Feeding Birds and Wildlife

Recently I made a posting about the birds having had a feast on the tree seeds that I collected and planted. I had a couple of emails about that, and a couple of days ago talking to someone in the village, repeated what was being said or asked in these mails. That of why feed the birds?
In the past it always used to be recommended that you only feed birds in winter. In the bleak cold depths of winter when there is snow or frost on the ground, the birds really appreciate the extra fuel. While there may be other wild foods out there, a reliable source really can make the difference between life and death.

However feeding birds also helps them at other times of the year as well. During the breeding season, a good reliable extra source of food can make the difference between the parents raising one brood successfully or three broods. Also with a changing climate and adverse weather patterns, that supply of food can help ensure that chicks don't die of starvation should the parents be prevented from finding wild foods.

As I don't have a garden, this year I plan to grow some plants especially to provide shelter for birds and animals. This will help the birds feel secure about feeding. Often you will see bird tables with roofs but that is actually the worst thing to do as it prevents the birds from seeing predators like sparrow hawks. In time I hope that I will attract even more birds in by placing containers and plants around the concrete yard.

In the future I will better protect any seedlings I plant, if I loose a few then so be it.
As for the main reason I feed the birds its because I love seeing the birds. Most of the time the birds treat my free cafe in the same way humans would treat an offer of free petrol, even if they don't need it they will fill their boots. The birds do the same.

Feeding the birds provides me with regular visitors, a blackbird pair where the male has a white patch on his head. Starlings looking resplendent in breading plumage, blue tits and great tits. Dunnocks, Tree sparrows as well as the now endangered House Sparrow. When ever I put out meal worms I get a pair of Robin in the yard and occasionally a pied wagtail.

The small amount of effort I make is repaid a hundred fold by seeing the birds. So I don't do it for the birds I do it for me.

Vendace Brought back from the edge of Extinction

When I was a child, I started making a list of the whole of the Flora and Fauna to be found in the British Isles. Really Geeky I know, but I have always been an odd ball. This was originally a paper record. Then back in 1981 I bought a computer. It was really basic compared to the ones available now, no hard drive, storage was on five and a quarter floppy disks. On this computer I was able to record much of the wildlife this country holds.

But what with work and other commitments I eventually abandoned the project. Also, as computers improved, I discovered that to transfer the data to a new computer was going to require retyping in thousands of records. In many ways it was a project that would have been ideal for the internet age.

While I did abandon this, it did enable me to discover just how rich our wildlife was, and I discovered species that I would never have known. One such species was the Vendace. However when I was doing this it was uncertain if this fish was extinct or not. It has been the loss of species that has been my driving force in conservation for most of my life.

Therefore, it was pleasing to discover this article about the Vendace and how it is now thriving in a new location when it has died out in three of the four of its natural locations.

The article on the Project

Further Information One Two Three

The Earth Moved

Well the earth moved for me last nigh. You have a dirty mind, I don't mean in that way! Late last night I was sitting at the computer, trying to write up my observation notes. When I noticed my screen shake and the CDs on the rack by my desk started to fall over. As all day I had been caught in the teeth of a severe gale, winds of seventy miles an hour and gusts of over eighty, I thought I was something to do with the wind.

This morning I discover that it was an Earthquake. Well that was a first for me and because of the wind, I nearly didn't notice.

Are Genetically Modified Crops Killing Bees?

Several months ago I started writing a piece about the rise in food prices and the unethical way that we in the west are diverting food crops to Bio-Fuels. I was going to also talk about the effects of climate change and the way that our changing climate could be effecting bees. As has been reported bees are suffering from a condition called, Colony Collapse Disorder.

Now while I strongly suspected an environmental reason for this, however as I always use good quality research as the basis for my postings, I did not want to blame global warming for this Colony Collapse Disorder if that is not what the sciences shows. Therefore I contacted people that would know what the current state of knowledge is. While I thought that it was likely to be an environmental factor, what I was told shocked me.

However, I needed to verify if what I was being told was accurate. Therefore I have been very busy ensuring that the data I was being shown was accurate. Further was the interpretation of the data correct.

Well I have long thought that big business, global business and its total disregard for the environment is pushing us to hell in a hand cart, but the data “Appears” to show that pollen from GM crops is killing the bees.

While I have strong reservations about Genetically Modified foods, I am not against them as long as they are properly tested. Something that has never happened. The research, while not conclusive, showed that when bees were feed on various GM crops lost their ability to navigate. Why this should happen is still a mystery, but its the only effect demonstrable in the laboratory that mimics what's happening in the wild.

