The Arctic national wildlife refuge is 50 years old......

As a kid I always wanted to go to the Arctic national wildlife refuge but growing up in the UK i believed this was highly doubtful at my tender age of 8 years old.

To see a polar bear or a wolf was a dream for me. I would see natural history programs on TV featuring this amazing place and it jettisoned me off to this wilderness.

Many years on it became reality and after visiting this majestic place 5 times, I cannot get enough of it.

Each year though there is a threat to its very existence and that threat is from man and his addiction to oil.

For many years ANWR( as it has become known ) is the subject of oil drilling, certain people want to see this amazing place opened up for oil.

For over 50 years activists and conservationists have fought off these threats, many by the skin of their teeth.

Even if you never visit this pristine wilderness in your lifetime, You need to know that we can at least protect at least one place on this planet, If not for you, your children and their kids.

Extinction is for ever

Please visit www.arcticlive.comfor details on this 50th anniversary.

you can also follow links to facebook and twitter from there.

https://www.facebook.com/ArcticLive

Get involved and revel in this amazing place.

Happy Birthday Arctic national wildlife refuge....

Recorded sounds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the Kongakut River, Canning Delta, Sunset Pass and Beaufort Lagoon.

http://www.arcticsoundscapeproject.com/

Recordist: Martyn Stewart

www.naturesound.org

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This is a recording from New Zealand on the south Island at a place called Punakaiki. These amazing underground caves and blow holes spew out these phenomenal sub-sonic booms as the ocean waves travel with incredible force through the caverns and holes. Birds heard in the background are White-fronted tern. This from Wikipedia: The Pancake Rocks are a very popular tourist goal at Dolomite Point south of the main village. The Pancake Rocks are a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts though a number of vertical blowholes during high tides. Together with the 'pancake'-layering of the limestone (created by immense pressure on alternating hard and soft layers of marine creatures and plant sediments),[1] these form the main attraction of the area. This is a great recording if you have a woofer in your arsenal! Recording info: Recorder: SD 722 Microphones: Sennheiser MKH-40/30 MS pattern Gitzo traveller Tripod mounted with Rycote windjammers. Time: 05:45 Temp:45f Date: 13-11-2009 Weather: Overcast and rain Humidity: 74% Sample rate: 44.1k 24 bit. Recordist: Martyn Stewart

The Yellow-eyed penguin is endangered, with an estimated population of 4,000. It is considered one of the world's rarest penguin species. The main threats include habitat degradation and introduced predators. It may be the most ancient of all living penguins. This is a podcast from Penguin Place on the Otago Peninsula. Recorded with HHB flashmic, Telinga DAT, Sound devices 722 recorder. Recordist: Martyn Stewart. New Zealand, November 2009

The Tui found in New Zealand is one brilliant songster! here is a bird singing before dawn with a variety of clicks, trills, buzzes and hoots. One of the most complicated singers putting it up there with the Oropendolas and cowbirds. Location: New Zealand, Stewart Island. Temp:45f Winds: 2-mph Humidity: 80% Recorded with Sound devices 722 Microphones: MKH 40/30 ms Tripod mounted protected with a rycote windjammer. Recordist: Martyn Stewart No narration

New Zealand 2009. Recorded on the South Island around the beaches of the Otago Peninsula. Rain was falling around 11:00 pm as these wonderful little creatures came home to feed their chicks. The smallest penguin, the little blue penguin is sometimes called the Fairy Penguin. If you wear headphones with this recording you can hear them walking along the trails to their dens. Recorded with: Sound Devices 722 MKH 40/30 microphones Tripod mounted with Rycote windjammer. Original recording done at 44.1k 24 bit Weather overcast Temp 54f Humidity 81% Recordist Martyn Stewart

The cayman islands are the "British" West Indies. This podcast is without narration this time. Taken from Little Cayman, this soundscape was in the middle of a tropical thunderstorm. The microphones were left on a coral beach. The waves crash onto the beach and thunder crashes in the background. You may hear West Indian Whistling ducks fly past the microphones towards the end. Little Cayman is a recordists dream, very few people inhabit the island. Recorded with Sound Devices 788t and 2 sets of MKH 40/30 microphones recorded in an MS pattern. Recordist Martyn Stewart

Today we are taking you to Queensland, Australia to a rainforest. we are at the chambers wildlife area at Lake Echam in the Atherton Tablelands. I'm going to introduce you to a pademelon, NO it's not an irish fruit but a small forest kangaroo. Pademelens browse on the grass in rainforest clearings usually in groups. Pademelons are mainly nocturnal so it's a delight to be able to witness these amazing animals in an open area close to one of the main lodges that John Chambers provides. Why are animals nocturnal? Well why not! We as mammals mainly function by day because as top predators, we have very little to hide from but most Australian mammals are potential meals for something else so it is to their advantage that mammals like Pademelons function under the cover of darkness when many predator birds and reptiles are asleep. Many thanks to Roo Stewart for the questions. To go to John chambers site visit http://rainforest-australia.com/

Why Do We Fear Bears? Attacks are rare and excessive warnings about them create unnecessary fear. Balanced and factual information about bears is hard to find.

All gods creatures have a place in the choir, including the world WE live in.

It is December and Today I'm taking you to the Skagit flats, about 60 miles north of Seattle in Washington state. The Skagit flats is one of Americas best winter birding destinations and one of the American birding associations “important birding areas.