Greenland Ice Sheet

In Sciences magazine and via National Public Radio (All Things Considered, part of the NPR Environment Podcast), from America, reports of the effects of Climate change on the Greenland ice sheet. However the content of the reports were very in much downplaying the alarming content.

In August last year, two scientists one from the Woods hall Oceanographic Institute, and the other from the University of Washington had set up instruments to measure the effects of climate change on the glacier. With increased temperatures the two mile thick ice sheet is melting from the top. This melt water forms lakes that then flows, through the ice, to the base of the glacier. With these instruments are they were able to measure the effect of one single lake, that was two miles long and 40 ft deep. That lake drained in 90 minutes with a flow greater than that of the Niagara falls. Using seismic data and satellite telemetry, the effect of this melting water draining to the base the glacier lifted the glacier three feet and send it hurtling towards the coast. Once that water drained the glacier resumed its sedentary pace.

The way this was being reported, made it sound as though we had nothing to worry about from this. However, this was just one lake of over one thousand that are now forming in the summer months. While not all will drain to the base of the glaciers and provide the lubrication for glacier movements. These sudden flows of the ice, and this increase speed as measured in this instance, facilitates the break-up of the glaciers into blocks. That will more readily flow into the sea.

As my regular reader will know, and to the derision of many, I am predicting that the Greenland Ice sheet will rapidly diminish following the loss of summer sea ice. That will occur in four to five years, by 2012-2013. I predict this not because I am some kind of doom munger but because this is what the science is saying.

However, and this is the real point of this posting, there really seems to be a concerted effort by the media and by governments not to give the people the real facts behind climate change. In fact anybody that tries to alert people to the real danger that we are facing, seems to be gagged. Or worse still derided as a profit of doom.

This all has the effect of creating the impression that climate change is not as serious as it really is. Until governments and the media start taking this issue seriously how can the general public? At the moment there are far too many vested interests influencing government and policy. Further as government seem to assume that this is a problem for the future, they fail to tackle the issue today. While there are many individuals who are making the effort to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we all need guidance as well as policies from government.

We're already seeing the effects of climate change, this is not something for the future this is something that is happening now. The Human Animal is releasing carbon dioxide is their atmosphere at a rate of 14,000 times more than has ever occurred in our planet's history. In some ways it is remarkable that the planets of thermostat has been made to cope thus far. But with the ocean saturated with carbon, to the extent that it is killing off life in the oceans, it will only be a matter of years before we see the full extent of that damage to the planet.

When half of the living Nobel prize winners signed a document telling the worlds governments that we were ten years away from irreversible change, the media and governments ignored this. We are now reaping the harvest of that ignorance.

Painted Lady and Red Kite

I can always tell when I've been neglecting my wifely duties, as is normally manifests in the running out of underwear. So while I was out this morning, and knew I had to return fairly early so that I could get some washing ton. Therefore, I was in the House to hear the radio four programme World on the Move. While I do listen to this as a podcast, it is rare for me to be able to catch it as a live broadcast.

I have mentioned in previous postings about this programme, and I dare say it will again, as this is quite inventive of the BBC to broadcast such a project. However my reason for mentioning the programme today is that of the two of the species that they're asking listeners to track, one of them I have seen already just three days ago. While sitting at the computer when I noticed something fly past the window, I looked out expecting to see a bird, and there was a painted lady butterflies sitting on my window ledge. I quickly grabs the video camera, but in the time it takes for the electronics to warm up the butterfly has flown off. Had I got the film of the butterfly I would have mentioned it at the time here, as I thought it was early for this species. Yet by listening to the programme today, I realised that the butterfly painted Lady is at least two weeks early here. Another effect of climate change.

While my wildlife watching this morning had not yielded up much that was worth reporting, it is still been pleasant to be out. And it was wild if I was having a cup of tea following a late lunch, that out of the living room window and saw one of the red kites fly over.

My poor neighbours must wonder what goes on in my place at times as I ran straight up the stairs to grab both video and still camera. When I got back downstairs, the red kite was no longer incite. But awaited as I know from experience, when they are all about they tend to fly in a pattern where there quartering the fields looking for false or shoes or beetles. My decision to wait was rewarded as into a very clear expanse of sky the red kite gracefully gliding over.

After taking the still images, I waited at longer to see if that kite returned but it is policy flown off. However it did find it rather amusing that one young mother returning with her child from infants school, had to, mildly, chastise the child after it said something mildly rude about me that was obviously a repeat of something that an adult had said, previously in the child's hearing. Personally I don't worry about what the neighbours think, if they think I'm eccentric then so be it. The one thing I haven't lost as an adult is the ability to see the world as a child, with wonder and excitement.

A Link to the World on the Move Website

Otter

Otters are like buses, you wait for ages then two turn up!

(Well the same one)

Honey Bees & GM Update

This is a bit of an update posting. As my regular reader may know I posted some carefully worded details of some partial research that seemed to indicate that there could be a link to the problem of “Colony Collapse” in honey bees and genetically-modified-crops. However, the data I saw raised more questions than it answered. Further, I questioned why the researchers were not taking this data to the main stream media.

Therefore I posted with caution and caveats. Anyway here is the original posting.

About a week following the posting I was contacted by someone who had been told of the posting. I mailed this prospective reader the story. This reader was using a dot ac address.

Now before I continue I should point out that for me personally, the jury is still out on GM. As most of the crops thus far produced are just breed to allow the use of more chemicals, the benefits have yet to be proved. Especially as the promised yield increase from them is only one percent. Further, the much promised ability to feed the developing world has yet to happen. So while they have promised so much they have delivered so little.

Additionally the cost of development for these crops means that for farmers and growers in the developing world to grow them, they have to borrow money for the seeds. This is causing some farmers and growers in the developing world, effectively become indentured to the seed companies.

There is one exception that I have heard of, that of a rice verity that survives flooding and is benefiting the people in Bangladesh.

However, my main concern is that we don't yet understand what genes do. At the moment all we are doing is acting like children, switching on pretty lights, without knowing what they do or what else is happening.

Now, in the research that seemed to suggest that bees feeding on the pollen from GM crops were dying, seemed to be an example of this. Where an unknown effect of a gene was producing an unwanted and unexpected effect.

Therefore, while I have serious reservation about GM crops, I am not totally against them per say, but I do think that there needs to be much more rigorous testing of these crops for safety.
Thus when the prospective reader contacted me I was not surprised that this person was sceptical. However, once we overcame the rather tetchy initial communications made to me, this student started asking many of the questions I had about the original posting. Further, we both acknowledged that more research was needed. This was something the student did.

While the results are far from conclusive, the student mapped out where GM crops are grown, or have been grown, and where the Colony Collapses have occurred and more or less they do match. I emphasise again that this is not conclusive proof that GM crops are at the root of this problem but it does raise questions that need answering.

I don't have access to all the data I would need to retest this hypothesis, but as there are no other evidence based theories offering an explanation I feel it should be properly tested. What data I have had access to though, does show that there is a mirroring of the incidences of Colony Collapse and where GM crops are grown.

I will end this posting with a further caveat. As I have in the past been contacted by people who have tried to feed me miss information regarding Climate Change, in the hope of undermining my credibility, I am making this posting with caution. While the evidence and data that I have seen seems to point to a smoking gun, I am still wary of why these people have not take this data to the mainstream media?

