Great Bird Photos

As I have been busy, cooking, writing and doing what my better half needs doing... I have been rather slack about posting here. I can hear my long suffering reader cheering.

However I just had to share this that I found on the BBC news site. Well the pictures tell there own story.

Vaux Swift

As my better half and I were waiting to catch the bus to have our Sunday dinner out, I spotted one of the Red Kites. We were able to share the delight at seeing this magnificent bird. I knew that I had chosen the right partner.

Following a really good meal, I stepped outside for a cigarette. While outside the pub, one that had been owned by Vaux a local brewery, before the brewery was closed down. A complex situation where the company that owned the brewery closed down the business as the land that the brewery occupied was more valuable as building land than as a brewery The land is still undeveloped.

It was a shame as the beers they brewed were very good and I miss them. The company though had a logo that had a pair of birds on them. I had tried to identify the birds but had concluded that they were stylised birds rather than genuine ones. But as I looked up at the sign on the pub building I realised what they were. Vaux Swifts.

As my regular and long suffering reader will know, I get a number of podcasts relating to wildlife and natural history matters. Via one Terra Life on Earth was a film in four parts about the Vaux Swift and a school in Portland where they roosted. The decent into the chimney has become a spectator sport.

I had thought about posting about the film at the time, as it was wonderful to see and hear a community looking after the birds in this way. However, I was to busy when the videos were podcast and it took me a while to watch the film. Then I heard via a podcast of another US radio programme that the film was being shown on PBS. And again it did make me wonder if there was a connection between the man who had named the bird and the brewing family.

This I still don't know for sure, but it seems there is and the Vaux Swift became the logo for the brewery. As the Vaux swift is an American chimney swift, and Vaux is not a common name, logic tells me that there is a connection. So perhaps its not so much hands across the Atlantic but wings.

Sunday Lunch

Last Sunday my better half and I went out for Sunday Lunch to one of the pubs in the village. While it was okay, it really was nothing to write home about. While I have no interest in writing about bad eating experiences, that meal was just bland. I could see so many ways that the meal could have been improved, using fresh vegetables instead of frozen was just one aspect that would have improved the meal.

Therefore with last weeks experience still promoting my taste buds to fall asleep at the mention of eating out again, I was a little unenthused by the idea of going out again for Sunday Lunch suggested by my better half. This was partly due to where she was thinking we should try. I had lived near the place when I first moved to the North East and while it was likely to be better food, it was likely to be a football obsessed place. Therefore, were the patrons likely to be the football crowed?

I am not being a snob here as some sports obsessed places can still be good pubs, but equally my other half and I both feel less than comfortable with the excessive drinking and passions that sports arouse in some people. So I suggested we try a place that I have been passed many times, but had never ventured into thus far. Therefore we were both virgins to this hostelry.

One of the first things that I noticed that pleased me was the blazing open fire. There is nothing like an open fire that says welcome and come in. Additionally in pubs, and especially pubs serving food, the atmosphere it equally important and we both felt comfortable about the place. As a dipsomaniac, grand master, I do have a lot of experience of pubs, and it really is the traditional style of public house that I feel most comfortable with. And this was a genuine traditional pub. It was not a fake recreation of this but the genuine article. Further, the locals in there were friendly as was the staff.

The food though was the real revelation, as we both tucked into a very tasty and well cooked meal. While this may seem obvious, we could taste all the separate vegetables. But this is not always the case, last weeks was a prime example. Each had been well cooked. We had both opted for the pork, had I even thought that I would be writing this review when ordering, I would have chosen the Beef or Chicken to make a comparison, but that was not the reason for the visit. Well it was succulent melt in the mouth pork that actually tasted the way pork should. The Yorkshire puddings were better than most I have had in other pub meals, but it was the only part of the meal where I could say could have been better. I know that I am perhaps being harsh there, but it was the one part that failed to hit the spot the way the rest had.

As my better half could tell you folks, I have a healthy appetite and when I cook for her, I often dish up more than she can eat. Thus I was surprised when she too cleared her plate. I personally was well stuffed and could have stood in as stunt double for a Paxo chicken.

We were both very impressed with the pub and the meal, and for me the best endorsement that I can make is, we will be returning there to eat again. Further, we will be returning to the pub for a drink too.

Going back to the atmosphere of the place, we had gone in together as strangers, we left having been included in the banter of the place. I personally have been fairly lucky with the locations where I have lived, as normally there has always been a really decent pub close by, within staggering distance. When I moved to the village I am now in, I was disappointed especially at first. I did latter find a couple of places that were worth visiting. However, none were as good as places where there is the feeling that you are in a second home and amongst friends. This place was just like that.

From when my better half and I became entwined, we have developed places that we like going to. We call them “our café” or “our pub” in that particular location and this we have both agreed is likely to become our local.

Agriculture Twenty Years On

The British government has launched a blueprint for how we need to develop agriculture and grow more food in the face of an increasing population. The document is long on rhetoric but short on detail. However, there are three key details that is supposed to the future of farming for the next twenty years. More of the same regarding intensive agriculture. The use of GM. Importing foods that we lack.

While intensive factory farming has produced more grains, beef, milk in each and every case, there have been serious environmental impacts, but equally and perhaps more importantly intensification has reduced the nutrition value of our food. While beef may now be a relatively cheap meat there is a real taste difference between intensive and extensively reared cattle. Further there seems to be a serious failure to learn the lessons of BSE, as BSE would never have occurred without intensive agriculture. Equally, with milk production there are problems with the health of the Holstein milking machines that means that mastitis is a real problem and we have to check each tanker load, from each farm to ensure its safe. With grain farming the chemicals used in arable farming are getting into the water supply and we are having to spend millions trying to keep the water safe. Therefore is further intensification along the same failed model really the way to go?

