GM and Propaganda

As at least half of my readers are from overseas, I need to explain how The BBC British Broadcasting Corporation is funded. In Britain If you have a Television or a video recorder that has a tuner or even a computer that has a TV card is is capable of receiving broadcast signals you need a TV Licence. This Money goes to fund the BBC. While there are some that see this as a tax, the money this raise does mean that the BBC can and does produce some very good quality television programmes. As well as all the radio stations it has, and these you do not need a licence for so are effectively free and free from advertising. When it comes to the world service radio that is funded by a grant direct from government.

Even though the BBC is indirectly funded by the British government, it does maintain editorial independence, well most of the time. There was one incidence that stands out in my memory during the First Gulf War when on the radio programme From Our Own Correspondent there was an essay that really sounded like propaganda As I am a regular listener to that broadcast I even noticed that the person reading the essay was not a name that I recognised. Well in days it was exposed as not a BBC correspondent but a NATO press officer. The programme and the BBC had effectively been caught presenting propaganda as news in the most blatant manner.

While on the whole I am full of praise for some of what the BBC does, there is also a lot of rubbish they put out too. However, overall I do think that most of the Auntie Beebs output is quite balanced. That said I have noticed a subtle but disturbing trend in the BBC out put on one particular topic that of GMO, Genetically Modified Organisms.

Earlier this year the then Government Minister for Agriculture said that as GM had been grown for ten years in the US then it was time for the opponents of GM to prove there was a danger from this technology. The implication being that if no scientific evidence was put forward that GMOs are proved to be harmful, then GMOs would be allowed in Britain. Since this announcement I have noticed more of the output from the BBC seems to be more bias towards allowing GM to be grown here. Or extolling the future benefits that may come from GM.

Now taking any single programme or news report in isolation does not prove bias and nor should it be. However, since the change in government policy the BBC has reported on GM in a much more positive way. Recently there was an episode of Horizon, A science programme that looked at the issue of GM. While the programme seamed balanced, it is all part of what appears to be an effort by the Government via the BBC to change attitudes to be more favourable towards GMOs.

The Bio Technology industry has always been a great self promoter and there has always been promises of new crops that will help feed the world, but the reality is that all that has been commercialised have been crops that benefits big business and large scale agriculture.

While we have been selectively breeding animals and plants for centuries. However the traditional methods use the genes that were ready there, enhancing traits. With Genetic Modification the scientists are introducing genes from other species. Sometimes even introducing animal genes into a plant and vice versa. So there is a real fundamental difference between traditional breeding and GM. Genetically Modified Organisms could not ever occur naturally.

This has already lead to what is called Genetic Drift. There are already proven and scientifically validated examples where weeds have cross pollinated with wild plants to produce herbicide resistant weeds. The two main developments that GM has given us and are commercially used is herbicide resistant crops as well as insect resistant crops. These crops kill any pest that tries to eat them. The problem is that unlike the herbicide resistant weeds that have spontaneously occurred and are apparent when the herbicides are used, the crosses that have occurred from introducing insect resistant plants into the environment are nearly impossible to spot. While no proven and scientific validated examples have been found, they are out there.

The proof that they are out there can be seen with the condition known as; Colony Collapse Disorder, found in Bees. The problem is that to find these plants would require running DNA tests on every plant in a field or meadow.

Genetically modified organisms are out there and the pollution they cause is already happening. Add to this the fact that when tested GMOs do have a suppressant effect on the immune system. This is not a theoretical problem but one that is well known in the industry and they test to exclude developing organisms that carry that effect to strongly.

Now while I can see the attractive potential for the the British government of having a strong Bio Technology industry, the government needs to be sceptical of the industry claims. Thus far GM has not helped feed the starving and what has been developed has had serious environmental impacts already. Forests have been cleared to create monoculture soya plantations in South America. And far from helping to feed the poor it has decreased the ability of the poor in those countries to feed themselves. In India farmers are committing suicide because of the debts they owe the GM companies because the yields have been far lower than promised by the Bio Technology industry.

There are many examples where an industry has promised much but delivered little and all governments have suffered from this. With GM the British government needs to look very carefully at the real threats to the environment that this industry creates.
In ten or twenty years time when the damage has become so clear that GMOs will end up being banned who will clean up this pollution? I can bet that it will not be the Bio Technology industry.

Further with its role in creating the propaganda that seems to be peddling now, will the BBC then be able to report the failings of the industry?

Rather than making unsubstantiated claims of benefits in the future, the Bio Technology industry needs to prove its products are completely safe before they are allowed in this country.

Poaching

I have been busy over the past few weeks trying to help prevent poachers taking deer. I would have done more but as you folks know I had “Man Flu” (That's a cold where the man or is that mouse, thinks he is dyeing). It did come at the wrong time for me as I had just to much to do. In fact I thought that I have not got time to be ill.

While I know that the situation is different in other countries, but I Britain not just anyone can go out hunting. Further, firearms are generally only held by people that are sane, safe and responsible. However, there is a minority of people that are not responsible.

When people think of poaching there is an image of someone who is poor taking the odd animal for the pot. While that was true a century ago, the reality is that poaching is a criminal enterprise and when poachers target an area they can devastate the area. For example there have been incidents where dynamite is used to kill salmon and the poachers will take everything. Further frequently the methods used by the poachers will seriously damage habitats and the rest of the ecology can take years to recover.

So dismiss any romantic notions of the poacher, the modern poachers are criminal gangs. Further they are very violent. Thus when I was out trying to film the deer one night, I was rather surprised when I suddenly had the screen of my camera flooded with light. As I was using IR, I initially though that I had a problem with the camera. Then I spotted that I had the red dot of a laser designator on my chest. I realised that what had happened was that my camera had been flooded with IR light from a night vision rifle sight and that I risked getting shot. All this took a second or two as I jumped out of my cover shouting don't shoot.

I reported the incident to the landowner and they reported the matter to the police. But while poaching is illegal, the reality is that there is very little that can be done. I have long been collecting car and van numbers as a way of helping defeat the poachers. Anyway I was asked if I would join in some of the anti poaching patrols the land owner was organising. Fortunately these appear to have been successful as thus far there is no evidence of the illegal killing of deer.

While doing this was taking me away from the wildlife watching I enjoy, it also discovered some potentially good wildlife watching areas. However, because of the problems with poachers will be an on going one the land owner has removed his permission that allows me to access these areas. He acknowledges that this is extremely unfair, but only by him disallowing anyone on the land can he know that anyone spotted on the land is likely to be up to no good. While I can understand that view it does also mean that I no longer have access to two of the Badger setts.

As you can imagine I am feeling a little miffed by all this. However, I will go off and find other places where I can watch Badgers from and other locations to watch wildlife.

Personally I don't understand what it is with people that they are so selfish and greedy.

Regulation in Business

One of the aspects of the food and cooking videos that I wanted to get right was the true facts regarding healthy eating as well as ensuring that I was not inadvertently passing on any bad practices regarding hygiene Thus, when I first was thinking of the idea I contacted a team from the local NHS National Health Service. In email exchanges and telephone conversations the people I was talking with were really enthusiastic and were wanting to help. The people I was talking to realised that using new media and new ideas could really help get good information out to people.

Anyway while I am fully aware of the messages like eat five different fruit and vegetables per day, I wanted to know if there were any other details like that that I could include. Therefore a meeting was set up where I took a DVD of some of the footage I had already shot and my notes so that I could look at making adjustments.

While I got some information at that meeting two of the main people that I was supposed to be meeting were ill that day. So it was rearranged for today Monday. Well I went along ready to learn. Therefore I was ready to be criticised but I could not believe some of the comments that one of the people there.