The Luck of the Wildlife Watcher

I am sure that most people who have watched wildlife documentaries on television, or turn the pages of a magazine or book, have wondered at the dedication of the wildlife photographers and film-makers that produced these programmes or images. I know that I certainly did. Even as a child, I would dream of being out on the Serengeti taking pictures of Lions or Elephants in fact all manner of wildlife.

However I have to content myself with the wildlife in my local area, while I can dream of living in the African Savannah or Alaska, the reality is that I live in the north-east of England. While that means I do not see rhinoceros or wildebeest wandering along the the top of my road, not unless I have been partaking in to many bottles of Loopy juice. I do though have some wonderful wildlife around me. Most of this wildlife is, of course much smaller than the mega fauna found him much of the world.

No matter where I was in the world though, much of the craft of any Wildlife photographer or film-maker is essentially the same. The act of sitting around, often uncomfortably, and waiting to see if the wildlife turns up.

While I could have littered this journal with entries that recorded many hours of waiting around for wildlife and never shows, that would be quite boring for for anyone foolish enough to want to read this. In previous postings, I have tried to demonstrate that often my attempts to watch wildlife can be just as fruitless as everybody else's. Additionally, as I wanted to use this on line journal as a way of encouraging other people to go out and search for and watch wildlife, I thought that by sharing my successes were being far more interesting than constantly posting entries where I saw very little.

I had been realistic in my postings though, to give you a flavour of the trials and tribulations of sitting around, or standing around, even laying about trying to get even a small glimpse of a target species. This winter has been no exception, and part of any wildlife watchers role, is to get rained on the, snowed on, do impressions of icicles, even of a snowman.

In my pursuit of one particular animal though, I feel I have gone above and beyond the call of duty. I have, for want of a better phrase, contracted Trench Bottom from sitting around on cold wet ground in my pursuit of the rather elusive for otter.

As during the the spring and summer the otters tend to fade into a background as you must become more active in the countryside. I was not expecting to have any encounters until later in the year. However with the migration well under way now I headed off to a location where I stood a good chance of seeing some of the returning water fowl and waders. While a little off the beaten track, and requiring effort on my part to get there, this location has the benefit of a purpose-built Hide. As well as making the wildlife watching more comfortable, it also enables me to get closer, than would be the case if I were just wandering around in the countryside.

No matter how dedicated any wildlife watcher is, the one thing you cannot plan for is sheer luck.

Today I was lucky the picture says more than any words could say.

No Poker Face

It's a good job that I am not a gambler, as if I were I would surely lose at poker. I am not very good at hiding my emotions especially when faced with a confrontation.

This was illustrated yesterday when I went to visit the local greengrocers. I had gone there to to buy some eggs for a dish I wished to make. In previous postings I have spoken about the poor quality of the produce there however as it was only a few items that I needed I decided to make my purchases there.

Recently the greengrocer's in the village had moved in to a new and larger shop unit and I was hoping that they would be improvement in the quality following this move. On the Wednesday when it reopened I had made some purchases and the quality seemed to be quite good. All the produce was fresh. So I was not expecting any problems when I went in on Saturday.

I have been quite busy during the day, so I was pressed for time, and just wanted to quickly make the purchase of the eggs. When it looked for the eggs all I could find were the eggs from the cage birds. Therefore I asked if they had any free range. I was directed to another collection of egg boxes and was told that they were free range. However, I looked at the codes that are printed on the eggs, I thought that the owner had made a mistake as the codes clearly showed they were from cage hens. Now had he just acknowledged a mistake then there would have been no problem, however he tried to con me into believing that these were as special code for locally-produced eggs. Having kept chickens myself and knowing the regulation for marking eggs, I realise that this was not just a mistake but that he was deliberately trying to sell eggs from caged birds as free-range.

Even so I did try and point out that the codes on the eggs indicated that they were form cage production, at this point the shop owner lost his temper and started ranting and raving so I just walked out. As a say, I know I have not got a poker face, and my emotions were written all over my face, and I had given him a withering look however I did not expect him to leave the shop and following me started ranting and raving at the top of his voice in the street.

On previous occasions when I have visited the shop and pass comment on the poor quality of some other produce, the owner has tried to obfuscate the issue by telling me how regularly he is inspected. It was not until think in about these events, that I realised that I have not been the only one that has received poor quality and poor service from this local shop.

While I do genuinely want to support the local businesses in the village, when it comes to food you have to be a trust the supplier that your buying the food from. That trust has totally broken down and I will not be using the shop ever again.

Perhaps I should explain for my overseas reader, that here in the UK and in Europe the Eggs themselves are printed with codes that designate the type of production they come from.

Organic 0
Free Range 1
Barn 2
Caged 3

Apart from the welfare issues of the different forms of production, the main factor here is one of price. caged eggs are the cheapest and the difference between organic and Cage production can be as much as three times the price. That incentive is why he has been selling caged eggs as free range. Further this has not been the first time that this has happened to me, and it looks as though this has happened to other people in the past. the number of inspections have taken place in the shop shows that other people have been complaining about the quality of his produce and his labelling.

As I've said before in previous posts, I regularly go into Consett for my shopping and frequently I'm told of the poor quality of the produce in the local greengrocers. Personally have think this is a real shame that a village this size is so poorly served by a charlatan who only cares about the profits he can make from the village. If he didn't treat his customers with such contempt he could have a really good business as there is a ready market for the service he provides.

Well sooner or later he will get close down as the locals will stop using the shop and complain to the health and Hygiene authorities over this form of mis-selling

To me it is clear that others have already complained, or why would he ever over-reacted in the manner that he did, I suspect he thinks that I have been the person has complained about the shop in the past, well not in the past by will be contacting the local council on Monday to make a complaint.

Laws Protecting Wildlife

Here in the UK, and to a slightly lesser extent in Europe, we do have some quite effective laws to protect wildlife. Even so, there are still far to many occasions when people fail to respect these laws, disturbing and damaging rare and endangered wildlife. My own experiences show how much vigilance is still required.

Further, an Egg thief has just been sent to prison for stealing birds eggs from nests. This individual had over seven thousand birds eggs in his possession, and six hundred and fifty three of these were from the most endangered birds. This included eggs from the Black necked Grebe, the most endangered of all the birds in the UK and this individual probably is the person responsible for the Black necked Grebe no longer breading in the UK at all. While the shear volume of the eggs in his possession was astounding the other evidence also gathered when he was arrested back in 2006 was remarkable. He had kept detailed notes of his illegal acts, that told the Police and the RSPB that after stealing one clutch of eggs from a rare birds nest he would return to steal the latter clutch of eggs. While for more common birds this would not have a noticeable impact, for many of the rarest birds this man has reduced populations by fifty and sixty percent.

Only this week the RSPB launched a campaign highlighting the fact that while good habitat exists for many of our rare raptors, in the moorland areas where there are shooting estates, these birds are absent. What is happening is that Gamekeepers are shooting or poisoning these hawks. All illegally and in the mistaken belief that these birds of pray are taking large numbers of grouse. While some hawks do take a few chicks, they in fact do more to help by feeding on rodents and other birds that compete with the grouse. But even science cant overcome years of prejudice towards hook bills and talons.

