In the Corbières, the impact of anthropogenic climate change has reached a critical stage. Its effect on the landscape and on the ability to thrive of animal and plant life within it is palpable. And the situation is exacerbated by a simultaneous increase in human activities and incursions into the wildlife habitats, changing land use, and bringing humans and non-human animals into closer, frequently conflictful, association. My research is an exploration of these interactions.

In the following entries, I will introduce several of the issues and themes that I will explore in more detail after approval of my ethics statement and risk assessment. 

This is a practice-led research project, where I will use creative tools of photography and the qualitative research method of autoethnography to investigate ways in which non-human animals are living out their lives in this uncertain environment and examine their uneasy interactions with humans. 

The primary locus of the research are the orchard and garden next to my house in a southern French village which has a human population of 120 and a varied population of non-human animal neighbours and night-time visitors. 

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