Now while I wanted to keep this bit as a surprise, I have been using glove puppets in the films. These parts are filmed separately to the cooking. But when edited form an important part of the films. Now this chap, who is a hygiene specialist was not happy with me using them as he said that they were a cross contamination risk. Now while I would not expect him to now or understand the finer details of film making, I would have thought that in this day and age people would understand that events in a film are not always shot in the sequence they are in the final edit. Therefore I had to explain that to him. While he accepted that he still said that some of the people watching the videos could emulate me and give themselves food poisoning by handling food with glove puppets.

Well at this point I really thought that he was playing a joke on me, as I could not take that seriously. But he was not, he was being serious. I was also given a list of other criticisms; including the length of my hair even though its tied up and I am wearing a cooks hat to keep it in place. Then I was told I should be using plastic chopping boards and not wooden ones. And while he agreed that my kitchen looks clean in the films, he said that I should have ensured that my kitchen met catering standards.

Well by this point I was getting really angry with him. I kept my temper but I spoke to him as though he was a retarded child explaining that the whole idea was to show people that you do not need a fancy kitchen or expensive equipment to cook with. As part of the reason for doing this is to help educate people who do not know how to cook, then what he was wanting me to do would impose serious barriers on people who are already reluctant cooks.

Anyway after this exchange one of the two women called for a coffee break. When we returned this chap was not there. The rest of the meeting went very well and the two women were positive and helpful. In fact they were very supportive of the ideas I was putting forward. At the very end they admitted that the chap was upset as he had wanted the organisation to do something similar to what I am doing and he was there to see if the organisation should be supporting what I am doing financially. Well I was not expecting or even seeking that from them, so if someone had waved a feather around I would have been on the floor.

Now, I had not been seeking financial support but it could come in very useful, however I did say that I would have to retain editorial control if any money was forthcoming. Thus while the meeting was not an easy one, on the whole it appears to be have been a positive meeting.

However, one aspect that struck me regarding the meeting was the way that in some aspects of food the regulation seems to be over the top. While hygiene is very important, most of it should be common sense. And while folks need to understand what you need to do to avoid food poisoning, often the messages given just make people scared of food and cooking. Also that means that far to often it is the food industry and the supermarkets that are left to prepare our food. Thus further de-skilling people.

Anyway, I am a lot more confident that I am on the right track with what I am doing. But to go off on a tangent though, in the news is the story of a major financial fraud. It strikes me that it strange that in some areas where regulation was needed the regulation was seriously diluted. If there had been better regulation of the financial markets and the banks then most of the financial problems we have now. Nor could that fraud have happened with proper regulatory oversight. Yet in Britain and Europe when it comes to food, the regulations are gold plated. When the real problem is lack of educating for the public. Also the regulations are aimed towards increased profits for the food industry. To my way of thinking if all regulations were primarily aimed at helping the public and not big business then many of the problems that always come up would just be eliminated.

Food and Labelling

I have discovered a fantastic diet. Well it worked for me, I have lost two inches off my waistline in a week. The only downside is you need to have “Man Flu” for it to work. Hey I am playing this for all the sympathy I can get, even though I know that I will not get any here. Anyway going to bed with a warm cat works wonders.

But being serious, my forced convalescence did mean that I had time to think about some of the things I have been doing. As my regular reader will know I have been trying to put together some material for a series of films to help people make better choices about food. I have filmed quite a bit of material, and I have created a style that I am happy with and I hope will also be entertaining and funny. However, as I did not want to make it elitist or condescending so I wanted to use my old existing equipment. However, visually that was not working as a couple of my old pans are tatty looking, they are more then twenty five years old. The difficulty was that on film the old pans looked dirty and unhygienic. So I decided that I needed to get a new pan or two.

Now with the announcement that Woolworth were closing down, I thought I would see if I could get them there. To go off at a tangent, I had already seen some decent pans in Woolworth a few months ago, but they were not cheep. In fact pans of the same quality were on sale in the supermarkets at a few pounds cheaper each than they were at Woolworth Therefore when Woolworth went into administration it did not surprise me. But when I went to the store in Consett to try and get the pans, they still had them and even in the clearance sale they were more expensive than other stores not having a closing down sale. So I did not get the pans there.

The following day, I went to the one in the Metro Centre, a large out of town shopping centre near here. Well there the shelves of the Woolworth there had been cleared of anything decent, what was left was telling about the state of the company. What was left on the shelves was junk, the type of products that I have long railed about as being a complete waste of resources and stuff that I just would not give up house room for. The problem is that so much of our economy has been based on selling tat that we just don't need or really want.

Anyway I still had not got the pans I wanted, so I went looking elsewhere. I found what I wanted in a small chain specialist shop. I got a salute pan, deep frying pan, and steamer. I have wanted to get one for ages in the past I had two. One my ex wife got and the other one my Ex got so need to avoid clocking up a new ex to keep this one. Also I got a boning knife. Again an item that I have wanted to get for a while, but finding a good one has been nearly impossible. I could get one that cost nearly thirty pounds, but that was far to expensive. So I was pleased to find one at under ten pounds of the same quality, in fact I think it was from the same manufacturer. Well with my pockets lighter I went home happy with the cooking equipment I have now got.

So while I will have to re-shoot some of the footage for the videos, I now have equipment that I am happy to use. Also as I have learnt from the mistakes I made initially, I really hope that I can help people to learn to cook and eat well.

It seems that my timing on this is nearly perfect as folks will know that last week there was yet another food scare regarding Irish Pork. This alerted the media to fact that quite legally many products, ready meals, pies, do not show the true country of origin for the meat. This is not just a problem in the UK or Europe as this is part of the world trade agreements. If a meat pie is made in one country then the labels only have to show that country as the country of origin. But the meat could have come from anywhere. Thus when there are safety concerns even the food industry doesn't know where the meat in the products has come from without checking records and batch numbers.

Now I may be unusual but I have always questioned when a food product is so cheep. When I see chickens for sale at three pounds, I wonder how that can be? Where have the costs been saved? Equally with prepared foods, I wonder what's in the food that makes it so cheap?

I have infuriated ex girlfriends by being a inveterate label reader. I just want to know what I am eating, and I don't blindly accept claims on the labels of food packets. But I suspect that once people start to realise that business and the food industry are feeding us the cheapest crap they can get away with, then things will change.

There needs to be a fundamental change to the way that food is treated in the developed world. I became a vegetarian when I discovered that cattle was being fed protein derived from fallen dead sheep and cattle, back in the 1970s. When I told other people of this I was told I was talking rubbish and that would never be allowed. Well when BSE emerged people discovered the truth.

Industrialised farming and the modern food industry have been quietly allowed to carry out all sorts of practices that if the public discovered what was going on would be horrified. All this is done in the guise of producing cheep food. But the real costs are hidden. In environmental damage, just think of the costs of cleaning up water due to the run off from pesticides and fertiliser. Or the costs to governments of dealing with problems like BSE (Mad Cow Disease). These practices are all about greater profit and not cheep food.

Personally I have always seen food as a joy to be enjoyed and not just as fuel to keep the body going. Further good, well produced food is much better for the environment too. I am sure that many of the health problems that impact the western developed world would be greatly reduced if only we stopped many of the perverse practices that are allowed in the food industry at the moment.

Whale Shark

Recently there was a Natural History Documentary on the largest fish in the sea the Whale Shark It covered many aspects of the scientific effort to track these animal's using satellite tags and DNA data to see if the Sharks were migrating across the Indian Ocean. Much of the evidence was inconclusive but as the depth and scope of our knowledge is so small it all adds to the pool of knowledge.

The film was remarkable not for the fact that they were able to film a Whale Shark having a poo for the first time, but that one aspect of the research work is the result of tourists in the Seychelles volunteering to help.