I have spent much of my time asking some hard questions of the people who have supplied this data. Why have they not made this data public and why not go to the media? They told me that effectively they have been gagged as research funding is dependent upon “pleasing” vested interests. They cant go to the media as while the research appears to be impacting the immune system of the Bees the data was not conclusive proof and they reminded me of Arpad Pusztai. For those that don't know or don't remember, Arpad Pusztai gave a television interview where he expressed concern about GM as in his experiments of feeding GM potatoes to rats, they failed to thrive. Effectively the potatoes were less nutritious.

Arpad Pusztai, paid the price with his career.

While the science is not conclusive proof, yet, as the powers that be have halted any further research by these scientists, I now find this knotty problem in my lap.

As the Internet is the home of every nut job, and I am fully aware that to many as an Environmentalist I fall into that category, in breaking this news I could be being set up.
While all the documents I have seen look genuine, and while the story I have been told sounds “reasonably” credible, I still don't fully understand why I have been given tacit approval to break this story. While I know that I do have my readers here, three Americans and a cat, I have to trust that their reasons are genuinely altruistic. They needed a conduit like me to get this story out in the public domain.

If True and Accurate then we really have destroyed our planet. Charles Darwin accurately predicted that without Bees we would (The Human Race) suffer a total collapse of our ability to grow food in six years. Colony Collapse Disorder is a real disaster for us all. We really are going to hell in a hand cart.

The Jackdaws Ate My Trees

One of the delights of travelling is the little gems you pick up on the way. While I was off helping with what I am calling the Deer Project, I was able to buy some home crafted cheese from the Mull of Kintyre (Cue The Music). It is one of the things that delights me is finding gems of food suppliers like this, and the cheese is gorgeous.

On the subject of food, while I do enjoy cooking, it is something that I have been neglecting for many months now, partly because I have been so busy. However much of what I have been doing has been sorting out everyone else's problems. When I got back from my expedition, I had a mass of messages and emails to plough through. Yet the one common factor was that while they were all vital at the time, because I was not available, they had to find their own solutions. While it may seem tough, I am no longer willing to be at everyone's beck and call. While it is in my personality to try and be helpful, I have had the feeling for a long time that many of the people were in fact just using my willingness to try and help as a way of them not doing what they didn't want to do.

So since getting back I have been having some quiet time and doing some proper cooking. I am loving rediscovering the pleasures of taking time to cook fresh meals. For months I have been cooking meals just to put them in the freezer as I knew that I would be pressed for time here or there.

It has been like getting control back of my life. So often it has been I/We need you here, not can you help, or is it convenient. Having this extra time also enabled me the opportunity to go out and check on the badger setts. What was noticeable was that none of the females (sows) were out at all only the Brock's. That's a clear indication that there will soon be the patter of tiny paws.

One thing that occurred while I was away that has disappointed me, was all the trees seeds that I sowed in the autumn have gone. When the snows came recently, I spotted the Jackdaws taking an interest, and they did take some then. I have been doing my best to stop them as once they realised that each pot contained a beech nut or acorn or whatever, that was it, they were probing every pot. Don't tell me that birds are bird brained, they are clever. If I do it next year I think that I will need netting.

Tracking Deer

Several months ago I was contacted by one of my readers, yes I do have them, who was interested in the deer. Now because of the problems of poaching and other illegal hunting, I am very cautious about providing details that could be used by others that don't respect the wildlife. While I do enjoy eating venison, I prefer to see it in and around the woods.

I thought my caution was justified when I received another mail from what looked to be a company selling venison. I even had a quiet word with the wildlife officer of the police. However, it turned out that the people trying to contact me were totally legitimate and they were seeking my help.

While one of the people trying to contact me, was part of an estate that supplies venison, the main people were part of a scientific team carrying out some serious research. Apparently, there was aspects of what I was talking about that demonstrated that I was connected with the land and more importantly, the wildlife.

Anyway, over the last week or so, I have been busy helping out on that project. I cant disclose the location, but it was in the UK. It was my apparent skills as a tracker that drew their attention to me. While this surprised me as I would have thought that there were many many more people better qualified and able to help, I guess that I am just cheep!

So I have been out tracking Deer, but not just that trying to help determine where the territories are likely to be. This will be confirmed by radio collars and other electronic means. However, my assistance should have helped get clear data sooner.

The problem is that as Deer populations get larger, there is increasing conflict when Deer start invading peoples gardens, or move on to farmers fields. In the past it would have been the poacher taking for the pot and not the “Commercial thieves” who take wholesale amounts of animals, who would understand the movements of local populations, as they no longer around often what happens is when the Deer stray and cause damage often culling the Deer is the only solution. This research may help provide other solutions to this problem.

The landscapes I have been in have been wonderful, I am not allowed to post pictures so the locations are not disclosed, but I have enjoyed most of the work. Although one day when I had to walk over twenty eight miles, I was not the happiest person on the planet. On that particular day one of the people that had joined our party part way through, he was delivered by Land Rover, tried to encourage me by saying “your doing this for science”

My reply was quick and succinct; “Sod Science, I'm doing this for the Money!” That brought everyone else to fits of laughter.

