What's on your wildlife most wanted list?

Condor.

Blue whale.

African elephant.

King cobra.

They could be the biggest or smallest, fastest or strongest of their respective habitats, or just something you’ve connected with on some level. But whatever they are I’m sure, like me, you still carry the same enthusiasm you had as a child for them. And, perhaps, still the longing to see them. They are, of course, your wildlife most wanted.

I feel I know the creatures on my list intimately. The facts I’ve learnt, the images I’ve seen and the documentaries I’ve watched build up and up my heroes of the animal kingdom to behemoth stature. This is so much more than a tick on a list, or being able to say you’ve seen it to someone. For me it’s a childhood dream realised, and how often can you say a dream came true today?

Sun salutations - wandering albatross (Alastair Wilson (rspb-images.com))

As well as the above (I still can’t even begin to comprehend how I’d feel seeing a blue whale) one of mine was: albatross. Was albatross. Was.

I’ve been feeling very fortunate about all my holidays recently. Saving up for the big one I’ve just come back from this year took a bit of effort, but New Zealand is somewhere I felt I had to go. The access to wilderness, the rolling scenery and sense of adventure in such a small space can’t possibly be found anywhere else in the world, can it? And the wildlife. I knew I couldn’t go wrong.

The friendliest face of all birds? - black-browed albatross (Alastair Wilson (rspb-images.com))

I want to write about the build-up and the anticipation of seeing my number one bird, but it was all just too easy. A two hour round-trip whale watching boat ride presented me with three individual sperm whales, a humpback whale, a fur seal, a mako shark, a pod of Hector’s dolphins, a blue penguin and four species of albatross. It was completely overwhelming. The moment between me and the best bird in the world could’ve been overshadowed, but it wasn’t. Complete silence, and a view you could only improve if you were riding on the back of it.

Wandering love - wandering albatrosses (Alastair Wilson (rspb-images.com))

My first was a New Zealand white-capped albatross. Then a Gibson’s and a southern royal albatross. And finally, a Buller’s albatross off the coast of Stewart Island. I disappeared into silence at every sighting of the bird with the biggest wingspan and the epic, endless soar. The bird that has loved and lived a lifetime longer than I. The bird flying and floating on far foreign seas. The bird in desperate trouble.

My bin-scoped Buller's albatross (Photo: Jack Plumb)

As with many of the species on my list, albatrosses are in huge decline. 15 of the 22 species are endangered and threatened with extinction. 100,000s are killed every year with the primary threat being death on the hook of a fishing long-line. But turning the tide on this annual natural catastrophe has already begun, and the Albatross Task Force have made huge progress in preventing many of the deaths in several international fisheries. Their work is complex and challenging, but helping albatrosses can be as easy as cutting a stamp from a used envelope.

Find out more about the Albatross Task Force and the stamp appeal by clicking these links.

I’m still thrilled about seeing my first albatross, and all the other wildlife I saw in New Zealand. Long may they, and the feeling last.

What have you seen from your wildlife most wanted list?

Jack