The Pride, Success and Failure of Science

It may surprise my reader, I was genuinely excited to hear that the Phoenix landed safely on Mars. While I have reservations about space exploration, it does excite me. At age six I saw Neil Armstrong take that first step on the moon. Even though here in Britain it was three in the morning, I was awe struck by the achievement. Just as I am by NASA getting the phoenix probe safely on the Martian surface. Although it would have been nice if the Martians had been there to greet us.

And the mission is there to see if the chemicals are there below the surface of Mars that will prove if life once existed on the red planet. Personally I think they will find them. Had Beagle two not crashed on Mars, the British could have been the first to find that proof. But its our own fault for sending a dog to do a robots job.

While I do think that life did exist there, I suspect that when the chemicals that make up life are found it will reignite the theory that life on earth was seeded from space via meteors from Mars Something I don't believe as I think it started here independently.

While we are on the subject of space, I was highly amused to here that the toilet on the international space station has broken down. Fortunately there is a shuttle ready to take the part up to fix the plumbing; but they just have to wait while they have a whip round at NASA for the call out charge for the plumber.

If anyone is interested if you follow this link you can find in real time where the ISS is as it orbits earth.

As my regular reader will know, I do have reservations about the current phase of space exploration and the return to the moon. The major reason why America, China, Japan, India and us in Europe are planing to go back to the moon is in search of exotic elements. On the moon there is an abundance of the element Helium 3, a heavier form of helium with an extra electron that in theory could be used to fuel a fusion reactor. The theory is that this element could provide limitless energy. However I have grave reservations simply because it is all theoretical as we don't have enough of the element on earth to even test a fusion reactor beyond a few thousandths of a second. Even if everything does work we are looking at forty or fifty years before this could start providing energy. Also it is perfectly possible that the theoretical physics is wrong and it will not be the new oil.

Personally I think that much more energy should be exerted in developing renewable energy now, and once we have sorted out that part of our planets problems then we can look at extending our reach into the solar system.

I realise that I could be wrong and this could be the unexpected technological fix that digs us out of the energy crisis we are in. But so far no new energy source has ever lived up to the promises made. Here in Britain when Nuclear power was first used to generate electricity, we were promised that it would generate so much that it would be;

“To cheap to meter”

However, the head of the UK nuclear decommissioning authority has said that; it will cost substantially more than the seventy eight billion pounds ($160 Billion) to deal with the waste already created by Nuclear power already.

I just hope that we do have a plan B hidden away somewhere.

Image Copyright NASA

Water Voles, Bank Voles and Springwatch

Wednesday morning saw me heading out in the rain, towards the Derwent River with the aim of filming Water Voles. As Folks may not realise this star of the Wind in the Willows, (Ratty should have been called Volley) is the fastest declining mammal in Britain. However we still have a relatively healthy local population. This is mainly due to the fact that we do not have a problem with Mink.

However, before waxing lyrical about the water vole, I have to admit that I should have postponed my attempt when I saw the weather forecast. As any one with more than one brain cell working, I seem to have had only one working this morning, Heavy Rain and electrically operated cameras don't mix. While I do use covers and rain shields, I was risking getting my equipment water logged. Just as I got water logged. When I got back home I even had to wring out my boxers.

I was in the right location though as I could see the voles were active in the place I had hoped to see them. It is one of the real benefits of the loss of the heavy industry that blighted this region that the rivers are now clean enough to support a healthy biodiversity in the rivers. There was a time, only thirty odd years ago when the river was so polluted that even common weeds were killed off by the waters from this chemical cocktail of a river.

When I got back and dried off by having a bath, there is twisted logic there somewhere. I sat down to write up my notes. As I did this I watched with interest a Blue Tit that was going around the plants in my yard picking off any insects. Then he or she, started collecting flies from the spiders webs in there too. Quite remarkable behaviour and something I had not seen before.

Today, Thursday saw me dealing with other Voles. As some types of conservation work requires trapping of small mammals, under licence, I have been seeking to get the training needed. As I am financing this myself. The costs are coming out of my pocket rather than being funded by a Charity, Conservation body, or government department, one of the people providing me with the training and experience has been providing me with a lift. This morning that meant a very early start of three thirty. Therefore I was rather somnambulant this morning. It meant that while I picked up my packed lunch, I forgot my cameras.

Learning to handle any small mammal can be a painful experience, but so far I have escaped being bitten. Although everyone else has suffered bites. My mentor thinks that it could be that I have some sort of affinity... Rubbish, I am just careful as I know it would hurt.

While others suffered the indignity of getting nipped in the name of conservation, I while laying on the ground removing one of the humane live traps, suffered by having a smelly muddy dog run on to my back and grab my ponytail. For nearly a minute it refused to let go or allowed me to try to rise. When one of the other students freed me from the clutches of her mutt, I rose with my pride feeling very bruised. I felt like giving the dog an Anti-Social Behaviour Order. I did however keep the trap intact and the vole safe.

When the Vole was released, its released into a bag, I thought it was a field Vole. However, as I am not an expert, I was surprised to discover that it was a Bank Vole. This lesson made me realise that I had previously seen them in my local woods and misascribed my observations. If only school had been this interesting.

Anyway, even though I have bathed I can still smell that damn dog on me.