While GM, Genetic Modification, may be a part of the answer to the problem of feeding the world, so far GM has failed to deliver the extra yield that was promised and claimed. The yield increase has only been a one percent increase in yield. This could have been gained with non GM crops. The impact of GM in places like India has actually been a fall in yield as GM needs greater water use than non GM crops. The question is when the world is facing a water shortage, where will the extra water come from?

With the importing of foods that we cant grow, or where we have shortfalls in yield, where will this extra food come from? Already in Britain we are only producing fifty-nine percent of the foods we use in the UK. This could show that there are real opportunities for farmers and growers in Britain to sell more, but as it is more profitable to exploit the poverty in other nations British farmers are being forced to accept prices that are uneconomic. As the world population grows, will there be the surpluses available for us to buy and import?

The other part of this equation is simply that this plan fails to even acknowledge that we have a climate that is changing. The government of Britain is basing its Climate Change policy upon the assumption that the globe can tolerate a 2ºC rise in temperature. Yet laboratory tests have shown that each 1ºC rise in temperature will, I repeat will, cause a fall in crop yields of between 4% and 16% across a range of crops. Thus with a two degree rise we will loose 32% of our current yields. Add into this complex mixing pot the fact that we will loose growing space as a result of rising sea levels, and agricultural yields will be reduced even further.

While all governments need to plan for the future, and no one can know for sure what the shape of things to come will be, but in this case, the one aspect that we can be sure of is that the climate is changing. And while the exact level where the global temperature will settle is unknown, the fact that it is rising is undisputed. Even the climate sceptic's do not deny that fact, they just say that its not humans that are causing it. Thus more of the same in agriculture will only serve to increase the increase the environmental impacts that are driving climate change.

With the known and expected impacts of climate change already here, will we really ever have a global population of nine or ten billion people? The shortages of water and food logically say that these levels of population growth can not happen. As simply poor nutrition in any population will slow and often stop reproductive cycles. Further, if we assume that the birth rate will match predictions, the shortages of water and food will prevent most of these children reaching adulthood. That I know is a shocking statement to make, but this is the reality of where the policies of most nations are leading. This is where some intelligent thinking needs to be applied. So that we create policies that manage birthrates so that we retain human rights while enabling a reduction in the global population via natural cycles of lifespan.

As I was writing this I took a break and looked at the BBC News website and I found this story about South Korea. There people are being encouraged to create more children, just when globally we need fewer. When will governments stop being selfish and realise that we are part of a global community.

Devils Food Follow up

Following my previous posting, my good friend the talking tree, made a couple of good points. The first is simply that packet mixes don't really save time. In the past I have tried them, but found that I could make from scratch most cakes as quickly as a packet mix. However understand what Ms Tree means about waiting for the butter to soften, but here is a neat trick I learnt years ago. You can use butter straight from the fridge and if you cut it into cubes say half an inch dice, it softens in your hands, in minutes.

I do use butter rather than margarines unless I am making something that is for a vegan. However when I was a child, butter was being made demonic and as being bad for the heart. This data was being pushed out by the manufacturers of spreads. While the statistics were not incorrect regarding butter, it was not the whole story. As simply what was making butter unhealthy was the way that cows were being intensively reared. As in 2009 work at a British university discovered that traditional grass fed cows produced milk and butter that was more nutritious and healthy than even the health spreads.

Therefore the real problem was and is intensive farming. Just as the other point that Ms Tree raised. In her comment she made the point that the chemicals in cake mixes were causing a woman who was measuring her blood sugar to spike in a way that cakes made from scratch did not. And this highlights one of the problems with the safety testing of these additives in food. They are tested on very healthy people. Thus, if everyone was very healthy and fully fit, they are fully safe. But in the real world we all have minor health problems, and these chemicals effect the different conditions in different people. Additionally, each it tested separately, yet several will be used in a single product. They are never safety tested as a combination. Further, there is no safety testing system that looks at what the cocktail of chemicals we are all subjected to. This is all a good reason to avoid overly processed food if you can.

Well as I have tempted my long suffering reader, here is a link to the recipe for Devils Food on my new Food and Cooking Blog

Cooking the Devils Food

As I have previously mentioned, my better half is not really a cook. While I can and do wax lyrical about her talents, being a domestic goddess is not one of them. Thus we have delineated domestic duties quite well. Therefore, when the anniversary of my birth came along, she wanted to maintain her family tradition of cooking a particular cake. As her mother is American, although now naturalised British, this was an American cake that she wanted to introduce me to.

Having been on the internet for many years now, I know and understand how important these traditions are to American families. Thus while I normally do not celebrate my birthday, its how I have stayed twenty one for all these centuries, I was ready to accept that I would need to allow my better half to have her way. Also as she is rather busy at the moment, it was decided that the cremation, sorry cooking, would happen at my place.

I had no real knowledge of what was to be cooked, but I was willing to help in what ever way possible. Even if it was just going to get the ingredients. However, all instructions I got was did I have, and all bar the icing sugar, I had in already. So I said I would get this when I went to the supermarket on Friday. As I was not going to the supermarket until that afternoon, when I got a call from She who must be obeyed, I was shocked that the cake was a cake mix and could I get a packet.

