Recent research has shown that a lack of exposure to the countryside and more rural environments may have led to a vast increase in allergies. I really do wonder sometimes why it takes highly qualified scientists to spend years researching what, to me, is just plain old fashioned common sense!

I’ve had an article sitting in my “in box” since April and I’ve finally got round to reading it. Being a nature lover and into animal welfare/environmental issues, I was overjoyed to hear that some of our rarest butterflies made a bit of a come back during 2011.

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest desert in the world. Clouds rarely appear over the far reaching sandy landscape and, if lucky, clouds may appear around 30 days a year so what better place on earth for solar panels?