Film of a red Kite sitting in her nest on Eggs

While not the best film I have ever shot, nor is there much happening, but you can see the yellow wing tag, otherwise the Red Kite would be very well camouflaged. The film was shot at some distance, so that this protected bird was not disturbed. If I can return and watch over the bird again I hope to film the chicks when they hatch too.

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.

Frog by Night

A few weeks ago I mentioned spotting a Common Frog in my back yard, well it was the Owl that drew my attention to it first. Well I film her and I have finally got the film sorted out and here it is.

A female Common Frog Rana temporaria, at night and hopping away.

Bibionidae Fly

One of the joys of watching wildlife it that I can lose myself in the moment. Sometimes my mind is working overtime, trying to work out the details that will help me latter identify a species, or by observing the subtleties of behaviour discover what this particular animal or bird is doing. But most of all, I can find myself my inner humanity.

There are many times when I do worry about the state of the planet, and there is a lot to worry about, but getting out and seeing the wonders of our world both excites and calms me. It reinforces my reason for fighting for the environment, in a small way, I have no delusions that I can or will do more than apply a sticking plaster to the wounds we inflict upon our planet. However, getting out and seeing what we share the planet with makes life worth living.

While I have covered some serious topics in my posts of late, for a while I want to just concentrate upon what is so special about wildlife. Not least because I am researching some much more serious topics for latter postings. Thus I need to have something positive to balance the negative of the acts of environmental vandalism that is going on.

So as a start, here is a film of a Bibiondae Fly, I think the species is Dilophus febrilis feeding on the nectar of a cow parsley.

Grove Snail

Here is a film of the White lipped Grove Snail. The Grove Snail, while a common mollusc has a great deal of variability in the banding on the shell so it can be difficult to determine the species. It is a scientifically important species, as it is one of the species that proves Evolution and natural selection.

The banding provides camouflage from thrushes, it main predator. The greater the variation in the banding the better hidden the mollusc is in the grass. Thus more likely to breed and hence the snails evolve to avoid predation. As agricultural practices have changed over the past century so the variation has kept pace with these changes, thus providing an example of evolution in action.

Cattle in Conservation

Because the landscape in the UK countryside is shaped by the activity of man, using domestic animals to manage nature reserves is vitally important. In the past traditional farming and agricultural methods created habitat that wildlife was able to utilise.

At Seaton Snook, a nature reserve near Tees Mouth, cattle are used as they eat the long grass. This in turn encourages new fresh growth of new grass and of other herbage that in turn provides habitat and food for the invertebrates that are the start of the food chain.

As Tees Mouth is an important National Nature Reserve, this provides food for the birds in spring and summer, while the fresh growth vegetation encouraged by the cattle grazing in turn provides grazing for migrant geese and swans in the winter.

The Flight of the Red Kite

I hope that my reader will forgive me for this ego massaging posting. Earlier I tried and failed to film a Red Kite, I went back to my cataloguing of my footage. This was a clip that I shoot a little while ago.

There is an analogy with shooting film or taking photographs with the way that a field biologist works on collecting trip. The scientist will collect specimens over a few weeks yet it will then require months of work as a result of that expedition. In effect that is what I am doing with my video film. As I catalogue the film so that I can find them again, I am also listing clips that will eventually get put together into films. Also I frequently discover that if I film other establishing shots or linking footage I can then do something justice. Even if it is rough justice.

However this clip of the gracefully flight of the Red Kite stands on its own.

I am fully aware that while my filming is not yet up to the standard of the pros, I can see where I am getting better the more I film. The trouble is that with wildlife I cant say cut and ask the bird or mammal to do that again. Their union don't allow it and its in their contract.

One of the things that has surprised me was when I looked at the number of people that have viewed my junk on you tube, I have clocked up over a thousand views. As my stuff doesn't involve gratuitous violence nor crass and juvenile behaviour, I am surprised that anyone has viewed them at all.

Well that's my ego massaged, I had better get on with some work.

Badgers and Orchids

Because of a couple of long very busy days, by five in the afternoon I found myself falling asleep. So I decided to go to bed. Getting back up at ten, once I had eaten I decided to use this time productively. Therefore I went off to check out the two new badger setts. While there is nothing significant to report with them, I am curious why these have appeared at this time.

