gasguns, gadwall and eat your greens

A week or so ago in the Cambridge News, this chap had written in a letter which they published having a right go at the use of gasguns in fields to scare of pigeons and other birds that eat the crops close to/in the same filed as the guns. There was this comment about farmers being behind the times etc etc and on and on he went about new technology.

Saw a bit of the new technology today coming back from a bird survey, a field with a tethered hawk model flying high and jinking about, under neath it taking no notice a nice flock of wood pigeons scoffing away, undoubtedly thinking that pretend hawk will keep real ones away.

I mentioned a bird survey because I still look at some land on a farm near Ely, and yes they have gasguns in some fields to try and keep birds away and you cannot blame them really after all farmers need to make money as well as grow food. They have flooded some more fields this year to control soil pests, I imagine growing three or four crops a year of salad on a field leads to a buildup of pests. The flooded fields are a magnet for waterbirds with a lovely range of ducks on them at the moment, with Great Crested and Little Grebes diving away, the Little Grebes in particular calling almost non stop.

What were the crops the gas guns were protecting you want to know, Lettuce, in the shops soon fresh for you, habdpicked from lord knows o'clock this morning by gangs of fold who I bet are not paid that much and who are picked on by Nigel Barrage Balloon which takes me back to gasguns.

Am I reading too much into the words?????

So in Homebase last week I saw two shining examples of products and services that, well, have they been really thought through. Or is it my daft mind at play once again.

First, Rug Doctor make a product called Traffic Lane Cleaner, what on earth is that about, mind with the A14 close by is it for volunteers to have a go at removing those nasty oily residues.

Then, a van parked up and signwritten Pirtek with the strapline, Fluid Transfer Solutions. No they have got nothing to do with condoms. Its a hydraulic hose replacement company, it says so in smaller letters on the back of the van.

found this cardboard box

Looking around a garage as you do for some tools and a piece of rag I came across this box. Had a quick looksee and read and had to smile.

I woonder if you put the box down theres a big bang and hey presto self laid floor but the walls and windows have been blown to bits.

dont hurt the trees

.

I was in this churchyard close to Cambridge and started noticing little white looking labels, toddled to have a look as you do and see this, each label is on a tree with a tree preservation order on it and how have they fitted the labels. With staples

oh the indignity and not a motorcycle in sight

Came across this glove a couple of weeks ago just hanging around whistling a tune I vaguely knew, then I caught a mumbled line or two "bet this didnt happen to Steve McQueen".

The great glove escape of course...wonder if we can expect a range of salad dressings?

when worlds collide

Worked in a garden in east Cambridge yesterday , cut the lawns as usual and there I find these two Bee Orchids, its not the first time I have seen them in this lawn but it is the first time I have shared them.

Took me back to my days at Milton Country Park which has come up a few times this week one way or another. We are our past and present, are we our future as well, now theres a thought........

stock doves and their cousins

No its not a wood pigeon, its one of the lovliest pigeons/doves we have in this country, its a stock dove and thankfully there are still a lot about.

Thats unlike its cousin the turtle dove a most glorious bird that purrs like a cat or a frog according to who you listen to which is incredibly rare nowadays, why well being blasted from the sky and trapped in every way known to man as it makes it way north from africa every spring doesnt help.

So find yourself a stock dove and say a prayer for it and its cousin the turtle dove, we need them both but I suspect stock doves might be around a bit longer the way things are going.

high speed snails and the guided busway

Now I have been telling groups about these for years now but here is the truth..........according to me.

The Cambridge Guided Busway was built to try out the latest breeding attempts by Cambridge University to breed snails capable of high speed, why to defoliate crops in countries that are hostile.

Every evening four snail are placed on thew ribbons of concrete and the time they take to reach St Ives from Cambridge is recorded, obviously you breed from the fastest stock.

Below is all the evidence you need to prove my long held conviction that the university is conducting secretive research under cover of the guided busway.

I took this picture today as the snail concerned raced up the tree truck I was taking a picture of. What more can you want as evidence. This also makes me wonder about the latest reported problems with the busway, namely that there are cracks along them and the supports are moving. This has been described as caused by the ground conditions. Again this is an attempt to hide the truth about racing snails, the defects are obviously caused by the speeds they are achieving and the wind turbulence and cavitation effects of their passage.

You heard it here first, the truth will out!

pastoral views within reach

If I havnt mentioned it before I have moved a few miles further east of Cambridge to Burwell a lovely large fenland village that nestles on the chalky clay on one side and right onto the peat fen on the other well almost.

Been looking around as you do and came across this lovely pastoral scene just a few miles away in the village of Reach, its a national trust piece of land that used to be used for turf growing, or thats what the notice board says, have to say I prefer it now.

I heard a voice a glove calling for help!!!!!!

So I was in th Botanid Gardens in Cambridge, had just told stories to some children and I walk past this tree and I heard it a voice, thin, strained, heartbroken, pleading. What could I do the brick wall built to trap the glove inside the tree for all time was too strong. How can I free the glove, how, come on please tell me someone.

its a tough life for roadie gloves

Bumped into these two characters the other day while judging a park for a Green Flag, they have had a rough and tough life and oh the stories they told me about ********** ******* and that ******** ***, not that I will spread gossip.

yes chimneys

Dont they look pretty eh, all wrapped up in plastic and sitting there, ready to be what????

Put on a house roof of course, a new house, you need the odd chimney to complete the look dont you.

Shame they are plastic and not even santa claus could get down them. But heyho, (nearly eh), what do you expect these days.

 

So a lovely field of wheat, so pleasing to the eye, well mine anyway, skylarks rising out of it and yellowhammer calling, trees fresh green in early spring.

You are a family out for a walk with your dog, there is a wide footpath/headland on the left of the bottom picture and the tramlines you can also see about ten metres in from the footpath.

Question. Where do you walk as a family?

Obvious aint it. You let your daughter walk in the tramlines calling the dog to her all the time running between you on the footpath and your daughter in the tramline across the strip of growing wheat.

Yes please enjoy the countryside but is it too hard to think about the damage you are doing to the farmers crop. You also do those who do enjoy the countryside responsibly no favours.

The land you are on belongs to the farmer whether owned or rented, they earn there living of it, respect it.

just when you thought it was safe to look at blogs

without worrying about me yes me being here..........tahdaa im back, blimey have I been busy and its not over but starting to see a gap.

So look out world more blogs to follow tonight.