The tourists get the chance to dive with these sharks and by photographing them it is possible to track the movements of these fish. Now personally I think that is a brilliant way of helping the sharks and of helping people to get close to some of the mega fauna in our seas.

Further reading and a link to Save Our Seas

A Hunting Fox and Wild Swans

I have had a really busy weekend. I was up and out early to check on the Badger setts. Not to see the badgers but to ensure that there has been no interference as while there is not a massive problem here with Badger Baiting or Badger digging it does go on. Thus I try and keep an eye on what's happening. As I did not want to take the tripod I decided to leave the camera at home too. Well I wished I had not as after checking one of the Setts I saw a Fox. I stopped and was able to observe him for a good ten minutes. He was scavenging, I had seen a dead pigeon on the way to the Sett and he was “Hunting” it. What foxes do is they pounce on their pray even if it is dead, I guess that its just to prove that he is a real hunter. It would have made a great sequence.

Then I still had to go and get some shopping so I went for the Supermarket bus. While waiting I spotted one of the Red Kites, if anything else this was a good wildlife day. There was nothing exceptional about the shopping other than the cost, I can not see where all these price cuts they keep on advertising are. Then as the bus was leaving Consett, on a planted roundabout I spotted a waxwing. There was likely to be more as they are normally seen in flocks. As the roundabout had ornamental shrubs covered with berries so this was obviously a roadside feeding station for these Scandinavian berry eaters.

Then to keep Saturday full, I went over to Tynemouth. As in the news there is discussions about the fishing quota that is due to be set by the European Union, I wanted to see if I could get a more accurate picture by talking to some of the fishermen. Now I have a clear picture of he official situation, as I discovered when I lived in North Shields, not all the fish that gets landed is officially recorded. Therefore I wanted to get a clearer picture of what if any “Black” fish are being landed.

But before I met with my contact I went for a wander around the market that is held at the station at Tynemouth. As there are a few Second hand book sellers there I do like to see what there. I spotted some natural history books, well one was a different edition to the bird guide that is my primary source. Its not a field guide as its far to large, but its an excellent book. I picked it up to see the price, I did not have a spare arm, so I would not be buying it. But I did notice that it had an error slip in it. When published two very similar birds were given each others name. The Tree Sparrow was called the House Sparrow. Well I latter checked my own copy and it was the same. Now as I learnt my bird identification from using this book, I have had it for over thirty years, it looks as though I have been misidentifying these birds for years.

One thing that I did buy was a remote controller for my video camera. It was designed for a much older model but as it was new and just obsolete I took a chance and bought it. It works and is ideal for many wildlife filming situations. So I am really pleased.

Well I did finally get close to the true picture, but I will leave that for a latter full posting.

I then had a stressful journey home as I was not sure I was going to make the connection with the bus home. While I had the resources for a taxi if I needed I have better things to do with thirty pounds. Well I made it just, had it not been for another passenger that was struggling with his money, I think he was about 40% proof, I would have missed it.

The following day the Sunday, I was up and out very early. I wanted to get down to the bird hides that the local authority provide on its nature reserves. I have a pass key and that three pounds is the best value purchase I have ever made. However, when I got to the first one I wanted to film from I realised that because of the Ice covering the water. So I started to pack up when someone else came in. Now that normally would not be a problem as other birders will have a key. But this was no birdwatcher he was a young man that was intoxicated and I don't think from alcohol either.

Now I should explain to my overseas reader that it is now illegal to smoke in any enclosed public spaces. This young man lit up a cigarette. I did not say anything but I looked and that got a very aggressive reaction from him. Had I been able to I would have just left but he was blocking my way to the door. Anyway I then had to spend four hours of fruitless birdwatching while keeping an eye on him. Eventually he did leave and without incident. I didn't allow him to see that I was scared.

Anyway, I left the hide locking it, and went for a wander around the pond. At one end of the pond it was ice free. I did cause some disturbance when I moved to a good position but the birds soon settled back down and I did get some interesting footage. But while I was hiding behind the reeds, I spotted one of this years Cygnets was coming along the edge of the pond towards me. I turned the camera on it. It came closer and closer, then suddenly it realised I was there. The young Swan was just three feet from me and hissing at me. Well I filmed the encounter and I have no doubt that it would have gone for me had I not moved away, keeping the tripod between us. The bird then went down a track to the water. It was a regular bird track but as the water was frozen there I did not think that any bird would use it. Well I then filmed the Swan as it broke its way across and through the ice. When I can put that up you will see that it was not a dignified journey.

Not long after the light started to fade and I made my way home. I was very tired and eating I fell asleep on the sofa. I am sure I would have stayed there had I not had a fat over fed cat leap on me.

Moths

There is one advantage of the dull and dismal weather we have today, it has kept me in the house. That and slipping on my Glutinous Maxima. I took one step outside and down I went on my butt. I had just put on a clean pair of Jeans too, well they were clean. Over night a hard frost had frozen the melting snow, so I sprinkled a little salt to ensure that my neighbours did not suffer the same fate.

Thus I decided that I would stay home and get on with other tasks and this included getting more of the video footage archived. After the delays due to camera and computer problems, I am making good progress, I now only have three hours of back log to sort out.

However before I could do that I had a report to finish off. While I was doing that I noticed one of the Red Kites at the horizon then it disappeared from my view. I kept on working for the next twenty minutes or so, as I finished off what I was doing I picked up the binoculars to watch a Mistle Thrush that keeps on visiting my yard. Suddenly it gave an alarm call and it and the other birds on my feeders flew off. As I looked to see what had disturbed them a Red Kite flew right past my window, eight to ten feet away and under the telephone lines. As it did it dropped something, rushing down stairs I grabbed the Camera but by the time I had unlocked the back door the Kite was gone. I saw what it had dropped though it was the shoulder blade of a rabbit. Red Kites eat on the wing and that had been its last snack and I am left wondering if the Kite had seen its next meal. Anyway, what a wonderful sight. I am so lucky.

With my spirits boosted by that sight, I got on with sorting out the video clips. I now have 48 DVDs containing over one thousand clips of usable footage. So while it can be mundane and at times tedious to file them away properly, unless I did that I would never find anything for latter use.

Anyway two films for you today, one is of quite a rare plume moth, Agdistis bennetii. I say rare it was until recently. It was infrequently seen in the south of England but over recent years with climate change it has extended its range further north. I understand that the first confirmed sighting in the area was only made in 2002. However what pleases me about this footage was that I was able to film it unfurl its proboscis to feed and while not as clear as I would have liked you can see that. The other moth is quite a common moth, often called a sack moth, but as there is another species with that common name I am just using the Latin name, Anthopila fabriciana.

While I know that many people don't like moths, personally I love them and they are just so beautiful.

Agdistis bennetii

Anthophila fabriciana

Do we want a Police State?

Yesterday the European court of human rights ruled that it was illegal for the British police to keep on the DNA database the genetic profiles of people arrested but not convicted. Now before anyone howls that well they would not have been arrested if they had not done something wrong, some of these people have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have know cases where following a fight in a pub everyone gets arrested until the police can focus on who was actually involved. Further some of the people on the DNA database are there purely when the police have done a mass screening. This has occurred when there has been a series of rapes in an area and men have come forward to help them be eliminated from the investigation.
Thus there are now eight hundred thousand profiles on this database that have never been convicted that now will have their genetic profiles removed.

I am fully aware that DNA can be a powerful tool for catching criminals and removing dangerous people from our communities, but there has to be a balance struck between the liberties of the individual and the powers of the state.

