When I was eighteen, a very long time ago, I was bitten by a sea snake while I was bathing in the South China Sea. The pain was incredible, and I was very lucky to survive. The snake must have had nearly as big a shock as me. After all, it had just been doing its usual thing on a Saturday afternoon when my big human foot stepped on it. It shot off through the water, seemingly unharmed. I hope it was. There was a huge variety of wild creatures in the sea off the Malaysian coas

As Blue Planet II made devastatingly clear, plastic is having an unprecedented impact on marine life, with dolphins, whales, turtles, seals, fish and seabirds paying a tragic price for man's thoughtless consumerism. Here are a few plastic facts: 1. A 2017 study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that 12.7 million tonnes of plastic - bottles, straws, glitter, microbeads and bags ends up our oceans each year. That's a truckload every minute. 2. There are an estimated 3

Finn has always been different, and in the tiny fishing village of Stromhead he sticks out like a sore thumb. Always told to keep away from the water, he's felt that something was missing until one day he dives in and finds that, swimming with the dolphins, he feels completely at home... Something floated just above Finn's head. It was round and a dazzling orange colour. A jellyfish! thought Finn. I hope it doesn't sting. No – it's a balloon! A string was hanging down from th

We are living in the Anthropocene age, in which human influence on the planet is so profound – and terrifying – it will leave its legacy for millennia. Politicians and scientists have had their say, but how are writers and artists responding to this crisis? In 2003 the Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht coined the term solastalgia to mean a “form of psychic or existential distress caused by environmental change”. Albrecht was studying the effects of long-term drought and l

Our Ocean-loving authors have written dozens of watery or just plain brilliant books, from MG mysteries and adventures about dolphins, seals, river voles, mermaids and young explorers to YA surf and sea romances. We hope you enjoy this selection.... Georgie Adams – Charmseekers: Moonlight and Mermaids Philip Ardagh – The Grunts all at Sea, The World of Moomin Valley Yaba Badoe – A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars Catherine Barr – Red Alert!, The Story of Life: a First Book of Evoluti

MY TOP 5 BOOK RESEARCH ADVENTURES BEHIND SKY SONG I’ve always been enthralled by snowy stories and many of my favourite childhood books featured icy realms: Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights. So, perhaps it was inevitable that one day I would write my own wintry book. But it was only when I travelled up to the Arctic recently, to north Norway, that I started taking notes about the lands

Increasing numbers of shark species are being found in British waters. Why is this happening, asks Ben Garrod – and where can we see them? If you are looking for sharks, there are plenty to see wherever you are around the British Isles. Dr Ben Garrod will be reporting on sharks for Radio 4's Costing the Earth in May, and reveals the five shark species you're likely to see in our waters. "My lasting love of sharks was kindled the day I rescued one. Just 11 years old, I was on

EVER DREAM ABOUT SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS? READ THIS INVESTIGATION I DID FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES AND YOU MIGHT THINK TWICE. To the tourists and locals who pour into Attica Zoological Park on a blue winter’s day in Athens, the dolphin show represents the ultimate in wish fulfilment. After all, if there’s one thing we love more than dolphins, it’s getting up close and personal with them – a fact confirmed by a third of 600,000 customers asked by holiday giant, Tui Travel PLC, 81% of

Born Free's 14-Year-Old Youth Ambassador on How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference The photo above shows Born Free's founder, Virginia McKenna, visiting the tragic dolphins of Marineland, Antibes in France. In dolphinariums across the world, it is a common sight. In desolate pools of overly-chlorinated water, enclosed by sparse stretches of concrete and panels of glass (which are populated by dozens of prying faces and pointing fingers). If they are not being forced to p