The Positive Impacts on Travel Restrictions During Lock Down in the UK and China

Hi everyone, hope you are having a wonderful day, welcome back to my channel!

I'm Yuri O, as in 'O my gosh, I am ready for a cocktail on a beach overseas!’

Topic Today: Positive Impacts on Travel Restrictions During Lock Down in the UK and China.

Like many of you, I long to be travelling somewhere, hanging out on the beach and soaking in the sun, but of course with all that has been going on recently, travel has slowly worked its way to the back of mind like that odd can of food at the back of your cupboard that you can't quite figure out why you bought it.

Butttttttttt, anyway I digress!

Travel restrictions have been a big issue for a variety of reasons, including holiday plans being thrown out the window and, on a more serious note, vast numbers of people stuck without any way of getting home due to different countries’ reactions to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. Indeed, around the world, there have been some wonderful, uplifting stories where reduced travel and people simply #stayinghome has led to some awesome animal activity as well as some positive news for nature.

I mean, have you seen some of the fantastic blue skies we are getting in the UK?! Just WOW! Satellite readings also confirmed that air pollution levels over China show that the regions hit hardest by the COVID-19 have also caused air pollution levels to decline dramatically.

While it turns out there are not dolphins swishing around in Italy, the waters of the canals are incredibly clean thanks to the lack of typical gondola traffic, so it is an excellent demonstration of how nature is recovering, or thriving in certain places.

Over in China, as the population density in many cities is immense, and popular tourist spots are often so overcrowded, its an attraction in itself, restrictions and of course the closure of many places has given much needed time to allow scenic areas to recover and for animals too to enjoy some much needed privacy!

A great example was that after living together in a Hong Kong zoo for 13 years, two giant pandas - Ying Ying and Le Le - made the most of the privacy afforded by the lock down and successfully mated for the first time. Typically, the zoo, part of Hong Kong's famous Ocean Park Theme Park, gets over 7 million visitors a year, so not much in the way of quiet time for this pair!

You'll perhaps also have seen the herd of Kashmiri goats in Wales normally found on rocky hillsides nearby but recently spotted checking out the local town and sampling some of the bushes and grassy areas too

And from thousands of seagulls, pelicans and wild birds swarming the beach in Peru, right up to Canada where a wandering humpback whale was spotted from Montreal's Old Port, an absence of human activity and movement has affected animal behavior and, while it has been less than ideal for many to be cooked up at home, it is truly fascinating to see what animals have been getting up to!

With travel still an issue, whether going to see family and friends, or taking a flight somewhere for a vacation, it's good to remind ourselves that the places we wish to go are benefiting from our absence, at least in terms of nature and wildlife.

Have you been affected by travel restrictions? Or have you perhaps witnessed some interesting animal activity? Perhaps you have noticed a change where you live to some lovely nature hot spots?

If so, feel free to share in the comments, and of course don't forget to like and subscribe!

I appreciate you, if you haven't subscribed yet, take a moment, click the subscribe button, because this channel is all about China, genuine insights from me and my team, who have all spend time living in both UK and China.

Take care my friends, have a wonderful day, and I will see you soon!

Yuri O x