So the news the other day was the coldest month since records began. Trying to see a joke in there I have to say was it the coldest before wax cylinders then. Too off the wall well perhaps.
But it has been cold and not for a couple of days for weeks or seemed anyway. Hopefully it will have done some good somewhere. My only concern is what effect has it had on wildlife.
Certainly gardeners were still coming to terms with the damage the cold winter of 2009/2010 caused with trees shrubs and perrenials killed of or severely damaged. In some cases plants that were perhaps on the edge of being able to grow in this country, but even some plants normally quite hardy were hit hard. I suspect even more will have suffered this winter which of course is not over yet.
My biggest concern is for birds and animals though. Its not easy to see any effect unless you think about it, did you notice the number of birds in your garden increase and decrease or just decrease. Have the hedges near you been stripped of berries very quickly. I went to a few local nature reserves in late December and have been to more this last weekend. To me they all seemed quieter than usual. My own personal observation I know with no factual basis but you have to wonder.
I know that with the snow and ice about you could see the little dead bodies for once, only a few here and there some like the dead swans more obvious and those quickly plucked clean of any flesh by other hungry mouths.
I think the grisliest thing I saw was a Carrion Crow on the frozen river Great Ouse near an open spot where ducks gulls and grebes were trying to find food or stay safe. I saw the Crow pecking at something and looked with my binoculars, what was it? It turned out to be a Little Grebe on its back not quite dead but already with a bloody gaping hole in its chest and a foot still moving. I felt sick to be honest by what I saw and looked away, when I looked back the Crow and Little Grebe were not there. You might not approve of it but the Crow was trying to survive in the harsh weather.
It made me think and I have kept on feeding the birds in my garden I upped the feed as the cold weather began and have kept the higher amount going, they need it and I can help those that come to me.
I hope you are feeding the birds and encouraging others to do the same, they are going to need the food and whatever help we can give them this year for certain.
Tuesday 11 January 2011
just got back from a herculean story
Cant remember the next line from the song I am thinking of, must be getting forgetful, twas by ELO though.
Greek Myths at a school in Cambridge this morning, me and two others. My input concerned some of the labours of Hercules, this to 8 and 9 year olds.
One of the best moments was when I was telling the 5th labour, the Stables of Augeias, and I asked the children what they thought the stables would be full of.
Up in the air goes a girls arm so I asked her what she thought the stables would be full of, "Dung" she says. Well it was Cambridge I have to say I was wondering what I would hear.
Greek Myths at a school in Cambridge this morning, me and two others. My input concerned some of the labours of Hercules, this to 8 and 9 year olds.
One of the best moments was when I was telling the 5th labour, the Stables of Augeias, and I asked the children what they thought the stables would be full of.
Up in the air goes a girls arm so I asked her what she thought the stables would be full of, "Dung" she says. Well it was Cambridge I have to say I was wondering what I would hear.
Friday 7 January 2011
family
Families, they are what Christmas is about. Been thinking about family a lot this one, mine is special to me and I hope yours is to you.
We lost Dad in mid 2009 but he is still with us in our memories, I still ask him about things and wonder what he would say about situations. I popped into see him on Boxing Day before going to meet up with my brothers there families and of course Mum.
Poor old Mum, four sons and what a bunch they are. But there is strength in family and I am grateful for that. I have helped out and been helped by my brothers and my parents all my life, long may it continue.
Thats not to say that friends are not important because we all know that in there own way good friends become almost like family.
I had a reminder today about another family I have, that of Rangers something I did for 20 years and which is a definate family where you can ask for help and it is given. Not just in this country though there are rangers around the world who manage and protect habitats and wildlife for us. Some of them lose there lives every year to protect wildlife over the past few years there have been a number killed protecting mountain gorillas in the DRC. What happens to them if they survive but cannot work, what happens to there families in a country where war is tearing it apart or so it seems. Is it important to protect wildlife, I would say yes it is another family albeit a large one to which we all belong and which needs our help.
Have a good day, think of your family where ever they are and be happy.
We lost Dad in mid 2009 but he is still with us in our memories, I still ask him about things and wonder what he would say about situations. I popped into see him on Boxing Day before going to meet up with my brothers there families and of course Mum.
Poor old Mum, four sons and what a bunch they are. But there is strength in family and I am grateful for that. I have helped out and been helped by my brothers and my parents all my life, long may it continue.
Thats not to say that friends are not important because we all know that in there own way good friends become almost like family.
I had a reminder today about another family I have, that of Rangers something I did for 20 years and which is a definate family where you can ask for help and it is given. Not just in this country though there are rangers around the world who manage and protect habitats and wildlife for us. Some of them lose there lives every year to protect wildlife over the past few years there have been a number killed protecting mountain gorillas in the DRC. What happens to them if they survive but cannot work, what happens to there families in a country where war is tearing it apart or so it seems. Is it important to protect wildlife, I would say yes it is another family albeit a large one to which we all belong and which needs our help.
Have a good day, think of your family where ever they are and be happy.
Tuesday 4 January 2011
missing a trick
There was an article in the Cambridge News on the 3rd Jan about what they called Sci Fi funerals.
Bit of a morbid subject this but well how do we deal with people who die, we all will one day so at Cambridge Crematorium they are looking at the future to a more commercial approach to hadling death. Yes thats right given these straightened times they are looking at making more money out of death.
Currently we have burial and cremation both long established methods but are they green enough! Hmmnn, well apparently those folks in the good old USA have been looking at this says the paper and have come up with another couple of greener methods that they have begun using there.
Hold onto your stomachs now, method one involves freezing to remove moisture then crushing to a fine powder which can be composted, method two involves dissolving in an alkali to get a green brown liquid didnt say what happens to that. Do you still get the body back as it were as with ashes or will we end up saying our final goodbyes when the curtain closes.
Now I have to admit I am a bit old fashioned here, making money out of death is another case of "we are all in this together" even when you are dead or grieving for the loss of a loved one. As for the two methods that are being looked at, are we getting to a stage where once the coffin has gone the body becomes the property of the crematorium to do with as they will in whatever manner that might raise a few more pounds. Are we there already.
Got me wondering though, sci fi films are so often closer than you think in the end, anyone else remember that film Soylent Green from the 1960's. And yes they are thinking about a cafe at the crematorium.
Bit of a morbid subject this but well how do we deal with people who die, we all will one day so at Cambridge Crematorium they are looking at the future to a more commercial approach to hadling death. Yes thats right given these straightened times they are looking at making more money out of death.
Currently we have burial and cremation both long established methods but are they green enough! Hmmnn, well apparently those folks in the good old USA have been looking at this says the paper and have come up with another couple of greener methods that they have begun using there.
Hold onto your stomachs now, method one involves freezing to remove moisture then crushing to a fine powder which can be composted, method two involves dissolving in an alkali to get a green brown liquid didnt say what happens to that. Do you still get the body back as it were as with ashes or will we end up saying our final goodbyes when the curtain closes.
Now I have to admit I am a bit old fashioned here, making money out of death is another case of "we are all in this together" even when you are dead or grieving for the loss of a loved one. As for the two methods that are being looked at, are we getting to a stage where once the coffin has gone the body becomes the property of the crematorium to do with as they will in whatever manner that might raise a few more pounds. Are we there already.
Got me wondering though, sci fi films are so often closer than you think in the end, anyone else remember that film Soylent Green from the 1960's. And yes they are thinking about a cafe at the crematorium.
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