Even my Badger watching gets disrupted by people that have nothing but ill will towards the Old Brock. Fortunately, here at least, I have developed contacts with the right people involved in wildlife protection to disrupt some of these illegal activities. However the RSPCA have reported the discovery of four dead Badgers in Wales, believed to have been illegally killed by farmers.

However, these laws have also meant that I have be careful that I don not do anything that inadvertently breaks the law. This also includes me requiring a licence to film and or take photographs at or near the nest site of highly protected species. In the past I have applied for and been refused licences. Not because anything I was planing to do was damaging, but it was more that I was unknown to the organisations that issue the licences. However, because of some of the work that I have been involved in, the penny has finally dropped that I do genuinely have the best interests of the natural history at heart.

Therefore, I had a meeting with someone who was there to assess if I was a responsible person to be issued a licence. One of the barriers I had to overcome was that I share my name with someone that has convictions for animal cruelty. Fortunately, that was easy to disprove as I have already undergone Criminal Records checks, something I have had to do as part of child protection laws. I have no convictions, something else that helped was that, not for the first time, I have been asked if I would become JP (Justice of the Peace).

However, the main thing I needed to show, was that I was able to show that I understood the needs of the wildlife. So following a brief interview (Interrogation) in my home, my inquisitor and I headed off to the nest site I wanted to film and photograph. While near the site I held back, but I was surprised that the licence provider was willing to approach closer than I would ever have done. But as a licensed bird ringer, she had another role, to get a GPS location for the nest so that any chicks could have rings fitted latter. It was a real treat to be six feet from a Goshawk Nest.

It looks as though I will get the licence, further now I have been able to prove that I am responsible, ROFLOL, it should now also be possible to get the permissions to film and photograph other rare and endangered wildlife. It was to the possible location of another of these, that we headed to next.

I have found signs of the rare Harvest Mouse, and I want to set up a camera to film at a likely nest site. While trekking to the site, I spotted what at first I thought was a Sparrow hawk, but it didn't look right. So I asked if it could be a Merlin. And gosh it was, the narrow wing and the flight were the give away. This is only the second time I have seen one, and the first time that I was positive of the identification.

The Article on the Badger killings

The Article on the Egg Thief

The RSPB on the Bird destroyer

Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder

I went on to the BBC news website, as I do regularly, because I needed to check some information about another posting that I am writing. This article caught my attention.

In previous postings, I have been critical of the US over the way they (the US Government) promote abstinence as a means of providing HIV prevention and promoting sexual health. It goes beyond that promotion, as the US government has been refusing funds for any health programme that does not follow this ridiculous policy.

While I respect that Americans have the right to follow their own path, this imposing of their pie in the sky ideals upon the rest of the world is criminal. There are people in Africa who are infected by HIV as a direct result of this policy. Further, most of the conflicts in Africa have at there root over population, something that would have been reduced had the NGOs not had their funding cut by the US. Also the US cut development aid to all countries that did not follow this ridiculous abstinence policy.

Well as this article shows the US has been following this policy themselves and it has not been working. With one in four American teenagers with an STD, Sexually Transmitted Disease, for the health of America this ridiculous abstinence policy has to change.

The simple fact is that the US, under Bush has been imposing an ultra religious policy upon the rest of the world.

It does not take a major leap of imagination to see the actions of these ultra religious people, imposing their will upon the rest of the world mirrors the way that ultra orthodox Muslims are trying to impose their prospective upon the rest of the world. Further, what is also true of both is that they have subverted the messages of peace and tolerance of both religions.

At least the world knows that Bush will be going soon. However who ever takes over will have the mess that Bush and Co have left behind, not just in America but in the rest of the world.

Barn Swallows

As on Tuesday, I saw for the first time this spring, a Swallow, I was preparing to make a posting about this. However as I had discovered, some of my readers of based in the good old USA, they have confuse matters by giving the same birds or species are completely different names. This applies if to the Swallow or air as the Americans call it the Barn Swallow. While this is the the same species, Hirundo rustica, it does mean that I have to be careful to ensure that I don't confuse any of my loyal readers even though is is only two cats and a human. Further, I have discovered that some in the US just don't understand simple words like Jumper.

However while thinking about what I needed to say and what I wanted to say, I was thinking about the way that there is a degree of speciation between the two populations. This speciation occurs when two populations are isolated. It was this the trait that Charles Darwin discovered on his trip in the Beagle and led to the discovery of evolution, the origin of species.

Any way, I was just looking to see what else was going on in news, when I discovered this article on human population. it appears as though a the human population really became two species before we left Africa.

In this case of the barn swallows they are the differences between the two populations in the US and in Europe, where the US population are a different shade and have longer streamers. However they are still both the same species.

They are that instances of where the Americans have given birds they complete the different name even when we have an existing name for the species. This is where the Latin name for a species become so important. In the dim and distant past even in the UK there were many different names for the same plant for instance. This is in no way a dig at the Americans for renaming our plants birds or animals, you do that well enough yourselves by electing a Bush to be your president and simultaneously disproving evolutionary theory.

There are some occasions when the American name is more appropriate, take the example of the loon, to us in Europe the bird will always been known as the great northern diver but any observation of its behaviour will show just how appropriate the American Names is.

Anyway it was great to see the first swallow of Spring arrive, no matter what its non de plume is.

The Article on human populations

Copyright Poetry and the Media

Before I moved my Web log to Blogger, I would occasionally put up some poetry, sometimes because it said something eloquent or just reflected the mood of the seasons. However, the web site that I mainly used to get the text from, started to become overwhelmed by advertising. Not only that, but pop ups that you could not close made using the site bloody annoying.

While it is true that I could have used other sites, as I always obtained permission from the copyright owner before using the poems, as I do with the occasional image I use, ensuring I had permission became really difficult. So I stopped posting them.

However, the other day I came upon another Blogger blog that I thought I would share.

Poem of the Week

And another site that I found

Poem of the Day

Reading poetry is one of the things that I personally do to keep myself grounded. As more and more of the mainstream media becomes more obsessed with the cult of celebrity and wastes more time stalking people like Brittany Spears while she has a nervous breakdown in public, than reporting the real news, I find that I have to work harder to discover what's really happening in the world. And much of it is depressing. However, reading some poetry and or getting out into the natural world really helps me from falling into despair.

Anyway, I hope that some of you folks enjoy the sites too.

A Small World or Balls Up at Blackhill

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had three tangible demonstrations of just how incompetent I am.
In my defence on Monday night I had been out watching the Badgers. Therefore in part I am offering a defence of tiredness (your lord ship). And while I think of it, and I had better use the thought before it gets lonely, I did get to see a Mole while out watching the Badgers.
I had planed on getting some sleep during the day, but a telephone call meant that I couldn't do that.

The caller was someone that I have been writing to for more than fourteen years, but I had never met before. I started writing to “The Professor” after reading an article that he had posted in a news group. It turned out that he genuinely was a climatologist working for one of the universities in Cambridge. That fact never stopped from giving him a hard time over some of the assumptions or his interpretation of the data looking at ice loss in the Antarctic All in a good humoured way I should add, but I have been signing off my mails by calling myself that pain in the butt (that's the clean version). He had been visiting Newcastle University and had made the time to visit as he hoped to see a Red Kite.

