The safari is sure you are aware that today saw the launch of the UN Year of Biodiversity in Berlin, Germany. 
The slogan is Biodiversity is Life: Biodiversity is OUR Life – certainly is mine! But not in the same meaning as the UN slogan maker-upers.
I think they are referring to the fact that if we don’t (and we currently aren’t) look after the biodiversity on this planet then as a species we are stuffed. We aren’t separate or aloof from all those ‘lesser’ creatures we are part of the same ecosystem and if we keep breaking important links in the chain one of them could be the one our future on this planet depends on – then we’ll be up the usual somewhat smelly creek without our paddles.
I read somewhere recently that globally bees provide a pollination service worth an estimated several TRILLION dollars (how many noughts is that?) for FREE. So OK lets get rid of the bees, nasty buzzy stinging things that they are, and give all those failed bankers who got monstrous bonuses (“I lost almost all your money so you’d better give me a huge reward on top of my already massive pay for not losing every penny; you numbnuts” – and we did!) a pollinating brush each, send them to the four corners of the globe (if a globe can have corners) and tell ‘em to earn their money and get pollinating. After all it is the quest for more and more and even more money that is at the root of the decline in biodiversity.
Will there be more biodiversity by Jan 2011? Somehow I doubt it!
But we can’t go anywhere else – OK one or two people have been to the Moon but no way can 7 billion of us get up there to escape down here – crackin pic by Extreme Photographer, Raf.
By way of Biodiversity enjoy some more of his pics. I really like the tiny vermiculations under the sail of the male Mandarins – never noticed that until I saw these photos.
A similar shot of Long Tailed Tits at the feeder to the photo I took last week – just shows what a lens the size of a bucket can achieve in comparison to a ‘happy snappy’. 
Yesterday’s Brambling, Robin and Fieldfare – done justice this time 
A portrait of a Stanley Park Grey Lag Goose and a swim-by Pochard.
Ain’t Biodiversity great! And that’s only seven species out of the millions – get pollinating you *ankers!
Patch 1 was too slippery to contemplate this morning as rain had fallen overnight and frozen on the old snow creating something approaching a ski-jump ramp of the hill – not pleasant!
Patch 2 at lunchtime was devoid of life – very little on the beach, even less out at sea. Perfect conditions for marine mammal spotting – just about flat calm and totally shadowless but there were none to spot – a waste of ideal conditions - shame.
So no new year ticks today.
Where to next? Can only be Patches 1 and 2 this week. Remote possibility of another night-time Land Rover outing later in the week.
In the meantime let us know what should have been seen in our outback but had the audacity not to show.
The slogan is Biodiversity is Life: Biodiversity is OUR Life – certainly is mine! But not in the same meaning as the UN slogan maker-upers.I think they are referring to the fact that if we don’t (and we currently aren’t) look after the biodiversity on this planet then as a species we are stuffed. We aren’t separate or aloof from all those ‘lesser’ creatures we are part of the same ecosystem and if we keep breaking important links in the chain one of them could be the one our future on this planet depends on – then we’ll be up the usual somewhat smelly creek without our paddles.
I read somewhere recently that globally bees provide a pollination service worth an estimated several TRILLION dollars (how many noughts is that?) for FREE. So OK lets get rid of the bees, nasty buzzy stinging things that they are, and give all those failed bankers who got monstrous bonuses (“I lost almost all your money so you’d better give me a huge reward on top of my already massive pay for not losing every penny; you numbnuts” – and we did!) a pollinating brush each, send them to the four corners of the globe (if a globe can have corners) and tell ‘em to earn their money and get pollinating. After all it is the quest for more and more and even more money that is at the root of the decline in biodiversity.
Will there be more biodiversity by Jan 2011? Somehow I doubt it!
But we can’t go anywhere else – OK one or two people have been to the Moon but no way can 7 billion of us get up there to escape down here – crackin pic by Extreme Photographer, Raf.
By way of Biodiversity enjoy some more of his pics. I really like the tiny vermiculations under the sail of the male Mandarins – never noticed that until I saw these photos.A similar shot of Long Tailed Tits at the feeder to the photo I took last week – just shows what a lens the size of a bucket can achieve in comparison to a ‘happy snappy’. Yesterday’s Brambling, Robin and Fieldfare – done justice this time A portrait of a Stanley Park Grey Lag Goose and a swim-by Pochard. Ain’t Biodiversity great! And that’s only seven species out of the millions – get pollinating you *ankers!Patch 1 was too slippery to contemplate this morning as rain had fallen overnight and frozen on the old snow creating something approaching a ski-jump ramp of the hill – not pleasant!
Patch 2 at lunchtime was devoid of life – very little on the beach, even less out at sea. Perfect conditions for marine mammal spotting – just about flat calm and totally shadowless but there were none to spot – a waste of ideal conditions - shame.
So no new year ticks today.
Where to next? Can only be Patches 1 and 2 this week. Remote possibility of another night-time Land Rover outing later in the week.
In the meantime let us know what should have been seen in our outback but had the audacity not to show.
3 comments:
I enjoyed reading your rant today Dave - very true every word of it. :-)
Thanks Warren - told you I was a literary genius!! Haha
Cheers
D
Great stuff Dave. It's amazing how many people are sadly oblivious to the biodiversity that does still surround us - like how many people wouldn't believe you could see 20 bird species if you spent an hour birding in the right place, even within the city limits.
I think the uneducated masses should be required to try and identify the stink bug nymph I saw yesterday and that could serve as a crash course in biodiversity - who knew there were so many dozens and dozens of stink bugs that all look so darn similar! Biodiversity is amazing stuff.
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