The Bees Knees

As today is the last day of winter, here is a a Bee resting on a flower to remind us of the summer to come.

Sir Fred Godwin

As I cannot take seriously the actions of our so called leaders, here is a satire on the Pension row of the failed banker Sir Fred Goodwin

Close up to a Weevil

Film of a Cryptorhynchidius lapathi Weevil in Close up

Ground Beetle

Here is a clip of film of a ground beetle, while it did not do much while I filmed it, when I reviewed the footage I noticed a tiny fly moving about. What was amusing was the moment I switched off the camera to reposition it the beetle scuttled off and disappeared.

Cooking to save the Environment

Today with some reluctance I had to make sure that I did a shopping run. I had been out this morning with the camera to test the repair that I had made, and while the addition of a base plate glued on to the base of the camera means I have to steady the camera and more than I did, overall the repair seems to be successful. I was tempted to stay out and try and film some of the birds that are around and are seemingly preparing for spring, but I knew that there was some shopping that I needed to get. Additionally, I wanted to ensure that I kept my time free to enable me to respond to any good weather conditions that would allow sighting and filming of the wildlife and I intend to film.

As I was out this morning, I took the time to recheck the newt ponds to see if the toads or frogs had started arriving. While I cannot be sure I think I did see one toad that disappeared into the undergrowth. Therefore for the next two or three weeks I can see that I will be paying nightly visits to these ponds.

While trying to clamber over the muddy ground that is the approach to these ponds, I had some difficulty with three large else Alsatian dogs that were running around without any apparent owner. While for the most part they were just been playful, for two or 3 minutes I had them leaping on me. As I was already well coated in mud the addition of muddy paw prints did not really make much difference. However, having talks to lose learn that within a conservation area to me is rather irresponsible. I did not meet the owner as when I climbed over a stile on my way home the dogs could not follow. But I did see the owner as I was halfway down the path for any securing leashes to these dogs.

Had the Farmer whose fields abuts this area had sheep and their lambs in the fields I am sure that the dogs would have just followed their natural instincts. While I have no problem with people that in the dogs off the lead, it has to be done a responsible way and to my way of thinking this was not responsible. Even as I walked from the farmyard and the farm dogs came chasing after me, I wondered if I was following double standards. But the difference between the farm dogs who are working sheepdogs, the area they can run about in his fully secured and they cannot get two or take any of the stock. While the dogs at the ponds were free to run rampant without any restriction.

Even as I was going to the supermarket, I was thinking of some of the problems that farmers face. Therefore problems with a stray dogs or uncontrolled dogs getting at the livestock is one that so easily can be avoided if only the owners of dogs were more responsible.

However it was predominantly thoughts of the prices that we are charged at the supermarkets for goods compared with the prices at the Farmer gets, there were at the forefront of my mind. Recent statistics say that on average food prices have risen by 7½ per cent in Britain, I understand the figure is about five per cent in America. Yet these figures are distorted by the downward pressure the supermarkets have on the cart value by sourcing supplies from overseas.

Via my own little experiment, I have shown conclusively to myself, that by using the local greengrocer and the butcher I could save over 20% on my food bill. Part of the trick is to use the supermarkets intelligently and compare prices. Also key too saving money on the food bill is the ability to cook. There lies the greatest problem; the majority of people have lost these skills.
One of things I have noticed is a difference between the elderly shoppers they get the free bus to Tesco’s and the younger people. The senior cisterns I get the bus will buy the ingredients to make meals whereas the younger people tend to buy the ready meals. While I am fully aware that people do not always have the time to cook I would argue that it is no more difficult to cook a proper meal than it is to prepare of a ready meal.

My own basket of shopping today came to just over £30.00. Previously and before I would be more careful, I was likely spending £45.00 plus on a shopping trip. This does not mean that I will not buy vegetables or meat at the supermarket, but I look for the bargains or items that are good value. That way I can build a menu around any special offers the supermarkets may have. Equally when I visit the green grocers or the butchers I can mentally adjust the meals I am thinking of cooking to take advantage of what fresh on what is good value. One example of that’s was getting a couple of kilos of carrots that were reduced as they were older stock. With the addition of some fresh coriander I now have the freezer full of carrots and coriander soup. I was able to produce eight litres for the same price that you would pay for a one litre carton of fresh soup in the supermarket.

As well as saving money, by cooking and preparing meals from fresh ingredients people could help reduce their energy bills as well. As it takes no more energy to cook ten pounds of stewing steak as it does to cook for one pound of stewing steak. Further by storing the cooked meat in the freezer, the freezer will probably run more efficiently. Also the precooked meat when added to vegetables is faster to prepare the many of the so called ready meals.

A further benefit is a reduction in the amounts of unwanted and unwarranted Packaging. One of the aspects that has perplexed me about the way that I live compared to the majority of people is why I produce so much less waste than do other people. I think that it is simply that I do not buy the heavily packaged convenience goods from the supermarket.

As difficult as the economic downturn is for many people, many of the ways of surviving the economic situation are also environmentally sustainable. The difficulty is enabling people to learn the skills they need, as while as enabling people to think in a slightly different way.

While previously I have spoken about creating a cooking podcast and I did do a lot of preparation work for that, I now have a clearer idea of what is needed and more importantly how to do this. While I expect it will take a number of weeks I am hoping that by the end of March I will be in a position to start publishing these podcasts. In some ways the delays and have actually benefited me as I now see how to do this in a much more comprehensive and focused manner.

Therefore it is now a matter of watch this space.

Baby Spiders

I am finally able to work through the film clips that I shot last year and here is one of the baby spiders that I filmed when they finally hatched. I was very pleased to get this film, as simply they are so tiny. At just two millimetres long front feet to back feet, it was not until I saw them in the viewfinder that I could see the detail.

Red Kites Lots of them

When I bought the Sony video camera, I knew they had a fault in the case and was cracked around the tripod bush. Even so, it was a surprise when it failed yesterday. I checked the camera over and everything else was still working properly so I did not want to lose the use of this camera. I had already given some thought to how to fix this problem; therefore I just needed to put their plan into action.

So this morning I went into Newcastle to see if I could obtain the parts that I needed to get the camera working. It was not as easy as I thought it would be, and finally I had to go to the metro centre, to get what I wanted.

As it had been my initial intention to get the parts as early as possible and returned home to do the repair so that I could go out towards dusk the delay in finding the parts terminated that plan, therefore I use my proximity to visit a location where the year previously I had seen some potentially useful locations for filming. Thus I went for a wander to these places. My timing was very accurate and I will be returning there in the next few days to film what I had hoped to see.

I then headed to Rowlands Gill to catch the bus. As I had just missed one I decided to stop in a tea shop there. As my regular reader will know I have a weakness for homemade cake. In this case it was at a delicious coffee and walnut cake that tempted me. I think it was Oscar Wilde, who said; “I can resist anything but temptation.”

The lovely woman that owns and runs the tea shop asked me if I had seen the kites, I had to tell her that I hadn’t not today at least she went on to tell me that normally one could be seen from the front of the shop. As Rowlands Gill is the heart of the red kites country, I could well believe that. As a bus stand was right outside the tea shop, I realised as I pushed my coat on that was my bus going past. I therefore knew that I had half an hour to wait. Within less than two minutes I witnessed the first sighting of the kites in the coming half hour.