To go off on a tangent, my regular reader will know that I have been enthusing about the springwatch that the BBC have been doing this year. In previous years, there have been parts that were less good, this year I can not fault the programme. In part this is because the whole team have grown in confidence and have pulled out all the stops to garner some remarkable images. For example the wildlife film maker Simon King, one of the co presenters, shot some ultra slow motion video of an Osprey catching a fish. Remarkable and graceful. However, what for me will be the highlight was the footage they shot of the Scottish Wild Cat. This is an animal so rare and elusive that it was a delight to see. Having spent three weeks of my life trying to see one myself and not doing so, I know just how difficult that was. And this has only been the first week of three.

Anyway, while talking of elusive creatures, the film here is of a Jay. While not rare, and can be seen occasionally, I was chuffed to bits when I got this bit of film.

Bird Taxonomy

There is true story that I was told years ago of a woman who after living all her life in London and only ever seeing pigeons, moved to a house with a garden and started noticing birds for the fist time. When her son visited he would reel off all these elaborate names for the birds, to the delight of his mother. She became so interested that she bought a field guide to birds. To her amusement she discovered that her son had just been making the names up and most of the birds she had seen were the common species found in the garden.

I know that story was true as it was the woman herself who told me. It however sparked a real interest in birds and wildlife.

I mention this as an American friend made a comment about my posting about the Great Tit; saying that it looked like a Black Capped Chickadee. I think that she is revealing something I have long suspected, that the pilgrim father's took over our British birds and just renamed them. I think that there are Americans, even as I speak, painting the wings of our native Blackbird and passing them off as Red Winged Blackbirds.

I bet that most of the exotic sounding species of birds over there are really ours, just renamed. Only kidding! But I do wonder if there are species in the Americas that are evolved from old world birds? While I know that many were named because they reminded the early colonists of European birds, but are unrelated, there will be some that share a common ancestor with old world species.

Anyway, I have had one bit of disappointing news today. The farmer on whose land sits one of the Badger setts that I watch has suspended permission for access. This is because over the Bank Holiday someone started a camp fire near the sett and cut down a couple of trees. Not only that the location was strewn with broken bottles and cans. While I helped with the clean up, he want to prevent anyone going there at all so that he can protect the Badgers and prevent any more damage occurring. I can understand him taking this action, and while it may seem unfair on me, he will stand a better chance of catching who is doing this if no one has any access. Once he can say “Get off my Land” to them, I should be able to gain access again, but I will miss the Badgers.

On a much more positive note though, something I saw on Springwatch last night solved a mystery for me. Back in the first winter in the village and exploring the woods, I had spotted an extraordinary looking mass on the trunk of a tree. I had been watching a tree creeper, but it disappeared from my view. As I scanned the trees for it I saw this strange looking mass on a tree trunk. I fought my way through the Brambles to try and get closer, and the sound of my approach disturbed the tree creeper and I saw a couple of them fly off. But I could not find the strange mass that I thought I had seen. Anyway, on TV they showed something that looked identical to this. Mystery solved, as the mass was a family of newly fledged tree creepers huddled together. This apparently they will do in winter too to keep warm. So what I probably saw was a huddle of adult Tree Creepers keeping warm. Well I learn something new each day!

The film is a clip of a Nuthatch feeding off a bird table.

The Bank Holiday

Yesterday, Monday, was a bank holiday. But unlike a normal bank holiday we had brilliant sunshine. Well we did in the north (Self satisfied Grin), in the south it was torrential rain. So it looks as though the south got the weather we were supposed to get. As nature often does though we are paying the price today. (Drip, drip)

After having a nice long lay in today, over the last two weeks I have been surviving on just four to six hours of sleep, I indulged myself. I only really had some shopping to do, and this enabled me to follow my diet and indulge in a Coffee and Cake. I say follow my diet as I have lost three inches off my waistline so I need to put on some weight so that my clothes fit me.

Yesterday, I went out and stood watch over an area that the Kites regularly visit. However I did not see the Kites at all. It may well be because of the number of people about enjoying the sunshine. I did however, get this short clip of film of a Wall Brown Butterfly.

Early in the morning I was trying to check my mail and such like, and I saw a procession of birds visiting my yard. The prettiest of them was the Collard Dove.

Later I was able to put up my do not disturb sign and watch the start of Springwatch on the TV. I can report for my overseas reader, that the Ospreys have two chicks!

Great Tit

As my regular reader will have realised, I am nuts about wildlife, although those that really know me would tell you that I am just nuts! Therefore it will not surprise my UK readers that I am looking forward to the start of Springwatch this Monday. Now because I want to share this with my now confused reader from overseas, Springwatch is a programme that Aunty Beeb (the BBC) has done for the last four years where the Natural History Unit descend upon a farm in Devon and watch birds in their various nests. While reality television bores the pants off me, and yes I would rather run around naked than watch Big Brother, this is the only form of live reality TV that I would watch.

I don't think that anyone apart from the BBC could have or would have ever tried something like this. Nor do I think anyone but Aunty Beeb could have made it work.

So for the next three weeks I will be putting up my do not disturb sign (I am disturbed enough) and I will do more TV watching in these three weeks that I normally do in three months.
Because of listening to things like Natures Voice the RSPB podcast, I already know that the Springwatch team are moving from Devon to Norfolk this year, and Simon King will be up in Scotland watching an Osprey Nest.

As I have been so busy getting out and about watching wildlife for real, it will be a welcome break to have all the hard work done by professionals for a change.
So if anyone wants to find me for the next three weeks, I am sitting on my nest, letting Kate Humble and Co entertain me.

Here is a very short film showing a greedy great tit, part of my own Spring watch. Also just to ensure that I don't make my overseas friends jealous, here's a link to the web cam that is watching the same Osprey nest that will star in the show.