If we allow the police or the state to powers grant themselves these powers then they will use them and sometimes abuse them. In the media here in Britain there is much debate about the arrest and searching of the office of an MP. Now while the debate has been focused on the rights and privileges of MPs, the real issue is the powers of the police.

MPs are not above the law, but thus far this seems to be just a matter of a Civil Servant leaking documents to an opposition MP that the government found embarrassing. But the government used Anti Terrorist police officers to conduct this investigation and by doing that everyone rolled over and just allowed them into Parliament. As has been widely reported they did not even have a warrant to search the Palace of Westminster.

In Britain the police have to obtain a warrant from a court who judge if there is sufficient evidence or suspicion to grant that warrant. Thus providing one of the checks and balances required.

The problem here with this case of the MP is that all the police need to do is say that its a matter of national security and everyone (Or nearly everyone) just allows the police to go their own sweet way. It is no different to the police wanting detention without charge of terrorist suspects for 42 days, six weeks. If the police were granted those powers it would not be long before other suspects were being detained in this way. That is not being far fetched as the British government used Anti Terrorist powers against Icelandic banks during the banking crisis. The point is as soon as the police or the state have those powers, they will be used and they will be abused.

In the Queens speech the government are proposing to read all our Emails, intercept our phone calls, you name it they want to see it. All in the name of protecting us from Terrorists. Well as I already think that copies of my emails and a list of every website I visit lands on the desk of the prime minister and the head of MI5 every morning along with the newspapers...

All this will do is snow intelligence personnel under with a lot of dross in the hope of catching a few.

We are seriously in danger of allowing a police state to come into being. The absurd aspect is that we are supposed to loose our freedoms to protect our freedoms. All we are doing is letting the Terrorist and Criminal win, if we don't safeguard and protect our freedoms.

White Cold and Wet

Well it snowed last night and along with it came the high winds as per the forecast. I stayed up to watch it start as I had a film sequence in my minds eye that I wanted to film, but the high wind stopped the snow from behaving normally, thus I was not able to film the stop motion effect of the snow building up as I had wanted.

It also caused some disruption, as I said in a previous post I wanted to go and get some shopping and the journey into town was slow as the bus driver took great care. I got what I needed and as I had some time to kill before getting the bus back I popped into one of the charity (Thrift) shops. I have been in before and bought a couple of natural history books. So when I went in one of the assistances told me that she had a book that had just come in that I may be interested in. I was and with a strange coincidence it is a book that I had recommended to a reader of this nonsense that is my web log just a week or so ago. A book on the Blackbird. While there I also spotted something that I have been looking for, a rain cover for the video camera. While it is not exactly for the same model as mine, I can adjust to make it fit. So fifteen pounds lighter I now have this book and a rain coat for my camera. See what happens when it snows.

When I got back I then had to fight with my neighbour as to who was going to clear the path. I lost. They are a wonderfully independent couple and I am glad that they are able to just get on and enjoy life even though they are in their seventies.

I was able to get out and do some filming but before I set out I made sure that I was well clothed for the trip. That makes it sound like an expedition. However, as I have found myself out in bitter weather in the past, I am now much better prepared. Thus before I left the house I was in danger of cooking, oven ready mouse! But I was grateful as I was able to spend four hours or so out in sub zero and latter just over zero temperatures and feel comfortable and happy. This actually bodes well for more of my wildlife watching as previously I have had to cut short some previous attempts to watch or film wildlife because of the cold. I have invested in some good gear that has proved its worth today. While the Wood Mouse is hardy (foolhardy) it was nice to return home and not have to sit in the fridge to get warm for a change. Still look a scruffy mouse though.

Anyway here is my little attempt to film the effects of the weather today.

Pied Wagtails

When I first moved to the village I filmed these birds. As my long standing reader (and a cat that thinks my films are cookery programmes) will know I had bought a cheap second hand camera that stopped working almost as soon as I got it. However, I did get this film with it before it failed.

While I may have posted this previously, I can't remember, I am posting this to help a friend that needs something to provide a grin.

Dragonfly In Flight

Earlier in the year while out I was able to film a Dragonfly in flight, I am genuinely pleased to have captured this, all to brief clip, as filming insects in flight is far from easy. I have many minutes of duff footage too.

Derwent Walk and Charles Darwin

As I am sitting here waiting for the snow to arrive, I thought I would share a film that I put together yesterday of some of the views along a track called the Derwent Walk. Just to remind us all of late summer early autumn.

The Derwent Walk is a trail, used by horses, cyclists and walkers that runs along the bed of a disused railway. Here in Britain in the 1960s we ripped up a lot of railways in favour of the Car! Then in the 1980s a number of these routes were converted to recreational routes and are used as part of a national Cycle network. The Derwent walk runs to Consett and beyond to Lanchester. That part I have not strolled along yet, but next year...

putting together this film showed the limitations of my computer, it struggled to cope with rendering the film and refused to do it three times. But then I spoke nicely too it and it finally worked. It also took a long time, to little memory in this steam powered device.

However while I was waiting I was able to read five chapters of The Origin of Species a book that I am rereading. I first read the book in 1978/9 and while I understood the concepts that Darwin was talking about, it is no easy read. But even now, a hundred and fifty years after its publication, it is still a powerful book. I doubt that many people have read the full text, there are shorter paperbacks out there, but I do have a full text (Sixth Edition) that benefits from amendments that Charles Darwin made to make it easier for a non specialist to understand the theory. However the aspect of the text that was and remains remarkable is that Darwin had obviously thought of all the arguments against Evolution and discovered the evidence to repudiate those arguments.

I was once asked, when I was about eighteen, what I wanted to do in life, I answered;

“When I grow up I want to be David Attenborough”

Well I think that if I were be asked the same question now, I would wish to have the intellectual prowess of Charles Darwin.

Snows Coming

While we have had a light dusting of snow here and it has settled it really has not been anything to write about. I know that several of my readers would dismiss what I have here as nothing more than Gods Dandruff. But there is more on the way four to Eight Inches and with blizzard conditions that is likely to drift.

It will be the first significant snowfall that I have experienced here, and the first time in years that there has been this level of snowfall across the region.

As well as going out to get some pictures tomorrow, I am planning on making a shopping trip into town, so I will check with my elderly neighbours if the need any help and assistance. I guess that one of my first jobs to do tomorrow though will be path clearing.

Common Toad

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had seen and filmed a frog in my yard. Well I seem to be having a brain storm as what I meant to say was that it was a Toad. Does that mean I am living in Toad Hall?

Anyway, brain storm over here he is in close up.

A Mystery Solved

About five or six weeks ago while sitting at my computer I noticed a bird of the crow family that was sitting on the chimney stack of one of the houses that are at the back of me. There are two short terraces that run at a right angle from my back lane and the Jackdaws nest and roost in many of the chimneys. However this one that I saw had a red bill.

From my angle of view, I could not see the whole of the bird as if I could see red legs too then it had to be a Chough. But equally I was well aware that if it was then it was out of place, as they are not normally seen here. What's more I kept on getting fleeting glimpses of the bird but not enough to make a clear identification nor get a picture.

Also at the same time I was informed by one of the local farmers that they thought they had a Pine Martin on their land. They has seen a weasel like animal near their bird table and while they had not seen what was taking the Jam sandwiches they were putting out, there were paw prints of a stoat like critter near the bird table too.

Thus I have had my time divided between looking for a possible Pine Martin and a Possible Chough. Both are rare and I was determined to discover if the identification was correct. I have had plenty of opportunity to test my extreme weather clothing, as I sat out watching for the possible Pine Martin. I did not see the Pine Martin and I became convinced that it was in fact a stoat that had been seen. As it snowed last night, I was able to confirm this with the footprints and trail left.