Then for a gap in the buildings I continue to watch this kite for two or three minutes, when finally it had drifted out of sight had turned around and looked at above to see two more kites in the mating display flight. I watched in amazement as they performed their aerial acrobatics 10 or 15 feet above my head. I thought I had seen the last of that, as they collided over the roof tops and out of sight. Then to my delight I saw they had emerged between the gaps in the buildings and gained height and were continuing into display. Form when I was I could see the display continue for a good 5 minutes. Then again they disappeared from my view.

As well as vowing to return with the camera I did not think they could get any better than this. Then after about 10 minutes, I saw another two red kites appear from my left. I was not sure if these were the same Pair that had been displaying earlier so I looked to my right and to the gap in the buildings and saw the other pair was still there. Not only that but I third kite had joined them, with only a small town of my head I could see five of the red kites all gliding and soaring over the one location.8 what made the special was simply the clear view of the kites that I had. There are moments when I wish I had the camera with me and this most certainly was one of them. But I will return with a camera this was one of them. I will return and I just hope that I had the same luck or even half when I do.

As for the repair on the camera, I am sitting type in this as I await the glue to set. Whilst it may not look that neat, if it works the world have ensured that I can still use the camera.

The Scent of Spring

Today he was like a spring day, the sun was shining the birds were singing and there was a real buzz in the air. Therefore, I wanted to go and have the wonder and the woods to see if I could discover the signs of spring.

As I had things to do in the morning, it was not until just before lunchtime that I was able to head out towards the woods. Even then it took me a full hour before I even got into the woods as I kept on bumping into people who I had not seen for some time. Such is my normal early starts. The first person I encountered and said hello to was a former close neighbour from when I lived at the other end of the village. He can meet talking for at least 20 minutes if not longer. Then as I was on the path heading into the woods, I saw and said hello to the conservation officer for the friends of Chopwell wood.

While I am no longer involved with that organisation, I have a fundamental disagreement with their lack of conservation policy; I am always interested to know what is a occurring for the benefit of the forest. The brought some good news as some much needed preparation work has now been done. However, it amused me that the results of this ecological survey and plan of work matched what I had worked out a need is to be done, with the advice of the forestry commission ecologist, back in 2007. Well better late than never.

As well as some gossip that I will not repeat here, I was glad and to hear that the company that is doing thinning work in the forest will not be invited back to forestry commission land. Right from the start, they have failed to carry out the work in an environmentally responsible manner. This also included the deliberate destruction of a red kite nest. As red kites are schedule one protected species, their actions what criminal. However while I did see the red kites building a nest, I was not on hand to see the destruction of the nest therefore no offence could be proved.

The damage that this company have done though goes much further than felling the tree that a pair of rare birds was trying to build a nest in. I fully accept that there from the thinning work required heavy machinery, but they operated that machinery in a way that has created very deep Ruts along the tracks and footpaths in the woods. This has damaged many of the wild species of flower and plants that grow in the woods including rare orchids. These may re-grow, only time will tell.

But the more serious environmental damage this company has caused, are the gallons of hydraulic oil that had been spilt everywhere they have operated. At a later date, I will be postings some of the evidence of this in the form of video here.

Talking of video, I suffered a disappointment today as the plastic on the base of the video camera where the tripod brush is located, Broke apart. I’m not sure if I will be able to fix it, but while I can still use camera I cannot mounted on the tripod at the moment. Therefore I will be returning to wobbly cam.

One of the main purposes for growing out today was to look at the sites where I would be most likely to see activity of spring. While I no sighting of them, I could hear the drumming of the woodpeckers. As well as that delightful sound, it was clear that some of the birds were starting to sing to attract a mate. I even got a brief sighting of wren that was collecting moss probably to line a nest with.

However my main purpose in going out was to visit the ponds where the frogs, toads and newts breed. There was no sign as yet of them arriving, and there was no spawn in the ponds. It is however my plan to start visiting the ponds on a regular basis so that I can film the activity.

One of the things that has amused me as a result of keeping this web log, is the way that Americans use our language, it was ours first, and over here a pond is normally a small body of water. In America, the definition of a pond body of water that is not feed by a river but from groundwater. Therefore, when talking to American friends and I mention a pond; their perception of what I mean is vastly different. What I would call a pond my hobbit footed friend would consider nothing more than the pool and a small one at that. That does mean though that spotting the wildlife will be much easier as I can survey the whole bank from a single location.

On the journey home, I was treated to a sighting of one of the red kites in the distance. As I was on a footpath that runs through the farmyard, every time I stopped the heads of two farm dogs chasing after me and trying to round me up as I was a sheep. Either that or they practice on Wood Mice.

Freedom: learning lessons from history

Occasionally there is a happy coincidence that shines a light in the right places. Today there such a piece of serendipity in the form of a television programme, in the form of a genealogy programme that this week looked at the family of Zoe Wanamaker. An American who was moved to England by her father the actor Sam Wanamaker, Sam Wanamaker, now best known now as the man behind the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, he moved here as a political refuge in 1951.

While it may seem incredible to think of anyone having to seek asylum from America, but because of his left leaning politics, he had to flee the McCarthy Inquisition.

In the programme Zoe obtained the FBI file kept on her father, and it was clear that he was likely to have ended up in prison as the result of having formally been a member of the American Communist Party. While he had long left the party behind, he would still have been branded anti American because of his left wing political beliefs.

Further so many of the organisations that were branded anti American under the McCarthy witch hunt, were no more than organisations and associations that were fighting for equal rights and social justice. While in Europe the threat was in fact greater from communism with the Soviet Union on our doorstep, the actions of the US was totally disproportionate. Especially as during the depression years when in parts of Europe, Italy and Germany dictatorship had taken hold, and America held onto democracy and democratic government. It was that democracy that meant that the US was able to play its part in defeating the dictatorships in Europe and in Japan.

Therefore, while the threat from communism was real, the American reaction was and remains perplexing.

Now fast forward to the events that followed the horrific attacks of September eleventh. While in the US and Britain we needed to take actions to defend ourselves from attack, but freedoms have been taking away. America and the United Kingdom have previously been defenders of freedoms. However, we have had both governments taking away our freedoms and our liberties all in the name of protecting our way of life and freedom.

Yesterday saw the release of Binyam Mohamed from Guantanamo Bay. Now I cannot know if he was ever a real terrorist suspect, or if he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. From what has been reported, it does appear as though he was truly innocent. What is appalling is the way that America and Britain have targeted people because of their beliefs. Now it’s their religious beliefs back in the 1950s it was political ones.

Add to this the torture of Binyam Mohamed and both Britain and America need to feel shame for what they have done.

We really do need to learn the lessons from history, the McCarthy Inquisition was wrong just as treating all Muslims as potential terrorists is. British and American actions will inform the world, and only by treating all people with dignity, fairness and justice can we prove that democracy is the best way forward.

Wise Owl Dumb Mouse

Last night I had set the video camera to recharge the battery. I have one that gives about four hours of life. So I can leave it a couple of days between charges if I switch the power off. Well last night I had heard some strange noises outside. Thinking of what could be making the sounds; I unhooked the camera and went out to see if I could see what was making the noise. I took the video light and the IR light and hoped that I was right.

What I was assuming I had heard was a Barn Owl. The screeching sound that they make can make them distinctive, however there was a steady drizzle so it was surprising to hear one as they normally do not fly in the rain. The wet weather can damage the condition of the feathers, so if it was active at night it was more than likely it was very hungry and that need had driven it out to feed in the wet. Given the recent snows and frosts was the bird struggling to find mice or voles?