A Good excuse for being late for work

In a good friends blog today I read that she was late for work because of needing to repair a flat tire. Well in the annuals of history, that has to go down as pretty lame excuse. If you really want a good excuse you could ave used one like this one . Folks in Newcastle had to stop, causing a traffic jam because of a family of swans had to cross the road.

A link to the full story, and my thanks to the BBC for the image.

A Red Kite Day

Today has been a rather unusual day for me as I had an appointment with a Dentist. As my reader in the UK will know, here in Britain there is a serious shortage of dentists. There are plenty in private practice, but finding one that will accept NHS (National Health Service) patients is dam near impossible. I have been on several waiting lists for all of this century.

Anyway, on Monday I had an initial appointment and because I needed a filling and the Dentist had a cancellation I had this appointment today. On Monday while waiting for the bus early in the morning I could see a Kestrel hovering just over the gardens of the houses bordering the road. If ever I needed something to take my mind off something this was it.

Then Today as I walked down to the bus stop, a pair of Red Kites came wheeling over head. As I stood waiting they were criss crossing the whole expanse of sky, quartering the open ground around the houses of the village. The sight of them put a smile on the face of even the most miserable folk.

It stopped me thinking of Laurence Olivier in the film Marathon Man.

The Dentist was fantastic, for me a test of a good dentist is if he doesn't try to hold a conversation with his fingers poking around in my mouth. I even told him an old joke:

A new patent goes to the dentist after being sat in the chair, the patent grabs hold of the dentists testicles and says “We are not going to hurt each other now, are we?”

With the treatment over I had the best part of a hour to wait for the bus home. Therefore I went and got some shopping. Having just spent the last few days doing my washing, I needed to get some Washing Liquid. As I use the brand Ecover, an environmentally friendly one, I have to make the effort to obtain it. It was as I bought it that someone else from the village saw me and commented on me using this. I don't know what it is about our current culture but people seem to want to us all to be some kind of homogeneous mass?

Even after getting my shopping I still had time on my hands, so I went to a really nice friendly café and indulged in the wonderful home made cake they have and some real coffee. It is something that puzzles me why so few cafés will make the effort to make decent coffee or even decent tea?

When I got back home I went straight out to see if I could film the Red Kites. While they were still about they were up at altitude. They really did seem to be just enjoying the freedom of the open sky. I don't know if it was the dentist or the kites that improved my smile more.

The Crucifix Beetle

There were two wildlife stories that I read about yesterday that have real relevance to my local countryside and woodland. The first was that the National Trust have rediscovered the Crucifix Beetle in Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire after an absence of more than fifty years. Now I know that is a couple of hundred kilometres from me here, (as I am aware that the geographers among you will swiftly point out). But last year I had seen this same Beetle in Chopwell wood. However, while I knew it was rare, I had not realised that it is one of the Rarest Beetles in the UK.

This discovery shows just how important our little wood is to wildlife, diversity and habitat. The other story is about another rare creature that does live in the local woods. While I may have seen one when I first moved here and started exploring the woods, it was so brief a glimpse of an Adder that I could not be sure. However, when talking to the Ranger, I discovered that it was in the location of a known but elusive colony.

Anyway, The Herpelogical Conservation Trust are asking for people to send in details of sightings of Adders so that a conservation plan can be drawn up.

A link to The Herpelogical Conservation Trust web site

Photo Credit; my thanks to F Koehler for the picture.

Biodiversity Week in Scotland

Here's an interesting little gem, in Scotland, Natural Heritage Scotland have declared this week Biodiversity week. So will that mean more Midges? Anyone who has been to Scotland will know that you offer yourself as a sacrifice to these blood suckers! Not that I am trying to put people off visiting this beautiful place, but even I get bitten to death there. But seriously, Scottish wildlife is fantastic. Recently I was listening to a programme on the radio where the presenter was on one of the Scottish Isles and was watching a pair of white tailed Sea Eagles from a hide when not one but three Golden Eagles came into view and she could see five magnificent raptors in the sky at once. To say that I was jealous would be an understatement.

Here in the UK we do have some fantastic wildlife.

A link to the Web Site

Badgers By Moonlight

By the silver sheen of a moon waxing to full I went out to see if I could film the Badgers. My video doesn't have infra red ability but it is supposed to be able to film in very low light conditions. However the image quality suffers, but as an experiment I thought I would give it a try.

I headed to a location where I knew the badgers regularly investigate as a feeding spot, its muddy and good for worms. I started off by scattering the ground with Peanuts and set up the camera to overlook the spot, much of it bathed in moonlight.

I retreated about forty or fifty yards once the camera was rolling and waited. Each tape will only produce an hours worth of footage, and as the first hour neared ending I got up in readiness to change the tape. As I stood, I smelt the scent of the badgers. Normally I would hear them first but tonight it was the smell that alerted me first. I could see no sign but as I strained my hearing I could hear them. I stayed still until I could see them and after fifteen or so minutes, and after the tape will have ended, seven of the badgers came into view. It was fascinating to watch them eating the peanuts as the tactic for getting the most seemed to be stand over a pile and eat backwards.

When I was able to return to the camera, the Badgers had up ended the tripod and camera, into the mud, before going to feed. It took a while to clean this and review the footage, had they been sooner I think it would have worked. However plan B will require me to use bondage on the camera.

Grass Snake Sighting

Well if the weather of the last week is anything to judge by, it looks as if we have had our summer here. I have been made jealous by seeing the weather forecast from other parts of the country, but this morning we all shared the rain. Therefore, I was not expecting to see to much this morning when I went out for a walk. After all most wildlife will avoid the rain, unlike odd ball hippy wildlife watchers.