Once my aches have gone, I can file away these memories under W for a wonderful experience.

For My Valentine

I never thought I'd miss you

Half as much as I do

And I never thought I'd feel this way

The way I feel

About you

As soon as I wake up

Every night, every day

I know that it's you I need

To take the blues away

It must be love, love, love

It must be love, love, love

Nothing more, nothing less

Love is the best

How can it be that we can

Say so much without words?

Bless you and bless me

Bless the bees And the birds

I've got to be near you

Every night, every day

I couldn't be happy

Any other way

It must be love, love, love

It must be love, love, love

Nothing more, nothing less

Love is the best

As soon as I wake up

Every night, every day

I know that it's you I need

To take the blues away

It must be love, love, love

It must be love, love, love

Nothing more, nothing less

Love is the best
It must be love, love, love...

There are times when others are far more eloquent than I could ever be.
My thanks to Labi Siffre for writing the song.

Japanese Whaling

Even before the Japanese started their latest round of so called “Scientific” whaling, I wanted to post something about it. However, in the back of my memory I recalled a fact that seemed to be overlooked in all the reports on whaling. Back in 1988 there was in fact no moratorium on whaling, I repeat there was no moratorium agreed. What in fact happened was that a quota of zero was agreed.

While this may appear to be a pedantic point, in terms of the legal validity of what the Japanese are and have been doing it is quite important. This was the aspect that I wanted to check, as while I am seen just as a blogger, I feel that its important that I, as a citizen journalist, apply the same rigorous standards to my postings as would any other publication. Therefore it took me some time to confirm what was actually agreed. While the effect of a zero quota has effectively been to stop commercial whaling, it did leave the back door open to the farce that is “Scientific” whaling.

The actions of the Japanese though, will finally close that loophole.

Even in the pro whaling nations like Norway and Iceland, while there is a macho nationalistic view in favour of still being allowed to kill whales, there is in fact no market for whale meat. Changing tastes and markets mean that in Norway and Iceland, the boats that are doing their “Scientific” whaling cant do it commercially. What that means is there is no market for the meat from the whales they catch scientifically. I told you it was a farce! Even the Norwegian fisheries minister agreed last year in an interview that fact.

Therefore we can all be grateful to the Australian government who filmed the barbaric killing of a mother and calf minke whale. This footage will be used in a legal challenge to the Japanese, and we all hope will stop whaling once and for all.

The irony is that had Japan not gone off and hunted whales in the Internationally protected area of Antarctica, then it was likely that a vote by the IWC (International Whaling Commission) would have restarted commercial whaling in coastal and territorial waters. The actions of the Japanese have now turned the world against them and commercial whaling.

Photo courtesy of Greenpeace

Expenses of Members of Parliament

There are two items in the news that I can resist commenting on; the first is the story of the MP (Member of Parliament) who was bugged while visiting a friend and constituent who is in prison. Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about, an MP who is actually being listened to, he should be pleased!

The other story centres around the MP who paid his son as a researcher yet there is no evidence that he ever did any work. This story has taken the lid off this rather murky can of worms, of the money that Members of Parliament claim as expenses.

While we may all hope that MPs are honest, it would be naive to assume that with the lack of verification, that politicians don't have their snouts in the trough and are not stuffing themselves.
I have a cynical view of all MPs simply because of the money involved in poltics. Further, while most will say good things to get elected, the number who ditch their principals for the sake of power is... well its not surprising.

What is most surprising is that it has taken so long for this abuse to become public. While all MPs need to have the costs of supporting their constituents, things like stamps office staff, but what should also be happening is items like computers and office equipment should not then be kept by the MP when they leave. That way Equipment bought by the state should be retained by the state.

Then there is the problem of MPs getting payments for their mortgages. An MP who's constituency is outside London gets extra money to buy a second home in London. They then get to keep all the profits from selling that flat or house when they leave parliament. All legal but to me that looks like an abuse to me.

Then there is the cost of travel, a Member of Parliament who's constituency is many miles from London will need to travel backwards and forwards. Yet far to many fly first class, when travelling by train would be cheaper and would give them the time they claim they need to do the paperwork.

The problem is that MPs treat this as a club and once in treat us the taxpayers as idiots, and don't think we even have the right to question what they are doing. If they want our trust and respect they need to earn it.

Censorship Of Video Games

Sometimes life can throw you some strange serendipity. In that last couple of days I have been talking about censorship on television with a friend. Then today on the BBC News website was this article.

Personally I have never been that interested in video games. I am disturbed by the titles that are advertised, like Grand Theft Auto. But having not used them, I couldn't really comment on the content. However, from what I have seen I am disturbed by the casual violence and the glorification of crime that these games portray.

