World Wildlife Day 2023

It’s World Wildlife Day this week, an international celebration of the world’s wild animals and plants and the impact that they have on our lives and the planet as a whole. 

It’s amazing how big of an effect wildlife has on our way of living. From providing us with food to eat and air to breathe, through to producing important materials such as wood, wool, and even medicine.

World Wildlife Day aims to both celebrate our wonderful wildlife and also promote ways in which we can all help to keep Mother Nature happy! 

The theme this year is ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’ and we’re proud of our partnerships with charities that look to conserve wildlife such as the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the RSPB and the Ocean Conservation Trust. They’re all really amazing at what they do!

World Wildlife Day also made me want to share a selection of the many species of animals, insects and plants that I absolutely adore, many of which are inspirations for so many of our beautiful Hug Rug designs.

First of all…

Highland Cows

 

I mean just look at them! How cute are they? They look so soft and fluffy, yet so tough! With their bed head hairstyle, impressive horns and friendly and docile temperament (not a moody cow in sight), what’s not to like? 

They’re also known to be fantastic mothers and can even raise 15 or more calves over their lifetime (rather them than me!). I also recently discovered that the reason the ginger breed is so prevalent is all down to Queen Victoria. 

She commented on a trip to Scotland that she preferred that shade and so in an effort to please the Queen, farmers proceeded to breed them selectively. I wish everyone listened to me like that!

Luckily I can see these gorgeous creatures in all their glory whenever I fancy, as they roam freely in the Menagerie Wood within the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which is right next door to my house!

Bees

 

Not only are bees super furry and cute, they’re vitally important to our survival. That’s why it’s so sad and alarming that the bee population has been decreasing recently. If their numbers keep dropping, we’d be in heaps of trouble as almost 90% of plants depend on pollination! 

But we can all do our bit to ensure their survival. Whether that’s by planting a variety of beautiful flowers in your garden to provide them with nectar goodness or helping them out with a little drop of sugar water next time you see one struggling a bit on the floor, bless ‘em. 

My favourite quirky fact about bees is that because they are deaf, they communicate by dancing! Which is something I might try next time I fancy a brew and a biscuit in the office, see if anyone sticks the kettle on. 

Our Bumbling Bees blog has even more impressive facts and a little more information regarding the Bumblebee Conservation Trust too, if you fancy increasing your bee knowledge.

Daffodils

 

Spring is just around the corner and with that, comes the blossoming of one of my favourite flowers, daffodils. Legend has it that receiving a bouquet of daffodils would ensure happiness and that’s exactly how they make me feel.

It’s lovely seeing them brighten up the countryside this time of year and it’s nice to know that warmer weather is just around the corner. They’re also the national flower of Wales and if you manage to spot the first daffodil of the season in the country, your next year will supposedly be full of wealth! 

Sheep

 

How could I not include our woolly friends? Here at Hug at Home, we owe them a big thank you for helping us to produce our warm and comfy wool throws and many of our beautiful rugs. 

Whilst they have a reputation for following the crowd, they’re actually super intelligent and can even recognise and remember human faces! Plus, they’re highly sociable and experience a wide range of emotions too. 

Amazingly, just one pound of their wool can make up to 10 miles of yarn and depending on the breed, just one sheep can produce up to 13kg of wool a year! So once again, a big thank you to our woolly friends.

I could go on forever about my favourite wildlife as so many plants and animals are dear to my heart. But I need to go and share my ideas with the team to get even more plant and animal Hug Rug designs in production! 

Our Nature and Animal collections are certainly plentiful already, but you can never get enough of cute animals and beautiful flowers can you?

Busy Lizzie x