However I thought I would take advantage of the wet ground to see if I could find tracks or signs. Apart from dogs paws there seemed to be very little signs of anything. So I went down to the river to see if anything was active down there, not expecting to see much. After a stroll, well more of a slide, I found myself close to where the grass snake winter quarters were built last year, so I thought I would see if there was anything utilising this.

While the Grass Snakes would not have used it for hibernation this winter, many other creatures could have and may be using it. Therefore I was delighted to see a grass snake near the structure. I tried to move quickly and went... well my back and buttocks were wet and caked in mud. I lost sight of the snake. I suspect that this mouse frightened it off and into the water.

There are times when constructing something like this doesn't have the desired effect, but if I haven't frightened this one off, it looks as though the effort was worth while.

Well I must be a glutton for punishment as as soon as this posting is sent, I will be heading out looking for the badgers.

Take Care when Buying Second Hand

When I bought this computer, pre used via Ebay, I had to do some work to strip out all the previous owners software. While it appeared to have been deleted by the previous owner more than half of the eighty gigabytes of the hard drive was inaccessible. So before I loaded any of my software I cleared it down removing fifty or sixty gigs of the junk that was on there.

I took my time to install my software checking each one before loading the next. Further, I kept on running the security software checking that I was clean of viruses and spy ware.

Because of the care that I do take, I was puzzled by the fact that at times my computer was sometimes doing strange things. I do mean strange as commands were operating when I was not executing them. As I don't use wireless technology specifically because there is a risk of others gaining access so while I suspected spy ware, when I ran the security software nothing was found.

So yesterday I called in an engineer to check my system over. What he found was shocking. There was spy ware there, but this had been installed not self installed by a previous owner. It was embedded in such a way that it was undetectable by conventional security scans.

While it had recorded every key stroke, it looks as though none of this information had been accessed. What probably helped was that unlike most people I turn off the power to everything including the router when I switch off.

What the engineer told me that I should have done though was to reformat the Hard Drive when I got the computer. While nothing seems to have been lost, the computer doing odd things was access trying to be gained rather than actual access.

I contacted the seller and told him of the problem. He told me that he he had bought the computer second hand to cannibalise the parts. He then rebuilt it using parts from other computers to sell it. This sounds credible as it looked as though this was what happened when I received it. He was really sorry and even offered to pay for the engineer, I declined this but I asked him if he was willing to talk to the police, the engineer says he will be reporting this to the police. Reluctantly he agreed and I was able to confirm the contact details were correct too.

Anyway the main reason for making this posting is to forewarn folks, if you do buy a second hand computer, reformat the hard drive to clean it. That is the only real way to ensure that there is nothing on the drive.

While I am not stupid or gullible, even I didn't realise that I should be doing this.

Badger Cubs

We have Badger Cubs!

I tried to think of some way of adding some tension or trying to write something so that you, dear reader, didn't share my discovery until the end of this posting, but I am just to excited by this. For at least the past month, I have suspected they were there in two of the Setts that I am observing, but without direct sightings I could not be sure.

Because of an urgent request from one of the potential publishers of the book on the Badgers that these observations will be going into. I had to ensure my observations were up to date. Therefore, I went round to the setts and tried to ascertain what was actually happening rather than speculate. One of the advantages of living in the north is the longer daylight period. This enabled me to more rapidly travel on foot between the different Setts. Even so it is still a two hour walk to get round all of them and I still need time to see what's happening. It is not just a matter of there's a badger and another, but via watching work out what is really happening in their lives.

While at one of the setts I saw two cubs above ground with their mother well away from the Sett. They were busy grubbing for worms and engaging in the rough and tumble of badger play. I even became involved, involuntarily, as one of the cubs discovered pulling my boot lace was a great game.

However the sow decided she didn't like her cubs being near a human and she charged me. As I was travelling light, no camera or heavy equipment just a digital Dictaphone to make notes on, I was able make a swift exit. Once I was several meters away, everything was fine and they all went back to feeding and playing. I quietly departed from that Sett and headed for the largest sett.

The dynamics of this one has become fascinating as the old Brock was killed by traffic in February, and there are now three males competing for the top job. However, the realignment of the social dynamic has caused two of the pregnant sows to move away to an as yet unknown satellite sett.

I could hear that the badgers were active as I approached, and I wished that I had some night vision equipment, as it was difficult to work out what was actually going on. While there was feeding activity going on, and some rough and tumble, I was confused by the number of animals that were there.

I allowed my eyes extra time to adjust to the light, and settled down to see if I could discover the story of the behaviour pattern. It looks as if one of the younger males, he is about four or five years old, has become the lead Brock. Once I was more sure of the dynamics of the situation I moved in closer and settled down at the base of a tree. Whenever out watching the badgers, it is never just the badgers that I will encounter, and a vole was scampering about just feet away from where I was sitting and I could hear owls were out hunting. This held my attention, was I going to see the owl hunting? I was close enough to the mouse or vole and if I could see it, I knew that an owl would spot it too. As I sat there, my attention was split between watching the badgers and the rodent. After, about fifteen minutes, I felt something fall on my shoulder and to the forest floor. Looking up I saw a Tawny Owl ten feet directly over me, I guessed that it had been a pellet that had been dropped but I could not find it in the leaf litter. I could have used a torch, but that would have disturbed the Badgers. As I watched the Owl it flew silently off into the dark.

