Author Fergus Collins
Fergus Collins

Fergus Collins

Editor, BBC Countryfile Magazine

Editor of BBC Countryfile Magazine, Fergus lives in deepest Monmouthshire with his family, where his neighbours are farmers, buzzards and sheep. When not working on the magazine he wanders the hills, grows vegetables and plans adventures.

Recent articles by Fergus Collins
Aerial view of the Qdzala-Kokoua National Park tropical rainforests. Cuvette-Ouest Region. Republic of the Congo or Congo Brazzaville. Roger de la Harpe/Getty Images

It's bigger than France, Germany and Spain combined, is home to rainforests, savannahs, swamps and some of the world’s deadliest, strangest wildlife

It can seem eerily still in the forests of the Congo River in West Africa – and yet a diverse array of species inhabits this vast and mysterious land.
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Daniel Osterkamp/ Getty Images

At 130km across, it's the world’s largest natural mirror – but this otherworldly landscape is stranger than it looks, and has starred in Star Wars

Salar de Uyuni is an enormous desert of white salt in Bolivia. Here's everything you need to know...
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VogelSP/ Getty Images

It can swallow 5 Empire State Buildings, is as long as Portugal – and is home to a deadly but rare big cat

The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon and its river are a sight to see. Here's why...
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Craig Cordier/ Getty Images

It's a tiny island, just 3 football pitches in size, filled with thousands of deadly venomous cobras and just 100 humans… This is what happens…

This tiny island in Uganda is home to deadly forest cobras, and local fisherman have strange beliefs to keep them friendly
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Sunset at the Great Rann of Kutch,Gujarat. Great Rann of Kutch is a sesonal salt marsh located in the Thar desert in Kutch,Gujarat-India.It is about 7,505 sq kms, and is consdered as one of the largest salt deserts in the world. It remains underwater during monsoon and the rest of the months it remains like a white desert that stretches towards infinity. The amazing view of the white Rann can be seen on a full moon day.

It's twice the size of the Serengeti, flat as a pancake, white as snow – and home to mysterious, dancing lights and one of the world's fastest mammals

Known as the white desert, It looks like an endless field of snow and home to one of the world's rarest mammals
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Matt Polski/ Getty Images

Can leopards and cheetahs interbreed? Could cheetapards be a thing?

Tigers and lions have been known to interbreed, so why haven't cheetahs and leopards?
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Trees burning during a wildfire. Photographer: Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg

Is rewilding really to blame for the recent wildfires?

As wildfires rage across the world, a fierce debate has erupted over whether rewilding is making landscapes more vulnerable to fire – or could actually help protect them. But what does the evidence really tell us?
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close up shot of a tick

"Symptoms rapidly worsen, including nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, and can lead to death." 9 most dangerous, deadliest tick diseases for humans

Like human hitchhikers, ticks need to find the best place to get a lift. But if you pick up a tick, it could drink your blood and pass on a very unpleasant disease.
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Earth from space

Climate scientist whose work shaped modern climate science says US government report got his research 'completely wrong'

An American climate scientist has strongly criticised a US Department of Energy (DOE) report on the impacts of climate change in the US.
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Asian vine snake striking on branch

"Without warning and impossible to see with the naked eye, the prey vanishes..." 3 fastest bites in the animal kingdom

Some animals are so quick, zoologists have only been able to examine the physics of their 'bite' in recent years with the invention of super-slow-motion filming techniques. Here are some contenders for the fastest animal bites on Earth...
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A head shot of a Mink, Neovison vison, with its mouth wide open at the British Wildlife Centre.

"This was a disaster for native wildlife that had few defences. This small, agile predator can find its way into the narrowest burrow"

Could mink be on their way out across Britain?
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"Hippos and crocodiles have been known to capsize boats and kill the occupants..." 10 most dangerous, deadliest swamps on the planet

They may look calm, even beautiful –but some of the world’s swamps are among the most dangerous places in the world, from snake-infested wetlands to disease-ridden marshes
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7 animals that can kill a rhino: They may be fearsome, heavily armoured, and weigh more than 2 tonnes but they aren’t invincible

There aren't many animals brave enough to take on a rhino…
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group of tourists in thailand riding elephants through jungle

"There's a brutal ritual called 'phajaan' where the animal is kept caged until its spirit breaks." It may make you think twice about riding elephants

The horrifying methods used to make elephants rideable...
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Rat on toilet bowl in bathroom. Pest control

"Excellent swimmers, they can tread water for up to three days..." Just how do rats get into toilets?

“There's a rat in my kitchen, what am I gonna do?” is a lyric from the 1987 song Rat in Mi Kitchen by British reggae band UB40. That sounds bad enough but what about a rat in your toilet?
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FRIENDS -- "The One with Two Parts: Part 1" Episode 16 -- Air Date 02/23/1995 -- Pictured: (l-r) Katie/Monkey as Marcel, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing Courteney Cox as Monica Geller (Photo by NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

"Baby monkeys are traumatically taken from their mothers and kept in poor conditions." Why is there a growing demand for primates as pets?

The trafficking of wild-caught animals for the pet trade is a huge global business
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Utah - Ariziona border, panorama of the Monument Valley from a remote point of view, known as The Hunt's Mesa

The same size as Casablanca, this arid landscape holds over 15 staggering 300m rock towers older than the dinosaurs – and America’s deadliest snake

Discover the land of red rock towers, legendary monsters and coyotes
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A giOverhead view of a giant glacier on the Antarctic ice shelf

At a staggering 3500m below sea level, this frozen abyss is the deepest, darkest and least explored place on land...

Delve into the deepest, darkest place on continental Earth
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Carcass of an elephant killed by lions, Chobe National Park, Botswana

Why do dead animals smell so bad and have a very distinctive 'death smell’?

If you have ever smelt a dead animal you will know it has a very distinctive death smell - like nothing else on Earth. Here's why...
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Adult Kissing Bug of the Genus Panstrongylus

"It's often infected with a parasite, which can be transmitted to humans. Untreated, it can lead to heart failure, damage to the nervous system and death.."

This is one bug you don't want to be 'kissed' by
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"Both are large, heavy, beefy animals with thick skin, pillar-like legs and enormous heads..."

Both are big, intimidating and dangerous at close quarters...
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Caimán Yacare o caimán negro

It's home to the largest concentration of crocodiles on the planet – 10 million of these ferocious reptiles to be precise. Swimming here is inadvisable...

In the flooded forests and winding rivers of South America’s vast wetlands the black caiman reigns as one of the most formidable predators alive today.
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Sumpfzypressen (Taxodium distichum) im Herbst mit Spanischem Moos (Tillandsia usneoides), Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana, USA

It's the size of Los Angeles and simply crawling with deadly alligators, black bears and highly venomous snakes

(c)Elmar Weiss

6 animals that can kill a hippo – "Weighing a mighty 4500kg the hippo is a huge, dangerous animal that only the boldest predator would dare approach"

We take a look at the animals brave enough to take on the world's third-largest land mammal
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