Princess Laurentien © Ezequiel Scagnetti

Rewilding Europe

On 18^th November an ambitious new project, Rewilding Europe, was launched with Princess Laurentien van Oranje as our expert moderator.

The aim of this unique initiative is to rewild one million hectares of abandoned land in Europe by 2020, in part achieved through the reintroduction of large, grazing herbivores.

WWF Netherlands, the ARK Foundation, and Wild Wonders of Europe, are the founding partners and we are thrilled to be involved in this groundbreaking project.

Five locations have been chosen as the first pilot projects in Croatia, Spain, the Carpathians and in the Danube Delta.

Check out the project’s website and stay tuned for more news around this exciting project.

Rewilding Europe

A new beginning. For wildlife. For us.

Bluefin Tuna still in peril

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas – the body that sets management rules for the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery is meeting this week 17 – 27 November. They have a critical role to play with the future of the Atlantic Tuna in their hands.

According to Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean, “The revelations of ICIJ’s (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) exhaustive investigation confirm WWF’s repeated warnings about widespread illegalities rippling throughout the supply chain of the Mediterranean and East Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery and trade. No consumer, no business, no government, can be sure they are dealing with responsibly caught and traded bluefin tuna – the whole chain is tarnished.”

To read more visit our partner, WWF’s website

We saw this immensely powerful video against by-catch wastage on the big screen outside the Europarliament in Brussels. http://www.fishfight.net/

Did you know: Half of all fish caught in the North Sea is thrown back overboard, dead! That is pure insanity! They are calling for support to address Commissioner Maria Damanaki, members of the Common Fisheries Policy Reform Group, and all MEPs. Please take a look.

Photo: Peter Cairns	Photo: Magnus Lundgren

Got ya!

Wild Wonders Director Peter Cairns is the Overall Winner of the “Nature’s Best Photo Competition”!

His striking osprey from Finland won him the prestigious award of the highly praised US photography magazine. Says Pete: “I'm delighted to have received this award, especially as the image was taken as part of my Wild Wonders of Europe assignments. This project set out to put Europe's spectacular nature on centre stage and I hope that this image, along with many others from the Wild Wonders collection, will help to do exactly that.”

We say: kudos, Pete, a fabulous shot! See more of Pete’s images here.

On top of Pete’s prize it was Gold and Silver Awards in the 2010 DEEP Indonesia Underwater Photography Competition for Magnus Lundgren for two of his Wild Wonders images taken in Portugal/Azores and in Iceland. His image of the diver in the Silfra gorge also won him the “Best of Show” Award).
Congratulations, Magnus!

Louis-Marie Préau	Florian Möllers

No. 69: Marie-Louis Préau

French wildlife and nature photographer Marie-Louis Préau faced quite a few difficulties during his assignment in Grande-Synthe, a city close to Dunkerque on the North Sea coast of France.

Both he and Wild Wonders of Europe Director Florian Möllers had been sent on assignment to photograph the biodiversity of Grand-Synthe and Pont-du-Château as being amongst the winners of the competition “Capital Francais de la Biodiversité”.

A selection of their images can be seen in the November issue of Terre Sauvage magazine and soon on the Wild Wonders of Europe website. Louis-Marie is photographer no. 69 in the Wild Wonders team. See some of his nice work on his website.

The indoor exhibition at AFPAN in Montier-en-Dèr - Images by Sandra Bartocha

Wild Wonders in Poland

Its been a busy month of festivals with keynote presentations at the GDT festival in Lunen/Germany and our indoor exhibition at AFPAN in Montier-en-Dèr/France. It was a truly wonderful sight to see the scores of primary school children enthralled by our images. Without fail, the boys wowed by Mount Stromboli’s awesome firepower and the girls snapping the Oostvadersplassen horses on their mobile phones.

Wild Wonders of Europe will also be present at the Polish Nature Photo Festival in Torun on December 10 with a presentation by Wild Wonders photographer Grzegorz Lesniewski and Wild Wonders Director Staffan Widstrand.

Fancy a new Nikon DSLR Camera?

We were thrilled to meet Michel d’Oultremont from Belgium at Montier-en-Dèr, winner and runner-up of the September’s Adult category in our monthly photo competition. It’s always great to connect with people in the flesh and to share in their enthusiasm.

You want to be a winner, too? Nikon camera kits, Nik Software and fineArt prints are among the prizes of our monthly photo competition. The Grand Prize might even take YOU on your own Wild Wonders assignment! Send us YOUR best Wild Wonders of Europe! The second round of our online photo competition is in full swing and waiting for entries!

Enjoy and vote for the shortlisted October entries. Public voting ends November 30! Invite your friends and colleagues! It’s great fun with many nice pictures to look at.

 Wild Wonders of Europe thanks our Main Partners:

…and our many other important partners for their generous contributions and support, all without whom this epic conservation photography project would never have been possible.

 

Groupe Bayard - Nature Picture Library - Editions de la Martiniere - Conservation International
Sandisk - Gitzo - Life Exhibitions - PAS Events - Art for Conservation - Envirofone - Skogens Konung - Polar Quest - Aunan Lodge - Norway Nature - Artic Media  - Islas Canarias - Staatsbosbeheer - European Carnivore Campaign - Convention on Biological Diversity - PEBLDS - Pan Parks - NVN - Birdlife International -TurExtremadura - Nik Software

Wild Taiga - Finnature - Noble Caledonia - Flatanger Kommune - Innovation Norway
Kuusamo Lapland - Forollhogna - Äventyrsresor - IUCN - EEA - ILCP - Countdown 2010
WILD Foundation - Euronatur - Aefona - Fotonatura.org - Montier-en-Dèr - Vision Salvaje
Image & Nature - Grasduinen - IFWP - UNEP - Naturapics -  Visit Finland  - Visit Sweden
NVN - Naturfokus - Naturfotograferna - Reisen in die Natur - Destinasjon Saltstraumen
BirdingInSpain.com - Photo Travel - Hide Photography - Mediwiss Analytic -
Objectif Nature - Lanzarote - Madeira Tourism - Patronado de Turismo de Lanzarote - Andorra Turisme - King of the Forest - Ulvsbomuren - Parque Natural da Madeira -
Nordic Discovery - DIVE.is -  Alpine Convention - Alladale Estate - Valle d’Aosta