My attention back on the Badgers, I tried to work out who was whom. One of the females I saw was one that had departed when the old Brock was killed. I could see two cubs but they were with another sow. Looking carefully, I realised that there were other cubs there too. After a time, I was able to see with certainty that there were six cubs there, four seemed to be with the wanderer. I think there were also others there but without direct observation of them I can not be sure.

While I wanted to post immediately about this, I also needed to get my manuscript updated as I had a meeting to attend.

Even though I was tired I my draft notes written and effectively wrote another chapter in one. As the publisher wanted both a hard copy and a digital version, I had to print it out. Armed with this I went to Newcastle for the meeting.

For reasons that will become obvious, we always meet in a café. I was there first, and I waited with a coffee. As winter is over, I have shaved off my beard. In the winter this stops me from loosing to much body heat in the cold. So I was rather amused when she walked right past me and sat down at the back of the room. I went over and said that it would be easier to talk if we sat at the same table.

She asked me to sit with her, it was clear that she was upset. Well without going into detail, she has become a victim of the credit crunch. Her business was reliant upon borrowing made upon her house and while she had been hoping that the banks would be kind to her, that morning she had discovered the banks just wanted their money back. So via this publisher at least the Badger book will not be published. I even had to pay for her coffee and lunch as she didn't have the money to pay for that. In fact even when I had been meeting her in her offices previously, they (the Office) had been borrowed and she was really trying to create the illusion of a successful business.

While I was sympathetic, I didn't give her the manuscript as she wanted. She said that she was sure she could sell it and that it would help save her business. I already have another publisher that is interested and I could not completely trust her to provide a deal that was right for me. After all, if she was trying to use my work to save her business it was likely that I would be sold short.

I will still complete the book and my observations, so I see this as a set back not a disaster.
This meeting had been inconvenient as I had other things I needed to do. Also, staying up all night and extending that into the day left me feeling very tired. Its no wonder that my neighbours think that I must be some creature of the night. If I am not careful I will be getting an invite from Bram Stocker.

No matter what disappointments though, it doesn't detract from the delight of seeing the Badger Cubs.

Feeding the Birds

As well as feeding the birds, I also put out some cat food as I regularly have a hedgehog that visits my yard. I was aware that some of the birds that visit are also feeding on this. Yesterday morning getting up early, I noted that the food had not been taken by the hedgehog.

However, I left it there as I knew that birds like the Magpie and Jackdaw would take the food. Failing that, there are cats from the neighbourhood who would garner a free feed.

As I sat writing my notes from another night of Badger watching, I was treated to a veritable parade of birds coming to feed in the yard. I think that it was the magpie that got the lions share. But what made the situation remarkable, was at one point I heard the vocalizations of Jackdaws, looking up I saw them mobbing a Red Kite that was just circling over my roof.

I sat back and watched in amazement as the Kite attempted a decent into my yard. It was only the presence of my solar powered clothes dryer (Washing Line), that prevented the Kite landing.
To be so close to such a bird was incredible, but it does make me wonder if the kite would have been able to eat the cat food. I just don't know.

Anyway, the picture is one that I took the other day, just to remind me that spring is here.

Tree Sparrow

Following my filming of the Dipper, I went out to film a colony of tree sparrows. They are nesting right by the main road though (the only road) the village and I did get some funny looks while filming. “What's that Odd Ball up to now” looks. But I did get some very interesting footage.

Ringing Birds and Nest Boxes

Over the past couple of days, I was well outside of my comfort zone as I have been learning a skill that I have wanted to learn for years.

Since I was a child I have wondered about bird ringing, and while I wanted to learn how to do this, the opportunities were not there. Further, while I was interested, I was always worried about handling such small delicate creatures.

Anyway, while talking to a fellow naturalist I was offered the opportunity to help and learn what is needed. I was not allowed to fit any of the rings, but I had the chance to handle the birds, there is a right way of doing it, and releasing them.

The experience was amazing but while I think will continue to see if I can earn my licence, I doubt that I will ever gain the speed or confidence to be that skilled.

However, it was the other aspect of my time at this location that really put me out of my comfort zone. I was helping put up Bird and Bat Boxes. I am not comfortable working at hight, I can do it if allowed to go at my own pace.

The first day was fine, I was able to work at a pace and in a way that I was comfortable with as the people I was helping were fine with that. The following day I was working with people who were far less willing to accept my unease. In fact they were rather reckless in their attitude towards working safely. This included them deliberately shacking the ladder while I was at the top. Not good at the best of times, but I had an Owl Box in my hands at the time.

Anyway, I ended up feeling that I was unwilling to risk helping on this project.

This morning however, I had a visit from the head of the project who apologised about the behaviour of some of what I had thought were volunteers but were actually citizen who were serving community service orders, awarded by the courts. No one had told me that they were convicted people, as I should have been. Additionally, I should not have been left to supervise these persons on my own, without professional support.

Anyway while the whole experience was not perfect, altogether more than one hundred extra nest boxes were put up and mainly for birds that are rare or endangered. While the nest boxes are unlikely to be used this year, next year they will be. There was a delay caused by getting the risk assessment passed by the landowner. But at least the boxes are up and ready for use next year.

While I took loads of pictures of what we were doing, I now discover that I can not use any of them as anything that risks disclosing the identity of the criminals that were working on the project, would breach their human rights. Its a crazy world we live in.

Anyway, the picture here is of an Alder that is just bursting into leaf.

Dippers on the River

On Tuesday when I saw the weather forecast, I knew I wanted to be up and out early the following day. By early, I am talking about before sunrise. As the night sky was going to be clear, following a warm spring day, a mist was going to form. While this would be quickly burnt off by the sun, it was likely to make the wood and the river a magical place, and visually interesting. Further, it is the way that this mist deadens sound and reduces visibility that I most wanted to use.

