path to working in these positions too.

I got to talk about my work, about who inspires me and of course, my favourite animals. You can read the full interview here.

ELAFI Animal Welfare Awards

In case you missed it; in Autumn 2019, I was delighted to announce that I’d be supporting the ELAFI Animal Welfare Awards as an ambassador.

May 2020 would bring with it the inaugural ELAFI Awards ceremony — and naturally, thanks to lockdown, this became an online ‘virtual version’ of the planned event.

I was so excited to present THREE awards at the virtual ceremony, to some incredibly deserving winners. This included the Kate on Conservation Rising Star Award Winner, and Kate on Conservation Honorary Award Winner.

It was great to join my husband, Nick Stephenson of Bowie Tour London to present the International Advocate of the Year 2020 Award, after we raised 200 Euros for Cyprus’ One Man’s Rescue campaign, which looks to spread awareness and re-home some of the older dogs who have been living in a shelter for years.

The money we raised through lockdown came from sales from my Sustainably 2nd-hand shop (You can find that here), and downloads of my husband’s special release single Poor Little Boy.

Pay Our Planet magazine article

Back in June, brand a new digital magazine that focuses on environmental, wIldlife, and social issues launched, named Pay Our Planet.

Pay our Planet is an online tree planting and wildlife community who’ve planted more than 600 trees so far — and they’ll be planting trees with each issue of their magazine sold.

I’m pleased to say that my End Wildlife Crime article featured in Issue 1 of the magazine alongside some hugely important subjects, suchas: how the global response to Covid-19 can instruct the fight again climate change; the reopening of wet markets; the plight of red squirrel; the creation of an edible forest garden and forgotten women in STEM.

Every subscription to this monthly digital magazine plants 15 trees per month, making you carbon+. You can be part of the solution and get your free 30-day trial here.
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Eastern Daily Press Newspaper

Amazingly, the Eastern Daily Press Newspaper dedicated an entire double page spread to the story of our neighbourhood lockdown garden. You can read about their awesome coverage on a previous blog post here:

A message of support from Jonathan Scott

One of the most amazing and special moments over the weeks and months of lockdown life (and in my blogging career!), came in the form of a special 30th birthday message from the Big Cat Man, Jonathan Scott.

Big Cat Diary was one of the things that inspired me most growing up, and made me dream of a future helping to safeguard wild places in Africa through storytelling. I’m completely blown away!

What a wonderful message. I’m 100% energised and excited for the opportunities that lie ahead, and the possibility of re-evaluating how we all connect with nature.

I believe that we are at a unique crossroads in time, created through the combination of a global outbreak, and a movement to amplify black voices, indigenous voices and the voices of people of colour in conservation throughout the world. Terrible loss and huge sacrifice has occurred to give us the chance to be in exactly the position we are now — it is my belief that we must not waste it.

Here’s to a new decade (and a so-called ‘new normal’) of growth, opportunity and getting things done; wildlife conservation, the fight against climate change and halting the loss of biodiversity across the globe requires us all to step up and get ‘doing’ ASAP ✨.