In the normal course of events, less dominant female badgers will move to other setts and this helps prevent in breeding. Also males will be driven out from a family group again preventing these males from mating with sisters and other closely related group members. Additionally, while the family group maintains a large central home sett, that group will have smaller satellite setts where different members of the family can go off to cool off or get away from tensions. Much like the way that humans can and will avoid other members of the family to maintain harmony.

Therefore, while having one new sett starting within an existing territory is rare, it does happen. However, having this happen twice appears outside what happens normally. It could just be that it has not been recorded before, so at the moment I am working on the hypothesis that something has happened that has disturbed or disturbed another sett elsewhere.

I may never find out what has caused this to happen, and the two new setts are settling down quite well, thus while this may be a curiosity it could also be that this is quite normal. What also has me wondering is why the dominant male has allowed this? As the old Brock became a road kill in February and a younger male took over it could be that this is the special circumstance that is at the root of this. In some ways it shows just how little we know about even common animals.

This relates to other work I have been doing. I have been busy preparing a report for a site looking at what species are there, what species are missing and what improvements can be made to increase biodiversity. While much of the work is looking at what foods are there for a particular species, then overlaying these matrix networks, it is possible to work out where there are gaps in food plants or insects on a site. Therefore, it then becomes relatively easy to see where habitat restoration work is needed.

However, sometimes it is not that easy, as you can provide the right foods, the right conditions and a species that you would expect to be there just is not present. It is often what we don't know or yet understand that is the important factor.

Equally, a species may be present yet because we don't have any knowledge of behaviour or lifestyle and behaviour, to know what is needed to encourage this species. On this site there is, apparently, a rare orchid but I cant find any substantive information regarding its needs to be able to offer any real help as to what needs to be done not only to ensure its survival or how to improve the habitat to encourage its numbers. This also means that not knowing what the needs of this plant are, any other work that improves conditions for other species could inadvertently harm this orchid.

I have not yet visited the site in Yorkshire, I can not and will not reveal more than that about the location, but I hope that by seeing the site will provide some clues as to what work if any could and more importantly should be done.

While I don't claim to be an expert, there are holes in what we know about natural history that means we can not assume we have all the answers. That is why watching and studying wildlife is so exciting and fascinating.

Wind Turbines good for the Marine Environment

When the British government announced that there would be an expansion of off shore wind power generation, I personally gave the announcement a cautious welcome. The aspect that I was worried about was would the locating of the turbines damage habitat.

As I did not know, I decided to look into the matter and find out. What added to my concerns was that fishermen and the fishing industry were opposed to this. While I have to say that many fishermen are far from conservation minded, was this a matter where the people closest to that environment were being ignored?

The point where any turbine is located will cause some damage to the sea bed, but as has been proven time and again, building any structure out at sea actually attracts creatures. Ask any diver and wrecks are great places to find a whole range of marine wildlife. Further, artificial reefs have been created in British waters by sinking old vessels and by dropping crushed cars in the sea. All previously cleaned up so they don't create pollution it should be added. This is exactly what has happened around the the locations of existing off shore wind farms. In fact the additional habitat created by these projects are increasingly becoming important conservation areas. Therefore, my one major concern that there was a risk of damaging the marine environment is allayed as these structures enhance rather then damage marine ecology.

So why are the fishermen objecting? Well the main reason is that they would be excluded from fishing in the areas where these wind farms will be located. As each tower is spaced at five hundred metres apart, while there is room to manoeuvre a boat, any towed fishing gear would be in danger of getting snagged. Towed gear is not just simply nets, its the weights and dredges that are the greatest threat.

Here locally at Blyth where the British off shore wind industry started, the original test turbines are no longer generating electricity because the cable connecting the turbines to the shore was damaged by such fishing methods. Therefore with lessons learnt, fishing has to be excluded from the areas where these wind farms are situated and from the areas where the cables run. It should also be noted that the industrial fishing methods that will be excluded from these areas are the ones that have been most damaging to the marine environment.

The real problem with the fishing industry is that almost all the fishing methods are unsustainable. Fishermen are harvesting from the diminishing breeding population and are also taking fish and marine creatures that have not yet reached sexual maturity. Hence fishermen are and will cry foul of anything that restricts their activities. But just as happened to deep mining here in the UK, there comes a point when the industry has to end. With mining while there was still coal there, it was becoming increasingly dangerous to dig that coal out. However, with fishing unless we stop fishing now, the fishermen themselves will kill their own industry.