I have been observing the Dippers down by the river. Like so many species, they are creatures of habit especially during the breading season. Therefore I wanted to use the vale of mist to enable me to get close and set up the camera to film the dippers. By setting up the camera so it overlooked a known point that the Dippers use, I stood a good chance of getting some good footage.

The walk though the wood to the river was an aural delight, and I dare say I could have stopped and filmed any number of birds as I headed towards the Dippers Territory. When I got to the point on the river where I know a pair have established a territory, I was greeted by the sight of one of them already sitting on a rock in the river. I set up and started filming straight away, expecting the bird to flee as I was not that well hidden, but I got a long sequence before this male noticed me.

I was pleased to have something so quickly, but I still intended to follow my plan. I set up the camera, and I moved off and watched. I could switch on the camera remotely so I pressed my form against a tree reducing my chances of being observed.

I did not have to wait to long before the Dipper alighted on the perch I was observing. I started the camera rolling, and as I did I realised that just behind me a group of Roe Deer had come down to the river to drink. I dared not move. While I had another camera with me, it was in my bag that was sitting at the base of the tree on the other side of me. So I just stood and watched. All three females were in pristine condition, having just shed their grey winter coats and were resplendent in their red summer coats. However I was also trying to keep an eye on the Dipper, and I saw the other half of the pair arrive, the female I think.

I wanted to adjust the zoom, but if I moved I knew the Deer would scamper. So I missed getting the pair together. I waited patiently as the Deer drank and as they started to move off one appeared to catch my scent and they bounded off. If I can get similar conditions and the right place to set up, I hope that I will be able to film them drinking. I may need to work by setting up on the other bank, but this requires a little more thought. Further, as I have not previously seen any signs of the Deer being there, I will need to ensure that this is a regular location for them.

In the time that I had allowed the Deer to move on I had lost track of the Dippers. Searching yielded no further sightings, and while the mist had aided me initially, it now hampered my relocating them. So I decided that it would be better to try again another day.

With the film I wanted, I had a pleasant walk back through the forest. Its been a while since I went via this particular route and its a delight to see the trees bursting their buds and spring flowers in bloom. The delightful thing about experiencing any morning like this is not the film or pictures, but the memories created.

Pied Wagtail

As I have been experimenting with editing software, here's another short clip of film that I shot when I was first leaning to use the old camera back when I first moved to the village.

Forest Fungi

Here's a little clip of some filming that I shot when I first moved to the village, before the camera I was using decided to become indisposed. Not brilliant I know but I was just learning and this was my first attempt at filming.

Shoveler Duck

As my last couple of posts have been serious ones, I thought I would share this image of a Shoveler Duck that I saw recently.

Fuel Efficient Cars, Not in America.

Following my critique of the media, it seems appropriate that I should now praise parts of the media. About a week ago on the radio they were reporting on the fact that American tax payers will soon be getting their tax rebate cheques as part of President Bush's plan to inject billions into the US economy. However the same day, was a comment regarding Ford who have decided that the fuel efficient model Ka, will not be made in or sold to the American market.

The report on the US tax rebates showed that most people were just going to spend this money to pay off bills or fill up on gasoline. All this will do is boost the profits of the oil companies. What make you think hat Bush is an oil man at heart?

While I am fully aware that rising energy costs are hurting Americans, the US people need to acknowledge that they have had incredibly cheap oil for far to long. Had Americans had to pay anywhere close to the costs that the rest of the world pays for petrol, they would not have the problem of everyone driving around in fuel hungry cars and trucks.

This interweaves the other story that Ford are not going to sell or make the fuel efficient model Ka in the US as they don't think Americans will buy them. As they can provide forty five miles per gallon, it makes me wonder what the thinking is behind this decision. Here at the Dagenham plant where Ford makes the car for the European market, they are at full stretch.

This prompted me to start digging. While I was aware that cars in America are marketed upon how macho they are, I had not realised just how deeply this culture was embedded. However, the real scandal is the way that the automotive industry has resisted change. By changing to the much more efficient models made for other markets, companies like ford could cut in half the CO2 emissions from cars immediately. Further, if the US Government were to force the automotive industry to seriously reduce CO2 emissions, this would boost US industry, create jobs and start the US on the road to cooperating with the rest of the world.

The US needs the boost that greening the Economy would bring. All it needs is leadership as well as inventive and creative thinking. What is so stupid about the current US governments approach is that if the US doesn't take action now, the already weak economy will suffer as Oil prices will continue to rise. Therefore, soon people will not be able to afford to buy gasoline at all to fill and drive there cars that will only do nine or ten miles per gallon.

The US government seems determined to support the oil industry by all and any means, even when that support is and will destroy the US economy.

Cyclone in Burma and the Media

While I was aware that a Cyclone had struck in Burma, it was not until this evening that I discovered the scale of the disaster that has struck that benighted country. Today (although this will be posted on Tuesday) has been a bank holiday here in the UK, so I did not hear the radio or the TV news until late.

While news is difficult to extract from Burma at the best of times, and no doubt this has been exacerbated by the physical damage caused by the cyclone, I would have thought that with a disaster that results in ten thousand people being killed would have merited more prominent coverage.

However, as it has been a bank holiday, I didn't go out into the countryside as I know from experience that it is likely be crowded with people and I would stand little chance of seeing much. Therefore, I had a relaxed day listening to some of the podcasts I down load, reading and writing. This is where I have a difficulty with the way the story of the Cyclone was covered, as several times I logged on to the web and the news feeds from my ISP were full of crap about “celebrity” and that bunch of people that are only famous for being famous.