Now while I am in general a liberal and I do think that adults should have the freedom to choose what films they watch, the problem is that children are being allowed access to much of this material. I have experienced two examples of this; while helping out at a local school in their garden one of the children who was only about ten years old asked me if I had seen a horror film. I cant remember the title, but I knew even as I was asked it was a film that was supposed to be an adult film. I don't know if this child had parental consent to see this film, but I suspect he did from what he said, but the point is that with access so easy for children, the companies that publish films and video game need to be much more responsible.

The second example I was told about by an Education Welfare Officer, she had visited the parents of a child who was not attending school. While trying to talk to the parents, and competing for attention with the television, she realised that what the parents were watching was a Hard Core sex video. Obviously, that is an example of bad parenting.

However, even on mainstream television there are far to many examples of graphic violence. While an exposed breast at the Super bowl a few years ago, the incident that sparked my private discussions, caused such an outcry. Personally, I would rather have to explain to a child who accidentally stumbles upon nudity, or even sex on television than to try and explain acts of violence.

However there is a much wider problem with this material. It is clear that we do have a problem with violent children. While it would be far too over simplified to just blame it on videos, DVDs and Video Games, they must be having an impact. For example police officers who have to deal with the vile crime of child pornography, and have to view these images, receive psychological support as it has long been recognised that these images do disturb the viewer. Therefore an endless diet of violent images, especially on young people, must be having some effect too.

While there is no direct causal link between playing video games and the violence and crime we see on our streets, I am sure the link is there.

The piece that prompted this posting.

Sounds of Nature

Yesterday I finally got my hands on my new toy. I am planing on creating a podcast, and I really want to record some of the sounds of the wildlife that I hear. As my regular reader will know, after getting the recording equipment I ventured out but the results were a little disappointing. What I needed I finally got yesterday, a parabolic microphone.

I had to order this as they are not available off the shelf, at least not in the UK, or at least locally. So I have been waiting for this. Its by no meaning of the term the best available, but it was what I could afford. However, when I went to collect it the cable that I also needed, to connect to the recorder, was out of stock. Therefore I was pleased and disappointed.

However armed with the device I could use it to listen to wildlife sounds even if I couldn't record them, so I experimented. What was a real revelation was just how much the sounds sounds of the birds jump out. As the dish of the parabola focus the sounds, it enables me to see by sound birds and animals that are hidden from view. At the very least I can see myself using it to search for birds, as using this, enabled me to see birds that I may not have spotted otherwise.

Although it was testing it out at night that really amazed me. When I am out I do try to be light of foot and keep my ears open. Yet using this as an aid was magical. I found that I was able to track a fox for over a mile, she was probably thinking I shake this hippy off soon. I had to give up as I was close to getting lost. Well actually I was lost...

Also I heard an owl and was quickly able to locate the bird, something I would not have been able to do without hearing the soft noises of movement.

But it was today after getting the interconector needed that really had me having some fun. I went out with no specific location in mind but with the aim of trying to record the birds and anything else that may have been around. While I have recorded some of the birds singing, I will need to create a windsock for the microphone, I am thinking of trying a pair of tights, no I will not be asking any female friends, it will be embarrassing enough buying a pair!

One amazing thing that happened was I heard a rustling, a movement in the trees. I looked carefully and saw a couple of Roe Deer, so well camouflaged that I doubt that I would have seen them otherwise. While I did set the recorder while watching them but not a noise or movement did they make. It was to dark to take pictures, but I will go back to the location and see if this is a regular sleeping point for them.

I love my new toy, I just hope that I can capture and share some of what I hear with you folks.

The picture is one that I took in the wood today.

Tesco Lies to the BBC

While I am sometimes up early enough to catch Farming Today on BBC Radio Four, it starts at 5:45 in the morning, I was really glad that I did today. As I have written about previously, here in the UK what's called a standard chicken some supermarkets have been selling for three pounds each or two for five pounds.

Following a series of programmes on television that highlighted the low standard of welfare inflicted upon these birds to achieve this price, initially Tesco's said that it had seen no impact on its sales. On farming today they even reported that Tesco reported an increase in sales of standard chicken. My sources tell me that this was a lie. In fact as I posted just last week Tesco have notices up in store saying that they are trying to expand production of the high welfare chickens.

Today, Farming today were reporting that Tesco will be selling standard chickens at one pound and ninety-nine pence as a special offer.

After checking with my sources, I discover that far from the television campaign not impacting sales, Tesco have lost sales. People are rejecting the low welfare standard chicken and as they have done little to source high welfare chickens, they are loosing market share.

It just goes to prove that the supermarkets don't follow the customers lead as they claim but will inflict on us whatever rubbish will make them a profit.