The fishing industry is in fact being very short sighted, as one of the advantages of the installation of all these off shore wind turbines will be to create undisturbed breeding and feeding grounds for an extensive variety of marine species. This will in time provide the solution to the collapse of marine animals that are used for food.

While I don't think that wind turbines are the whole solution to climate change, all of the incidental benefits of these off shore wind farms will make them vital for providing energy in the future.

One of the interesting things that I have discovered, Denmark have suffered much less than most nations with the hike in energy prices that has been occurring in recent years. Not least, because of the investment that they made in wind turbines in the past. While we in Britain are playing catch up on this, in ten years time we will actually have the buffer against the price rises that will happen in years to come. Equally once all these turbines are installed we will have done more to protect the marine environment than has ever happened in any part of our planet.

Deer, Butterflies and Village Life.

Well the last week has been rather busy, tiring and stressful for me. By Friday last week I was tired but hearing that I had obtained my IR camera, a farmer friend asked if I was willing to help him discover the numbers of Deer that were on his land. Near part of his farm are a small number of houses, and they have been complaining about the plants in their gardens getting eaten. Initially they blamed the cattle, but as he had to stop dairy farming when Foot and Mouth happened, (that's when I first met him) that clearly was not the cause. Then the owner of the majority of these homes, they are owned as holiday lets, realised that it was deer that were getting into the gardens and nibbling the plants.

However the owner(s) were not willing to put up deer fencing as it would spoil the view and reduce the holiday letting income. Thus the owners of the cottages wanted to have the deer culled. This has been on going for a number of years. The farmer doesn't feel that there is a problem, and when I have looked I cant see what the problem is either, what damage there is is minimal. The reality is that the owner of the holiday lets gets more money by keeping the gardens pristine and he wants them to look picture perfect all the time.

So I was asked to see if I could count the number of deer that are going into the gardens from the farmers land. No matter what is said about farmers in general, there are more that care about the land the wildlife and landscape than don't. Anyway the farmer set up in a copses of trees a hide for me. It was raised of the round so that my scent was not detectable, but once there I was stuck there all night.

Now as anyone will know, it poured with rain last Friday night. And I was in danger of evolving gills. I got the information required and I saw fourteen deer, five Roe and nine fallow. As well as many other animals, including a fox that found shelter under the hide and did not leave until morning when I was released from my wet prison.

Now I must say with all this effort being put into warming the climate, for us to be having all this rain someone is not trying hard enough! I am sure that there is some one that can switch on another appliance or drive around aimlessly in a bigger car so we can get the Mediterranean climate we all seem to be seeking.

Flippancy over, exhausted I went to bed, satisfied that the Farmer now had independent proof that the Deer numbers were no where as high as the Holiday cottage owner was implying. Further, only two of the Deer had gone into the gardens and they were the gardens of the residents who are not worried or complaining about the deer anyway.

When I woke up though, I was feverish and not feeling well at all. So I thought that I would take a few days off, let my body heal its self. And this was going to plan, until on Sunday just as I was getting out of the bath, the phone goes. Now in my own house there are times when I don't bother with clothes, so I was not self concious of my state of undress. I had dried myself and as the call had come on the mobile I was expecting it to be a short one. I was wrong.

Since last year I have been helping a volunteer group put together a proposal for turn some derelict land into some allotments and a wildlife area. I was initially contacted by the group via my old 360 blog as they had gotten a grant to pay a consultant to put together the proposal and grant bids. But through delays they missed out on two important grants they were hoping for. Therefore they asked me to act as a mediator and advisor between them and the consultant.

What I first found looked to be a bit of a mess as the plans drawn up by the consultant were incoherent to say the least. And the vision the community had wanted appeared to have been ignored. So with a series of site visits I got the people involved to work out what they had in terms of species living there, and we worked out what work needed to be done as well as what species could be attracted if certain plants were introduced. The main emphasise being upon attracting butterflies and moths.

Well all this had been worked out and sent off to the consultant by email. The call on Sunday was from one of the women involved in the group. As there was a strike by Local Government Workers on Wednesday and Thursday this week, the meeting that had been planned for the Wednesday had been cancelled However that was not the problem, the consultant had gone off on holiday, and knowing that the Wednesday strike had cancelled the meeting had not submitted the detailed document to the council. The problem was the local authority had offered them a new meeting on Monday or Friday.

So this community group were desperately trying to get a plan, a document together. The problem was some people had information on one computer other information was on another computer, and as no one had the same software it was all becoming a mess.