Well after picking myself up off the floor, I devised a cunning plan. While I had not yet tried the recipe, I had the recipe for Devils Food. A quick search of the ingredients in the cupboard and I only needed to get a couple of items to bake the cake. Therefore when I got back from the supermarket and put the shopping away, I baked the cake. My timing was good as I had just pulled the cakes from the oven to cool on the cooling tray when I had to help my better half from the bus. While I do love her, she needs to learn how to travel light, or at least lighter.

Fortunately the aroma of baking and the sight of the two cake halves did not disappoint her. Phew, as if I had got this wrong, I would have been typing this in my grave. However, I had to accept her recipe for the icing. This we made together. The peace treaty was signed... only joking!

So while we have been able to continue her family tradition, it has become adjusted to meet our needs.

There is though a serious point here, while I have no doubt that the packet mix would have been fine, as I work on the principal that I will not use items in the kitchen that have ingredients that look better placed in a chemistry set, I did not feel comfortable using the mix. Also personally I think my recipe will have tasted better. I am sorry if that sounds big-headed, but I know that when I previously tried packet mixes, years ago, I was getting better results baking from scratch. While I know that not everyone has the time, but cooking or baking from scratch is just so much better than relying upon packets from others chemistry sets.

Another aspect of this tale though, is the delight at sharing foods from other nations, and learning new recipes. The only problem is that I can see that I will have to watch my waistline. Or is that my better half's job?

Snow Damage

Yesterday was the first time since the snow started that I ventured into Consett to do any shopping. As I try to keep a well stocked larder, I was able to buy perishables in the village, combined with travelling to the supermarket at the Metrocentre, in the opposite direction, I could have survived for several weeks had the snowy weather continued. As Consett is in the Pennines and a further thousand feet of elevation from my village, when it snows there it really does snow.

While there I was talking to one of the locals, who told me that the roads were very bad during the worse time of the snow and walking around was traitorous. While I doubt that walking around was planning to overthrow the government, I could understand that it could not have been easy there.

Then I noticed that outside one store there was an area that had been taped off. Initially I thought that it was because of the snow sliding off the glass roof. However I realised that the cordoned off area was actually under the canopy. It would have remained an enigma to me had I not had to walk past latter as I returned. The snow had seriously cracked the glass of the canopy.

The building is relatively new and it has been more than twenty years since we last had significant snow. Thus the builder and possibly the architect had failed to use materials that could withstand snow. Even though it has been several years since there was significant snowfall, any building erected in a town just above the foot hills of the mountains of the Pennines will have to withstand snow. But cost cutting will occur and now the canopy of this building is dangerous.

Equally the picture with this posting tells its own story. I was sitting writing when I saw the snow slide off that roof bringing down the gutter. This has only happened where the wooden fascia boards have been replaced with plastic ones. Again cost cutting, not necessarily by the house owner, that creates costs latter. Looking at the newer buildings though it is possible to see that some of the modern building techniques have added to the problems that people have suffered. Most of the older buildings have what are called snow boards on the roofs. These hold the snow on the roof so that it does not slip off and can melt off. This prevents the sliding snow pulling off loose tiles and slates. This also saves the guttering. The problem is that some of these skills have been lost and most modern builders and roofers just do not know how to create or repair such a roof.

A major part of the problem is that modern properties are all built to a standard design so while it makes them quick and easy to build, at the very least they lack any sort of character. However, it is the lack of building design to match the environmental conditions of the area. In parts of Wales the roofs have a lime plaster render coated on them. This enables the buildings to cope with the winds that prevail off the Atlantic. There were other unique features that enabled a building to survive and last in different areas. But to maximise profits and reduce costs in new build, the major house builders make tacky little boxes. You can look at pictures of new and recent build homes in any part of the UK on the internet and they look identical. These dwelling units are exactly the ones that have suffered the most in the recent snow.

But older buildings have suffered less damage and its almost as though they have just sloughed off the snow.

Extreme Weather and Climate Change

There persists a misunderstanding perpetuated by misinformation that Climate Change only means weather impacts that are related to higher temperatures. This is compounded by the media, even the responsible media, saying that no single weather event can be blamed upon Climate Change. While as a general rule this is the correct way to look at the weather, the effects of Climate Change can be seen in the extreme weather that is occurring throughout the world. This includes the extreme snow in Britain and North America this winter.

Even a slightly warmer climate means that there is more energy and more moisture in the weather systems. Therefore, heavy and sudden rainfall, especially in places where it is not expected, will be a direct result of Climate Change. Climate Change effects the speed and depth of weather systems and this does not only apply to summer systems but to winter ones too.

As snow is frozen water, the greater moisture capacity of a warmer weather system as a result of climate change will be one of the effects of the changing climate resulting from greenhouse gases. These are effects that are predicted within the climate models. But just as the timing of the loss of Arctic sea ice was not expected to happen until the middle of this century, these severe snow storms were not expected until the same period.

While there are many positive actions being taken to remove the pollution from our activities, it really is far to little far to late.

In a century from now, the people that are left behind will have a greatly damaged world to heal.

The Farming Future

Following my posting yesterday regarding the propaganda by the BBC of industrial agriculture, I was contacted by someone I know defending the BBC. While I accept that the broadcaster needs to provide balanced reporting and programming, but the programmes I was criticising were unashamedly bias.

In so many other aspects of life the media is much more questioning regarding what is done in our name. Be this by politicians or big business, but when it comes to food and farming there really does seem to be a lack questions asked. Personally I think that when it comes to industrial farming the media likes to see all the big machines and high tech kit and this blinds them to the effects of industrial farming.

