The natural world in 2021

The pandemic has forced many people to explore life in the open air. For some, it has been the only place to socialise or escape our own four walls. In January, a London art gallery used an augmented reality app to curate an unseen art exhibition along the city's Southbank. It's felt that this approach could have long-term consequences.

Birbaum: "One of the ideas has been to democratise art, to, to, to, in a way, make art visible in places where normally it's not visible. You know, there are people who don't live in major capitals where there are big collections."

Meanwhile, unusually wintery weather brought a warm atmosphere to Madrid. People under lockdown flocked outside to mess about in the city's first heavy snowfall in half a century. The weather brought transport to a standstill and snowmen and skis onto the streets. However, the white stuff was a welcome release from the day to day pressures of the pandemic.

Covadonga Solares: "It's great! We're so excited and there's also such a good atmosphere. You see people having fun and I really - maybe I'm a bit too sensitive, I think it's moving, the mood is happy. It's nice, really."

People were heading outdoors with a purpose in Antwerp in Belgium to help citizen science project "Clean air for everyone". Concerned volunteers assisted researchers by pushing a buggy containing baby Claire and scientific sensors. Their efforts have helped identify levels of harmful pollutants simply by walking around.

Bonaers: "I have a child myself and I worry that she has to grow up in a very polluted city."

However, holidaymakers with few travel choices due to Covid-19 restrictions descended on Hong Kong's Grass Island. Their arrival caused a double environmental disaster by trampling its green pastures which the resident cows rely on. They also filled the island with discarded plastics which the famished beasts then consumed.

Ho Loy: "Many of the cow you can see that they have like a strange, swollen stomach, which mean they have a certain amount of plastic in their, in their digestion system already."

Animal shelters were helping save lives in South Africa, nursing thousands of cormorant chicks back to health. These had been abandoned by their parents, likely due to a lack of fish in the ocean. While volunteers rescued over half the orphaned chicks, conservationists are concerned this trend may continue in future.

Nicky Stander: "If they're not finding their fish in the wild, what's going to happen? They're going to either stop breeding or if they do breed, they're going to just abandon if they're not finding enough food."

And finally, an animal shelter in the Australian outback has given one bleating customer the haircut of his life. Named Baarack by his rescuers, the wayward sheep hadn't been sheared in five years, and the 35 kilogramme fleece was putting his life in danger. When a video of Baarack's woolly rescue and his new life was shared online, this lucky lamb became a TikTok sensation.

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