The problem was exacerbated by the fact that there were holes in the information, little details that mattered. So I spent an hour looking things up in books and on my electronic library all while on the phone. When I had finished, I look up and there are three children trying to peek into my living room. I quickly shut the curtain, I have a voile up as well but I am no exhibitionist either.

The following day, still feeling grotty from getting wet and chilled, I get another call from the community group while they had gone to the local council meeting on the Monday, the council were not happy with the presentation document. So I was being asked if I could re type it and put it into the format that the council needs. Plus I only have three days to do it in.

Realising how important this all was, I agreed to do it. When I saw the document I realised why the council were not willing to accept it. Even though I have dyslexia myself (I don't suffer from it other people suffer from my dyslexia), I could spot many spelling mistakes and the grammar and punctuation made it difficult to read. Now I am now typist so I got all the content emailed to me from the different contributors. Another aspect had been the number of different fonts and sizes used. That way I could edit it and use DTP to make it all look presentable.

With many telephone calls and emails latter I was able to get it looking good, and clarify parts that seemed to contradict each other. I even had to go and get the ink to print the documents out, and yes they will be paying me for that.

Then on Friday they called and told me that the council had accepted their plan and the council will be giving them a lease for the land. So that was a brilliant result. I suggested that they write to complain about the consultant who has let them down so often, something that the officer from the council also said they should think about doing. However, with the land secured they can get cracking with some of the work, as I know they are doing this weekend, While they await their grant applications. But even if that grant money doesn't come through, there is still a lot they can get done. I was just happy that I was able to help guide them along the way.

However, there is a twist to this as when I went to get the inks for the printer, I was stopped in town by a fellow villager and relatively near neighbour. I say relatively near as she doesn't live that close, but had the cheek to complain about my curtains previously and was questioning my movement when she had obviously seen me wandering about at “odd hours” as she put it.

Well she had heard that I had been seen wandering about naked. I told her that if I was seen I was in my own home and remaining very polite I did tell her that it really was none of her business. She then told me that there was a tale going round the village that there was a convicted pervert living in the village. Now I too had heard this and about the time I first moved to the village. I have no way of knowing if its true, but while people need to careful about who their children associate with, there is a nasty atmosphere developing here. One of the aspects of this village that makes it endearing is that it always has had a fair smattering of eccentrics living here. But of late it seems that anyone who doesn't fit into some stereotyped box is seen with suspicion. This suspicion is being generated by a minority who seem to have their own agenda.

This village has suffered from drug problems, alcohol problems and crime for many years. While those problems are still here they are far fewer incidents that was happening even three years ago. Yet when I first moved here I was told that all the problems were from people who moved to the village, from outsiders, but I have lived here long enough to have seen for myself that more of the problems here are as a result of indigenous wrong doers than from outsiders.

I told this woman quite clearly that I was not the convicted pervert, as I have had to undergo “Criminal Records Office” checks I have documents to prove that, and what ever her problem was with me she needed to get over it.

When I told the woman who lives next door, she was shocked that this near neighbour had said anything. As previously the same woman had said I must be Gay as I don't have a girl friend, my ex wife could quickly disprove that one. Further, this woman is apparently telling every one that I am a peeping tom, why else do I always seem to have a camera. Also she is apparently anxious to know who all my visitors are.

Now I know that my lifestyle is not a conventional nine to five one, but I can not understand why this woman has so taken against me. I have done nothing nor said nothing to harm her. But some people seem to just want to be nasty. Well I just have to continue to ignore people like that as I have better things to do with my time.

Beavers return to Britain

As my regular readers (two cats and a human) will know, back in Autumn I spoke of a project that planed to reintroduce the European Beaver back into the UK. The greatest difficulty with any project like this is in fact education as people develop prejudice against some species.

With the beaver the prejudice centred upon the damage they would do to fish and to woodlands. As Beavers are vegetarian and eat tree bark they would not damage fish at all. In fact the calm pools the create for their lodges actually benefit most species of fish as they create habitats that enable the fish to breed more successfully.

The other prejudice was, is and will be more difficult to counter, as beavers do fell trees.

However, in the control areas where captive populations have been introduced, the activities of the Beavers has actually mirrored much of the tree felling work that has to be done to preserve riverside habitats anyway. As we live on a crowded island, the competition for space has meant that many of the natural processes have been interrupted. Further because of the loss of species, or exclusion of animals, humans have had to resort to carrying out maintenance work to retain the ecology that was there in the first place.