Further, while farming of all scales needs to provide food for the nation and export, often the media fails to question what is really going on in agriculture. In this desire to see the high tech kit over the years when the media has reported on the growing of grains it has been the really big combines that get the attention. Yet to use these in Britain, many thousands of miles of hedgerow has been removed. As well as destroying habitat, the farmers and agricultural businesses also increase the level of soil erosion. This increases the need for petro chemical fertilisers just to maintain the fertility.

Equally arable farmers have grown more and more grains not because of need, in this country or even for export demand, but because of subsidies that rewards the largest farmers even more. Often resulting in a surpluses that has to be stored as there is no market for the wheat, or Barley or Oats. Yet because the varieties of wheat grown are not suitable for bread flour, the majority has been for the commodity market rather than wheat's and grains for human food.

While farming is a business and one that this nation needs, agriculture should never have been allowed to be owned by a few large companies. While there are always economies of scale, having a few mega businesses controlling large parts of the food production is never wise. Just following the example of the mega tonnes of wheat that British agri-industry produces, this industry is not producing human food but animal feed. Real farmers feed people not just generate profits by growing crops that are not needed.

This is one of the core problems with Farming, Agriculture and Horticulture at the moment. Measuring efficiency based just upon the profits generated is disguising just how inefficient the system has become. In Britain, the smallest farms, here called Small Holdings, generate six times more income per acre than do the large industrial farms. Also they grow the food that people (their customers) want. Further small holders do this with far less environmental impact than do larger farmers. Therefore the question in my mind is simply just how efficient is agriculture really?

Subsidies were needed to enable farmers to modernise following the second world war, here in Europe. This was effective as a starving Europe became one that was able to feed itself. But that was over sixty years ago, we face different challenges now. By retaining a system that was needed then, allowed the big business interests to take control of our food. By creating massive surplices of low value food commodities, enabled the major food processors to create the products that are of low nutritional value, known as junk food. Retailers like these as they are easy to sell when combined with cleaver marketing.

To use an example from another industry, the Oil and Coal industry spend one billion Dollars US each year to cast doubt on Climate Change. The food giants spend even more, ten times more, marketing products that they describe as food. Now as good food actually sells itself, why would they waste money marketing this stuff if it was good nutritional food?

While all businesses and industries are self serving and there priority is perpetuating what works for them, but food has to be regarded in a different way to electronics or any other manufacturing industry. For far to long the largest farmers, the major food processors and the major retailers have dictated what foods were available in the shops. Further as just selling the individual ingredients gains the food supply chain the least profit, there has been pressure on us as consumers to buy the heavily processed prepared foods. In business speak this is called value added products. That is not added value to us but to them. When you can find examples of chicken with added water, and with marketing nonsense saying to make it more succulent, the food industry and factory farming does not need promotion by the BBC.

Because of the need to feed an ever growing world population, the major agricultural businesses and interests are pressing for more of the same as well as all the practices that have already been shown to be seriously damaging the planet. Especially the new technologies that consumers have already rejected, like GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). And it is the way that sections of the media seem to uncritically accept the big business line on food and food production, that is most disturbing.

Had the media been doing their job back in the 1960s and 70s when animal protein was first added to cattle feed, and allowed to be added by changing the regulations, we would never have had the problem of BSE. Equally, had the media looked critically at the way that vegetables for Europe and North America is grown in water poor areas of the world, shipped here causing food shortages in the growing nations as well as reducing availability of water, some of the conflicts and development problems would have been reduced if not avoided.

There is not currently a shortage of food, but every night over one billion people go to sleep hungry. Over a fifth of the people on the planet are undernourished. Big businesses answer is to just push the junk food that is high in fat, high in salt, and low in nutritional value. But only for those that can pay. Equally these industrial scale farmers that farm massive areas of land may be growing export earning crops like soya in places like Brazil, but often the land was already supporting whole populations of subsistence farmers. But as they were not generating export dollars they are ignored and having their rights completely abused. Further, these people that are pushed off the land then end up being the people that form a drain upon the their nation.

There are no simple solutions to the food and farming crisis that a growing world population faces. However having the BBC pushing what is in effect the governments policy as though it is the only answer remains a shameful act of propaganda by the BBC.

Birds in the Snow

With the duvet of snow covering the ground, roofs, well everything, I have seen more birds visiting my bird feeders. Further I have been throwing more seeds and nuts into the snow, particularly on to the roof of what was the outside toilet back in the dark days when we had to freeze to go. Anyway, while some of this seed was getting covered with fresh falls, enough was being found by the birds.

It did create some rather interesting effects, as when the snows first started there was some melting and the foot prints of sparrows looked like I had Eagles feeding in the back yard. I wish! However, it did spark the question in my mind of how are the Red Kites coping? I had not seen them for several weeks, then yesterday I spotted one soaring and searching for food. I have no idea if the bird found any, but hope that the raptor did.

That was not the only exciting bird that I saw yesterday, as I spotted a Jay that was feeding on the peanuts I had scattered about. It was the cawing of the Jackdaws that alerted me to the bird, but while I only saw it once, it shows that feeding the birds really benefits the birds.

Unfortunately I did not see them myself, but apparently there was a flock of what sounds like goldfinches seen rising from my back yard. The funny part is that the person who informed me of this finally understood why I feed the birds.

