Wildlife Matters podcast at 50! - A Celebration

Hello and welcome to this week’s Wildlife Matters Podcast. I’m your host, Nigel Palmer.In today’s Bonus episode, we will look back over our first 50, yes, 5-0 episodes, that is, four complete series, and chat through some of the highlights and challenges. We will celebrate the fantastic wildlife and some of the incredible people we have spoken to and discuss what it’s been like to start a podcast and build a community from scratch.VM8mty8hW23bl0Rpm5fjIt's time to review our first four series and this 52nd episode of the Wildlife Matters podcast.It feels strange reflecting on my work and passion in public, and perhaps that is one of the reasons I preferred to review our first fifty episodes rather than do a stand-alone Q&A that many of you asked for. Wildlife Matters journey started with a lifelong love of wildlife and an appreciation of nature and the natural world we share with wild animals. It also comes from the deeply held belief that we are all animals and a massive aversion to those who take pleasure in hunting or persecuting them for their fur and body parts, testing medications and inflicting diseases on them, or forcing them to perform for our entertainment.REFLECTING ON THE JOURNEYWhen I started this podcast, I had a vision. I dreamt of creating a community of wildlife and nature lovers where we could talk about and celebrate Wildlife and the wonders of the natural world. I wanted to share stories, inspire, and help each other grow. I never imagined we’d reach this incredible milestone. It is not only 52 episodes or four series but, as you will find out as we go along, I am so proud to have created a passionate and engaged community that will take action and like to celebrate wildlife and the natural world. We will use our collective voice now to benefit wildlife and the natural world, continue to share each other's stories and grow into a genuine force for good.It’s been a journey filled with ups and downs, moments of doubt, but most importantly, moments of pure joy. We’ve had some incredible conversations with inspiring guests, and I’m so grateful to each of them for being such a vital part of our journey. In Series Five, we will bring you more conversations with people working with or for wildlife and nature.Why Wildlife Matters?From the beginning, the goal was to build a community based on mutual love and appreciation of wildlife and nature, sharing stories and experiences to engage, motivate and inspire others to follow their passions and beliefs to help wildlife and nature in their unique way.Wildlife Matters was born from a passion and a lifelong love for wildlife and the natural world. With over 30 years of experience working for wildlife and conservation charities in the UK, Africa, and Asia, I have gained invaluable insights into species protection, conservation, and habitat management.We have a profound love for plants and trees and all aspects of Nature, including habitats, Oceans and rivers, but our absolute passion is wildlife species.In addition, our practical experience in Woodland Management and Horticulture has given us the tools to make a difference in the fight to protect our natural world.We have hands-on experience working with sick and injured animals on the frontline in a busy wildlife rescue. For over forty years, I have, along with many others, taken direct action against hunters and anyone who persecutes wildlife for so-called sport.Our knowledge and experience are as diverse and varied as they are broad.British wildlife is not only beautiful and unique but also fascinating and varied. While our mammals may not be the largest, they possess unique qualities and live in many habitats, including the beautiful bat species - the UK’s only flying mammal.Our birdlife is abundant, and many new species from Southern Europe have joined us in recent years. Our bird passion lies in raptors, owls, and corvids. Still, we remember our reptiles, amphibians, and insects as the foundation of biodiverse habitats, leading fascinating lives in unique places.Wildlife Matters CommunityWildlife Matters is dedicated to building a community of nature and wildlife enthusiasts. We believe that a podcast is the best way to achieve this.Our podcast serves as the beating heart of our community. It will explore the successes, problems, and challenges facing wildlife and the natural world every week.It also provides an instant way to connect with our audience and respond to situations as they happen.We use our platform to share stories, adventures and experiences in Nature, as well as to look at incredible wildlife and share some of its secrets.We will also give as many wildlife groups a platform and a voice to inform others of their work or campaigns. Of course, we will continue to advocate and urge the British government to fulfil its wildlife commitments.Wildlife Matters in Action.Our primary goals are to achieve a complete ban on blood hunting with packs of dogs, end the ineffective badger culls, and driven grouse shooting whilst we work to eliminate wildlife crime, which has become a significant problem in most parts of the UK in recent years.We also aim to establish a space for grassroots organisations and individuals working on local wildlife or habitat projects to collaborate in campaigning for change.We are passionate about being a platform for direct action groups that work tirelessly to prevent blood hunters and those who intentionally harm or destroy our wildlife and natural habitats.Our community is always open to hearing about any wildlife issues you want us to cover. Do you run a wildlife project or group and wish to raise awareness of your work in our community? Please get in touch. We will leave our contact details in the show notes.We aim to share information with those discovering how fantastic wildlife and nature can be while entertaining those with more knowledge and experience.BUILDING A COMMUNITYWe plan to launch a Facebook group to help us share and connect. Right now, our community is mainly based in the UK, but we have regular listeners worldwide, so let’s have a shout-out and a round of applause for our community in the US.Hi to those in Australia and New Zealand, India, and Hola to everyone in Brazil and Mexico. We are proud to have so many listeners in South America.Closer to home in Europe, Let’s say hi to our friends in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Greece—our top five European countries—and everyone else in Europe.Community means everything to us. So, thanks go to you for listening to our humble little podcast wherever and however you listen. You are always welcome. Your support, feedback, and enthusiasm do mean the world to me. For those who’ve been with me since episode one, you all deserve a special mention. You’ve stuck with me through episodes where the audio was just “shittastic,” and the production was non-existent, but you stayed with me. Our first episode, An Introduction to Wildlife Matters, a ten-minute podcast outlining my dreams and hopes for the podcast, has been downloaded over 20,000 times—that is bloody incredible!To everyone who listens - Thank you for being on this journey with me.LESSONS LEARNEDRunning a podcast is a lot of work. I research, write, record and produce the podcast myself. It takes around 16-20 hours per episode, not including the time I spend planning my stories and travelling around the UK to create the adventures to share with you.I have always tried to keep things natural, transparent, and honest. That’s why we have never had paid sponsors or adverts on the podcast.But It has been challenging at times. When I started, I was nervous and unsure of the future, but I knew one thing: I wanted to create a space for people to celebrate and enjoy the beauty and endless fascination of wildlife and nature—and that’s precisely what we’ve done. You wouldn’t believe the steep learning curve of technical challenges, from building and writing a website that could take the podcast from an RSS feed to learning SEO and audio editing.Recently, I’ve been working on I-movie as I learn to edit the videos I’ve been making -on my own for the last few months. The video production learning curve has been relentless, from setting up camera shots to getting a B roll and learning to fly a drone.Add to that the setting up of donation platforms and shops that will hopefully one day fund the costs of making the podcast—which has been entirely self-financed—and learning Canva to make our social media even more appealing!There have been moments of self-doubt, moments of questioning my sanity, whether my finances will hold out, and whether my freelancing will pay the bills next month—yes, I still work up to four days a week to pay the bills—but we’ve persevered. We have driven the Wildlife Matters podcast into the top 10 Nature podcasts.EXPERT INSIGHTS AND REAL STORIESThroughout this journey, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to some amazing people, such as Lucy Steele from Wild Things Rescue, a general wildlife rescue based in Lincolnshire, Debra from Hedgepigs, a dedicated hedgehog rescue in Nottingham and Natalia from London-based Urban Squirrels - a dedicated grey squirrel rescue and the excellent Mya, currently studying wildlife at college who is...