It took me a while to locate the bedraggled bird, but the IR was really useful. But the light had drained the battery and the four hour battery will only last an hour when using the lights and it was not fully charged. Therefore I could not film the Owl, but having found it I wondered if I could feed it. I don’t have a supply of fresh mice at home, but I did have some braising pork in the fridge, so back home, putting the camera on charge again, I cut off some small bits of raw pork and made some strips an inch long by half inch thick. I returned and the owl was still there. It had seen me previously and was fully aware of me when I returned.

He or she, I think it was a she, was sitting on the branch of a tree about seven feet from the ground, trying to get as much shelter as it could. As I am over six feet it was not difficult for me to reach up and place a couple of pieces of the meat on the branch near her. I was a little worried that she would attack but apart from hissing at me she stayed where she was until I moved back. She picked up one piece after a few minutes and stayed with it hanging from her beak for almost ten minutes. It was curious spectacle for me to watch all the while she was watching me. Then almost without warning she tossed her head back and the meat was gone. At first I was not sure that she had eaten it or tossed it away. Then she picked up the second piece and that I did see her eat.

While I did have more with me I did not want to over feed her, also I wanted to see if I could film her so I backed away and returned home for the camera. When I returned the Owl was gone. While I did not get to film her it was a great experience. As Owls are creatures of habit it may be possible to see her again at a later date. I don’t know if the food supplemented her or it was just that she was wet that made her look so bedraggled but it would be nice to think so.

When I returned home I was shattered and ready for bed. I hooked up the Camera to recharge over night but as I discovered when I came to unhook it and use it today, I had not turned the power on. So I was left with having to charge it today.

Northern Hairy Wood Ants

A while ago I mentioned that I had filmed these ants. But as I had a backlog of stuff that I needed to sort out first, my rubbish filing system does not help. It is only now that I have the video uploaded on my computer.

The difference between the speed that I can process the footage is remarkable. On the new machine it takes ten to fifteen minutes to do what previously took over an hour to do. So at the very least I will be able to get my previous junk sorted out sooner than I had previously thought it would.

Well, while I am pleased with the film of the Ants, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the output. It looks as though I also need to get a graphics card to improve the quality of the files generated. That said when I loaded the film to You Tube, I looked at the film that others had put up and I think mine ranks with the best of what’s there already. I know that probably sounds like I am blowing my own trumpet, and I am, but I am really pleased to have set out to film and get more or less what I wanted.

One of the great things I get from filming wildlife, and this has been reinforced as I have been uploading the footage, is I get the same feeling of elation watching the film back as I had when I shot the video.Well keeping a Web log is rather self indulgent at the best of times, but today the Wood Mouse is squeaking with joy.

Copper Beech

Just a little film to remind us all of the summer to come

Shop Local - Save Money

After yesterdays tiring and hungry day, I was up quite late. I am talking just before ten and that is like staying in bed until mid afternoon for most folks. Part of the problem was that where I had not eaten for most of the previous day, I was uncomfortable even though I had not eaten anymore and probably less than normal, I felt like I had eaten three dinners.

When I did get up I was pottering about, and while I was downloading some podcasts, I glanced up and saw a very large flock of geese flying across the horizon. They were about half a mile distant but this flock was about one thousand birds. My Camera was down stairs, I rushed to get it and while I got some footage of the skein of geese but it was shaky and the telegraph pole was in the way and as the real beauty of the sight had passed. Were these geese just going to feed or were they starting to migrate? That may not be as daft as it sounds, as they do start moving to feeding grounds to fatten up just before making the long journey up to the Arctic Tundra. A place like the Solway Firth is where the Geese could be heading. My feet are getting a strange itch, it is a pity that m bank just announced losses of 11 billion and I cannot afford this.

Talking about the bank, I had to go and pay in a couple of cheques today. Well I still need to pay the bills and things, it struck me that if I could stop eating, and I would save a fortune. In a previous post I talked about the way that the club card points that my supermarket issues is a useful measure of what I spend on food. Well this week the next quarters have arrived. Last time it was seven pounds, which equates to seven hundred pounds spent. This time it was only Four pounds fifty, four hundred and fifty pounds spent. Where I have made the savings is by using the butcher and the Green Grocers. While not a complete record, I kept a note and I spent a hundred pounds or so there. Thus I saved a hundred and fifty pounds by not being conned by the supermarkets.

I was a little indulgent as I went to a cafe that’s a little bit like an American dinner, and had a full English breakfast. Well my doctor said I needed to do something about my cholesterol. I don’t do it often but it was a really nice change.

I also have been playing again and bellow is another of the bits and bobs I have been filming.

Video Is Back

When I bought my new computer, I knew that some of my existing software would not work as the operating system on this machine is Vista. While I could moan about Microsoft and their products, on the whole with this version of Windows, they finally seem to be getting it right. However, this upgrade to vista meant that I could not use my Video editing software.

The software I have is Pinnacle, and I do like it. But to work with Vista I needed to upgrade. About a month ago, I bought and paid for a copy of the version I needed from that well known Auction Site. I am still waiting for that to be delivered. I have had to file a complaint and a claim to try and get my money back.

It has been frustrating as I have really wanted to restart getting my videos sorted out. So I scrapped together the money to buy the software I need. I actually now have the latest version and while I still need to learn a little more of what it can do, I am ready to go.

While, having to get the new computer was a pain, I looked carefully at what I needed for editing Video, and I got what I needed for that. Now with the software I can do so much more than I was able to do previously. I still need to get a graphics card and a couple other components for my computer, but that will have to wait, as I do not have children that I can sell into slavery...

Talking of slavery, I was asked to help a community group as they needed someone to be at a location to accept a delivery of Dolomite and other materials that will be used for creating and repairing foot paths. That would have been fine, but I was told the delivery was happening at five. Not in the Evening but in the morning. As the driver and the owner of the lorry were donating their services then the group had to accommodate their schedule. So I was driven to the site and left there at nearly half four in the morning.

It would have all been fine but the man who gave me a lift drove off when I was checking that I had the right keys for the Gate and the shipping container that is being used as tool store and where the materials were to be put. That meant I did not have my camera, nor my flask or sandwiches, as they were still in his car. Apart from a cup of tea, I had missed breakfast to accommodate the man giving me a lift.

So I waited and waited no sign of the truck. Nor did I know anywhere I could go to get a drink or anything to eat. Had I had my camera I could have kept myself occupied as there was a good number of birds about especially when the sun came up.

I was there all day and finally the lories turned up at five in the evening. After tipping the Stone, I helped unload the timber and bags of sand and cement and all the other bits and bobs. Then as we were leaving I saw the chap that was my lift, as I told him that was perfect timing, one of the lorry drivers said rather scornfully, not really he has been there for over half an hour. No help there then.

I was just grateful that I could get something to eat, but more importantly a drink. He made excuses but he could have helped as he had wellington in the boot of his car as I discovered when I got my bag out. Also I don’t know how he thought that the delivery was going to happen at five in the morning. Even if it had been, I would still have been left stranded at the site all day. That would not have been a problem had I had my camera and flask at least. Well that’s one to chalk up to experience.

It was just with so many things I wanted and needed to do myself, I did not want to have my day or my time wasted. That said it was quite nice seeing and watching the birds today. Nothing unusual or rare, but it is always delightful to see undisturbed wildlife.

When I got back home I had a hungry cat to feed, as well as myself so I really did not want to sit editing any film. So here is one I did earlier.

I was really surprised when I loaded this up to You Tube as I saw that nearly nine thousand people have been bored by my videos.

Anyway to remind us all of summer here’s a little film of Yellow Loosestrife.

