Blackbird singing

Congratulations to OxVeg media rep Paul Freestone, who was a runner-up in the Animal Aid photography competition with this photo of a blackbird. Paul writes: “I took the photo in my garden, and I thought the blackbird would fly off as I approached but that didn’t happen. I was very close when I took the photo, about four feet away.”

Vegan meals at the Red Lion Inn, Deddington

Lauren Chessum’s photos show Jack and Chips (a plant-based version of fish and chips made from jackfruit) and Mushroom Wellington Roast at the Red Lion Inn, Deddington, Oxfordshire, OX15 0SE.

Green men at the Green Fair

Paul Freestone’s photo shows David Huish of OxVeg explaining to a garlanded Bob Cowley of Oxfordshire Green Party why you can’t get greener than a vegan on the OxVeg stall at the Green Fair held in Oxford Town Hall on 3 December 2022.

Vegan brunch in Edinburgh

Lauren Chessum’s photo shows the brunch that she and her sister Claire and brother-in-law Mark enjoyed at Grams, a vegan-friendly cafe in Edinburgh, on a recent visit to the city. From top to bottom the dishes shown are a plant-based cooked breakfast, two açai smoothie bowls, and peanut butter jelly waffles.

The global spider trade

Invertebrate trade is big business. Their illegal trade is considered to be a serious but often overlooked threat to their populations. Currently, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species lists only 36 spider species, but the demand for tarantulas as pets at a global level is high and increasing. Dr Caroline Sayuri Fukushima of the Oxford Martin Programme on Wildlife Trade provided insights into the global spider trade and conservation in a talk at the Oxford Martin School on Monday 17 October 2022, available on YouTube.

Paul Freestone’s photo above shows a Garden Spider in its rain-soaked web.