Now I knew that we had friends in common, as I know that he has worked with people I know. However, as he showed me some pictures of his last trip to Antarctica, he slipped in a couple that had been taken of me years ago. I asked him how he got them. He told me that his daughter had taken them. Well if he had a feather he could have floored me with it.

When my ex-wife and I first split up, I started to build a new circle of friends. One was a PHD student who was remarkable in so far as was one of the few people who had not only heard of Climate Change, but understood some of the science. Well the discovery that I had nearly been dating The Professors daughter was almost a Hommer Simpson moment in its self. But what really floored me was that she had been much more interested in me than I ever realised. However, as I now repeated to her farther, I was married at the time and while I was separated it would have been inappropriate to have started a relationship then.

And this is really the first demonstrations of just how incompetent I am, while I had thought about trying to contact her, when I knew I was single, I didn't even though I knew there was mutual interest.

As the professor and I went out to see if we could get a sighting of the Red Kites, we talked and I asked him if it had not been that his daughter knew me would he have come to meet me? And did she know you were meeting me? The answer was no on both counts. However, he said that a couple of years ago she had gone through a “messy” divorce and she had mentioned me only a few weeks previously, wondering what could have been. While making me feel uncomfortable I said that we can all think of events where we made choices and where we could all think of ourselves in different lives...

While in one of those awkward silences, not one but three Red Kites came over. I had chosen to take the Professor up to a ridge overlooking some fields, and it paid off. For a good five minutes we had a clear sighting of the birds. I was thrilled as I trained the video camera on them, I really thought that I was getting some great shots. It was not until I got home and tried to review the footage that I realised that I had been trying to film with the camera on pause! The second demonstrations of just how incompetent I am. But I got twenty minutes film of my legs and feet as I slogged up the hill!

When the Professor went he gave me a little gift, some sausages from his local farmers market. As I may have bored people with here before, I love trying sausages made by craft producers from quality food markets. So he had brought some as a gift.

Well while I do pride myself on my cooking skills, I think I must have left them by the Badger sett. I got out the griddle pan and switched on the wrong ring on the cooker to start with. I prepared the potatoes and Broccoli and then only put one pan on for both, this resulted in overcooking the potatoes. I did finally get my dinner cooked, but it was more Joe's Café effort than Gordon Ramsay meal. Well as things are supposed to happen in threes, I hope that I can get back to the illusion at least that I know what I'm doing now.

One last thing, I mailed the Professor, and told him that yes he could pass on my details to his daughter. She and I were good mates eighteen, nineteen years ago, but that she should only expect friendship now.

Its events like this that reminds me of how small our world really is. Further it shows that it only takes a woman to turn me in to a gibbering wreck.

UK Government buys Fifty Billion Pounds of Bad Debt

Last week in the Guardian was a quote from the banking industry that said:

“The banks will now only lend to people who can repay the loan”

That's like saying that the banks will only employ people that know the difference their Elbow from there... well you know the rest of the phrase!

No other business, industry could, or would, expect the government to bail it out when it made a loss. Further while the banks keep all of their profits when they make them, it will be the tax payer that picks up the tab for all these losses. The UK government has just knowingly bought fifty billion pounds worth of bad debts from the banks. So it is the tax payer that will have to pay for this stupid and reckless lending.

There will be some people that disagree with me, but providing a mortgage of 125% of the value of a property is reckless. While for people struggling to afford to buy a home a loan that allowed the buyer to obtain the property and furnish it may have seemed like a blessing. But that thinking is based upon the assumption that house prices would only go up. While looking at the historical data many people could be forgiven for thinking that was the case, however looking at all the other data should have alerted people to the fact that house prices were artificially high.

There has been direct and deliberate manipulation of the housing market. Builders who have been providing false price and sales data to the Land Registry. Estate Agents who have been manipulating prices by not passing on details of lower offers. Charted Surveyors, the valuers that are not given work unless they provide valuations that match the asking price. All reported in the media over the past five years, but no one wanted to take notice. Thus the value of property has been kept artificially high by direct and deliberate price manipulation add to that the irresponsible gambling by the banks all added to the artificially inflated value of properties.

Then there is the role of the government, for the last ten years and more, the economy has only been growing by promoting consumer spending via borrowing. This has lead to the average person owing more than twenty thousand pounds in personal debt. Yet like any borrowing it now has to be paid back.

While this situation is far from ideal, it is far from a crisis. While it will be difficult for some people, and people don't need to panic. While the paper value of your home has fallen and it will continue to fall, as long as you keep up repayments you will not loose your home. Again while it will be hard, pay off those credit cards and only spend the spare income you have. Look at not replacing all the toys and gadgets that litter your home. Unless a vehicle is vital for work, if you can use public transport or cycle to work, sell the car or cars.

Eventually, once those debts are cleared you will be better off not only financially, but you will have developed a real sense of value of the chattels you own.

This is all part of a change that I have been foreseeing for years. The endless growth of the economy, in the way that it has been occurring, had to end. Where growth will happen now will be in rebuilding of the infrastructure that really matters.

These events are the start of the real green revolution the planet has been waiting for. With the increases in the cost of living that is happening and will continue, the need for people to tighten their belts, will reduce the spending on environmentally damaging activities, such as the rampant consumerism and flippant global travel. With less money to spend on luxury goods like TVs or iPods or any number of manufactured items, we will see less damage to the environment occurring. It will not happen over night, but these events are the start of us humans being re-educated about what really matters.

While events yet to happen will still show us that we need to work with the environment and not against it, the people that start to adapt now will have a head start. This includes using your spare time to grow at least some of your own food. Be this some salad crops in pots on the window seal or two or three neighbours sharing an allotment, you will need to grow at least some of your own food. Food prices are going up and quite soon, this year or next, growing some of your own food will become vital.

The cost of energy will continue to rise, especially petrol (Gas). So learning to do away with the car will become essential. Not having a car will save you at least two thousand five hundred pounds per year, and that excludes the cost of using it. While this is not going to be realistic for everyone, it will be the people that can give up their cars that will cope with the changes that are coming.

There will be people who read this and think this is mostly a lot of nonsense, but weather events will seriously impact food and energy over the next ten to twenty years. This will seriously and adversely effect the conventional economy. Further, the sudden influx of seawater from rising sea levels will disrupt our ability to travel.

The choices we all make now will effect how well we as individuals, our families cope with the changes that have already started.

Protecting Eggs and Nests

Over the weekend I had to adjust my plans. On Saturday I was supposed to go out with friends walking in the Pennines but as I am also volunteering as a body guard for one of the rare raptors that nest in the region, I had to cancel going on the walk for guard duties.

When at the nesting site, I was told that as the wind was gusting sixty and seventy miles per hour on the Pennines, I realised I had made the right choice.

I have been given permission to talk about this here, but obviously I can not say anything that will disclose or reveal the exact location of the nesting site. Its unfortunate that there are still people who collect eggs and deliberately disturb and destroy the nests of raptors. Thus the reason for helping protect the nest and the site. I, or better to say We, are not too close to the nest, but still close enough to have the reasonable view of the pair. But as the main reason for being there is to stop people approaching the nest, my main task was people watching rather than bird watching.