However, that still did not explain who was taking and eating the jam sandwiches. Well I saw this morning that it is the Jackdaws. I am guessing that your ahead of me here, I saw several Jackdaws that had jam smeared on their beaks making them appear red.

This is where it was wise not to rush to judgement and to rely on good observation to establish what was really happening. I don't know if I will get a chance to try and film the Stoat before going up to Scotland, but I will try. And who knows if there is a Chough around then I may get a picture of it. But I may just get a picture of a messy sweet beaked Jackdaw.

Melting Polar Ice And CO2 absorption

Melting ice from glacial ice from the Greenland ice shelf dilutes the salinity of the North Atlantic, this slows the circulation of nutrients that feed the CO2 absorbing plankton and other organisms this leads the a drop in the ability for the seas to take up carbon dioxide leading to an increase in atmospheric CO2 and leading to a temperature increase of 16 degrees Celsius.

That scenario is the findings of a computer model by climate scientists Andreas Schmittner and Eric Galbraith of Oregon State University and Princeton University respectively. Not of our current situation but events of 65,000 to 13,000 years ago.

Why this is important is that one of the impediments to understanding how climate change will effect us now and in the future, has been our lack of understand what occurred in the natural processes of the past. A scientific paper published in Nature this week progresses our understanding by leaps and bounds. It has long been realised that the melting of the Ice at the poles effected the CO2 in the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age, but exactly how was little understood. The main contender of the theories was that salinity of the sea water was at the centre of this process, but exactly how? Well using a climate model that is normally used to predict our future climate, the scientists have been able to match exactly what happened in the past.

The important factor to remember here though is this natural process took place over a period of over fifty thousand years. The principals though are the same as what is happening now with the damaging man made climate change of today. Except what we are seeing is happening in a couple of centuries not over many millennia. Further just as the natural process speeded up near the end of the Ice Age, we are seeing the processes of Melting Sea Ice and Land based Glacial Ice increase.

We are looking at a very challenging future.

A link to the news story

Looking Forward to Scotland

I have now been sent the details of the job up in Scotland and for the most part I have done before everything that will form part of my duties. It was interesting though that will I said that I was happy for all this to be sent via Email it was in fact printed off and sent by post.

There was further details of the accommodation and I am happy with that too. While it had been described as a cottage it is in fact a house with four bedrooms, well three and a box room. That box room will be my office. Also the place has a garden, very neglected but if I have the time I may get some vegetables growing there.

The only aspect that is making me feel a little unsure is that it has a wood stove for the heating, hot water and cooking. Now I know that at least one of my readers could tell me some tales about cooking this way, but I have never had to use a system like this. So at the very least it could lead to some interesting posts. Also among the gubbings sent to me was a note from the man who turns out to be the boss of the person who appointed me. Asking me to wring him as soon as I got the information. Well I did and I finally got to talk to him today (Sunday).

Our conversation seemed to start really badly as he said that he was not happy with the way I had been appointed. This lead to us talking at crossed purposes, until I had been reassured that the position was mine. The difficulty he had was simply that in the previous two years others had been appointed but had quit after only a few weeks as they could not cope with the isolation. Now while I can be happy in my own company, we all need human contact but I am reasonably sure that I will be able to cope. Anyway, from the details sent there is a Post Bus so I will not be stranded either. Also, while I will have a lot of work to do, I will also have the time to film and take photographs as well as observe the wildlife.

This did reassure him a bit, then we started talking about the accommodation. Well it seams that the biggest problem is and has been the electricity. Winds bring the power lines down regularly. So they are thinking of installing a generator. At this I said well that's not very green, and rather costly. I suggested why not get some solar panels so that they can charge 12 volt batteries and run the lighting off a 12 volt system? After a little chat about this he realised that it could be the solution. It could run a small fridge such as used in caravans (Trailers) also it could power a lap top too. And for about the same it was likely to have cost buy the generator and to have it fitted.

I also suggested that a solar hot water system could be fitted at the same time. I was surprised at just how receptive he was to this. It turns out that one of the thoughts that the charity has had was to use this property as a holiday let specifically for wildlife watchers. As not far from the place is a regular Osprey nest (that's why I have not revealed the exact location here), as well as it being Red Deer territory.

We also talked about how I was going to cope with shopping and getting supplies. I said that I should be able to get most of my needs delivered, and while there would likely be a charge, I was content to do that. Also, I could easily revert to a vegetarian diet and rely on stocks of pulses and nuts for my protein. Anyway, he seemed reassured that I was likely to be able to cope with the isolation.

Again, I still need to remember that all this is dependent upon the charity getting the grant they have applied for. I also discovered that previously they have had to repay the grant as the people appointed were not willing or able to stick with the job. He also told me that if there was a problem with getting the grant, that he would keep me in mind should any other post came up as he was delighted to talk to someone with such a positive attitude towards natural history.

One last thing that was amusing about our conversation, when he was talking about the problems with the power, he asked how would I cope with no television? Fine I said as I normally listen to the radio. Now he thought I meant music but when I told him that I mean speech radio he was more than a little surprised as he could not remember the last time he had spoken to someone that prefers to read or listen the radio. Anyway he said that I should have been living in a different age.

Shoveler Duck in Eclipse Plumage

Here is an interesting bit of film of a Shoveler Duck in his Eclipse plumage. When I shot the footage I could see that it was a Shoveler from the shape of its bill but it was the plumage that had me fooled until I was able to look it up in my field guide. This I had left at home as when I first ventured out it looked as though it was going to pour with rain. But it was one of those days when the right things just seem to happen at the right times. Thus when I arrived at the location the clouds had parted and I was blessed with bright sun and even when the clouds did obscure the sun it was a nice diffuse light.

I am hoping to return to this location in the next few days as with winter here now, I just never know what to expect there.

Blackhills Gothic Chapels

Earlier this year I mentioned that while walking the Derwent Walk I stopped to film two chapels at Blackhill cemetery. The footpath runs alongside and I was just struck by the beauty of the Gothic structures. However when filming I realised that one was Christian and the other Jewish. What was surprising is that there is no discernible Jewish population I Consett any more. In Gateshead there is a sizeable Jewish quarter, thus it seemed strange that there was a Jewish cemetery so far from the main Jewish centre of population. It was clear that something had changed.

Therefore I decided to investigate, but that was not the only aspect of the puzzle as the cemetery at Blackhill is also quite large, much larger than you would expect for a town the size of Consett.

As my British reader may know, Consett was once a steel town, the Blast furnaces used to dominate the skyline and even from my village eight miles away the glow of the blast Furness could be seen at night. Also the whole area was covered with a red dust, including my village, as partials of Iron would oxidise in the air before settling.

My initial enquires did validate my early hypothesis that the reason why the cemetery was so large was the high numbers of deaths that occurred in the area from direct industrial accidents at the Iron works and as a result of the pollution by the red dust from the foundry. Also, because of the deaths at the blast furnaces and the associated mines, workers were brought in from all the local populations and especially the Jewish community in Gateshead.

Even my village was once owned by the Consett Iron Works, almost all the houses here were built to house the miners so that the blast Furness could be powered. That doesn't mean that they were good employers, far from it, in fact they were regarded even at the turn of the twentieth century as one of the worst. This was when mine owners were regarded by the general population in the same way that oil companies are today.

While the Mines and the Steel works did provide jobs, it was a really terrible industry to have been in and the deaths at the steel works left a lasting scar on this community.

When the steel works closed in the 1980s while it did cause a lot of unemployment and that legacy still remains today, the effects of the industrial injuries are still with the population.
Since the closure of the steel works though, the environment has really benefited, The River Derwent now has a healthy fish population and associated species, the air is much cleaner and Consett is no longer a place that is avoided by walkers, cyclists and horseback riders.