Therefore, by reintroducing Beavers, the trees that would overwhelm river banks get felled naturally. This will save the conservation organisations, farmers and land owners millions over the coming years as work normally undertaken by volunteers, contractors or workers will occur naturally.

A further benefit that was not expected was the discovery that the root systems of the trees felled by the Beavers worked much better as erosion protection. Because the Beavers are felling the trees younger, that would happen for conservation reasons, the micro root systems of the trees retained the soils of the river bank better. Additionally, the made the rivers less prone to adding to the damage caused by flooding. Partly because these root systems acted as a better sponge, but mainly because of the slower flow rates of the Beavers created habitat meant that in a flood swollen river, the water drained away better down the river channel and was less likely to over spill.

So while some people may still object to this reintroduction, the benefits will be imminence. As the species is being introduced into a landscape that has done without Beavers for several centuries, legal permission was required from the Government. This has now been given by the Scottish Parliament, and the reintroduction programme will occur in Scotland.

All the effort in the study of the possible effects of the Beavers on the environment was important as it was possible that the effect would have been like an invasive species that would have seriously impacted existing species and habitats. However, by ensuring that we knew what the likely impacts were and most of them are beneficial, we can all look forward to a time when Beavers will become a part of the British landscape again.

My thanks to Natural England for the picture by Paul Glendell

And here's a link to the Scottish Wildlife Trust and more information about the reintroduction project.

The Crucifix Beetle

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

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

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

A link to The Herpelogical Conservation Trust web site

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

Laws Protecting Wildlife

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Article on the Badger killings

The Article on the Egg Thief

The RSPB on the Bird destroyer

Protecting Eggs and Nests

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Article

Pleasing My Bank Manager by being Green

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

General Musings

Finally on Saturday morning the Computer interface bit and the Video Software I had ordered arrived. As I had paid extra for fast postage and signed for delivery, I was not impressed that it came via normal second class post. That's an issue I will take up with the supplier.

However, over a cup of tea I read the destructions and after a quick check for email and backing up my computer, I set about installing the hardware and the software. That part was very simple, and I connected up the camera and started to load up my footage. While not a fast process everything seemed to be working fine.

As I need to learn how to use the software, I took my time and while I though I was doing everything correctly, I kept on getting a message telling me that my film would be lost when I tried to shut down after thinking I had completed uploading the footage to the computer. I just could not understand it, and for most of Saturday I kept on trying to discover where I was going wrong. I knew the footage was being recorded on the hard drive as I could see my gigabytes being eaten away.

On Sunday I had to go on a site visit to a conservation area where my input and ideas had been requested. Because of the difficulties I was having I decided to leave my cameras behind. I hope I can return as there are some wonderful areas that will soon be carpeted with bluebells in this wood. The rest of the visit was very straight forward. Its a chap that I know that has bought seventy five acres of scrubby woodland, and he was looking for conformation that his ideas will regenerate the wood, the habitats and the wildlife. Most of the work will not be done until next winter. Delays meant that until the first of March he didn't own it. This actually means he has the best part of a year to discover what is living in the wood, and adjust his plans accordingly.
It was the discovery of some very rare flowers and amphibians on the land that delayed his purchase. However, as he wants to keep the land as a wildlife haven anyway, it seems all is well there.

So feeling buoyant I returned home to try and unravel the mystery that is my video stuff. So I decided I would start again from scratch and removed the software and reloaded it. I then re-transferred the video films to the computer. This time it appeared to work. So I was able to transfer my filming to DVDs ready to edit them latter. I still don't know what was going wrong before, but that's often the way with computers.

It will take time for me to learn how to edit the films, but apart from trying to watch badgers, monitoring migrations, filming otters or not, doing my washing cooking and cleaning, well I have to find something to fill my time.

Watching for Frogs and Toads

During February we had only half the average rainfall. This makes it difficult for Frogs and Toads to emerge from their points of hibernation and get to the water they need to breed in. As amphibians need water to breed in as the eggs would dry out. Also the Frogs and Toads need to have damp or wet conditions to journey to the ponds and pools to breed in. Thus last night with steady rain forecast, it was looking like the best night so far to see the amphibians on the move and breeding.