Just at the point that my relief arrived, a group of walkers decided that they were going to move off the public path. So I was not involved in trying to dissuade them from taking that route. Even informing the walkers that they were at risk of disturbing rare wildlife didn't dissuade them. Normally people will respond positively to requests like this, but this group were determined and militant.

I guess that I need to explain to my overseas readers, that in the UK we have a “Right to Roam” enshrined in law. However, this can be suspended to protect wildlife or if work using heavy machinery is being used, such as the tree felling that has been going on in my local woods. These walkers were adamant that they had the right to walk where ever they wanted. This stand off went on for over twenty minutes, so my fellow volunteer asked me to call the land owner. This I did. It took some ten minutes or so before he turned up, what surprised me was that the police arrived too. This changed the attitude of the walkers and suddenly they were keen to leave.
Following the police checking who the walkers were, it emerged that one was related to a person previously convicted of raiding nests.

It shows that the role of guarding this nest site and the many others up and down the country is vital. I had been thinking that I would have been having more fun had I gone off walking, but this experience shows why this work is so important.

Then on Sunday, I got a call from one of the people I would have been walking with and it turns out that they an eventful time too. As I said the weather was rather windy, when I heard the where they were walking I realised just how silly (I could use stronger words) they were. Two of the party came back injured as they were blown off their feet on the ridge top. I told my caller that I thought they had been irresponsible to even attempt to walk in such a location in weather conditions like that.

Fortunately, while late back, they all got back safely. But even my friend agreed that it had not been wise. The problem is that the boldest person in a party can lead others into danger. Anyway, I looked up this article about some of the stupid things that people do when out walking.

The Article

Food and Population Follow up - Plan A? Or Plan B?

Following my posting about Food shortages and Population growth, a rather interesting comment was made. Sometimes when I am writing about something I feel so passionately about, I can occasionally say something that is not as clear as intended. Often as I am writing a stream of conciousness, although many of my readers may say that is more a stream of unconsciousness, I don't always provide the clarity that I aim for.

Additionally, I do try to hard to be diplomatic at times. This posting and the comment are a classic example. Personally, I think that as a result of Climate Change, there will not be the projected increase in the global population. In fact I we will soon start to see population decline. That will be as a direct result of food shortages giving rise to famine and to put it bluntly, people starving to death. This is not alarmist as it is already happening. This occurs not from lack of food, but from poverty. As I stated in my previous posting, eight hundred and fifty million people will not get enough food today. That is nearly three times the population of the USA, or over fourteen time the population of the UK. The reason for choosing these two countries as examples is that in both enough food per day is thrown away that would feed the underfed the under nourished and the starving. I thank my contact in the UN for clarify the situation in the US.

Now if we cant feed the world now, how can we hope to feed the a growing population? Add in to that the difficulties of a changing climate and the whole concept of a population reaching nine billion looks impossible.

Put quite simply without the political will to distribute food fairly now, the population will not grow as fast as projections estimate. In the natural world food and water is the limiting factor regarding population size. Therefore without the food or the capacity to grow the food the human population will never reach the projected twelve billion humans on the planet. Personally, the way that we in the west are dealing with the problem will result in the global population falling. In nature, no population like ours can be sustained. Further in biology, any cell or group of cells that grows out of control is called a cancer. Is that the way humanity wants to be remembered, as a cancer on the planet?

That brings me on to the main are that I need to provide clarification on. Currently in the developing world there is a crisis brought about by HIV/AIDS. So many of the solutions that the western developed world has proposed or has been prepared to fund, involve preaching abstinence. I use the word preaching quite deliberately, as while intellectually I can see that if we got the whole world to stop having sex would stop HIV/AIDS, it is just not going to happen. Via this naïve and frankly ridiculous policy, inspired by religious morality, it has condemned millions in Africa alone to grow up with out parents. In some parts of Africa the HIV+ rate is as high as forty percent of the adult population. Had the religious busy bodies kept their noses out, we would have seen twenty years of good family planing, far lower rates of infection not just of HIV+ but of other STD and lower birth rates.

While I am not saying that family planning is the only solution here, for the last twenty years the interference from religious groups has done more harm than good in providing development to the countries of Africa. Yet where non judgemental healthcare and education has occurred, in Africa and Asia, it has not only helped stem the spread of HIV infections it has helped reduce the birth rate.

The one aspect that all of the NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) agree on though is that educating women really helps. Even organisations like Oxfam, the UN Food and Health programmes and many others don't fully understand why, but it seems that by even teaching women something as basic as the ability to read and write, helps empower women to access information regarding women's health issues and in particular information regarding family planning. That helps reduce the size of the families. Put simply the fewer children the families have the lower the financial cost. Further, there is also lower child mortality rates in the families where the woman has been educated.

We in the Western developed world just don't realise just how easy we have it, and just how difficult it is in other parts of our planet. However the real point is, that had we not tried to impose our morality upon other people and cultures, it is possible that we would not now be facing the projected growth of planets population to such unsustainable levels.

While I am not advocating any form of forced population control, if people in the developing world were provided with the education and choice, most would use family planning as they see it as the most sustainable way out of poverty there is.

The trouble is so far we have not even tried plan A so no one has thought of a Plan B.

The Last Peanut

Just a little something to prove that I have not had a sense of humour bypass!

Global Food System Must Change Population and Food

Here is a mind boggling fact;

There are more human beings alive on the planet today then have ever lived in the whole of human existence.

Human population is the elephant in the room when it comes to climate change and the environment. Not least in the moral abhorrent image of genocide sparked by raising the issue. Thus, very few governments, will actually even discuss the issue. Or when they do they only talk about it in economic terms, such as the so called demographic time bomb. That's where with an ageing population, there are fears that we will not have enough new workers entering the job market to pay the taxes that will enable a government to pay for the health and social services. Even then it is only in terms of increasing the population further.


This prospective of only seeing people as economic units, consumers and or as producers is very short sighted. As quite simply a constantly growing population requires more resources: Food, Water, Shelter and Warmth. These are the basics of life, no matter if you live in the developed world or in the developing world. The problem is that at a global population of six and a half billion we cant get this right, so how are we going to cope with nine billion? Or even the twelve billion that is the expected peek?

I have constantly tried to write a posting on this topic of population growth, but I kept on getting sidetracked. I now understand why, it is simply that I can not see it happening. It is not that I can envisage that many people on the planet, but that I can not see how the this can happen without the already stressed natural systems breaking down.

Even if you take out of the equation the likely effects of a changing climate, the two key elements are food and water. Water and food poverty are already serious issues around the planet. People are already starving, 850 million people will not have enough food to eat today. With another two or three billion mouths to feed, how will we grow that food?

Already the over use of non organic chemical fertilisers has created a run off into the oceans creating dead zones. Therefore, if we expand yields by this method, it will only work in the short term. Add to that the very real problem of expanding deserts, water scarcity and degraded soils, then that too will prevent the planet from expanding its food production to meet this growing population. Further, the way we are polluting the seas, as well as over fishing them, we will lose that resource as a means of feeding people too.

