Frances McKay Illustration

Spirit Bears

Spirit bears or Kermode bears are a variant on the North American black bear, they live in Canada, near to the Great Bear Rainforest. A mutation in the black bear's genes, called Kermodism means that 4/10 black bears are born white.

 

 

It has also been proved that the spirit bear is more successful than the normal black bear at catching fish in the daytime; salmon are more wary around darker objects coming towards them!

 

 

Spirit bears have long been an inspiration of mine, so my bear Finn seemed like a good character for the blog.

 

Rachel Boulton

 

Spy Pets adventure exclusive

 

James De La Rue gets to finally meet the author of Spy Dog, Andy Cope.

Sean's sunny summer special

Hello everyone, so Summer is here (kindof) and it’s time to put away the hot water bottles and switch down the central heating (well pehaps keep them on standby). But spare a thought for the polar bears, they must be freezing. I’ve never been there but apparently north of above Sheffield, it gets really cold.

Keith the Grizzly Bartender

As a hobby I used to write (and still do occasionally) film noir/animal based stories. They were written around the idea that this world and the world of Frank the Swan runs parallel with each other. So I am Frank the Swan, known for my grace and elegance, as well being able to break a limb with one waft of my mighty wing. Everyone else in my life is also a part of the stories too. All you need is an animal that best sums up you, a film noir occupation ( Chief of police, ice cream salesman, card shark, funeral director, chaplain etc )  and of course your name. Put it altogether and see if you can get a decent sounding "Moo! City name.

For example:

Tom the Mule
Ian the Dog
Simon the B(rude word)d Snake
Vicar the Penguin
Keith the Grizzly Bartender.

Sean Julian

Sean's website

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The Knobbliest Face Award

This is Mr Winstable Oak, a tree type bloke.

He isn’t the prettiest Tree Sprite in the wood. In 2006 he was given the knobbliest face award, but he didn’t turn up at the presentation ceremony to receive his trophy. Mr Winstable Oak is a gruff and rough old stick of wood who keeps himself to himself and avoids company at all costs, but as we can see from this picture, whether he likes it or not, company in the form of a little nesting bird as found him.

Sean Julian

Sean's website 
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