So after midnight I ventured forth, walking in the woods in the dark is always an interesting experience. Because of recent gales the paths and tracks are covered with small twigs and branches, that makes walking quietly much more difficult, so slow and steady was the only way to progress. Initially, I had to be careful not to do an impression of a snowball as I nearly went tumbling more than once. I know that I disturbed something as I heard what sounded like a Fox or a Badger escaping at my approach.

I heard a pair of Tawny owls and I stopped to listen. There was no way that I could see them, but the male must have been no less than fifteen feet away from me as I passed by. Because of the density of the wood on the route I needed to take, I was using a torch. This meant that I could see the eye shine of a pair of Foxes as they crossed my path a hundred yards or so from me.

By the time I got to the pools, the steady drizzle was making the ground quite slick under foot. As I did not want to fall in (again), I took my time to get to the pond side. There were no sounds of the Frogs or Toads, nor any sign of them. I set up the Camera on the Tripod and placing a rain cover on it I went looking to see if I could spot any of the amphibians moving about. I could not see anything so I waited and waited.

When I realised that the first light of pre dawn was lightening the sky I realised that I was not going to get the amphibians on film I decided it was better to wait for the light to return before heading home. While all I had got was wet, I did have the consolation of the dawn chorus to make my tired trek home a pleasant one. I may have gotten a momentary glimpse of a Roe Deer as it leaped away from my approach.

Well I will have to wait for another moist evening and perhaps then I will see them.
When I got home, on the radio was a story asking people not to collect Frog spawn to stock their ponds. I did think lucky them to have the spawn to find.

A link to that article

Breeding Frogs and Displaying Red Kites

While it was not planed that way, it was rather fortunate that my new toy arrived on the first day of spring. So far I have been able to get out each day with the video camera and I have got some interesting footage. However, it will take time before I can post anything here as I still need to get the software and cables to do that. However, getting out each day to explore with the camera is a pleasure.

While the camera is digital, I am learning its limitations and its abilities. On Sunday I went looking for the signs of breeding behaviour in the amphibians, and I found frog spawn. I used the camera to film the spawn and was really pleased that the macro facility really worked and worked well. Playing the footage back, I could see the frog developing inside the egg. I plan to try and return several times and observe the development. I must admit that I am fascinated by these really basic aspects of natural history, whenever I see something I just become a child again. There will be some folks that know me, that will attest to the fact that I have never grown up.

Then on Monday after getting an okay sequence as I was heading for home I spotted a pair of Bullfinches feeding and got some clear footage of them. Tuesday I popped out early, and while I didn't get what I was hoping to see, I had a long clear view of a Jackdaw preening.

But as I had other commitments, I had to head off and do all the boring stuff of life. However, when I got back from a supermarket run, if only the cat would buy her own food I could be saved that job, I still had time to get out for a wander.

Last year I witnessed a pair of the Red Kites trying to build a nest, they failed as it collapsed off the branch. Therefore I have been keeping up an observation to see if it happened again. Therefore I have been looking out for any activity that would indicate the Kites were pairing or nesting.

As the thinning work is going on at the moment in the woods, some paths and tracks are closed to the public. Therefore I have had to take longer circuitous routes to the various locations to observe. While in the thick of the wood I spotted one of the Kites. As I tried to make my way forward I realised that there was not one but three of them and they were circling. Then to my wonder and delight I realised there were four of them.

Had it not been the happy chance of the trees still being without leaf and all three appearing in the patches of open sky at the same time I may not have realised what I was seeing. I was one hundred yards of thick wood away from gaining a clear view but there were three males competing in a courtship flight for a single female. At one point two of the birds, one of the males and the female exchange food in an aerial pass, talon to talon. This is behaviour that I have only read of in books before and never witnessed. What an amazing sceptical, as one bird (the male) has to fly upside down, all be it briefly, to complete this feat in mid air.

I got a short, a few seconds long, of one of the kites though the trees, but after the female chose the male, they flew off before I could escape the thicket. Had it not been for the forest operations going on I would have tried following but the path I would have needed to take went straight to where heavy machinery was felling timber and as excited as I was I did not want to get into the path of a hundred foot spruce coming down.

The excitement of seeing something like that is amazing. It would have been great if I could have filmed it, but that was not to be this time at least. I don't care if people think that I am like a child at moments like this, as these experiences provide me with memories that are priceless.

Vendace Brought back from the edge of Extinction

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

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

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

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

The article on the Project

Further Information One Two Three

Japanese Whaling

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Greenpeace