I was also putting water out for the birds, but the dog bowl that I use as their bird bath is now lost under the snow. Well I will have to wait for the thaw to find it now. As today it is above freezing and there is some melting happening, perhaps that will not be too long.

Propaganda on the BBC

In my previous posting I said that there was a report on national radio about a local store, in a near by village, that had run out of bread. This was the result of panic buying and that may have been why I had difficulties myself buying bread in my village too. However my solution was to bake my own. I know that I am lucky to have that skill, and the ingredients so that I could do this, but it was not that long ago that most people would bake their own bread, or at least have the skills to do so.

It really is something that I do not understand, as cooking skills are so fundamental, I just don't understand how people can have lost the skill to cook so quickly. It was this aspect of modern life that I was already working on with a new Blog, Ye Olde Cookbook, as a way of trying to help folks discover the joy of cooking and the pleasure of real food, therefore baking bread had to be a good starting point for this.

I wanted to keep the postings separate from these postings, so that I could keep this much more on topics related to environmental and natural history matters. I know that over the years, I have covered my other topics here too. But often that can mean that folks looking for postings on one topic get lost trying to find what they want. So by keeping them separate hopefully will stop that.

Anyway getting back to the issue of bread, my significant other said something yesterday that really warmed my heart when I asked her what she wanted to break her fast, she said she preferred my bread and just buttered. Well if she keeps on saying things like that she will remain hired as girl friend.

However, the main reason for this posting is that on the BBC recently there have been a couple of series that have been little more than propaganda for the industrialised food industry. When the first was on, I was tempted to post something about this. However, it would have just looked as though I was just complaining as I did not like the series. Yet my real reason for being concerned about that one was that it seemed to be trying to promote the over processed food that we have forced upon us. In that programme they looked at the science behind the way that food (pseudo Food) is produced. Therefore, any criticism of the series would have looked as though I was anti science or against education.

But my main problem was simply that the programmes were just so unquestioning of why these processes were allowed? With a slightly different emphasis, the question could have been asked why are governments and statutory bodies allowing our food to be mucked about with in such an adverse way?

Had the programmes been on a commercial channel most people would have seen it as food industry propaganda. But on the BBC where there is supposedly no commercial influences, it seems to have got under the radar.

And this is something that really puzzles me in relation to food. In so many ways society has become really cynical and will not take on trust most of what it is told. Yet when it comes to the highly processed foods we are forced to buy, people will eat them unquestioningly?

There seems to be more propaganda being delivered by the BBC in a new series that started last night, or the way that industrialised farming can feed an ever growing population. Even though the environment was mentioned several times, it was more or less dismissed as well we need the food so the environment will have to suffer.

All the examples shown were of mega business and Agri-industry. And the location in the first programme was Brazil where vast areas of rainforest and natural savannah has been cleared for this agricultural revolution. In all the cases and examples shown, it was by liberal use of chemicals that this was achieved. Even though mention was made that the chemicals can pollute water sources, it was dismissed by saying care was taken.

Last year industrial farmers were complaining that several agricultural chemicals were banned in Europe. They were banned as they were discovered to be harmful to health. This year, on the first of January, Europe changed the way that chemicals are licensed. Previously a chemicals was deemed safe unless it was proved otherwise. Now the chemicals have to be proved safe before they are licensed. This has happened as far to often chemicals used for years have been shown to be seriously damaging.

I am not against the use of chemicals in Farming and Agriculture, there are times when are needs for them. However, if they were used carefully and sparingly, there would be much less problems with them. But farmers and especially industrial agriculture will use them much more liberally than is needed. Often using pesticides as a prophylactic even when there is no sign or indication that the chemicals are needed.

While there is a problem with food supply looming, for the BBC to become a propaganda mouth piece for the industrial food industry is really shameful.

The Snow and Climate Change

Last nigh was the coldest night in Britain for a number of years. While it was not a record breaking cold, it and the snow has remained at the top of the news. As Homer would say, Doh, its winter. The one thing that we can normally expect to happen in winter is that it will snow. While I realise that news and information is needed in any adverse weather, the way the snow is being reported you would think that snow has never fallen in Britain before. Yet on the other hand, especially in the way statutory bodies have reacted, you would think that we have these conditions every year. And why have these statutory bodies not coped or planned better.

As I posted previously, local councils have been criticised in the media regarding gritting the roads. Particularly the minor roads. All through this snowy weather the main roads have been kept open. However, now there is rationing of the rock salt and only the main routes will be salted. The problem has been an irresponsible media putting pressure on local authorities to do more than was reasonable.

Yesterday I heard a report on national radio that mentioned a local shop where people panic bought all the bread and left the shelves empty. It really does seem that people are very selfish, as I could only think of the older folks in that village, Rolands Gill, who were not able to get out to shop easily. But clearly the media has contributed to this.

Even the BBC were carrying a report that people could make “a claim” against local authorities if the slip and fall in the snow. While if there really has been negligence then perhaps there may be a few genuine claims, but in reality the question should be asked what was the faller doing out in adverse conditions in the first place. I normally have a high respect for the BBC as a news source but my reaction to this was to wonder if some tabloid editor had taken over the news room.

That was bad enough, but last night the BBC were even questioning if Climate Change was real as we are suffering a cold winter. Now I have grown rather frustrated with the BBC over the reporting of Climate change as they seem to think that it has to be reported as a balanced political view. Climate change is a scientific fact, not a political view and giving people who doubt that climate change is happening when the facts show that it is, only hinders efforts to combat the problem.

