Thursday 19 December 2013

The darkness

The Safari is still here, honest. Wot with dingy grey dark days, foul windy rainy weather, starts in the dark, returns in the dark and the inevitable last minute shop-a-thons at lunchtimes wildlifing has  taken a back seat somewhat. 
Nothing doing at work, no time for Patch 2 and just a few Rabbits and Feral Pigeons on the lawns. The Song Thrush has moved on but the regular Blackbird is often seen under the Gorse hedge in about the same place.
Can't believe what we saw yesterday evening when we took Frank out at tea-time - the council had been down the hill and mown the grass verge; in mid-December!!! That really shouldn't happen. Still a few flowers of Dove's Foot Cranesbill escaped the blades but the Daisies didn't. Stupidly mild for the middle of December but we're sure it'll all change before too long if we ever get rid of these ferocious winds.
Can't believe another satellite tracked Golden Eagle has been found poisoned in the black hole of  Angus - haven't they just been voted Scotland's National Species, someone obviously doesn't think that  should be so. Still need several thousand more signatures on this petition. Anyone who cares about wildlife and/or their pets/children should sign this, the poisons these b*stards use is plenty strong enough to kill your pet dog or child should they come across it by accident. Every single one of RSPB's million members and the National Trust's 3.7 million members, and the Wildlife Trust's 800,000 members too...their website says this "We're a charity that works to preserve and protect historic places and spaces – for ever, for everyone." And in those spaces the relevant species should flourish for ever for everyone, so what's stopping you - get signing please, unless you're not a UK  resident of course. These relics from the century before last must not be allowed to get away with it anymore. Wouldn't it be great if Golden Eagles could become England's (or even Wales' ) National Bird - not going to happen if they can't get across the Southern Uplands to be able to colonise northern England...same goes for White Tailed Eagles, Hen Harriers, and more. Don't forget both those species were once fairly common and widespread before the 'invention' of 'game' shooting.
And it's not just birds of prey almost anything that moves or tries to grow taller than Heather apart from Meadow Pipits gets it in the neck. Don't get us started on the ecological carnage 36,000,000+ Pheasants wreak upon the native fauna every autumn.
Rant over - get signing...
Where to next? Hols have started and we have a few projects in mind and a couple of twitches to do to see if we can at least draw level with Monika.
In the meantime let us know who's doing the murdering in your outback

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