Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition 2012

This week I went to the Natural History Museum to see my favourite annual show: the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. Selected from 48,000 thousand international entries the 100 winning images of exotic, slippery, playful, dangerous and adorable wild creatures are displayed beautifully. 

The environmental section, focused on mankind's frequently callous attitude towards the wildlife around them, is particularly affecting.  ‘Primal Fear’ by Jabruson (left) which shows a Mozambiquan boy holding a completely terrified monkey captive is still haunting me - exactly it's intention. 

This exhibition serves as an important reminder of how spectacular the animals on our ever-changing planet really are, whilst also showing off the huge respect, concern and insane talent that these intrepid photographers that capture their images possess.  

The Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is on display at the Natural History Museum and runs until 3 March. Admission is £10.

Ice Skating at The Natural History Museum

Before I returned back home for a sunny Kenyan Christmas (the reason for my lack of postings recently – the internet is sooo slooow!) I went to The Natural History Museum to go ice-skating. To be clear, I am a beach baby through and through and outside of a mojito, ice is not an old friend of mine, so I was a little apprehensive to say the least!

Despite being like a fish out of water, I approached the ice rink full of Dancing On Ice, glittering gusto (“if that girl off Hollyoaks can do it, so can I”) and after a wobbly start (and a few moments where I contemplated grabbing a little penguin stabilizer off a nearby child) I was up, up and awaaay, looping around the ice to the pumping sounds of... Westlife. I really recommend you go (and don’t forget your gloves, hat and… ipod!)

The Ice Rink is open until the 8th of January 2012 and tickets (from £8) can be bought here.

Butterfly, Flutterby, Butterfly By

Beautifully delicate with bright, fairy like wings, seeing the year’s first butterfly brings a smile to most people’s faces. We are immediately filled with the excitement and hope that, similarly to this vibrant creature, newly emerged from its dark cocoon, we too will imminently be throwing off our snug duvets, tossing aside our UGG boots and surfacing into the warm light of summer (bless our British optimism and wishful thinking...)

When I went to The Butterfly House at the Natural History Museum I was faced with 100’s of bright and beautiful tropical butterflies from all over the world, many species of which are currently under threat from climate and habitat change. I was all a'flutter (and a'fluster... Wow... Butterflies like it hot and humid...) and soon found myself standing statue still, arms stretched out, in the desperate hope of looking like the perfect butterfly landing strip… It was at this particular moment my boyfriend disappeared across the pavilion, making sure he did not also look deranged by mere association.

There are tables to see the butterflies feeding with their straw like mouths, a hatchery window for visitors to see pupae growing, eventually emerging into butterflies (this cycle can take up to 137 days so there’s no guarantee you will see anything more exciting than eggs and larvae) and best of all – the mirror on your way out (to check if you are harboring any mischievous escapees) unintentionally elongates and slims you beyond all recognition, leaving you feeling like Giselle… Now that IS wishful thinking!

The Butterfly House is open until 11th September 2011