Weather is what happens now, climate is the weather that happens over a number of years. Even this cold event is likely to be part of the way that the climate is changing as a result of Climate change. Therefore the BBC reports were misleading and very ill informed.

Snow and the Media

Another eight to ten inches of snow fall last night and guess what the media are obsessed with the story. Now having worked in the media industry, anything where they can get either pretty pictures or shocking images will run and often lead the news. And while in recent years three weeks of snow is relatively rare, in the winter in Britain it will snow. That is not news.

While information is needed to plan activities, having half of each national broadcast showing pictures of snow, and the reporter standing in the snow, telling us that it has been snowing is not helping inform anyone.

I realise that the snow has caused some disruption, but the way the media has reported this, makes you think that the whole country expects everything to function perfectly normally. We don't Just less than a week ago the media were complaining that not all the minor roads had been gritted in some places. Yet last night there were reports saying that because all the minor roads had been gritted some councils were at risk of running out of rock salt. The implication being that this was poor planning. But had councils not gritted the minor roads and enabled access to smaller communities there would have been reports of people stranded and apparently abandoned by heartless local authorities. Talk about making a story out of nothing.

There is one rather interesting aspect to this weather event. As my significant other has needed me to look up bus times over the holiday period, I have discovered that my bus company has a face-book page where they post updates regarding delays and diversions, and this has proved invaluable in helping discover if a service is just delayed or has had to be cancelled.

At least today when I went to the village store for supplies, the drivers were navigating the roads with care. Unlike on the eve of the decade when most seemed to not want to see the new year arrive. Incidentally when I got to the store, they were just receiving their delivery and the shelves were empty of everything I wanted and needed. But unlike another woman who seemed to think that it was “a jolly bad show”, (translated for a family audience) I just took a philosophical approach and said I would return latter. After all the staff in the shop can not be held responsible for the weather conditions? Or will that be the news story tonight?

Foxy Fox

Last night as I was writing my previous posting and catching up on friends web logs, I spotted a small fox squeezing itself under the back gate. I have long suspected that a fox was visiting the yard, but even the footprints in the snow were not clear evidence. As all the neighbourhood cats also come in, only a positive sighting would really do.

So a made dash for the camera, it takes a while for the flash to charge, and I got a picture of its escape route.

Kitchen Gadgets

Following my posting yesterday, my long suffering reader made a comment that was very pertinent to what I was already planing to write about. I mentioned that my better half and I had bought a toaster and it will be far more energy efficient than using the grill setting in the oven. Previously as I needed to toast bread so infrequently, when I was on my own it was a balance of the cost of an appliance that I would rarely use against the energy cost. Often if I needed to grill something, I would do it after having used the oven anyway. It was all just down to planing and trying to be as energy efficient as I could. As well as being an old miser.

Talking about energy efficiency, like my talking Tree, I too prefer a gas hob as I find it much easier to control the heat with gas. However, I have learned over the years of using an electric hob that often you can turn the ring off and that residual heat in the element is enough to finish the cooking. Therefore when used properly an electric hob is fractionally more energy efficient than gas. However, with a gas hob you can use the flame to char grill peppers to remove the skin and a wok works better on a gas flame too. So while each has its benefits, we all have to make do with what we have and I see no point in wishing for something I do not have and can not afford. Where would I put two cookers anyway?

This was the issue that I wanted to talk about, that of gadgets and gizmo's in the kitchen. Like most cooks I have been suckered into getting gadgets that are supposed to make life easier in the kitchen. But even back in the 1980s I had reached the conclusion that the time saved with labour saving gadgets was then spent washing them up.

My own mother loved these labour saving devices and they would get used for a while, then would get placed in a cupboard to gather dust. Even when I was younger and discovering cooking and learning cooking skills, I often found that doing it by hand would yield better results. That said there are some gadgets that are really useful. I love my stick blender as I often make quick soups using leftovers or the odds and ends that would otherwise fester in the bottom of the fridge generating cultures. Well my hovel is a culture free zone.

Therefore most people do not need a kitchen that is full of gadgets and gizmo's What you need is good quality equipment and utensils that will aid you and not hinder you. With my ex, one of the aspects of her kitchen that I found frustrating was that her cooking knives were very blunt. It was no so much chopping food that you did with them but hack at them. She was not unique as I have other friends who don't like sharp knives and this prejudice stems from what their parents taught them. But you are more likely to injure yourself with a blunt knife than with a sharp one. Yes care needs to be taken, and even experienced cooks can cut themselves occasionally, but a cut or nick with a sharp knife heals quickly and cleanly should it happen.

Then the next item that you really need is some good quality cooking pans. While I personally prefer stainless steel, as long as they are a reasonably heavy gauge base you will get good results. A thicker base to the pan means you get a more even heat and that means you get even cooking. If the pan is to thin you get hot spots, no matter what type of hob you are using, and that is the most common cause for people thinking they can not cook.

Another essential is a selection of wooden spoons. When, I was first teaching myself to cook I used one of mothers wooden spoons. I had needed to wash it first as she never ever used them. However after using it and rewashing it after use, in the draw where is was kept the wood shrank and split. I got told off and was told that they were just for display not for use. I nearly retorted that they were well displayed in a draw, but thought better of that. My family made the Simpson's look like the Walton's. Well I bought a couple of them then and I have used wooden spoons ever since. As well as not scratching the surface of coated pans, they don't conduct the heat either.