Processed Food Is Causing Tropical Deforestation

While the link to quality food, supermarkets processed foods, deforestation and climate change is not in the forefront of many peoples minds, the link is a direct one.

The food industry will always use the cheapest ingredients it can source. While there is the obvious link regarding the miles that food travels, however the more damaging problem is in fact regarding the use of palm oil in almost all processed foods. The economics are simple, palm oil, freshly processed from Indonesia sells for less than .09 pence (20 cents US) per kilo. Thus as would any business, the food industry uses palm oil by the tonne (many million tonnes), as a way of maximising profits. Something that all businesses are legally required to do for the benefit of shareholders.

While all the talk in the media has been about palm oil as a bio-fuel, an alternative to petrol and diesel. What people are failing to recognise is that there already is a very high demand for palm oil from the food industry. Also it has to be said, most soap is made with palm oil. The brand Palmolive takes his name quite simply from the fact that it is made from 90per cent Palm Oil and ten percent Olive Oil. I am not singling out that particular brand as almost all soap is made using Palm Oil.

Therefore, in relation to climate change, the bio-fuel industry will have a tough time sourcing enough palm oil. While this commodity pressure should be good prices, the reverse is actually the reality. This is because vast areas of rain forest is being felled and replanted with palm oil. In Borneo half of the rain forest has been lost in the last fifteen years. While some NGOs are saying that this has happened in the last ten years, but I am quoting and relying on official figures here.
While the governments of Borneo and Papa New Guinea, are trying to stop this happening the planters are getting in the illegal loggers and clearing the land. It has also happened by burning down the forest, but as the timber can be sold even as illegally felled timber, the companies that create the plantations are creating clear land. The governments then agree to this now cleared land being planted with palm oil.

This is creating an oversupply, that is depressing the price of the palm oil. Additionally because of the loss of government revenues from managed and sustainable logging that the illegal logging, it is no wonder that the governments agree to these new plantations being established. These are developing countries who do not have the resources to replant the forests.

There are other financial and social impacts from the use of palm oil by the western food industry. As many of the peoples that live on and around the land where the plantations are established are predominantly creating and deriving their livelihoods from the forests, they loose their means of existence. Often these indigenous peoples are not earning money or generating monies by this hunting and gathering, their needs are ignored. However, without their traditional lives, they then become a burden on the state as they become jobless even homeless.

This is the reality of our so called cheap food in the UK and the west. Furthermore we already have many other fats and oils that could be used in manufacturing these processed foods are available. Olive oil, Grape seed oil are but two and they are considered beneficial for health. They are not used not because they are drastically more expensive but because they can not be manipulated to greatly extend shelf life. That also raises a question about how fresh our food really is, but I may tackle that at a later date. However, with all the problems of obesity that we face in the western world, in my mind at least it makes me wonder if the prolific use of palm oil in our foods is part of the problem? That said what is clear is that precessed food is a significant contributing factor in deforestation.

While this posting has focused upon the unknown or ignored aspects of why our food industry and our eating habits are significantly adding to deforestation, and our changing climate, as in Borneo deforestation is placing the Orang-utan at serious risk of extinction. All this as a direct result of our demand for palm oil. Climate change affects us all, in ways that most people don't understand or realise, from the poor displaced peoples in Indonesia to the rise in obesity in the west. That is why conservation is really important for all our futures.

As climate change is a reality we all need to send signals to the food industry and stop them supporting, indirectly, illegal logging and directly other unethical business practises.

Education Is De-skilling our Children

Earlier on today I was drafting out a posting on a completely different topic, but as today is Shrove Tuesday, the topic I was writing about reminded me that in the village store I had seen an instant pancake mix. My initial reaction was that surely people know how to make pancakes?
However, I realised that actually it is quite likely that people don't. Further, I realised why this was and it is in fact at the root of many of the social problems that exist today. Back when I was at school even us boys were expected to do one term of cooking. It had the fancy title of Home Economics, but basically it was simply cookery. I enjoyed it and predominantly by teaching myself, I learned how to cook. I am not perfect, even now I can get my timing wrong and I have served starters after the main course!

However I went to school just as the industrial age was ending. No matter what your real talent was the schools then were churning out factory workers. Or so they thought, during my last two years at school on the bus I would pass the factories where I was expected to work. Yet in those two years I saw factory after factory close. I was fortunate as I got a job in a Horticultural Nursery, very poor wages, but a job.

The certainties of the whole basis of the education system just fell away. The education system then emphasised, even more than it had previously, that exams were the way to go. When I left school O-levels were what was required. Then the emphasis was pushed onto A levels, (the equivalent of a high school diploma). Now all the emphasis is on getting a degree.

What has been lost in this overly academic thrust in the education system is the chance to experience different subjects, especially the practical ones.