Now if you then add in the effects of global warming, an already mind numbing situation starts to look like a disaster. Even if we only add in the most conservative effects of Climate Change, drought from the loss of the mountain glaciers, coastal flooding causing salinity of the farming land around the worlds coasts, and hotter dryer summers combined with sudden flood events, the problem of water becomes obvious.

Already, there are problems with food shortages. The effects of Climate Change are reducing yields of important food crops already. Wheat, Corn and Rice. This is provoking food riots among the poor around the world. This is happening now, so how much worse will it be if we have a population of nine billion?

Quite simply we will face refugees fleeing famine.

This is why I can not see that level of population ever occurring. We are just to selfish and wasteful to provide an equitable distribution food around the world today, so how can we feed another three billion people?

Here is another fact that should shock people. Here in the UK every day eight million pounds worth of food is thrown out. Exclude the environmental cost of shipping in and then throwing out all that food, and you still have enough food discarded to feed all of the under nourished around the world.

The one key fact that I have learnt about providing good development is that education is vital. Further, educating women is the cornerstone of good development policy. As well as the simple fact that women in most of the world are the food growers and providers, but educating women empowers them to have greater control of their bodies. Put quite simply educated women have fewer children. Additionally, providing an education to women has been proven by the Non Government Agencies, charities providers of aid and education, is the most effective route out of poverty for most families. However, there is another factor in this equation that of religious and social taboos regarding sex. This became most apparent in the fight to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV.

Rather than enable the use of Condoms, religious leaders would advocate abstinence. While that may sound a reasonable way forward to many people, it actually ignores the reality of cultural differences and the way that women are still treated as property.

I have spoken before of my repugnance of the policy of people like Bush who will not fund any development project that enables the use of Condoms or provides education regarding family planning. However it is not just George W, there are almost all the religious leaders; Christian, Muslim etc., who are promoting this form of keeping women oppressed and keeping people in poverty

If we are to even start tackling this crisis of over population then we really need to start tackling poverty head on.

I don't see the future as a desperate one. We can make the future better for all, what is needed is the political will.

Global Food System Must Change

Bats in my Belfry Noctule Bat

This evening I had reason to go visit the village shop. It was getting close to fall darkness as I walked up the road, I stopped to cross at the junction when something flew in front of me. I kept watching it, trying to identify what bird it was, when I realised that it was a Bat. Not just any Bat but a Noctule Bat, the largest of the British species. I stopped and watched it as it flew back and forth, I think it was chasing and catching moths that were attracted by a street light, but I could not be sure. However I am sure of the identification as it was flying past me only five or six feet away, and it had a wingspan of over a foot, and when I checked in my books, there was no doubt. Well thats the first bat of the year.

The Credit Crunch

As my regular reader may remember, when I had to move home several months ago, I railed about the obscenely inflated prices that people were asking for as rent. Back then long before the “Credit Crunch” occurred, I was forewarning of that impending situation.

Here in the UK our whole economy has been driven by a perceived, paper, rise in the value of property. When in fact house and property prices were at their peek more than five years ago. This has meant that in the UK millions of people have borrowed money against the perceived value of their home to live the high life. Now the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost.

Now I don't blame the individuals for this, the fault lays with the banks who have been fuelling the perceived rise in house prices by giving 125% mortgages. The estate agents who earn more money by keeping the markets artificially high. But the biggest villain here is the government who has fuelled the housing market by constantly saying that there is a shortage of houses.

As all this talk of a shortage boosted house prices, and created the illusion that here in the UK we had more money in the British economy, this enabled the government and politicians to create the illusion of an ever expanding economy.

Firstly we need to nail the myth that there is a shortage of housing, there is NOT! Even in London and the South East where the pressures are greatest, twenty five percent of the homes are unoccupied. In other parts of the country its as much as forty percent. The difficulty is one of price, one of value. With the perception of property values rising, as well as a perceived shortage, landlords and letting agents would hold out for much higher rents. Sometimes they got them, but more often than not the landlords who jumped into the Buy to Let market only made any money when they sold the property. However the important aspect here is that because of the difficulty of finding affordable accommodation it energised the myth of a shortage of homes.

Even some banks could see the reality of the situation and nearly three years ago the Santana Group who owns Abbey National stopped lending on some types of property citing market manipulation. Meaning that properties were be sold at inflated prices.

Therefore this whole situation was foreseeable and predictable. Further the majority of the banks were involved in this nonsensical lending. If any bank or financial institution lends at more than one hundred percent of the value of an asset, it risks getting burnt. And while much of this has been blamed on the American Sub Prime market, here in the UK we need to take our share of the blame for what we have done.

In the UK personal debt stands at over one trillion pounds. That is one trillion pounds of future earnings or income that has been spent on a consumer driven spending spree. While some people will have borrowed money to invest on assets, the majority has been been wasted on; Clothes, Holidays, Electronic gadgets, Drinking, the list could go on. While this consumer binge may have kept the money circulating in the economy, like any over indulgence, the price now needs to be paid.

The majority of house prices will halve, and the sooner this happens the better as then we can start to house all the people who need accommodation and we can start to get the economy rebuilt.

While it will be difficult for many people, this situation could enable so many people to learn to be less wasteful and to value what they have, not to keep on dreaming of the latest fashionable must have.

Looking for Otters and Oystercatcher film

Today has been a cold and uncomfortable day for me. While out shopping last week, I got into conversation with a chap who told me that near his home, every morning, he saw the Otters that live on the river, more specifically a female and pup. So I took him up on the offer of him showing me the location.

As promised, the potential viewing point would be perfect, and the signs looked as though the Otters were indeed using the spot very regularly. Therefore I set up the camera and started what turned out to be a long wait. My position, laying on my belly meant that I presented no silhouette and with the wind more or less in my face, I was expectant.

As expected the ground was damp and as showers are a feature of April, I soon became saturated. I waited, but not a sign of the Otters did I see. Once it was two hours past the latest time that the Otters had ever been seen, I decided to withdraw. As I emerged from my vantage point, I realised that my guide had been standing there most of the time and in full view of any wildlife. He told me that he couldn't understand it as the otters had been there every day, until the weekend. It was then that he reviled that he had taken a large party down to the river, and while they had seen them briefly they had not stayed.

I explained that it was likely that he and his friends had probably frightened them off. While disappointing, at least I know where the otters have been recently and I may see them at a latter time.

Well, while that was disappointing I did get something done today. I opened an account on U Tube and I posted one of my videos on there. But so as my loyal reader here doesn't miss out here it is for your delectation.

China, Tibet and the Olympic Torch

Before I go on about what happened on Monday, I have to tell you that on Sunday while running a bath, the telephone rang. Normally it only rings when I am in the bath. However because of this my bath was more full than I intended. Also that meant that my cat “Trouble” (that's her name) was able to sneak into the bathroom and as I was trying to gently lower myself in to the Bath, so she suddenly leapt on to the edge of the bath making me jump, and in my desperation to avoid her slipping in I slipped and crashed down onto my bum. Well the big slosh sent the cat running but I knew that I was going to be bruised.

The reason for telling you this is that on Monday, I was bruised and it made sitting for any prolonged period a little uncomfortable. Not good as I had a meeting in Newcastle with one of the publishers interested in producing the Badger book. So my journey in to the city on the bus was less pleasant than it normally would be. I also had the problem of having to sit through the meeting.