Equally you will need other tools like a slotted spoon, a ladle, a metal spoon and a masher, but most other items will depend upon the cooking you do. The other essential is a pair of food tongs. One of the items that I frequently wasted my money on was garlic crushers. I have had a couple off very good ones, but to be honest I find that a mortar and pestle that I bought when I was 17 works far better than even the best garlic crusher.

Just before Christmas, and it happens every year, I see stacks of roasting pans. These are often the cheap and thin ones that will not last. I too have been seduced by these cheep pans but they are so thin that the fats and the food gets burnt on, even after a few times of use. Thus just as with thin based pans, they are a false economy and after having had to discard yet another that had buckled under the weight of a small goose, I got one that was thicker and was coated in vitalised enamel. I still have it and it has lasted more than twenty years and when cleaned it still looks like new. Now while at current prices one like this will cost about seven or eight pounds, even at current prices it will only take the cost of four of the cheap trays that will have to be replaced every year at least, and the better quality has fully paid for itself.

The same principal applies to other metal cookware. If you like to bake cakes getting good quality tins is essential for example. Other essentials will be bowls and jugs to measure and mix ingredients, but unless you are baking often if you are working on a budget, you do not need even scales. This may surprise some, but often you know how much is in a packet and you can judge the volume of a dry ingredient based upon what's in the packet in the first place. While I do find them essential for some of the cooking I personally do, for every day cooking I don't need them.

The items in each and every cooks kitchen will be different and I can only tell you what I have and more importantly what I use. It is one of the aspects of the celebrity cooks on TV that I often find amusing and frustrating is that they often seem to be using gadgets just for commercial reasons. Buy this gadget as I use it. When really most people do not need them, can not afford them, and will not use them even if they do have them.

So while most people will make do with what they have, I hope that anyone reading this person prospective will avoid wasting money on gadgets they don't need and spend the money on getting the best quality essentials that will genuinely last.

New Year New Plans

As my long suffering reader already knows, last year I acquired a better half. I was not really looking for a partner in crime but a wonderful whirlwind came crashing into my life. So while there are aspects of the last year that I am glad to see the back off, this addition to my life is the one aspect that I am most happy to carry forth into this year.

There had to be changes to my life as a result of this, and some of these changes have been and will be reflected in what I post here. Also, towards the latter third of the year, I suffered from the effects of the recession. As many will have already worked out, much of the postings here are made on the back off the economic activity I was doing. But no matter how careful I was, it is often the folks you deal with who let you down. There were indications of the problems ahead off my publisher going bust, but I took people at their word when they reassured me that everything was fine. Equally, the recession has clearly effected my landlord. As repairs and services that they are legally obliged to carry out they have constantly failed to do.

Therefore my better half and I have taken these aspects into mind as we plan what what we want for our future. While this is not set in stone, one of the changes that could happen in this coming year is that I may be moving. Part of the rational here is that while I like the location of this cottage, and it worked while I was single, even before I met K, I could see that it would not be ideal for two. When we are together those aspects become manifest. For example the kitchen is so small and badly laid out that only one person can be in there at a time. Even before my better half and I were an item, opening the oven blocked half the kitchen. That makes it actually quite dangerous.

So we are looking and while there have been a couple of interesting possibilities, nothing has yet grabbed us as feeling like a home we can make together. There is no rush, but at some point in the coming year you could expect me to be posting about a change that will require exploring new land.

Even if we don't move just yet, we have started getting furniture and appliances together. You can tell that its serious when a couple do that. As the cottage is small, we needed a table that would allow us to share a meal in a civilised and comfortable way. We did find one that we could afford and was small enough to fit in without dominating the room, but in the time we debated getting it, it went. While there are advantages about sharing these decisions, it can lead to a lack of decisiveness. However, as we do share similar tastes, when I found another one, although slightly larger, it was one that we both liked. That was fortunate as I got it before my better half could see it. Phew!

As well as a new, pre loved, table, I had to replace the kettle too. I don't replace items like that to match the décor nor do I just get something new just because it is getting old. My old kettle was a good energy efficient appliance, but had stared leaking from the water level indicator window. As it was just a trace it was not urgent. However, when it started dripping water on my better half's bare feet, I had visions of scalded feet that occurred to one of my readers. Therefore, we made choices and decided to wait for the post Christmas sales. And we are really pleased with the choice we have made. It is even more energy efficient then the one it replaces as it needs less water to work. Also as it is a fast boil, it takes no time to boil. Not only that it looks good too. I would hope that it will last for many years as well. While not expensive, at less than twenty five pounds, it really does pay off in the long term to get the best quality you can afford so that items last.

Additionally as K likes her toast in the morning, we bought a toaster. I can grill and toast bread in the oven, but as I have already said, having the oven door open, blocks the kitchen so it makes trying to make toast a tricky prospect. While it is a task that I have mastered, as my better half has Dyspraxia, the eccentricities of my kitchen makes it even more difficult for her. So while I perhaps would not have bothered with getting a toaster if I were not in this wonderful relationship, I could see the need. While I doubt that no matter how good the toaster is, it will not last as long, it has already shown its worth.

Therefore my plans for the coming year are intimately linked to my better half and her needs. There have been several times when I have cooked for her that she has said that she always said that she needed to find a boy friend who can cook, well most of the time it is a pleasure cooking so we are well matched there. However as food and food issues are a major concern of mine, I will be devoting a lot of my time on these issues in my cooking web log.

Partly because of her needs to avoid some of the foods she dislikes and utilising the foods she does, I have been doing new things in the kitchen as well as rediscovering some of the old recipes that I have not cooked for years. So while I hope the new stuff I will be doing will entertain and inform you, my poor long suffering reader, I hope you will stick with me as my life and this blog evolves.