Also the steel works has left some fantastic stone buildings like these chapels.

Why I Blog

One of the comments left on a previous posting, raises a serious point. And it is one of the problems with and for anyone who keeps a web log, that of accuracy. I really do try and ensure that everything I post it accurate, I am human (well a mouse! Thinks; does that make me Chimera?) and I can make mistakes, but on the whole I do work very hard at getting the facts right.

I have in fact got over a hundred postings that I have written where because I can not verify the facts, I just have not posted them. Although some may see the light of pixel if I latter get details the show the accuracy. Also while I mainly talk about the environment, one of the aspects of the way I try to post is to show just how important the Natural History, the Ecology and the Environment is to all aspects of our lives.

I could just as easily post purely on Human Rights, another aspect of the worlds injustice that I am passionate about, but aspects of the Environment would creep into that as there is a strong link between Human Rights, poverty and the Environment. Just as Politics, the Economy and Food are all linked to the Environment too.

But I choose to write mainly on the environment as if I were to write mainly on human rights, I would end up making myself very depressed. At least with the environment even when I am posting about bleak topics or issues I can step outside and I can see what I am striving to save. When I meet others that also care about the environment and are prepared to make the effort to try to make the planet better, equally I am uplifted.

Thus it and will remain the environment that is at the lynch pin of my postings here. Yet even stating that raises another aspect that I personally find amusing more than anything else, when someone disagrees with the mouse they normally dismiss my comments as being ill-informed or that I just don't know what I am talking about. It happened when I was talking about the economy. A comment was made that I had jumped on the band wagon of condemning hedge funds and short selling. Well not just here, I have been in disagreement with these practices for years. The person that made the comment followed up when I said that we should agree to disagree with a statement that made me smile. He was saying that as this was an environmental blog I should stick with the subject and not talk about what I did not know about. That made me smile as I studied Business and Accounting at University and even there I challenged many of the assumptions that Economics are based upon. Wood Mouse was not a popular student, but I did get people to think for themselves. Assuming that is the way it is or that is is the way things have to be just leads to us all repeating the mistakes of the past.

Then there is the most recent comment that inspired this posting. I was talking about the fact that by raising quotas for fishing Blue Fin Tuna, the EU (European Union) were likely to cause the extinction of this species. I have to say to be totally fair and accurate that America and Canada have better conservation measures in place than does Europe. Anyway in a pessimistic response the person more or less said that there was nothing that could be done. I pointed out that there are actions that can be taken. Further, I quoted examples where the purchasing power of the consumer has effected change. He however quite rightly pointed out that the poorest peoples have little money to effect change. But I am not talking about the poor and the very poor in these situations, I am talking about the richer west and northern countries. I was asked directly if I knew what the average wage is in Africa. While I don't know the exact figures, I do know that millions are having to live on a Dollar a day or less. While most of these people will have never seen a Dollar Bill, this is a measure of the extreme poverty used by the United Nations and NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations). Thus I say quite clearly, I do try hard to stay informed.

Often I am not on top of the news in my postings here, simply because of the fact that I do check the facts. As the mainstream media often rush to judgement, I prefer to ensure that I am accurate rather than first. That's something that most Newspapers need to learn. The day after the 9/11 attacks, here in Britain on Sky News (The Rupert Murdock Satellite channel) falsely claimed that there had been eight aircraft high jacked and that five were shot down by the US Air force. Now the attacks were shocking enough but even the thought that the American Military had been forced to kill US civilians just added to the sickening news that was emerging. I still meet people that tell me that this was true and is now part of all the conspiracy nonsense that is associated with that terrible day.

That brings me to an important aspect of why I blog. While there is some good Media here in Britain, The Guardian and the BBC to name a couple, the vast majority here and around the world are Right wing in nature. Often just pampering to the political agenda of a few powerful men. When it comes to “Green” issues this media is just down right hostile to issues like Climate Change and will and have done all they can to spout the lie that it is not happening. These rags have done more to slow down reasoned rational attempts to stop and reverse the effects of climate change.

At least here in cyberspace, another prospective can be placed in the public domain. If I can get at least one person to look at a topic in another way then it may well be worth the effort. I just think that its a shame that the lies and political propaganda of News International reaches so many. Here in Britain, News International is strongly anti Europe. In the past there were a series of reports that several foods were going to be banned by the EU This included Prawn cocktail potato crisps (I think Americans call them potato chips), and that bananas were going to have to be straight. All were just made up. That is one of the benefits of the Internet, as people can now check for themselves and discover for themselves that these are untrue.

Just as on the Environment the majority of the mainstream media has an agenda in relation to Europe. For example I understand that News International was and remains against the introduction of the Euro in Britain as the business that is News International makes significant monies from the fluctuations in currency values. Even though some of their major advertisers were and are in favour of Britain adopting the Euro. Also News International has been anti environment to support the car companies and the oil companies who are major advertisers.

It is one of the reasons why so much of the media is now full of the dross of celebrity culture rather than real news. At the moment there is a genocide going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire. Yet this gets scant reporting, in fact while this is going on even supposedly serious news programmes on the BBC were full of the nonsense that a former journalist had resigned from a dancing competition. This followed hot on the heals of a couple of childish presenters that were rude and offensive on the radio. Yet real news was ignored. This includes the news that a comedian in Burma has been sent to prison for forty five years for making fun of the generals that run that benighted country. If only the papers would kick up a stink over issues like that, what a better world we could have.

This is another reason for posting on this web log, to raise issues that the mainstream media just seem to ignore. As I have said previously I could write this blog about Human Rights all the time, but as well as making me depressed, I just do not have the time either. If I didn't have to go out and earn money for luxury items like food, then perhaps I could do more on that aspect of the world.

The reason that I write with this electronic quill about the environment is that it is central to everything. In Indonesia when the forest dwelling people loose their part of the rainforest also loose their means of sustenance. So while selling the timber will generate a short term income for the nation, the long term cost to Indonesia is that these people add to the unemployment there. That's without even thinking of the environmental factors that this legal logging has. I could quote other examples but I would rather leave those for latter postings.

One of the major problems is simply that far to many people have been influenced by the right wing press into assuming that their agenda is the only way of doing things. Yet by protecting the planet and supporting people around the world we can feed the hungry and safeguard the diversity of species that are essential for our existence too.

Redshanks and Positive people

When one of the local buses altered its route, I made a much needed discovery, a Laundry. While I have been saving for a washing machine, the washing machine fund kept on getting raided, that was how I paid for the camera. Thus I have been doing my washing by hand. But with the weather turning colder, my washing was coming off of my solar powered drying device, frozen solid.

Thus, yesterday I took a load of washing to the laundry. I had expected to do it myself but this is not a self service facility. After enquiring after the cost, for two loads it was fifteen pounds ($25), I decided to go ahead and let them do my washing. In some ways that was a relief as I had plenty of other jobs to do. Also in the Wood Mouse Dictionary DIY stands for Destroy It Yourself.

That job out of the way, I was able to get other chores done. I still have housework to do over the weekend, but by getting ahead a little today I was able to do something I wanted to.

Over a year ago, in a pub in town I was overheard talking to a friend about conversation work, and this man, a complete stranger asked me about what I did. A question I have been asking myself for years. Anyway he was part of a voluntary group near Durham that were looking to regenerate some land. Mainly for public access, but they also wanted to make it “Good for Wildlife”

Anyway, I gave him my email address and we have been talking about what they could do. While it has taken time, these things usually do, they are now ready to start making firm plans. Thus I was invited along to make a site visit. This was what I did on Friday afternoon.