Deer Stalking

This morning I was up and out early. Yesterday while just out for a walk, I had discovered hoof prints in the fast melting snow. So I returned to see if I could spot the Deer there. I was there before sunrise, and I set the camera up and was ready should the Deer gambol by. However, as I had no clear picture of the direction they were travelling to get to the location, I chose a spot that would hide me and I hoped that my scent was not carried towards the Deer. I waited and I tried to use the Infrared light to see if I could spot any eye shine. While I could not see the IR light reflected back from the eyes, I could see some movement in the dried long grass just beyond the spot where I had seen the Deer prints. If it was the Deer then I was down wind to the sensitive noses of this mammal.

I waited and waited but the Deer, if they were there were not coming out to play. I had a choice either stay put, or try crawling closer. Now I have no problems with getting muddy, my real concern was that I would make a noise. So I collapsed the Tripod to its smallest usable size and keeping the camera on it I started moving in the undergrowth. It was slow progress, but I just keep thinking of the way that a Cheetah moves across the savannah. Moving forward a little, then stopping and checking what’s around. The closer I got the more I could see that the Deer were there hidden in the long grass. I could just make out the stubs of the tiny antlers of the Roe Deer, just bobbing up for a second out of the thick vegetation.

I was tantalising close but I had no clear view, nor could I get up, not without the Deer seeing me. So I moved off to my left so that I could use the Gorse as cover. Keeping a careful watch on where the Deer were, I made it without spooking the Deer. As the sun rose at about half past seven, and it was now nearly eleven, it had taken me about four hours to finally get to a good position. The Deer were still there, and if they moved I had about a sixty percent chance of getting them on film. As I waited a common Buzzard wheeled overhead, no way I could film it and stay undetected by the Deer.

I waited for about another hour, until finally the Deer were startled by something. I caught it on film, but it is nothing special. I don’t know what made the Deer bolt; it may be that an eddy of air took my sent to them, or they heard a Dog or another human.

It appears that I have discovered a regular but secluded spot where the Deer are bedding down, so I hope to return. Not total success but more than worth the effort.

While I had a flask of coffee with me, I had not dared to have a drink in case the smell of the coffee alerted the Deer, so I was grateful to finally have a drink. It is a strange life that I lead but to have spent five hours just fifty feet from four Roe Deer may not be normal but I would never have that experience chained to a desk in an office somewhere.

Climate Change Worse than Predicted

As I reported at the time, when the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) published its report, it excluded data prior to the year twenty hundred. This was something the IPCC acknowledged, but the main intention of the report was to examine the science and determine if Climate Change was manmade.

As while anyone who attended the University of the Bleeding Obvious (that most of us) already knew this, there were a vocal minority that were claiming that it was Sun Spots, or not drilling enough oil, or it was all the fault of aliens or some other equally improbable reason, this had to be established first. Even if the naysayers just used the report to wipe away the oil coated dollars from their eyes, the report showed conclusively that burning fossil fuels was damaging the climate, the weather systems and the atmosphere of our planet.

The reason why the IPCC set this cut off date was simply that proving that Damaging Climate Change was real was more important. Delaying could have provided better predictions of what we could expect from the pollution we cause. However silencing the (so called) scientists, funded by the oil companies and other polluting industries was more urgent.

Therefore, the volume of Co2 released into the environment and the effects were severely under estimated. The most obvious example of where the under estimated impact of Climate Change can be seen in the lost of Sea Ice in the Arctic. The most pessimistic predictions in the IPCC report were saying that the Summer Sea Ice would not be lost until 2050. Yet we are already seeing losses that are far ahead of any prediction. The only scientist of international repute that has got this prediction close to accurate is Dr James Hanson. His data shows the loss of Summer Arctic Sea Ice by 2013, that is four years away. I know that my reader can do the math, but it was worth making that clear.

We have been sleepwalking towards a metaphoric precipice. Often in the name of profit, the problem is we are now all paying the price for this.

While there is still time to take action, the effects of climate change will still cause significant problems in the coming years, decades and centuries, what we all do now really does matter.

A link to the Media Story

Smart Grid

Over the years I have made various contacts with people across the globe, in no small part with the aid of the internet. Often these contacts have been made as the result of some detail on a website or some piece of writing that has caused me to ask questions or some clarification on some diverse topics, often though it is me trying to pick the brains of folks more knowledgeable on topics related to Climate Change, Environment, Renewable Energy or Conservation. I am always grateful for the assistance these folks give me. Often they are very busy people, and having them aid my understanding can help me explain issues and problems to others.
Occasionally a friendship develops and correspondence continues and expands to encompass other topics. Mostly though, folks are just too busy to reply. Sometimes, I get a mail from someone that I have spoken to previously but a long time ago.

I had such an email from a chap that I had spoken to ages ago. I even wondered how he had my current email address as it was that long ago since we last talked. I then discovered that he occasionally reads this mouse’s nonsense.

The last time we had spoken we had a dam good moan about the way that over in America and here in Europe the legislators were dragging their feet about renewable energy. That said even in the US while Bush was in power, individual states were pushing ahead with developing renewable energy resources. In Idaho for example they have just under fifteen percent of the states needs from wind power, while America as a nation has only one percent. However, what was always lacking was a proper national policy to help develop the infrastructure that renewable energy needs.

One of the key aspects is what is known as a “Smart Grid”. While I have praise for places like Denmark and Germany as they have the most developed Wind infrastructure, they have to rely upon coal to take up the slack when the wind drops. Therefore, the reduction in CO2 emissions is not as great as it could have been. Had we in Europe had or developed a Smart Grid, where the load is demand led rather than having power stations pushing electricity down the cables, our European renewable could then help reduce the CO2 emissions by a further four or five percent.

Also with a smart grid, it becomes possible to have a mixture of renewable's, Wind, Solar, as the main sources of power with hydro electric taking up the slack with the rest made up of Coal, Gas and Nuclear, without having to have idle coal waiting away in the background. This can only really happen effectively if the smart grid is a Europe wide system.

This brings me back to my American correspondent, as he was one of the members of the delegation that worked with the Obama transition team. Unlike other meetings with politicos where the renewable's industry would go in and explain what was needed only to be told that phrase “Well we will see what we can do” they were asked “How do we do this”. The “Smart Grid” is now part of the Financial Stimulus Package, and that has made another step towards becoming reality. So I am grateful to my friend to providing the insight of the positive workings of government.

One of the aspects of the Obama campaign that amused me was the phrase, the rallying cry of “Yes We Can”, as this is the catch phrase of a children’s cartoon character here in Britain, Bob the Builder. It genuinely looks as though it is much more than a meaningless phrase. To have a politician asking the people who know and understand what needs to be done is really refreshing. So if you have finished with utilising Bob the Builder as political adviser, can we have him back as we have the need of him over here. All we lack though is a truly green political leader.

Freedom to take Pictures

There are times when I really do wonder what our law makers are thinking of. That assumes they were thinking at all. As from Monday in Britain it will be a criminal offense to take a photograph of a police officer. This is part of a new Anti Terrorist act that becomes law on Monday.

Now I can see this causing all sorts of problems for Tourists.
Our legislators seem to switch off their brains when it comes to any mention of the word Terrorist. I just cannot think of any justification for this, and I can see many innocent people getting stopped and hassled over this. It makes any form of photo journalism nearly impossible.

This has nearly happened without comment by the mainstream media, but I can see the media getting increasingly upset by this law when newspapers or news crews cannot cover stories properly. We are losing freedoms and rights in a way that would shame a dictatorship.