That's the base of this triangle, another aspect is the number of women that are now working. This is not an anti-feminist rant, the fact that a woman is just as good as a man in any job has been proved time and again. However, this change has not come as a choice that women are free to make as most of the time women have to work just to make ends meet. When I was a child on the news you would hear about “A Family Wage”, now even two young working professionals together struggle to afford to live on a joint salary. Therefore, parents are so busy working that they don't have the time to pass on the skills of cooking. Additionally, the food industry and the supermarkets are tricking us into buying all these highly processed convenience foods. Further undermining the confidence of people in their abilities to cook.

Finally is the hype that is marketed to us about what we should be consuming and the lifestyle we should be leading. In the developed western world, while we are all richer, anxiety and depression rates are at an all time high.

I don't know first hand what the situation is like in the US, as an example, but here in Britain very few families sit down at the table for a meal. More often than not, its a plate on the lap in front of the television. Further, sometimes because of shift patterns or other commitments different members of the family are eating at different times.

While I am not advocating that it should be the woman that does the cooking, when I was married I did most of the cooking. But the loss of household skills and the reliance on “Fast Junk Food” is de-skilling a whole generation. This all impacts upon the loss of social cohesion, as a family sitting around a table eating and talking builds bonds, while eating microwave mush in front of the television just deadens the mind.

It would have been all to easy to have dismissed the appearance of an instant pancake mix on the shelves of the local store as people being lazy, but its really the loss of skills and the confidence to try that enables the food industry to make and market products like this successfully. When I first started to cook, I made my own recipe book. Pancakes was the first recipe I wrote in the book.

Personally I would encourage everyone to make their own. Apart from it being way cheaper than this manufactured junk, it can also be fun.

Here's the Recipe:

3oz (75g) of flour
¼ pint (150ml) of milk
One Egg (Medium or Large)

Mix the milk with the flour until you have a smooth paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper, beat in the egg, you should have a pouring paste but you can add extra milk to make a pouring paste.

It really is that simple, but if you have never been shown or had the opportunity to learn, well now is your chance.

What is particularly crazy about all this processed food is that it all contributes to climate change. The factories that create this stuff use far more energy per portion that you would do in your own home manufacturing it, then with child and frozen food its all kept in open chillers in the supermarkets. Add in the energy used to transport it around and the economics of processed foods start to look crazy.

It is worth noting that the supermarkets don't sell convenience foods for our benefit, while they may say they are offering choice, really they do it because they make more profit on these foods.

Therefore save money and save the planet by learning how to cook.

Old Acquaintances, New Land

When I moved to the village, while travelling on the bus to and fro, I spotted a car that I recognised. It was not so much the car but the registration number. As its a personalised one, I knew the person who owned it.

As I may have mentioned previously, I used to live I North Shields, a fishing port near the mouth of the River Tyne. While there I became acquainted with a couple of chaps who were involved in business and particularly the property business. While we were never going to agree on much, I did earn some grudging respect from them because I stood up for what I believed in and my thoughtful prospective on the world.

So one day while out on my wanderings when I heard a voice call out “Get your hair Cut” I knew who it was. I told him that I had seen his car in the area, and we had a chin wag about things. It was about the time that I was looking for the place I am in now, as while I said I was looking for a place, I was not willing to pay an over inflated rent. He as a landlord told me that I was talking out of my bottom (He used another phrase). So I explained, not for the first time, that by charging a more reasonable rent he could then select better quality tenants. Further, he would not have the problem of having a property empty for months on end. Here in the North East the average time that a property remains empty is nine months. With tenancies only lasting six months, properties remain unoccupied for nearly two thirds of the time.

Anyway, we parted having exchanged telephone numbers, but I had not really expected to hear from him. While great for a chat in the Pub with, we were never really close buddies. Therefore I was surprised when last month I got a call from him. He wanted a chat about a business idea. So yesterday I went over to his for a meal. Big posh house, even though I had dressed up, I still felt a little out of place, far to much frippery for my taste.

After talking about the old days (you have to read that as though I am ninety years old, what do you mean you thought I was older!), he confesses that had he not listened to me then, he would have lost a fortune when the dot com bubble burst. I had said then that most of the businesses were seriously over valued as they were not making any money, they were in fact loosing money, and that I thought it would all end in tears. As he had made a tidy sum from technology stocks, he got out about two months before that crashed.

Then he had heeded my comments about rents and now had all his properties rented out and while not making vast profits was making some money. Further, he had for the first time, retained a tenant rather than them moving out after six months. Well one persuaded only a million to go.

However, while it was my previous clear financial thinking that had made him realise that I was more astute than he had previously credited, it was my knowledge of Natural History that had prompted him to contact me.