Now I know that Burma is a long way away and obviously the fact that some unknown celebrity wannabe has had a boob job was far more important!

That is no exaggeration, following seeing the story on Burma on the TV, my ISP was still leading with four nonsense celebrity stories. I had to search out real news for myself. However, this just one example, and possibly the most serious, of the way that the media are abdicating their responsibility to report the news.

While the TV news from the BBC is quite good and comprehensive, I have see to much of the celebrity non story appearing in the news. Most of the other TV channels news is far to tabloid and low brow. The print media here is a complete waste of time. The tabloids have lost all pretence that they cover real news, and while the broadsheets are still readable to a point, there is nothing like the real investigative journalism that the press used to excel at. Additionally they spend far to much space to reporting football. How can any game that a dog can be taught to play be worth all those acres of news print?

While this may seem like a tirade, good quality journalism via the media is important. Its rather appropriate that it should be a media report about Burma, a repressive and secretive regime, should have prompted this posting. As good journalism helps shine a light on the dark corners that governments and businesses would rather remain obscured. Further, we need good quality journalism helps increase understanding about what is happening in the world.

Part of the reason why we have so much going wrong in the world is that the media is failing to scrutinise events properly. The concentration upon celebrity distracts people from discovering what is really happening.

International Dawn Chorus Day

Today, 4th May, was International Dawn Chorus Day. I decided to mark the day by heading out to listen to the dawn chorus. While I was tempted to try and record it, as I had other matters on my mind, see previous posting, I just wanted to absorb myself in the experience.

I headed off to a track in my local woods where I know that many species of birds sing in the morning. Even though it was before four in the morning, and before sunrise, there was still enough light to see reasonably well. I spotted a barn owl out hunting almost the moment I got to the edge of the forest. I spent the next hour watching this pair of Barn Owls as they were hunting on some marshy ground. The ghost like forms were a delight to watch. As one flew silently from one side of this open ground to the other and landed in it perch, so the other would fly back. Initially I thought it was one bird, but I soon realised it was a pair. The behaviour was rather unusual so I stayed to observe. Eventually, one of the birds, I think it was the male but as they kept crossing the field I lost track of which was whom, caught a vole or a mouse and upon regaining its perch next to the female gave her the food. When she ate it, they both flew off in the same direction. I tried to track and follow, but I lost clear sight of them.

I did find a pair close to where I know a pair do nest, but I don't know if they are the same pair, but based upon the direction the pair I had been watching flew off in it is a reasonable hypothesis. Yet being honest I cant say for sure.

I was by this point quite deep in the woods and as the sun was now begging to rise, I walked home slowly and shared my joy with the birds who were singing for me. I never saw anyone else in the forest, even though I was traversing the most frequented areas of the wood, so there was no one to share my joy but the birds who were singing their hearts out for me.

Breathing Places

The Wildlife Trusts

Where are House Prices Going

While watching CSI, name your own City, I heard a phrase used that's so well describes the type of acquaintance that you only know from a certain situations. It is one of things that I always find extraordinary, that Americans tend to use English language better than most British people. However it is the use of this phase, that is so appropriate for the relationship I had with the person and now talking about.

When I leave us near the coast at the mouth of the River Tyne, I got to know various people that were involved in property investment. It was mainly through drinking in the same hostelries that it got to know these people. Therefore while I thought of them as drinking buddies, in no way were they real friends. Therefore it was rather surprising when a couple of weeks ago, one of them contacted me.

When I first met these people, I was fully aware that they were engaging in conversation mainly because they thought they could extract the urine, however over time they developed a measure of respect for me.

It was because of this respect that had prompted this person to contact me. Because of the credit crunch and uncertainty regarding house prices, he got in touch with me. However what he did to was surprising. As he asked me to look after the rather nice and expensive camera for him. The story he gave me was that he was moving house or moving some of the contents of a property and wanted to ensure that this equipment was safe. Further encourage me to use it, even repeatedly calling me and asking if I had then take any pictures with it. Eventually they did take the equipment out and some of the results I have posted here. It was only after I'd started using equipment did he reveal his real agenda.

Firstly he wanted to discover my opinion of where I thought that house prices would settle. What it told him shocked him. they told him that I thought that house prices would drop by 50 or 60 per cent. The main reason I say this is that historically, house prices have always settled at three to four times average income. As at the moment house prices are seven to eight times the average income, then if that historical rule is true then property is overvalued by 50 or 60 per cent.

He then asked what I would do if I was investing in property at the moment. All hypothetical as I do not invest in property. But I told him straight that I wouldn't. but he insisted that they gave him an answer. So I taught in told him, that the only where we invest will be in and social housing. By that I mean buying properties to enable a people to rent. Not high rents, but reasonable rents that are based on the people's ability to pay.

It was then that he revealed his agenda in fall, as he wanted me to go around the courts and find the people that would close to having their homes repossessed. He would then buy the properties, at a discount, and men and backed to the people. World this all sounded rather fuller if for philanthropic what he was most interested in was obtaining property is cheap. Further he wanted to avoid buying properties from people who he thought would be bad tenants. He has little or no respect for people that don't have money.

The loan of the camera equipment had been a bribe or an incentive as he thought that I would much want to keep equipment so much that I would jump at the chance to help him. He told me that I could keep the equipment as an advance on the earnings a would garner from him.

However as his whole plan was based upon exploiting vulnerable people, and I refused to do this for him.