Because of my fidgeting, trying to get comfortable, the publisher thought that I was not happy with the money I was being offered. Thus, instead of signing a contract as we had both expected, the woman I was talking to, decided that the offer was not good enough. Therefore, she will be talking with her partners to see if it cant be increased.

So my bruised butt may have improved my financial status. As was planned I was also taken out to lunch. I told her the reason why I was uncomfortable (so this is not news to her, here) and she had a good laugh both as me, and with me. You could say that I was the Butt of the joke!

Also, as the publishers office is in one of these business units where many small businesses are located, there were other people in the Café who were also from these studios. Further I saw people that I knew. Anyway, this lead to a nice long leisurely lunch, plenty of coffee and some interesting chat. I was then asked if I wanted to meet up again latter at the pub.
That meant that I had most of the afternoon to kill. So I went and wandered around on the Town Moor. I had wished I had taken a camera with me as I could have gotten some good images.

In the pub, it was good to catch up with people that I had known more years ago than I care to remember. One aspect that was uncomfortable, and I am not talking about my bum, was a woman that was/is the partner of one of the people from the publishers. She got tipsy quite quickly and kept on wanting to touch my hair. Further, she kept on saying “I Really Like your Hair” All this in front of her partner. Fortunately they left to get some food.

Once that discomfort was gone, I ended up having a nice long chin wag with some really nice people. While I talked a little about what I was up to, I was more interested in what other folks were up to. This lead to one man saying that he had been in London protesting about Chinas Human rights record in Tibet during the procession of the Olympic torch. Now while I was tempted to say something at the time on here, I didn't see much point in just repeating much of what others were saying. However, I suggested that rather than trying to disrupt the procession that the way to protest was by booing and by everyone turning their back on the torch procession would have been a far more eloquent message to send to the Chinese than the violence that actually happened. I could not believe the way this split people. Some agreed, but far more seemed to think that the torch should have been stopped by any means.

Now I know that not everyone agrees with non violent protesting, as it doesn't always grab the headlines, but I feel that it helps win greater support in the long run than does any aggressive action. As in this case in particular, it would have shown the Chinese what feeling the majority have about their treatment of the peoples of Tibet and that protests don't need to be or end up with violence.

Pleasing My Bank Manager by being Green

When I was a vegetarian, a diet that I had for twenty-five years, when people discovered this the inevitable question was what do you eat came next. Initially I would always try to enlighten people that a vegetarian diet was very varied and interesting. However, I quickly realised that what they were really trying to discover was if I was some sort of hypocrite. Did I wear leather? Did I eat fish? And all that. Those that were genuinely interested, I found it far easier to cook them a meal and share good food with them to show that vegetarian food was far from boring or bland.

I expected others to be that honest with me when I planed on opening an Organic food shop. While I needed to make a living from it, I also wanted to show that Organic produce need not be that expensive. In fact I matched the prices of non organic produce in the supermarkets most of the time. However, I soon discovered that most of the people who were saying they would buy Organic if they could get it cheaper, were full of hot air. It was never the price that stops them its the effort they need to put into washing the mud of a few carrots that really was the issue.

Further, most of these avowed environmentalists would happily drive several miles to a store where the seller was flogging cheap imported, short dated chemically enhanced food. I know as I went there and saw twenty of my customers there stocking up on the very produce the said they wanted to avoid.

That experience allows me to understand why it is that here I get criticised for advocating saving energy, yet embracing technology. While it is true that all the electronic gadgets I use do rely on energy, electricity, I have also chosen well.

My Computer is reasonably energy efficient, also I turn it off when its not in use. That includes turning off the plugs at the mains. Also, my digital cameras rely on batteries. I use rechargeable batteries, that greatly reduces waste and means that using them has a lower carbon footprint than would the case if I were using disposable batteries.

Equally the equipment I have bought is predominantly second hand, thus reducing the environmental impact of its manufacture and helping reduce the amount of waste going off to landfill.

So while I am used to being criticised by the ignorant, this week I had proof that my efforts were working. I received my energy bill for the winter quarter. I will point out that I had paid more than I needed on the previous bill, but even I was pleased to see that it was only Forty pounds and thirty pence.

While I am careful about what energy I do use, I don't skimp on my creature comforts either. I keep my home warm, I don't scrabble around in the dark, well not in the house. One of the things that I always find surprising is just how hot people have their houses in winter. Often their homes are hotter than outdoor summer temperatures. Now I know that because I am often out in the cold, my personal tolerance for the cold is higher than most people, but I am sure that most people could halve their energy bills by simple conservation measures.

Well I at least know that I have done my best to reduce my environmental impact, and it has made my bank manager happy too.

In Praise of Radio Four Journalism

Yesterday, on Thursday, I had to make changes to my plans as I needed to go shopping. The previous Evening I had to get a take away from the Chinese, as I had run out of stuff to make a proper meal.

Therefore, I got the opportunity to listen to the radio in the morning. As my regular reader will know, I love to listen to the intelligent speech radio we have here in the UK, particularly Radio Four.

There are time though when some of the programmes and the news reports make for uncomfortable listening. A year ago there was such a report about a woman in Eastern Congo, who had been brutalised by an armed rebel group the Interahamwe. That original report made me feel physically bilious. So yesterday morning when they introduced that the reporter had returned to DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) to reinterview the woman in that report, I knew that it was not going to be a pleasant or light hearted experience.

I will not go in to the details here, but here is a link where you can listen to both the original report and the one from yesterday.

The Today Web Page

One of the aspects of organisations like the BBC that I appreciate is the willingness to tell the difficult story and to tell it well. Further, this quality only really happens in the considered thoughtful reports rather than the instant reaction pieces of live television news.

The story stuck in my head as I went round the supermarket, and I was going to write this posting yesterday when I got back. However, when I returned, I put the radio on and there was another programme that I never miss, Crossing Continents. As this is available as a podcast, I now never miss hearing the broadcast.

Yesterdays programme was about the illegal logging of Russian timber for export to China. Not only that but, the impact of our buying of goods from China is fuelling this.

The Crossing Continents Web Page

While the two stories are very different, they actually carry a common thread, that of the way we in the West ignore what happens in the rest of the world.

Am I glad that here we have the BBC to prick our consciousness and remind us that we share a common humanity.

Sounds of the Wood coming soon

As my reader may remember I was offered a job, of sorts, acting as caretaker and providing environmental support for a consortium of people that had bought some land. On Wednesday I had a meeting with these people, and the upshot of that meeting is that I will not be taking on that role.

The problem is that they, the owners, are not interested in preserving anything. Nor are they prepared to make the investments needed to generate a steady long term income. All they are interested in is making a quick profit. They had wanted to build houses on the land, but as I know from talking to the local planing authority myself, this will not be allowed in the short or medium term.

Further, this consortium keep on rejecting any or all ideas that could work on the land. This could have included building a limited number of holiday chalets and providing Eco Holidays.
I would have been happy to help and even the local authority were willing to back that sort of idea, but that would not have made the millions they dreamt of when they bought the land, at an inflated price I should add. So while it would have provided a great opportunity for wildlife viewing and all that goes with it, I very much doubted that they were willing to even invest in the accommodation I was being promised.