It turns out that several years ago he and a couple of partners had bought some land with the aim of building on it. However, planning permission was refused because of a number of environmental factors. One being rare species on the site. For seven years they have tried every means to get permission to build but every application has been refused. What he was wanting from me was some plan or ideas that will allow them to build.

They had been so confident that they would be able to build houses that they had paid over the odds for the land. However, they have never been able to do anything as in two of the properties there were sitting tenants, plus the other larger property was falling down. Further there are covenants associated with the land.

So during this meal I agreed to go and look at this land. This I did today. It is a wonderful setting but isolated. The two cottages are stone and very dilapidated. It looks as if while they have owned the properties they have done nothing to improve them. The substantial farm house is literally falling down. This is why he/they want my help as since one of the sitting tenants died late last year, they are looking for a caretaker to reside there. The former farm house has to be demolished. Also, they are finally carrying out the repairs needed (desperately) to the cottages.
Additionally, as the land is a wildlife haven and an part of an ancient woodland they need to know what's actually living there. So I am being offered some “free” accommodation and a small wage to look after the land and carry out a survey. However while I am interested, I also pointed out that if I were to take on the task, I would need to keep paying for my home. Also while I would get paid for doing something I would want to do anyway, I would need more than they are offering.

It could be a great opportunity as there is a substantial Badger sett just yards from the cottage, and I saw a Sparrow hawk as we walked up the track to the derelict farm house. Also as the farm still has a pond, I have no doubt there will be plenty of wildlife there too. The old lady who lives in the other cottage told me that often a heron visits the pond.

Therefore, if the pay offer can be improved I will have a difficult decision to make. As I do like where I live, but to open my door onto a wildlife haven is seriously tempting.

Lastly, the owners of this land are looking for ideas to use the land, so if I were to take it I may be able to guide them towards something genuinely sustainable.

The TV Licence

When I write a posting here, I do try and remember that I am talking to an international audience. But a Tree (yes I am talking to a tree) has pointed out, in the US they don't have a TV licence and was confused. I dare say that most people are confused by me and my postings anyway, but that has more to being a fruitcake than anything else.

Here in the UK to provide the money for Public Service Television, everyone in the UK has to buy a licence to watch television. That pays for the BBC and all its domestic services including Radio. While other television channels exist they are paid for by advertising. The BBC carries no advertising. I can hear two hundred million Americans applying for visas as I write!

While the BBC does do “Commercial” programming like soaps and all the other tosh that is inflicted upon us, because the BBC does not have to be as commercial as some of the other channels, they can afford to invest in the high quality wildlife documentaries that none of the other channels produce. Without the Licence fee system we would never have had the “Life on Earth” “Blue Planet” and the up coming “Life in Cold Blood” (I still do not want to be disturbed from nine PM!), and we would have ended up with a lot of cheap poor quality television.

Additionally, the licence fee also pays for the high quality speech radio that the BBC produces, predominantly Radio Four, that if they had to please advertisers would never be able to carry out the in depth analysis of many aspects of life, business, politics, the police etc.

There is a down side as people who fail to get a licence, get fined up to one thousand pounds for not having it. Further, some people call it a tax on the poor, but while the licence is now one hundred and thirty five pounds, it pays for so much quality content (and some of the dross) that I don't really see it as a tax.

So while the system in the UK is not perfect, as long as the BBC keeps producing gems of quality amongst all the dross then I keep on supporting this quirky British system.

Anyway if the BBC stopped making natural history programming where would I get my screen savers from?

Wildlife On Television

When I was a child, part of what turned me on to the Natural World was the Survival films on television. For reasons that escape me my parents would hardly ever watch the BBC, I think that at some point they had been told that if they were not watching the beeb then they wouldn't need a TV Licence. I know that this was wrong and they got caught twice. However, it was not really until I left home and was able to make my own choices, I discover the films that the BBC made.

There have been periods in my life when I have not had a television, and during those times it was always the wildlife documentaries that I missed seeing the most. During these times I was however busy getting involved in physical conservation work. So while I may have missed seeing some remarkable wildlife films, I did get to see aspects of the natural world that I would not have seen otherwise. For example I was involved in building the first artificial Bat Cave in the UK down in Kent.

Over the years, like so many others, I have been amazed and delighted by the beauty and diversity of the life on our planet. There was a time when I really doubted if we would continue to see the these remarkable films. When the independent television companies decided to axe “Survival” it fell to the BBC to become the only provider of quality content. While some of the imported films were and are worth watching, frequently they lack the quality that has been the standard we in the UK are used to.

Recently though there has been a renaissance in wildlife documentaries on TV here. On a small channel here, Five, they have been making some lower budget but still reasonable quality programmes. Yet the BBC are still leaders in the field and this coming week sees the final chapter in the Life series, with “Life in Cold Blood” I am sure that my American readers will get to see it soon as I have no doubt that it will be aired of Public Television.

