Glis glis

Snow! There’s a steady stream of thrush species landing in the fields and trees near our house; it looks like the heavy snow to the east has pushed them over to us – what a sight!!

Tagged by Andrew:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

“It feeds mainly on insects, which include earwigs, gall-insects, beetles, moths, ants, blow-flies and tipulid flies. It also eats spiders, centipedes and worms, while its vegetable food includes small fruits, such as currant, yew, hawthorn, raspberry and blackberry, and also small seeds. In winter it will feed on almost any household scraps.”

From The Life of the Robin by David Lack (1943), which goes on to say that on the basis of its food, the robin was assessed as 43.5% beneficial, 48.5% neutral and 8% harmful to man.

My computer desk is next to my wildlife books, so this selection is not all that surprising

…And the April Fool effort prize goes to the BBC for their flying penguins

=D

Hurray, the water vole will finally receive full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act!

Over the next few months, Dorset Wildlife Trust are auctioning signed pictures of butterflies drawn by loads of celebrities, including Katie Melua, Graham Norton, Ricky Gervais – go have a look at their eBay page! =)

Nirah is a new proposed “freshwater sanctuary” near Bedford. The overall concept is very appealing, although I haven’t quite made up my mind about it yet. It looks Eden Projecty, but a bit more commercial (with the water rides and 4D cinema stuck on). It’s definitely a good idea to have a centre dedicated to freshwater, and it actually surprised me to learn that this is the first (as an aside, I don’t really know about fish genetics, but I wonder how if this will have an effect on genetic diversity of the Nirah populations?).

There are a number of defensive FAQs on the site, but this mainly seems to be in response to a “Say no to Nirah” campaign, of the “all zoos are bad” vein. While I’d prefer Nirah not to take animals from the wild, people need to realise that while habitat conservation is extremely important, it is also very complex and often too risky to be used as a single strategy. This is particularly true for huge interlinked freshwater systems – it’s not like you can put a fence round them. Not to mention that human interest will always win when it’s a question of drinking water supply versus river levels.

I’d like to hear more about their research plans – and hope they stick to the ‘non-invasive’ policy.

Anyway, something to watch out for =) E. O. Wilson is the patron, so that’s a good sign =D

Creationist museum challenges evolution

“On a rocky ledge, there is a pair of small theropods – young T. rex individuals, we’re told. And near to them (“hold onto your hat”, says Ken, anticipating our disbelief) there are two human children playing by a stream.

Most geologists would say humans and dinosaurs were separated by more than 60 million years. And those dinosaurs have very sharp teeth!

“So do bears”, says Ken, “but they eat nuts and berries! Remember, before the sin of Adam, the world was perfect. All creatures were vegetarian.” One of the dinosaurs lets out a rather contradictory roar.”

Hahaha XD Okay let’s ignore the stomach contents of dinosaur fossils then… And the fact that bears definitely eat meat =P

Everyone has a right to their own beliefs… However, desperately manipulating Bible stories to fit rock formations, and saying it’s equal to science is rather silly! Still, I can’t wait to hear what the rest of the exhibits are like

Hehe you should always listen to Dr Who Today’s episode demonstrated that traffic congestion causes you to sing hymns and give birth to kittens, before being eaten by a giant crab

Following on from an earlier post, do I want to buy fairtrade bananas in non-recyclable packaging, or normal bananas in no packaging?

Possibly the best answer is no bananas, but I need my potassium

It looks like the effects of MSC Napoli are worsening – a new slick has formed =( Hurray for the wonderful RSCPA workers and volunteers, who are working hard to help the birds… Wish I could help, especially as it’s all happening so close (apparently they originally intended to get the ship to our beach in Budleigh, but it wouldn’t have made it in one piece) – though the local radio said the RSPCA has been innundated with offers of help from the public.