While they know they will be people who are in a position to exploit the situation of the credit crunch, I am not willing to be a part of that. Further he was assuming that, I think probably correctly, that the government will be providing some form if rent relief or support to help people stay in their homes. And he saw no moral problems with taking some of that money to finance his property portfolio.

Anyway the long and the short of it is, I no longer have the can requirement to play with.
It is such a shame that people can only think about ways of exploiting our fellow man

The Madness of Green Washing our Rubbish

A couple of weeks ago, there was a story about a man who was fined for overfilling his bin so that the lid couldn't close. While most of the press and media reported it as, “Council gone mad” I had an open mind. Further, I doubted that the media was reporting the full facts. In fact the media reports were downright bias. I was tempted to make a posting at the time, along the lines of a man gets fined for leaving the lid up, something that all women will understand.

However, I was also aware of the serious aspect, that of the vast amounts of rubbish we in the UK send to landfill. Therefore, I wanted to think that this was more about a council trying to reduce waste rather than officials over reacting to the breaking of rules.

Then, in a separate report, I heard about a small greengrocer who has been fined for recycling cardboard and composting his dead stock. By the same county council.

I have spoken before of the problem of rubbish going into landfill and that I personally am trying to reduce the volume of rubbish that I generate. Even I recognise that I could do more, but will require an investment that I can not afford at this time. But I will make this investment in the future. However, at the moment I only need to have my bin emptied every third or fourth week. Most frequently my bin is not full when emptied. Locally, I still do get weekly collections but some councils have changed to fortnightly collections. This benefits the environment as it reduces the number of miles that the trash trucks have to travel.

But this switch to fortnightly collections has caused some people problems. While for people like me who are environmentally aware, refusing the extra packaging that often makes up most of the rubbish in peoples bins is easy. For most of the population this all means that people need to change their behaviour. This includes the way they shop, not over buying food that just goes strait from basket to fridge to bin.

Therefore, my reaction to the first story was that it seemed that the local council were trying to get the reductions in the volumes of rubbish down, yet this man that was fined was probably not cooperating. However my opinion changed when I heard about the greengrocer who was fined for doing what was right for the environment.

Instead of adding to landfill, he was taking his cardboard to a recycling point and composting the waste food from his shop. But as I suspected with the first story, there is more to this than meets the eye. The recycling point where the greengrocer was taking the cardboard is not open to commercial traders or businesses and there is no recycling of commercial waste. Also as the council charges businesses for collecting rubbish, it hits their revenues if a shop or business doesn't send their rubbish to landfill.

Therefore the real story here is that the council are trying to reduce the volume of household waste as that's a cost, but as business waste generates income...

To me that shows that most of the so called recycling done by councils is nothing more than Green Washing.

A link to the first Story

A link to the Second Story

April Showers and Red Kites

The other day after being out, I returned home not long before the rain came. As its April and it has been a wet month, that should not be surprising. However, the reason for mentioning it here, is as that shower tailed off, I opened the back door to take out the rinsed milk bottles and put out the rubbish. I found a pool of water lapping at the door seal. The reason was a blockage in the drain. This is something I still need to clear properly, but I did do a temporary job. Anyway, last night more heavy rain was forecast, and it must have been playing on my mind as I woke up and knew I had to check the drain. While I had not flooded but I had to clear the drain again.

This caused me to get up latter than I expected. While I wanted to be out early, I was the only person that was effected by this. However, because I was still in the house at the opening of office hours, my attempts to leave the house was disturbed by the telephone. While I was tempted to ignore it, I would only have wondered who it was. It turned out it was the food hygiene department of the local council regarding the “Eggs Incident” While I don't intend to disclose the nature of the conversation, I am heartened to see the authorities taking the matter seriously. And to those readers that feel this matter is trivial, in some ways selling caged eggs as free range is. However, if there were a disease outbreak or a salmonella contamination and a recall occurred of all eggs from caged production, there would be people put at risk by thinking that what they had thought were free range eggs were safe.

Anyway, this lead to me having to stay home. As I sat at my desk, I could see in the distance, over the treetops the Red Kite that I had been hoping to film. What was even more frustrating was that the bird was around for well over an hour. So close but so far. Yet from my distant vantage point, I witnessed the kite do something I have only seen previously on film, a Red Kite hovering. For anyone who has not seen a Red Kite, we are talking about a bird that has a wing span of over one and a half metres, so to see such precision flying is amazing. Had it not been for the trees in my line of sight, well at least in my mind I was getting some incredible footage.

Anyway when I had finished dealing with the council officer, I was able to head out to get some lunch, and much to my surprise the red kite was still in the area. While beyond the range of vision from my windows, I was pleased to see the bird still around. Following a quick bought sandwich rather than my buying bread to make my own, I was out like a shot.

I had the tantalising prospect of the kite in my vision, but at a distance. Not willing to be deterred, I headed into the direction the Kite had been flying, although graceful gliding is a better description, and for over an hour was tantalised by the occasionally glimpse of the Kite. I lost site of the bird, but I continued searching.

Eventually, I realised that the bird had landed in a tree. I was not totally sure, when I spotted it, if I had found the Red Kite or not. I am not used to seeing them perched, so I approached with caution. The difficulty was the trees were obscuring my vision. Finally I got this picture, just before it took off again, and I could be sure it was the Kite. By this time I could not follow as I was well and truly caught in the wood with no way of extricating myself easily nor with any clear view of the bird.

While I am starting to get some rather good (types with smug grin) pictures of late, it has actually been the months of hard work tracking and working out territory that has really paid off. As well as a lot of luck.