With the retirement of David Attenborough, I was worried that there would be a loss from our screens of wildlife television, but the films that have been shown on television over the last couple of weeks shows that natural history will remain as will the quality. Last week, we had Simon King the film maker going to India to try and film a Tiger making a kill. Something never before filmed. While he didn't get the footage the man he was helping finally did after eighteen years of trying. It makes my missed shots pale into insignificance. The dedication should be a lesson to us all.

Then last night I watched a film that was about the wildlife in the Arctic tundra. Before Christmas I had heard the film maker being interviewed and he had been talking about the gyrfalcon. So I was interested to see the film. What was incredible was the previously unseen behaviour of the Arctic wolfs.

Therefore as well as spending my time cooking yesterday, see previous posting, I was lazing about watching wildlife on television. What an exciting life I lead.

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Post Script
Do Not Disturb On Mondays

Closing Down Four Coal Fired Power Stations

Yesterday, because of the poor weather forecast, I decided I would do my shopping early. Following my previous comments about wanting to avoid the chemical contamination of my foods by the “Food Industry” I have been using up more of the ingredient, stock and store cupboard items that I always keep, so I knew that this would be a big shop. At times like this I keep on saying I should hire myself out as a pack horse.

Sticking to my resolve of avoiding anything that would be better suited to a chemical factory, I loaded up my trolley. I knew it was not going to be a cheap trip, but even I was surprised when the bill came in at under forty pounds. Normally when I have to restock its over fifty.

So while its not yet proof, it does look as though avoiding processed foods is cheaper. Nor had I stinted on quality or quantity. But I had looked for any bargains. One of those bargains that I got was a Brisket of Beef, that was reduced because of a short sell by date. While I prefer to use the butchers, a joint of properly matured, 21 day, British beef was not one I was going to miss out on. And as I write, I am happily digesting the first meal this produced.

The other item that I bought was a Chicken from the high welfare standard range. Normally I would only buy free range, but I wanted to make a statement to the supermarket, that I will only buy chickens, or any meat for that matter, that comes from a high welfare standard. I also noted that the “Standard” low welfare birds have actually gone up in price. Further, the supermarket has signs up saying that following the television programmes, that they were striving to meet the increased demand for the higher welfare standard chickens, but there was now a shortage. Coincidently when I got home I made some enquires and discovered that the price rise on the “Standard” low welfare birds was forced upon them partly by farmers who are now earning triple from each bird, up from three pence to nine pence, but more importantly from customers who were appalled by the fact that the supermarkets were only paying the farmers third world prices.

Back at the supermarket, as Consett is situated at the top of a hill, it gets quite battered by the weather, and the high winds were battering us yesterday. However, while waiting for the bus to get back home, I spotted a bird that I surprised to see a Great Bustard. I wished I had had my camera with me, but with all this shopping to carry...

That was not the only pleasant surprise I had either as when I got back home I took my recycling to the recycling point and discovered that the council has installed a new bin for plastics. It has long been frustrating that plastics the biggest polluter and the greatest volume in most peoples bins, is not recycled. Finally it is happening.

Then to top all this, I got a phone call. As I mentioned in a previous posting, I helped one woman in the village reduce her electricity bills. Suddenly with the substantial rise in gas and electricity prices people are starting to see the wisdom of reducing energy consumption. I was being asked to help a small group of five women who were trying to reduce their bills. So today I went and had a chat with them.

The first comment I had to make was just how hot it was, in this woman's home. Granted it was blowing a blizzard outside, it was boiling in the house and everyone was wearing tee shirts. So the first thing I suggested was that everyone put on a jumper. The woman who was hosting this symposium said; “Oh no need I will just turn the heating up”

By explaining that it a lot cheaper to put on a jumper (American translation: Sweater) than racking up the heating they could all save up to forty percent off their heating bills, suddenly they could see the point. For example one woman last year had a winter quarter gas bill of over four hundred pounds. She is still paying this off. So reducing her bill by one third or more would make a real difference to her and her family.

The real shock was that all of these women had each got two low energy light bulbs but had not fitted them. One of the tabloid papers here, I will not name one of Rupert Murdock's trashy papers here, on 19th January gave away four and half million low energy light bulbs. All of them had these twin packs, but none had bin fitted. So I did a trail around fitting light bulbs. I gave some other advice but I am amazed at how people don't seem to be able to do the obvious things. I know that this is all small scale but little by little people are realising the value of saving energy even if only to save money.

However, the real story here is that in this consumer give away, if all those bulbs were fitted, in one year alone it would stop three thousand five hundred tonnes of CO2 going up into the atmosphere. Even more staggering is if we all changed to low energy bulbs we would reduce energy consumption by the equivalent of closing four coal fired power stations.

So why not change your bulbs today?