Snow, Snow everywhere

Yesterday my better half and I were able to spend the whole day together. This is something that is quite rare for us as while we see each other frequently, these are often snatched hours within our busy schedules. Therefore, it was a really nice change to be able to just be together as a couple and share being together. Part of the reason why this occurred was simply as a result of there being no public transport and because of the snow. Had it not been for these factors she would have dashed off so she could get to work this morning.

However, a quick check on the bus and train times showed that she could still make it to work without having to spend hours, and I mean hours, travelling. Effectively the snow yesterday had cut off my village yesterday anyway.

This illustrates a problem that occurs as an attitude problem that people have with adverse weather conditions. Even when there is moderate amount of snow, the majority of people assume that they can do every thing that they normally do where there is no snow. When I know there is snow, or that travelling conditions may be difficult, I allow extra time and change my plans should I need to. Therefore people create their own problems by trying to do things that are not sensible in adverse weather.

In the not to distant past, I am talking about within living memory, people would stock up for winter and would be prepared to cope with these situations. It was one of my first actions when I first moved to the village was to prepare for the occasional loss of power and weather conditions where travelling would be impossible. By keeping a reasonably well stocked cupboard and even getting a camping stove so that I can cook and boil water. I have had need to use it too, not often fortunately, but its there when I need it.

I realise that people have to get to work and get on with their lives, but in the heavy snow as has been falling recently, it is the unnecessary journeys that really cause the problems. This is where people assume they can still drive to the pub or visit friends when the road conditions are not sensible to be driving in. Every time there is snow, the media carries reports of people that get caught in the snow where they are ill prepared. We are not talking about people having to be equipped for a major expedition, but folks going out in the snow as though it were a summer drive. People that don't even take a coat with them as example.

It was alarming to see on New years eve that cars travelling through the village were speeding. In the short walk to the village shop and back, I saw more than ten cars that nearly crashed as a result of their speed.

Well personally, I will stay in hibernation as much as I can while the snow persists.

Birds on Feeders and the New Year

First let me start by wishing you all, a happy and peaceful new year. I know that I have been rather tardy about posting of late, but as well as being busy, the topics that I could have posted on, I would only have been adding to the noise rather than have been adding anything constructive. In particular I am thinking of the Copenhagen climate fiasco. At the start I drafted a posting, but I just felt it sounded rather pessimistic. And while it would have accurately reflected the events that actually happened, I really don't want this place on the Internet to be a location of Doom and Gloom.

Therefore I decided to follow an old adage; “Unless you can say something Good, it is better to say nothing”

So I hope my loyal reader can understand that I just did not want to depress everyone by saying lots of negative stuff about the environment and especially the climate.

It is Ironic that damaging global warming should be being discussed when severe old weather should hit both the US and Europe. And while in the future I will continue making postings about climate change and the environment here, unless I can say something new, informative or interesting, I really don't see the point in repeating myself. Also, I really want to keep my posts here positive. Further, I want to try and use this particular blog for the wildlife observations.

In this vain I want to recount that a couple of weeks ago, just after the first snows, I was coming back from a supermarket run when I saw a fox travelling in the snow. He, it was a big old dog fox, visible genitalia being the dead give away, was scavenging in a farm yard and it was the white backdrop that enabled such a clear sighting. Of the people sitting around me, no one else saw him. It shows just how unobservant some folks are.

One of other observations that the snow has enabled regards the birds on my feeders.

While most people realise and understand that some birds migrate, it is only a recent discovery that even resident populations of birds move their territories with the seasons too. Therefore your winter robin is unlikely to be the same robin that was around and breeding in the spring and Summer. While it is not a hard and fast rule, it does appear to be a general truth. This is why often in the Autumn birds will stop visiting the feeders we put out.

It used to be thought that it was that the birds went into an Autumn moult and that was why the feeders would grow quiet. That combined with the natural abundance of natures harvest, the birds had less reason to visit feeders. However, over the years I questioned this preconceived wisdom as I would sometimes see birds that were in moult on the feeders or about. Also it did not explain why the juveniles who would not need to moult also would cease visiting feeders as well.

Then by using miniature satellite tags, the ranges of birds could be definitively discovered. It surprised Ornithologists and naturalists that most birds would move to a winter territory. While this may even be just ten miles from their summer breeding territory, the discovery started answering many of the questions that the previous theory had not explained.

As the main reason that some people see an absence on there feeders is that they have moved away. It then can take a little while for the incomers to discover or rediscover that food is regularly there. Often as there is an abundance of natural foods in my local area with berries and seeds in the woods and hedgerows it is normally the snows that enable the birds to discover my feeders.

While there will be differences in each location, and some people will never notice an absence of birds on their feeders, the new discoveries from the application of new technology is answering questions that have remained a puzzle for decades.

Anyway one of the plans that I have been making while I was not posting was to start making expanded observational posts about the wildlife I see in my area. While there will be fewer posts here as a result, I hope they will keep my poor suffering reader entertained and informed.

Further, I have been putting other plans in motion and will be writing more on food and farming issues. While I have often spoken of these ideas, and the issues, it has taken time and effort to enable me to get in to a position where I can do some of what I want and still ensure that I have bread on the table.

So I hope dear reader that you like the changes that I will be making, and that the folks that thought I had deserted blogging, well the rumours of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Have good year, I know that I will and pop by and share the fun too.