I was quite impressed by the depth of their ambition. The site is a mess at the moment, it has been used as a fly tipping site and the local council seem to be fully on side too. They can see that with the community taking ownership of the site, it may be that the council will no longer have to keep paying out to clean up the site. Also, as the site is very marshy I suggested that a pond could be a good idea. Well talk about people being positive, the chap from the council was in favour and said they could donate drainage pipes to help with the drainage. Then another member of the voluntary group said that he worked for a small building company, and because of the credit crunch they have two young men that are training to do their Digger licence. But with a lack of work they were likely not to be able to complete this. However, if they donated their time then they could complete their training and the work could be done.

Further, was the problem of fencing. Now I suggested that rather than build a fence they plant a hedge, again I was really pleased that the idea was supported, and even before the group left, some were collecting hawthorn berries so that the seeds can be grown on for this. Also I said that they could probably get some of the plants they need from the Great North Forest project.

It was really uplifting to be with so many positive people. Well it makes a change from proclaiming Were Doomed!

As I am on a positive role here is some film of Redshanks

British Democracy at Risk

When I heard the News yesterday that an MP had been arrested, I was in the kitchen. I had to stop what I was doing to listen to the news. Beyond some scant details, the news was shocking and it made me wonder what the real story was. As surely an opposition Member of Parliament had not been arrested over a political issue? This is Britain after all and not Zimbabwe.

It has not been until this evening that I have been able to look into the matter and I am shocked. There have been a series of leaks from the Home Office, the British Interior Ministry, that have been politically embarrassing So the police were called in to investigate. That part is understandable to a point, as the Home Office deals with the Police, Prisons, and of course Anti Terrorism However, the leaks were politically embarrassing and not a threat to our security. And lets face it it was the government that lost folders of Terrorist Intelligence, they were left on a train.

But a senior opposition MP was arrested using Anti Terrorist powers.

Now I will not comment on anything the MP Damien Green may or may not have done wrong. At this point I just do not know. However using Anti Terrorist laws in this matter is a serious nail in the coffin of democracy. That is the sort of behaviour that is supposed to only happen in failed states, in places where there is no democracy.

This Labour Government has form on this, it was first used to silence a heckler at the labour conference some years back. Also when one of the Icelandic banks went bust, the Government used

Anti Terrorist Laws to freeze its assets. Well we all know that Iceland is a hot bed of Terrorism, I nearly posted a comment at the time on that.

We must guard our democracy from power hungry politicians, no matter what their political hue.

A link to the News Story

Cod Extinct in 20 Years

In the 1970s there was a comedy series called Dads Army, it was based on the antics of a Home Guard platoon during the second world war in Britain. The series has become a classic and sparked many catch phrases. One from an old Scotsman was “Were Doomed, were doomed”

There are times when I almost feel like I am reciting that catch phrases almost like a mantra. As while I really do believe we can stop and reverse the environmental degradation that is impacting us all, all the science is showing that we really are in serious trouble.

In research carried out by Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, on the Cod population in the Northern Atlantic, shows that it is in terminal decline. In fact the research shows that the cod is facing extinction in twenty years.

The Grand Banks, a major fishery off the coast of Newfoundland collapsed in the 1990s. That put forty thousand people out of a job. While this was a wake up call and did directly lead to the setting up of the Marine Stewardship Council and its members do operate sustainably, MSC fish only represents seven percent of the global catch. In the last fifty years the volume of fish caught has increased by five fold. Not all of that is for human consumption as about twenty percent, a fifth of the fish caught is used as crop fertiliser.

At the moment there are a billion people that are reliant on fish protein as their main or only source of protein Therefore if we loose the fish that's a billion people that will face malnutrition. As usual it is the people that are poor that will loose out the most.

Yet again the problem is and has been a lack of political leadership here. I cant help but think of the way that the US government was able to find seven hundred billion dollars of tax payers money to bail out the banks, and other countries have instituted similar policies and similar sums of money to save their banks, yet much smaller sums of money would have saved the fishing industry. By paying the fishermen not to fish then around the world fish stocks could have been allowed to recover. But as this new research shows, as published in the Journal Science, this is one fight that it looks like we have lost. That will mean that there will be millions of jobs lost, across the world when the fishing industry inevitably disappears.

The only way we can now save the seas is to stop all commercial fishing and only allow the sustenance fishing by the peoples that are reliant on fish to sustain life. In much the same way that indigenous peoples are allowed to hunt whales to sustain their populations.

We have to move away from the quick profit economics, we have already seen the effects that has on our economy via the credit crunch and the recession. We have to move towards an economic model that is sustainable. By raping the seas in the way we have been, we will loose this valuable source of food. As well as the beauty that feeds our soul.

Just as with climate change we ignore the science at our peril.

New Red Kite Film

There is one good thing to be said for the cold and wet weather, it has given me the time to get more of my video footage sorted out. I am making real headway with it too and as I have learnt more about how the editing software works, I am able to get it done faster. While I do have the manual and reading the procedures of what I need to helped a lot, there is nothing better than hands on experience.

Talking of experience, my regular reader may remember that last year I helped the Forestry Commission Ecologist when he was carrying out a survey of Bat roosts in my local woods. The technique is quite simple you have to walk through a patch of the wood in a methodical manner, and mark on a map the possible locations. Returning latter to check for the animals actual habitation. In the case of bats that's using a endoscope, but as the method is the same for most animals or birds, the real trick is being methodical. Well a few months ago I was talking to someone about the technique as they needed to do something similar. However they did not know how to even start, so I explained what myself and the Ecologist had done and he was pleased that this made the whole process straight forward. Just a lot of hard work.

Anyway out of the blue I get a call today, it was this same chap. Although it took me some minutes to remember who he was, he was calling as the charity that he works for is applying for a grant to fund this survey. While it will not be until February or March next year till they know if they have got the grant, I was being offered a job. The Job of conducting the survey. Well I could have been knocked down with a feather.

The job would be in Scotland in a very remote area, and while I would get a cottage to live in while the work was carried out, I would twenty odd miles from anyone, in fact I would only really have midges for company. Now as much as I love where I am, I had to say yes! So while it is dependent upon the grant application being successful it looks like I have a job for the next two years. Bugger me I was trying to avoid work.

While the pay is nothing spectacular, I should be able to save some money while there. Also I will get other fringe benefits such as a clothing grant to ensure that I have the right gear for the weather as it can be extreme at times. As well as getting new good quality boots, better than I could afford myself, I will also get my own laptop, one that I get to keep once the job is finished.

On the down side, I will not have access to broadband, so I will be joining my two readers that are on Dial up! Therefore, I doubt that I will be able to upload much video, but I will keep this web log going as and when I can.

Once I was off the phone, I did think that was the first job that I have ever got where I did not have to suffer an interview. However, I also thought about my friends dog. Previously I was reluctant to take on her dog for her while living here as it would be difficult to keep my cat happy and them separated. However, with the new circumstance I would be able to take the dog with me most of the time, as I will have a lot of walking to do.

However when I telephoned her with the news of the job offer, she told me that just this weekend a chap that lives near her daughter has agreed to take the dog. So I don't know if I should contact one of the rescue centrers now, or wait until a latter date. One thing I will need to do though is start saving for the move, as while it will be subsidised, it will still cost me to move.

Well it has been a surprising day in more than one way. When I was uploading some of the video earlier, there was a clip of two women and their Husky dogs, I may have mentioned it at the time when I met them. But I was talking to the women and the camera recorded my voice. When I was younger I had a stammer, and while its no where near as bad now, it was quite a shock to hear just how much I still so stammer. Well now I know that I have the perfect voice for silent films. LOL

Anyway, one of the things that I have been able to do today is get some of the clips of the Red Kite(s) together so here it is. And I hope that one American friend here is able to take time out from her thanksgiving feast to enjoy it. That's what using dial up is good for, you can download a video to time cooking the Turkey!

