February in numbers

29th: I turned 29 in a year when there were 29 days in February. Which is nice :)

8mm (approx): Bee space, which is essentially the amount of space a bee needs to move about between the frames in a hive. (Sometimes that's the amount of room you get on London's public transport at rush hour.) The bee-keeping course we started last month continues, it's still incredibly fascinating but I was slightly put off by last week's lesson on disease, there are some really nasty things out there which are devastating to bees :(

2: pancakes eaten on pancake Tuesday (so good).

8 weeks & 1 day: the amount of time between ordering and having Bridget delivered. (Bridget is our new sofa and she was worth the wait.)

13 miles: the distance my friends ran at the Brighton half marathon on Sunday. So very proud of them!

100,000: the approximate number of Pangolins that are captured and killed every year. They are one of my favourite animals and Feb 20th was world pangolin day. It was an opportunity to raise awareness about the world's most trafficked mammal. They live across parts of Africa and Asia but sadly all 8 species are endangered thanks to illegal trade. Pangolins are hunted and sold for their meat and scales, the former is seen as a delicacy in China and the latter is used in "medicine" (although there's no evidence to prove that they cure anything). Thankfully there are charities and conservationists out there rescuing, rehabilitating and re-releasing pangolins back into the wild (you can read more here) but, as illegal trade continues, so much more can be done. I'll leave you with this little film about an orphan pangolin (spoiler: he's SUCH a cutie!)...