Banking Why the collapse happened

Question; When is an apology not an apology? Answer; When it’s made by a banker. That’s Banker spelt with a W! This week in Britain we have seen the farce of the former heads of two of the failed banks appearing before a House of Commons Select committee. Where they did say sorry, but not for wrecking the economy through their actions, but they were sorry that the economy went bad and that wrecked their cash cows. The fact that the banks, all of them, were aggressively lending money to just about anyone, was the real reason why the economy went belly up. This was fuelled by the magic of house prices, seemingly defying the laws of gravity, and common sense.

Now I have said this before, and I was saying this long before this all happened, the banks were and have been manipulating the price of property. While there will be readers that will dismiss this, I keep on being told that it’s a free market and impossible for the banks to manipulate property values, the reality is that there was no free market. I was not a formal agreement but the banks and lenders all knew that as long as the value of property was forced up, it did not matter who they lent mortgage money to, as the rise in property values would secure the money. Therefore, the more they gave people for mortgages, the more they would pay for a property; therefore houses appeared to just keep rising in value. Even in January, one of the failed banks, continued to try to do this and released figures that said that there had been an increase in the price of houses. The rest of the financial industry dismissed it as an anomaly, but in reality as they knew what the Halifax had done, they knew this was untrue. By delaying the release of money to fund a previously agreed mortgage it is possible to make it appear that prices are rising. As you exclude the properties that have fallen most from the statistics while just including the properties that will make the figures look good.

Because the banks and the government know that this was what was happening, is why the banks stopped lending to each other. As simply they all knew that mist was clearing and that the mirrors were cracked and the public were no longer willing to be fooled by this alchemy of house prices. Therefore, the banks realised that with property over valued by sixty to seventy five percent, the security that they could sell the property vanished.

There has been a lot made of the securitisation of mortgages, I have posted on this myself, but that was not really the problem they were a symptom. As these bits of paper, now worthless, were all really just a means of the banks breaking the law and lending more than they were legally allowed to. This applies to the US as much as it does to Britain.

Going back to the House of Commons Select Committee, the evidence given by Paul Moore was not news, as it had been quietly reported previously. Paul Moore was sacked when he raised questions about the business model that HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) was following. The person who sacked him was then appointed to be Vice Chair of the Financial Services Authority. To me it was like the police announcing that Mr J Ripper was heading a murder investigation. Had the regulator not been made up of banking insiders, perhaps questions would have been raised long before the house of cards collapsed.

I don’t believe that the government were aware of what was going on, either here or in America, nor that had we had another party in power, that this would have been stopped. As what the banks were doing was so complicated that no one really understood what was going on. It all appeared to be working and with everyone who owned property appearing to be making profits; it would have been a brave minister that said this was foolish. It should have happened but, it is hard to critic a something that so few understood.

Here we have the crux of the problem, if something is so complex that few can understand it, and then it has an unacceptable risk. As simply if the process is that complex that the bosses or managers do not understand how lead is being turned into gold, then mistakes can be made without anyone realising.

However the more serious question is the morality of much of what has gone on. While it is true that some people have made money from the property market, it is a scant few. As even if your house rises by ten times in value if you sell it for a great profit you still need to pay for another that is likely to have risen by a similar amount. Therefore, while people have assumed they were getting richer, in reality they were not. Also it only benefited people that already owned their own home. The people who did not were enslaved, paying inflated prices and forced to work harder to keep their homes and their families.

Add to this is the bonus culture of the banking sector. I am not the first to say that this created an atmosphere where greater risks were taken. While I have no problem with people being rewarded for success, it is when bonuses are paid for failure. In any other business, an opinion expressed by most people, failure would earn you the sack not rewards. That is why the majority of people think feel and know that bankers should not be paid a bonus when their business have made losses. In the cases of banks that have received state aid, it looks like the banks and bankers are snubbing the general public.

The banking system was and should be a boring and stayed system. That will return, it has to, but bankers need to think carefully about the morality of the business they do and the businesses they deal with. Making money at any cost is simply wrong. Helping the rich avoid paying taxes is wrong. Manipulating the property market has damaged people’s lives and injured society.

Filming Requires Patients

I was up and out before the milkman had even delivered. Partly this was because it was so icy that I wanted to give myself more time to traverse through the Forest safely. It really was traitorous underfoot. I used the tripod as a walking aid and I did not fall over once, well not while walking.

I had gone out as early as I had heard that a relatively rare bird had been sighted in the wood. With the weather the way it has been, and the location made it sound possible. Thus I wanted to see if I could film the bird. Now while when we see great footage on TV or a great image in a Book or Magazine, I am sure we all realise just how much hard work and shear good luck that is involved.

As I was first looking I saw the white wing bars of a bird flying off, and as my quarry has them, had I found them that quickly? I could not identify the bird and as other birds have white wing bars, I just did not know if I had found the bird or not. Keeping the camera ready I scanned the trees for the bird, with binoculars.

The Crossbills were there, and feeding on the pinecones hidden in the darkest parts of the trees. So while I saw them and tried to film them I just got some dark footage of branches and twigs where they had been. I stayed for about four hours but I failed to get any decent footage. But at least I did see the birds, about seven males and ten females. While I was trying to film one of the dog walkers came past, he was not in control of his dog, the dog was sliding on the ice, or his own feet. While trying to keep his footing he slid right into me. Knocking me over and the camera, he was very apologetic and while I was trying to make sure he was okay, he was worried he had broken my camera. I showed him that the camera was fine; he left me his phone number telling me that he would pay for any damage. I told him that it was an accident and as no one was hurt and nothing was broken that he should not worry. Well you can bump into some really nice people in the wood.

On the way back the thaw had started so it was far less difficult going back than it had been going. When I got back I noticed a mammal paw print in the snow of my back yard, as I collected the milk. I think it could have been a rat, but where it had melted it was impossible to tell for sure. While some people will say yuck at that, rats are wildlife too.

While talking of filming wildlife, or trying to, this week in a new BBC natural history series, they showed film of Narwhal. It had taken the crew six weeks to find and film these whales, so I don’t think that my failures are that bad.

Anyway here’s a link to some of that footage

Snow and Bread

While I was out early this morning, the falling snow was not conducive to filming. I have a rain coat for the camera, the best dressed camera in the village, the flakes were settling on the lens. So what film I did get was rather spoilt by smears. It is probably the only aspect of trying to film in the rain or snow that I have yet to find a good resolution for. But I am working on it. Myself, I have ensured that I am well wrapped up, and while I will not win any fashion awards, I keep myself reasonably warm and can endure several hours in sub zero temperatures. However, if I find that my feet or more importantly my hands start to get to cold I will then head for shelter or home. As I see no point in getting some great bit of film only to suffer from hypothermia.

While I was not especially cold this morning, as the falling snow was making filming near impossible, I decided to head home. On the way I met the woman whose dog I had found the other day. As she walked the dog, we chatted. She admitted that she had doubts about whether her partner (Boyfriend) was treating the dog properly. While I remained taciturn, it appeared that he had wanted something like Bull Terrier, but she had fallen for her dog that was a rescue dog. She had assumed that the dog was just frightened of all men, but the way she had been so responsive to me the other day had made her realise that her partner was not being as loving to the dog as she had expected.

They had only had the dog for a few weeks and every time he took the dog out it ran off from him. Also as he did not live with her full time, she also realised that the dog was happier when he was not around. The next bit I could see coming, as she asked for my advice. I told her that I could not advise her, and that she had to make the choices that were right for her.

Had it not been that I had already told her I was heading home, I would have made some excuse and gone a different way. As I am definitely not the best person to offer relationship advice, I am divorced, and that tells you all about my relationship skills. Then she changed the subject and started talking about her sister, apparently she had just met someone that she fancied. Now this is where my regular reader has jumped ahead and has made the connection before I did. Yes, her sister was the woman that asked me out.