A happy thanksgiving to all my American friends.

Frog by Night

A few weeks ago I mentioned spotting a Common Frog in my back yard, well it was the Owl that drew my attention to it first. Well I film her and I have finally got the film sorted out and here it is.

A female Common Frog Rana temporaria, at night and hopping away.

EU condemns Blue Fin Tuna to Extinction

When I lived in North Shields, a fishing port the the North East of England, I was careful not to get involved in potentially heated debates with the men who worked in the fishing industry. However, I was interested to talk to these men to discover what their problems are too. As while I do hold strong views on the way that our seas are being over fished, it is only by discovering the reality and detail of an industry and community that relies on fishing can solutions be found.

At that time the government were paying fishermen to decommission their boats and leave the industry. But the real problem was and still is the fact that boats from other nations have free access to the United Kingdom waters. Therefore it is only via Europe wide agreements that any action is taken. That unfortunately leads to the science being ignored and economic need to retain jobs being given priority.

Therefore, for years the European Unions Common Fisheries Policy has been a complete mess. With the long standing quota system setting limits on the numbers of a particular species that can be landed, this inevitably lead to the sickening sight of dead fish being thrown overboard as the boat did not have the quota to land the fish.

This has added to the decline of important fish stocks such as Cod, Herring, Place, to name but a few. Further this has all added to the decline in the breading stocks of these species preventing any real recovery in the stocks the measures were intended to create.

Following the second world war, as fishing had been all but impossible, the numbers of Cod and Herring were very abundant and this greatly helped feed the starving peoples of Europe following the war. Now had there been a moratorium on fishing back in the 1980s when the problem first became acute then we would not have the difficulties now. But as with so many of the really difficult problems, governments refused to take the difficult decisions for fear of being unpopular.

Thus we have the current situation where on the important food species of fish the stocks are ninety percent gone. Even ten years ago when I lived in North Shields the fishermen were saying that they never see any of the big mature fish. Yet it was these fish that fetched this best prices in the market. By taking the smaller fish the fishermen acknowledged that they had to catch a greater volume of small fish to earn the money required to pay wages and the costs of running the boat. What's more the older fishermen agreed that this was completely unsustainable.

As one retired fisherman told me, the younger men never saw the abundance of fish there was in the past so do not realise just how depleted the stocks are. Also with the advent of technology such as fish finders, it is possible to hover up the fish leaving nothing for tomorrow.

A major aspect of the current problem is that the boats are much larger now, and the fishing industry has become nothing more than a business. If we could see the losses of fish in the same way we are able to see deforestation on the land, I have no doubt that there would be a serious out cry.

All this also has a serious effect upon the rest of the ecology of the seas, creating imbalances. Off the coast of Maine in the US, there is currently an abundance of Lobsters. So much so that people are being asked to eat Lobster instead of Turkey for thanksgiving. This imbalance is a direct result of overfishing of species like Cod in the Grand Banks where the fishery has collapsed. As Cod feed on Lobster Fry, more young lobsters are surviving to maturity and hence the current glut. But this glut is not all good news, as for the fishermen the price is falling, making it harder to make a living. Also environmentally this increase in the lobster population is seriously impacting other species in the natural food chain.

My thanks to one of my readers for alerting me to that one. Also I need to thank another reader for alerting me to the plight of the Orca Whale. Often called the killer whale, populations of these whales appear to have collapsed all along the Pacific's coast. While the exact cause has not been highlighted yet, the evidence strongly points towards over fishing yet again. In one report that I heard from a Canadian radio station, one pod of thirty six was now only six individuals. And similar numbers are being reported as lost all down the coastline of Canada and America.
In the first episode of the Oceans programme (A BBC Discovery Channel co Production), they were in the Sea of Cortez looking for the Hammerhead Shark, but were unable to find any. As this sea off the California Coast was a real hot spot for the Hammerhead Shark, it shows the effect of overfishing. The sharks are hunted for their fin, and just their fin, for shark fin soup. The rest of the fish is discarded. As well as being an environmental waste it is shear criminal destruction.

Just yesterday the European Union agreed to increase quotas on fishing the Blue Fin Tuna. Against scientific advice. Thus another seriously endangered species will become seriously endangered or even extinct. As it is the fish that are being caught are only about 500lbs and are not sexually mature. A mature Blue fin Tuna is 1000lbs or more. So we fail to learn any lessons from the past and are hell bent on fishing out the seas until no fish and almost no life is left in them.

If we were to stop fishing for ten years then there will be a fishing industry, if we continue as we are, in ten years or less there will be no fishing industry at all.

When we have extinguished life from the seas what then? It will not be the case that we can shrug our shoulders and say we should have done more sooner. As without life in the oceans and the complex ecosystems they have, we will have an even greater effect from greenhouses gases. Plankton in the oceans absorbed more of the CO2 than do trees and plants on land. If we loose the life in the seas then it will be like a doubling of CO2 emissions overnight. We are already seeing a cascade effect from climate change. The loss of the summer Sea Ice in the Arctic is just one of the obvious signs. The loss of the Mountain Glaciers is another. Yet its clear that politicians are shirking their duties by allowing and increasing the very activities that have resulted in this mess we are in.

I personally long ago stopped eating Tuna and Have now stopped eating any fish as there are no sustainable fisheries in the world now. I genuinely wish that it were not this way, but we will see some major environmental shocks in the next few years that make the economic one seem like a walk in the park. Unfortunately it will take those shocks to get the majority of people to realise the folly of ignoring the environmental degradation we are causing.

A News report on the EU Decision

Badgers and Monarch Butterflies

Last night (Sunday through Monday) I went out to check on the Badgers. As I was walking down towards the river, I bumped into the Labrador owner that I had met while trying to film the otters. After a brief chat about what I was up to she told me that I was a real Richard Attenborough. Now as he is the film director that made the film Gandhi among others, I was not sure if she meant his brother David, who has delighted so many with his wildlife films. Well I will have to ask her the next time I see her. When we talked though I discovered that her Otter watching was impromptu, and had only seen the Otters by chance when walking her dog. She admitted that had she wanted to really make the effort to see them then the dog would have to stay at home.

The main reason I wanted to check on how the Badgers are doing is since the flooding of the main sett in the September flood, the dynamics of the groupings have changed. The main sett however has not been abandoned and two young males (at least) have reoccupied the sett. They were two males from another Sett that I called Itchy and Scratchy (what does that reveal about my cultural references?). Between them they are showing quite a remarkable degree of cooperation, re digging tunnels and collecting bedding. But what is unusual is that unlike most young male badgers they are not engaging in the play fighting that is a normal feature of badger behaviour. Now I am not saying that its not happening, just that I am not seeing it. It could be that they are just to busy to play, or play as much.

While I have not seen a female there, yet, I suspect that this effort is because of a female. But as they are still to young to be mating themselves, they are just nine or ten months old, I am finding the activity rather perplexing. As while I do think there are or will be other more mature badgers there too, it is strange to see young males so intent on the task of rebuilding the sett.

When I got home and started typing up my notes, I started playing one of the podcasts that I listen to. Birds and Nature from a Pittsburgh radio station, via I Tunes. Well the writer of one of the Web Logs that I follow, and I told my regular reader about was a guest on the show, Ba Rea, the writer of the Monarch Chaser Blog. It was quite an entertaining interview too.

Thus, my note making got left a little but I got them done before getting on with sorting out more video footage. I am aware that the best way to get it all sorted out would be to stop filming until I have got my backlog catalogued and backed up, but that would be no fun. I just seem to like giving myself work to do.