This August has been absolutely fantastic.
I know, I’m surprised as well! Throughout the first half of the month I stayed in East Yorkshire to await and enjoy the brief return of dama Rosy. I then spent the latter half of August in and around Keele University. I’m sure if you follow me on any social media sites you’ll have guessed what the majority of this months photo diary will be about, but if you don’t: it’s Barbary macaques.
Trentham Monkey Forest
Established in July 2005, Trentham Monkey Forest covers 60 acres of woodland inhabited by 140 free-roaming Barbary macaques.
Although the Forest has received over two million visitors over the past decade, their primary objective is not to flaunt the Barbary macaques for human entertainment, but rather to raise awareness about the endangered species they care for. It’s thought that there are only between 8,000 and 10,000 Barbary macaques left in the wild due to deforestations and the illegal pet trade. Since it’s opening, Trentham Monkey Forest has celebrated 72 births - 34 males and 38 females. Combined with it’s three sister parks, situated in France and Germany, the conservationists have successfully released over 600 Barbary macaques back into their natural habitat on Atlas Mountain in Morocco.
One of the main causes of the plight facing the Barbary macaques is the illegal trade of monkeys as pets and performers, which is still prominent in Morocco. Although Barbary macaques may appear like friendly, happy animals they have not been bred to live comfortably with humans like cats and dogs, nor should they be.
More than 200 baby macaques are taken from their parents and family groups each year, forced to live alongside humans causing them serious physiological and physical problems. Not only do these captive macaques often suffer from poor nutrition and musculoskeletal problems due to their unnatural environment, they often develop behavioural problems such as repetitive movements, self-mutilation and aggression.
If you are interested in becoming involved in the conservation of Barbary macaques or would like more information, visit the Barbary Macaque Awareness and Conservation (BMAC) website. I highly recommend you also visit Trentham Monkey Forest as they are thoroughly committed to raising public awareness, sharing information and protecting their macaques. Plus, the Barbary macaques are also absolutely fascinating to watch and the babies are adorable.
I apologise for the quality of these photos by the way, apparently the iPhone 5C camera isn’t particularly great when zoomed in.
Okay, so my dream of becoming a BBC wildlife documentary photographer may not become a reality any time soon but believe me those macaques are wonderful!
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
Whenever I visit a new place, my first priority is always to visit the local museums and soak up a bit of the history and culture. What can I say? I’m a super cool person. So, when my grandparents came down to visit Amartya and I in Stoke - my nan wanted to be sure that I hadn’t run away to join ISIS, I’m not even kidding - we decided to check out The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
Although the museum features the Staffordshire Hoard, a natural history section and a cafe that has the nicest coffee in the world, the best part of The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery has to be the World War II Spitfire. Just look at it!
My favourite plane is still the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird which I saw in the Washington National Air and Space Museum though. That thing’s incredible.
Keele & Newcastle-Under-Lyme
When I was applying to universities back in 2010 - excuse me whilst I have a mental breakdown -my fourth choice was Keele University. However, for reasons that I still cannot grasp to this day, I only applied to three universities (Lincoln, Leeds Met and Teeside) and completely forgot to apply to Keele. Fortunately, I didn’t end up going to study English and History at any of the universities I’d applied for because every course curriculum looked incredibly boring and unhelpful anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. Still, I find it odd that I’ve ended up spending so much time here now.
The campus is lovely, my favourite bit being the Costa/ Blackwells of course.
Hessle
I’m not sure why I’ve decided to write this month’s photo diary backwards, but hey: monkeys. At the beginning of August I dragged out my memory bag - it’s literally a H&M bag filled with smaller, frequently Hello Kitty-themed bags - and went through it with both April and Rosy. It’s strange the things we pick up and keep throughout our lives, most of the items I’d kept where brochures from around Europe and America, as well as Pokemon cards.
Football
Another strange occurrence that happened to me this month is I was somehow dragged to a football game. Being from Hull, you better believe my entire family loves Hull City but I’ve never been that keen. That said, I really enjoyed watched Hull City VS Huddersfield although don’t expect me to be at any winter matches any time soon.
Rosy, April & CeCe
As I mentioned above and in my previous photo diary, Rosy came home from Madrid this month which meant wine and burgers. By happy coincidence her return also coincided with the mid-season finale of Pretty Little Liars. Although we watched the reveal together, drew graphs, wrote lists and read through various subreddits, I think Rosy will agree we’re still a little baffled. Not only by the writer’s choice to make CeCe-Charlotte-Charles A, but also by our own choice to watch this dumb show for five years.
I’ve also started working for numerous new sites this month, so I thought I’d share just some - I have seriously written my arse off this month - of my favourite pieces that I’ve written from the past thirty days:
Lifehack
An Infographic To Show You How Einstein Failed And Failed Again
How To Make Cheesy Pizza Dip In Less Than One Minute
A Story That Will Surely Move You to Tears: “When I’m Gone”
Here Are the World’s Most Spoken Languages in One Globe Map
Hardcore Droid
Mushroom Wars Review
Storm Age Review
The Working Parent
Netflix Parental Leave: Employees To Get A Year Off
Is Your Job Bad For Your Health?
Morgan Freeman’s Granddaughter Murdered
Ad Selling A Baby For £15K Found On Second Hand Sales Site
Two Thirds Of Parents Unhappy After First Child
Would Our Children From 12 Hour School Days And A Chinese Education System?
Pakwired
13 Inventions You Didn’t Know Came From Pakistan
A Complete Guide To Content Syndication
9 Secrets To Running A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
Pakistan And India United Through… Taxi Seats?
Best Android Apps
10 Of The Best Web Browsers For Android