It appears that when the flooding happened down at Blackhall Mill and I was on the supermarket run, my new date was on the bus too. What caught her notice was that I was making jokes that reassured people; apparently I referred to the bus as a ferry, and other silly things like that. But also that I helped people off with their shopping bags, even though I kept getting soaked, well I was wet already, and the sooner I got home the sooner I would get myself dry.

Well the upshot was that while she looked out for me in the local pubs, she could not find me there. This reinforced her sisters belief that I must be a good chap, as so many of the men around here seem to think that getting drunk is the only way to enjoy life. Oh she is going to be let down as I am as much of a dipsomaniac as the next man. It also amused me that her sister had been told that I was probably gay, to that she was saying at least she could go out with a bloke without getting jumped.

There are times when living in this village feels like I am in a surreal soap opera. Talking about living in the village, when I first moved here, I took measures to ensure that I had a well stocked larder. As with the reliance on public transport links, I was aware that bad weather in winter could mean that I may have to delay getting in essential supplies. Well today was such a day.

I had planned to do a supermarket run today, but as I stood at the bus stop a van from the bus company came and stopped. I was told that because of the heavy snow the busses were having difficulty and they (the Company) were allowing the drivers to use their good judgement and it looked like the busses were stopping running. As the supermarket bus was also late, I realised that I could be wasting my time.

So I trekked up the hill back home, not long after I got back in the snow started to get thicker. Anyway, I had most of what I needed in, but I had run out of bread. I have already said in other postings that locally the bread that’s in the local shops is not that good and is expensive. Well even this I was prepared for and I made some bread for myself.

If ever I was really stuck and I still had power, I could keep going for two or even three weeks. With no power I could still keep going for two or three days. While it was unexpected, I quite enjoyed making the bread. I was not sure if putting the dough near the boiler was going to be enough to prove the dough but it appeared to work.

Well I just hope that it is not to long before the busses are running again as I need to get more flour if I am to do that again.

Birds and Friends

One of the jobs that I had to do today was get some more food for the birds. With the snow and temperatures bellow zero, I have used more than I normally do. Most importantly I needed some Meal Worms as in the cold weather; this can be a vital resource for the insectivorous birds.

I also had some other shopping to do, so I went into Consett, but it was late afternoon. Therefore when I went into the pet shop to get the Meal worms there were a bunch of giggly silly school girls in there. I asked for what I needed and I had to contend with these girls going yuck and screaming when they saw my purchase. I have never understood this type of silly behaviour.

I got the other bits and pieces I needed and I still had forty minutes before the bus back. Because I was late in to town, I could not even go for a coffee as all the cafes were closed or closing. Therefore I just had to wait at the bus station. I think that because of these girls I was feeling a little irritated by the behaviour of many of the young people at the bus station. I have never liked to see people spitting, in fact I personally find it a disgusting habit, and where ever I looked all I could see was people spitting.

So I just retreated into myself and spent my time watching the birds. There are frequently gulls around feeding on the detritus of human living. It was fascinating to see just how they hover up the food we humans discard. And in the space of fifteen or twenty minutes I saw seven people, just throw half eaten food on the ground.

It is something that I can never understand is why people will throw rubbish away like this. I was feeling a little depressed. Then just before the bus came, a woman from the village said hello. She is someone that I would call a nodding acquaintance, I would say hello when I would see her but I have never really spoken to her. Anyway, when we got on the bus she came and sat next to me. As there were other free seats on the bus, I was rather surprised by this. Anyway we talked on the journey back to the village, but it was just general chat. When I reached my stop I said goodbye and went home.

As the first job I had do, was fill the bird feeders I was in the yard when this woman went past my back gate. I told her we must stop meeting like this or people start talking. Well let them talk was her reply. Then she asked me if I was doing anything for Valentine’s Day. Well a light breeze could have knocked me to the floor, but I told her that as I am single I was doing nothing. I also said that I had not realised that she was interested in me. That made her blush.

Anyway, over a cup of tea, it looks as though I have a date for Saturday. Just going for a drink but, it has all been rather unexpected. While she is very attractive, I really don’t think that we have much in common, but at least over a couple of drinks we can get to know each other.
It is curious that so many of the single women in the village seem to have an interest in me. While it is flattering, very few seem to have much of an interest in the same passions that I do though. So while it could be an interesting evening, I doubt that it will lead to anything more than friendship.

As I let her out, I saw one of the Red Kites gliding over and we both stood and watched it for two or three minutes. As she seemed as delighted to see it as I was, who knows...?

At least we both seem to share the disgust at the loutish behaviour of a minority of people.

Leader of the Pack?

This morning I was out early in the wood again but I had to contend with a stray dog. I was not sure if it had been abandoned or had just run off from its human. While I looked for someone and the dog followed me quite happily, I started to think that the dog had been abandoned.

Therefore, while I was able to enjoy an interesting walk, with this dog in tow, I was not able to get the camera out. I kept returning to where I had found the dog, or should that be where she found me? But I could see no one. While she was quite playful, she was very obedient. This made me think that she had been abandoned.

So I was able to do a bit of bird watching. I saw the charm (I think that’s a lovely name for them) of Goldfinches again, but even had I been able to film, they were too distant. I also had a nice long view of a pair of Jays. It really does appear that the birds are pairing up for spring. I just wish the weather was pointing towards spring.

I also spotted a fox wandering in the undergrowth. I did stop to get the camera out and the dog sat and watched me. However as I was setting up, I heard a woman calling. The dog pricked up its ears, and looked at me as she was asking if she could go and look. The fox already was running off.

The dog came running back to me and now there were a man's and a woman’s voice calling the dog. At the man’s voice, the dog was obviously shaking. I saw the couple and I called to say I had their dog. She was grateful but he seemed annoyed with the dog. I was not sure if I had done the right thing, but the woman was amazed that the dog was so well behaved with me, she told the man that it must be you that frightens the dog off.

They took the dog and I was sad to see the dog go as she was a lovely little dog. On the way home I spotted one of the Red Kites in the distance.

On the subject of Raptors, here’s an interesting link to the Sea Eagle story that I mentioned yesterday, it has a lovely clip of film too.

Posting Five Hundred

I went out quite early today as I wanted to see what birds were about in the woods. I was hoping I could film some of the birds singing the new day in. While I got plenty of film of tail feathers and empty branches I never really got what I was hoping to film. Just before Christmas I had bought a LANC controller for the camera. This allows me to control the camera from the tripod, and this was the first time that I had really been able to put it to the test. It really does make life easier as I can concentrate on the subject and because it helps minimise my hand movements, I am less likely to disturb my subject. I had to order it from America as while I could get one over here it was six times the price I paid, including shipping. Well I have done my bit to stimulate the US economy.

To illustrate its use, I was trying to film a Goldfinch, it’s a tiny bird and there was a few feeding on the last remaining tufts of thistle heads. I was waiting to get a clear view, and as I was able to remain motionless a blackbird alighted on a twig right by my shoulder. Initially it did not realise I was there then suddenly shrilled its alarm call in my ear, scattering the goldfinches too. Thanks Blackbird you’re sacked and will never act in one of films again.

One thing that is worth mentioning, I did notice that the goldfinches are starting to look resplendent in their breeding plumage. So while winter is not over it’s the first real sign that Spring is not that far away.