Therefore, I am now able to progress on my other plans. It was fortuitous that on the same day as this meeting the software I ordered (and had paid for), arrived. As I have mentioned previously, I plan to do a pod cast. I have been busy recording material for this, and now I have the long task of getting this onto the computer. Also I will be getting my own website, I still have to build it, but while I have the domain name chosen, you will have to wait to find that out until its registered.

I will be keeping the blog here going too, and I may have a mirror blog on the website. However, it will enable me to share more pictures, videos and other stuff without services like flicker hijacking my material to boost their own sales.
If anyone has any bright ideas of what I should have on the website, I welcome any bright ideas, dim ones please keep to yourselves.

While I now have to learn how to use some of this software, I am excited by the range of possibilities.

Birds adding to my Life List

On Wednesday morning I was up very early as I wanted to get out the the Quarry pond again. I was even on the first bus out of the village. Its not the first time I have been on that bus, and it remarkable the number of people who do use it. Also, as most of the people who do utilise this are regulars, I am on nodding terms with the people from my village that are up that early.

I got to the pond and started filming what was there, nothing very remarkable and I was starting to feel that I may have wasted my time going down. While I was thinking this a small flock of Mallard swam past. I was not really taking that much notice, as they were not doing anything that extraordinary. But as I looked I realised that one was not a Mallard at all, it was a Shoveller. That adds to my life list. I did get some film of it but they were to far away really to get anything of quality.

Its funny because a good friend had said in her blog, on the subject of waiting patently, that I would pour scorn on her just stopping and peeking rather than waiting long hours. It is true that I do spend a lot of time waiting around for the wildlife to appear, but equally, I have had some remarkable chance encounters. This is further illustrated by what happened next.

I heard a bird calling a short “Teck” from over in the reed beds. I scanned very carefully and finally I saw what was calling, I tried to line up the camera but it flew off before I could start filming. However, I was reasonably sure I knew what the call was, another new bird for my life list, a Cetti's Warbler Cettia cetti It cant get better than this.

As my time there was limited, I got this lovely bit of film of the Mute Swan grooming before I had to leave.

Getting a Mud Bath

Following my rather spontaneous trip out yesterday, I considered cancelling my planed trip out to watch one of the trails. There is a location in my local area where I regularly see wildlife tracks, however it is also crossed with regular human traffic.

Therefore, I needed to ascertain when the human traffic stopped and when the animal traffic started. That required me to venture out in the night yet again. Because my plans were adjusted during the day, after getting back and feeding and watering myself, I was tempted to stay in the warm. But, I also knew that because the weather was less than clement, there was less risk of getting disturbed by people.

Now while I don't have a problem with others sharing the countryside, the number of times that the presence of other people does impact the behaviour of the wildlife. Also, as I want to at a latter date set up a camera trap, I needed to discover a time block when I can leave the equipment set up without the risk of this expensive piece of kit disappearing.

Now dear reader, you understand why I was wandering about in the dark, in the forest, in the cold, you also need to understand that with the recent rain and snow, the ground was very muddy and slippery under foot.

In the summer, no matter how much repellent I use I become the picnic for a variety of insects, but as it is early spring I was not expecting to suffer that problem. I do love being in the woods after dark. While it is cold and damp, sitting or standing comfortably often you can hear much of what is happening in the Forest.

In the wood the wildlife gets on with there lives far from us humans and at night is when most of the activities go on. So settling down I set about discovering what was active. Listening just to the sounds of the forest does not always tell you exactly what's there, but the scampering of small mammals was evident. I also heard the sounds of Owls out hunting. I could not positively identify what species, but I heard the sound of one taking a vole or a mouse. As I peered into gloom, I think I could see the bird fly off, but with no clear view I could not say what it was. I also saw and heard a fox go by.

As I sat I could hear the deer were active too, but I could not see them. After I thought they had passed I decided I would have a drink from my flask. I don't know if it was some sound that I made, or the aroma of the coffee but some fifteen feet from behind me came a burst of sound as four or five Roe Deer burst into activity as they made to flee from my presence. This caused me to drop my flask in the mud. It took me about half an hour to gather my gear back together. I ended up looking like I was doing an impression of a hippopotamus by the time I was finished.
It is not the first time that I have been startled by wildlife, I doubt that it will be the last. I am just glad that I do not have a wife or partner to go back to, or else I would be sleeping in a kennel.

However, my primary objective was fulfilled and I know that it will be possible to set up the camera trap. There was no human disturbance and this will mean I can avoid doing my impressions of icicles or mud loving animals.

Sand Martins

Yesterday following a phone call, I changed my plans. As I have been so busy with the arrival of spring getting out and looking for the wildlife, I had planed to get some house work done, as well as spend some time cataloguing my images and footage. Also as I have spent so much time out in the cold, a persistent cold was making me feel under the weather.

However, this phone call alerted me to something I wanted to see. About a week ago, I had been out filming the waders and water birds on a local nature reserve, a former quarry. When at a distance I thought I saw a Sand Martin. I could not be sure of my identification, but when another birder came along I told him what I thought I had seen and after a while he said that yes he had spotted it too.

Now as is the way with us wildlife watchers, we are a sharing bunch and we swapped telephone numbers. Anyway, yesterday I got a call from this chap who told me that the Sand Martins were back. So I got myself organised and went down to see if I could see them myself. I arrived just as he was leaving, but he told me where they were flying and in less than two minutes I had located them.

I was at to greater distance to film them, and as they can fly so fast, getting a picture was impossible, I set about working out were they were likely to be nesting. After much searching I have discovered to probable location, but I will need permission to access the land to get close enough to film them, but it is a very clear sign that Spring is here.

Spring is here?

As this clip shows, we are having lots of weather here!

Scamper on By

Yesterday, Thursday, I was up very early as I wanted to try and film the Roe Deer. Using the techniques utilised by professional film makers, conservationists and ecologists, I set up a camera overlooking a known path that the Deer use. Once set running, I was able to withdraw back and watch a secondary route.

While I had chosen my path to the location carefully and the prevailing wind was in my favour, eddies and fluctuations made me doubtful that I would have any success. This lack of expectation didn't make me feel disillusioned as the air was filled with the myriad sounds of birds singing their mating songs, welcoming Spring. While I was cold, I was kept busy as I tried to film some of the birds while I waited. I had baited the ground with seeds to attract them, but in the gloom before the sunlight threaded its way through the trees, was not conducive to filming. So I stayed and drank in the delights of chill spring morning with only the the local ecology there to keep me company.

While I did not see that much, it was a delight to see yellow hammer and Bullfinches in their pristine breading plumage. I also was able to see pheasant wandering about, normally they will run, its one of the quirks of pheasant that they are very reluctant to take to the air so they normally run away. As I was still and quiet the wildlife was getting quite close to me before realising I was even there.

Then after nearly three hours, I realised I was not going to see the Deer, but I could have recorded the Deer on the other camera. I had three tapes to review. As I knew that it was unlikely I would disturb the Deer now, I slowly walked up the route I had expected the deer to come from. I saw fresh prints and droppings so while I was hopeful it also appeared that the deer had not traversed the path in front of the camera but had taken another track.

Well the short compilation of what did appear shows that there was plenty of wildlife activity but no Deer, well not this time anyway.