I was telling one of the regular dog walkers that I see of this, and he told me that he thought he had seen a Red Kite building a nest. Very interested I asked some questions and while I cannot be sure, it sounds like he saw the kite that had flown off with the bag of meat the other day. But as Kites regularly use plastic bags to line their nests, who knows, perhaps it was building a nest.

One other good bit of news, over in western shores of England, fifty or sixty miles from here, a White Tailed Sea Eagle has been seen. If I had the time, I would get over there and look myself, but as I am no Twitcher that goes chasing rare birds just to tick them off a list, I may just wait until I can go and visit Scotland and see them along with Golden Eagles.

It is nice that in this my five hundredth posting here is a bit of good news for a change.

Binyam Mohamed

While I do try and keep myself abreast of human rights issues and where human rights are being abused, I just don’t have the time to maintain the depth of knowledge. So while I have some general knowledge, when I discover the details, these details always shock me. As I posted before regarding the comments made by two judges in the high court regarding Binyam Mohamed, who has alleged torture at the hands of Americans and is now a prisoner in Guantanamo, I looked further into his case.

I am not someone that readily believes all that is out on the web, if I did then I would believe in all sorts of nonsense. And if like me you think the Earth is flat... Getting back to reality, what I discovered horrified me. Man’s Inhumanity to Man is appalling if true. Also as I do not want to perpetuate myth and rumour, I was reluctant to post any of the details as I simply lack the resources to check the facts. Therefore, I am grateful that the BBC interviewed the council for Binyam Mohamed.

Now as some people will know these lawyers are military personnel appointed to ensure that under these quasi military courts that were put in place in Guantanamo were fair, or as fair as unfair system can be. What shocked me was that for the last eighteen months the British government has been willing to take Binyam Mohamed. Further, all the charges against him have been dropped and he is now regarded as no threat to America. But what is and has been the sticking point is the fact that during his extraordinary rendition (kidnapped), he disappeared and even his lawyer cannot be told where he was for these eighteen months, Binyam Mohamed was tortured. I have read and heard the descriptions of the torture and I will not repeat them here. But it appears that the only reason he has not been released thus far is the fear the American (Bush) Government had that he would talk to the press.

Binyam Mohamed was told that he would have to wait until the new administration took over. So as has happened with many of the Guantanamo prisoners, he has gone on hunger strike. While he is now being force fed, had he been released then he would not have had to resort to this.

I am not wholly placing the blame on America or the Bush Government, as the British Government is strongly implicated in allowing this torture to happen.

From the start, following the appalling terrorist attacks on America, I genuinely hoped that restraint and sense would prevail, as the only way to show that the west was not anti Muslim was ensure that we in the west did nothing that reinforced this mistaken belief. Guantanamo and the torture of prisoners only enrage people to the mistaken thought that there is a religious war. Just as the Israeli action in Gaza has reinforced and deepened Palestinian hatred towards Israel, the actions of the Bush administration, supported by Blair, makes finding peace much more difficult.

America and Britain quite rightly condemns other nations for using Torture, but Britain and America now need to own up to this. I hope that President Obama releases Binyam Mohamed soon and that the Americans guilty of breaking International law are brought to justice.

Australian Bush Fires

As I was researching the effects of Climate Change on places like Australia, it was painfully ironic that there was the first news of raging bush fires braking out there. As part of the hypothesis that I was working on was that the natural bush fires that are part of the ecology of the landscape would get worse. Not least because of the drought that has impacted the area. That was on Thursday. On Friday it was clear that the fires were getting out of control and I postponed making posting I had written. Then even as I was been busy over the weekend, I listened to the news with growing horror.

My heart and sympathy goes out to the people that have been affected by the fires. Not least the relatives of the dead and injured. The reports that some of the fires were deliberately started are difficult to believe. Not because they are untrue, but that people could do this and place people’s lives at risk.

There is no doubt that Climate Change is a factor in this event, but for now all we can do is offer what help and support we can to our fellow humans that have suffered as a result of this.

The Australian Red Cross

Supermarket Bans Bee Chemicals

There was some interesting news from one of the smaller supermarkets, who have banned the use of a whole group chemical pesticides that are implicated in the death of Bees.

Firstly, I should explain to my overseas reader, about The Co-operative Wholesale Society. The business was started to provide cheaper and better quality food for workers. At the time, many of the Mines, or the Weaving Mills or the many other major employers in towns up and down the country also owned and ran the food shops. Thus employers often made as much money from feeding the workers as they did from their core business. Therefore, the co-op became an important part of shopping for many people in many towns.

I am personally a member myself, but while I agree with many of the principles of the cooperative, but there was a time in the sixties and seventies that the membership owned business lost its way. Previously, it had ensured that it only sold foods that were of good nutritional value, it was one of its founding principles. However, when the supermarkets emerged they played follow my leader to them and started stocking and selling all the junk food the others do.

There was a time in the 1980s when I really did think that they would fail as they looked just like any other supermarket but were more expensive. Then in the 1990s they really started to get back to their core values and lead the way on Fair Trade with Coffee, Tea and Chocolate. In their own brand products they exclude many of the additives that are questionable.

The real problem that the stores have though is that the staff is normally rather surly. I have often joked that you get “Service with Sneer” there. Also the prices are not competitive and are often unreasonably high. On some essentials in the village branch they are ten percent higher than in their branch in Consett.

So while I agree with many of the objectives of the organisation, they also have some suspect business practices too. In many rural locations they have bought up competitors to exclude them from competing and increasing prices once in that dominant position. Just talking about the local shop, it has a really limited range, and sells far to much of the junk food to really be credibility different to the supermarkets.

However, because the Co-op back when it first started bought farm land and farms to ensure that the produce was of good quality, they are now the largest Farmer in Britain. Thus their stopping use of the nicotine based pesticides that are implicated in the death of Honey Bees is significant.

In France and Italy these chemicals have already been banned and there are fewer instances of Colony Collapse Disorder. As I have reported here before, Genetically Modified crops are also implicated, so while this ban is helpful as the environmental impacts on bees are very complex it may not be the whole of the solution. The major difficulty with major problems like Colony Collapse Disorder is that the cause and effect of what we are doing to the ecological systems are not clear there will be multiple causes behind the death of Honey Bees.

If only the rest of farming would follow this lead then perhaps we will still have Bees in years to come. And if the Coop can start showing their principals by stop selling the same junk as the other supermarkets then they really will become the market leaders they once were.

Close Encounters of the Feathered Kind

What I had planned to do from the first week of this year was to try and film at least some of the wildlife around, and to put together a film each week. While I have had to delay the start of this, I have been doing just that this week. While I still have not got the software to edit the film, with the snow it has been quite an opportune moment to start.

I am pleased with what I have been able to film and as it was always going to take a while to edit the film anyway, I am not bothered that it may still be a couple of weeks before the film is ready. As it has been snowing I have been feeding the birds, not just seeds in the back yard, but also I have been putting some strips of chicken out to feed the Kites too. While it has not only been the Kites that have taken this chef prepared free range chicken, but they did find it and took it. I was doing this with the aim of filming them.

Well, I went trekking out ready to film them this morning. I had worked out a good location and I put the meat out first and went to set up the camera. On previous days I have had to wait an hour or two before they arrived. So as I struggled to get the camera out of the bag, the two Red Kites were swooping in and harvesting the chicken. I guess the birds did not read my memo, and were out early. That should have been no problem as I still had a bag with more meat strips in. Oh no I didn’t, they did. I had one of the Kites came down and snatched the bag from ground where it was resting against my rucksack, five or six feet from me. The Closest I have been to the Kites ever and it flew off with its shopping.

Well I had no more meat to give them and as I was at the tree line and they flew over the woods, I could only see them as they flew away to feast. I waited in vain for them to return feeling cold and disappointed at not getting the shots I was after, I was elated at have been that close to these magnificent birds. Well there is always another time. No one ever said that trying to film wildlife was ever going to be easy, but what an experience.

Attenborough On Darwin

Last Sunday, I was settled down ready to watch a programme on Charles Darwin presented by David Attenborough. Not ten minutes into the broadcast, the telephone rings. I let it ring as the answering service would pick it up. Then again and again, on the forth occasion I answered. As my telephone is upstairs, a fluke of where the phone line comes in and I still have old style handsets; I had to go up to answer. Now I assumed that it had to be important as anyone that really knows me would know that I was likely to be watching the Darwin programme, well it was not urgent and in fact it was rather trivial. It was someone of my acquaintance calling to take the Mickey out of the fact that they had just heard I had been seen with Glasses and now I would not keep on seeing wildlife that they doubted was there.

Well I am not normally rude on the telephone nor do I normally swear, but I told this individual where to go and that he was not to disturb me again. It is not that I have had a sense of humour bypass, but I really dislike the way that the telephone can intrude into your life at times. If that makes me a grumpy old man then so be it. There are times when people just seem to think they can impinge on your time when it suites them.

Well I will get off my soap box on that, but it did mean that instead of being able to sit down and watch the programme uninterrupted, I could not focus as I wanted. Also I may have missed important parts. However, what was a revelation for me was that it became clear that Sir David is not a believer in god.

Personally I do not believe in god, any god, as while I do have the wonder of nature and the natural world, I cannot see any proof of the existence of a god or higher power. While I know that saying this may upset a reader or two (Bugger that’s both of them gone), I have always tried to respect other peoples beliefs. That said, when it comes to science and especially natural history and the natural environment, I frequently find that religious belief clouds peoples prospective, and prevents folks from seeing the reality of life.

From an environmental prospective, the biblical claim that god gave humans dominion over the life on The Earth, has lead to a lack of respect for the natural world. It also lead to the slave trade, as because Africans were seen as a lower species, the biblical claim of dominion was used to justify this abuse. Equally, this doctrine is used to justify the environmentally disastrous practice of “Mountain Topping” as a means of extracting coal, or the callous practices of low welfare industrial farming.

When Darwin realised that life on our planet was the result of a natural process, of evolution he also realised that it was also proof that god was a human construct. While he (Charles Darwin) did not talk about his beliefs, he did stop attending church.

While I understand that as a non believer in any “Supernatural” higher power I am possibly in a minority. However, I genuinely try to be respectful of other people’s beliefs. But it is difficult as so often “God” or “Religion” is used to justify so many actions that can only be described as Evil.

This disrespect of other people just on the basis of their spiritual beliefs has fuelled so many wars, and I genuinely can never understand any doctrine that allows or accepts violence. Also while I know that there are a few religious leaders that do talk about respecting “God’s Creation”, when I see environmental destruction justified by reference to the Bible or other religious texts, then I find it really difficult to respect those people. If religious leaders, of all faiths, were preaching real love, respect and caring for people then my respect for all religions would rise. Equally they need to show leadership on protecting and conserving the environment.

Perhaps if more care was taken over making this world a better place, rather than worrying about some mythical afterlife, we would not be in the environmental state we are in now.

I got to see the programme today, uninterrupted.

An interesting link

Driving and Mobile Phones

While I don’t know what the situation is in other parts of the world, but here it is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving. It is a law that is frequently flouted and I see people driving and trying to steer a car while holding a mobile almost every day. Now add to this stupid practice the Snow and Ice of the past few days and you have an accident waiting to happen.

Today as I had to wait in for an engineer from the Electricity Company to come and change the meter, my old one was of 1952 manufacture, so needed replacing. Anyway by the time that was done, I had to go out to collect my magazines. I was walking back in the dark along a back lane trying to avoid skating home. When I heard a car behind me skid on the ice. I looked behind me to see a woman mobile phone in hand, no hands on the steering wheel, panicking and her car heading straight towards me. I had nowhere to go. I just walked as fast as I could away, trying to avoid slipping on the ice. How I don’t know, she was able to stop the car just before hitting me.

It was clear that she was upset too, but I asked if she had been talking on her phone. She admitted that she had. I told her that was stupid something she agreed. I think that both of us were very shaken by the experience. I have no idea if she will stop using her phone while driving or driving too fast, I hope so. I had visions of trying to cope with crutches as suggested by a Dragon Kicker, well I survived that. It turns out that buying magazines is more dangerous than trying to walk in the Forest at night.

Snow and Climate Change

As the folks in Britain already know, there has been snow, the most significant snowfall for eighteen years. Even around the world other people are aware of this as it has been widely reported as well as our inability to cope with this. In the reports comparisons have been made with the winter of 1962/63 when feet of snow fell, settled and stayed. Even talking to local people they have made the same comparison and while the major aspect of the conversations and the reporting has been about the way that people coped better then, I wondered about the conditions that caused this weather event.

The weather patterns were such a close match as to be identical. The difference between 1963 and 2009 is climate change. Had we not had the effect of Human Induced Climate Change, this winter could well have been as severe as it was in 1963. I have already heard people saying that we need more global warming to stop us having to suffer from snow. The reality is that here in Britain we have seen far less snow as a result of Human Induced Climate Change.

As the weather will fluctuate from one year to the next, even with a stable climate, this lack of snow in past years has impacted on our lives already. The most obvious one being the lack of preparedness for this snow event, but it is the effect upon the natural environment that the effect is less obvious. I have posted before about the way that birds are trying to breed earlier in the year. This is because it is temperature that triggers breading behaviour. But this effect of Human Induced Climate Change leads to lower breeding success as the grubs of insects that the birds rely upon have their breeding cycle triggered by day length. Therefore, there is now a two week difference between the two interlinked natural events.

A further but even more important aspect of not having cold winters is the pest insect species that are now surviving winter. While this winter will have killed of parasite carrying midges for instance, in previous years agriculture and human health has been impacted by this. As a result of these warmer wetter winters that have become the norm, the range of insects from northern Africa and Southern Europe are extending their range further north. This extension equates to around twenty five kilometres per year.

The lack of hard frosts means that soils have to be tilled harder, leading to a loss of fertility in the soil. This also has the impact of soil pests and dieses surviving each year. This leads to the increased use of chemicals to control soil pests and dieses adding to the loss of fertility of our soils. Equally, this increased use of chemicals is adding to the fall in populations of what were once common birds.

While I have sympathy for the people impacted by the severe weather, Human Induced Climate Change is having a greater disruption on our lives than the short term effects of having proper seasons.

A New Nature Reserve

Last night it started snowing again, it was expected but falling on the ice I knew that it would cause the footing to be traitorous under foot. This was the case as I did my rounds of the Badger Setts. I did not see any of the Badgers, there were also minimal signs of activity. They appear to have more sense than does the Wood Mouse.

I was well wrapped up, I have learnt what works and what I need to do to avoid freezing, but even so I was glad to get back into the warm again. As I wrote my notes I was able to watch the snow paint the landscape an even white.

This Morning I was not up as early as I would normally be so when I went to collect the milk, I nearly did not see that the fresh snow was covered with the footprints of the birds that had been in the yard. Had I not been feeding the birds, then I doubt that I would have had that many visitors. Even my neighbours have noticed a steady stream of birds going in and out of my yard. I think that I am going to have to declare my yard a Nature Reserve.