next time you are watching a wildlife programme

July 31st is World Ranger Day, whats that about you might ask, well as a former ranger who is still involved in a small way with caring for our countryside I belong to an international organisation that believes we should honour those who have given their lives to protect the wildlife and world around us.


Most of the people who have died will have left wives and families who dont get any of the luxuries we take for granted such as insurance, death benefits or pensions. So please remember them on the 31st July and think of them the next time you watch a wildlife programme. You could also go to the Thin Green Line and make a donation.

WORLD RANGER DAY 31st July 2012 
RANGER ROLL OF HONOUR IN MEMORIAM 31/07/2011 to 31/07/2011

ZOMEDEL PIERRE ACHILLE · Cameroon · homicide •
JAIRO ANTONIO VARELA ARBOLEDA · Colombia · homicide •
MICHEL IMANIRAFASHA · Democratic Republic of Congo · homicide •
PARIS PALUKU · Democratic Republic of Congo · homicide •
PHILIPPE NZABONIMPA · Democratic Republic of Congo · homicide •
NAME NOT KNOWN · Democratic Republic of Congo · homicide •
NAME NOT KNOWN · Democratic Republic of Congo · homicide •
ELOY VARGAS MEDRANO · Dominican Republic · homicide •
CHRISTIAN BOAKYE · Ghana · homicide •
AMRIT SARMA · India · killed by elephant •
ARUMUGAM · India · homicide •
AVNISH · India · homicide •
BABULAL · India · vehicle accident •
BAKUL NATH · India · killed by elephant •
CHAKRAMONI BORGOYARY · India · homicide •
GOVINDA RAJ · India · vehicle accident •
JITENDRA MAHTO · India · homicide •
JOGESWAR PAHARI · India · homicide •
KAITHAN · India · killed by elephant •
M SRINIVASULU · India · homicide •
MADAN H NAYAK · India · homicide •
MAJJI MADHAVA RAO · India · homicide •
MAN SINGH · India · malaria •
MARSHAL KHARSYNTENG · India · killed by elephant •
MURUGAN · India · killed by dam collapse •
MUSHTAQ AHMAD SOFI · India · homicide •
NARAYAN DUAN · India · homicide •
NATERAJAN · India · killed by elephant •
PHANIN MUSHAHARY · India · homicide •
PRAKASH NAIK · India · suffocation fighting forest fire •
RAJEESH · India · dengue fever •
RAMABAI NAGAR R K GANGWAR · India ·vehicle accident•
RAMBABU · India · vehicle accident •
RAMADAS · India · killed by elephant •
RAMPHUL SHARMA · India · homicide •
SANTOSH KUMAR YADAV · India · killed by tiger •
SHIVRAM · India · vehicle accident •
SITARAM M WADYE · India · killed by tiger •
SONAULLAH ZARGAR · India · homicide •
SUSANTA MAHANTA · India · killed by wild buffalo •
VASU · India · killed by elephant •
VEERESH SIDDAIAH HIREMATH · India · homicide •
VISHAL PRABHAKAR · India · homicide •
RUSLAN KIM · Kazakhstan · homicide •
ABDULLAHI MOHAMMED · Kenya · homicide •
NOORDIN ABDI GURREH · Kenya · homicide •
NAME NOT KNOWN · Kenya · homicide •
NAME NOT KNOWN · Kenya · homicide •
SARKIN DAJI · Nigeria · homicide •
LAWAL NAGWAGGWO · Nigeria · homicide •
MUHAMMAD HASSAN · Nigeria · homicide •
MELANIA DIRAIN · Philippines · homicide •
ENOCK SIBUYI · South Africa · homicide •
MBAZWANI MHLONGO · South Africa · drowned •
PHUMLANI MTHEMBU · South Africa · drowned •
ZEPHANIA MBUSO MYENI · South Africa · homicide •
CARLOS VOZMEDIANO DEL BURGO · Spain · killed in avalanche •
DANA BRUCE · United States · vehicle accident •
DAVID CALDWELL · United States · collapsed at work •
MARGARET ANDERSON · United States · homicide •
MICHAEL BOEHM · United States · collapsed at work •
NICK HALL · United States · killed during search and rescue operation •
ROBERT J THORNTON · United States · collapsed at work •
HORACIO PEREZ RIBAS · Venezuela · homicide •
LIBAKENGI CHIBENGE · Zambia · homicide •
SITALI MUSOLOLE · Zambia · homicide

Lets hope the list gets no longer in whats left of July.

Malcolm Busby

have you seen one of these before then

Was out doing some ecological work last weekend and had a chance to look at a ruined old farm trailer. Hang on I says whats that there then.

A metal labal which as luck would have it came of really easily. Its quite heavy and I suspect WW2 vintage as it mentions the Min of Ag but I could be wrong. No idea what sort of alloy it is made of, probably what they used to call monkey metal in the days of yore when I worked in general engineering.

See picture below of wording cast onto it. I have searched for the company ont tinterweb but no luck.

what do the frogs know

Worked ina garden today with a box hedge in it, while looking at said hedge could not help but notice well it was pointed out to me actually that there sitting on top was a frog, and a big one at that, most handsome it was, dont believe me look at the picture.

The thing is later on I looked and yes there was still a frog but it was now a lot smaller.

This of course has got me thinking, was the frog a banker and it is now less over inflated by its own importance. Could be completely wrong of course. Looks a bit like a bank manager i used to know looking at it again, hmmn.

have you ever had a hard day at work

We all do it moan about the hard day we have had at work every now and then. Nothing comes close to this though;

It has been a tragic week for the conservation world with 9

rangers killed in the line of duty in Africa and Kazakhstan

Mbazawani Mhlongo, 57 and Phumlani Mthembu, 34 are 

missing presumed drowned after they confiscated a canoe

used by commercial wildlife poachers in South Africa’s 

Enseleni Nature Reserve on Friday 23 June.

In a separate incident at least five rangers were killed and 

one other is missing presumed dead in an attack by Mai Mai

rebels on the Okapi Conservation Project in the Democratic

Republic of Congo (DRC) late last week. A further incident, 

just reported, has one Ranger  reported killed in a massacre

in Kazakhstan.

Source Sean Wilmore,  Thin Green Line.

spaghetti gardening!

So there I was in this garden this afternoon the breeze blowing strongly bringing the next sharp shower rolling towards me as I cut and clipped, weeded and gathered.

Then it dawned on me a couple of gardens away they have got some wind chimes and the breeze was making them clang and clank in a very unpeaceful manner.

But it was the noise they were making that made me smile, I expected to get a whiff of a cheap little cigar or hear the sound of clanking spurs. It was definately a case of A Fistful of Dollars and I bet you can guess the tune they were making.

buy with confidence trumpet blow

So there I was a few months ago thinking how can I join some sort of scheme and perhaps get some more work in. Bit difficult as I work as a gardener, storyteller and carry out wildlife surveys of one sort or another.

Then I hear about this scheme run by Trading Standards in Cambridgeshire part of a national scheme called Buy With Confidence. Its going to cost but should I give it a go, so I did. Now lo and behold after all the forms have been filled in, proved I am self employed and have insurance, references from clients sought and a CRB obtained I am registered with the scheme.

So the car now has a buy with confidence logo on it and a new sign that is bigger and brighter proclaiming what I am listed by the scheme as providing; Gardening, Storytelling and Wildlife Surveys.

Time for a pretty picture.

And the flowers smelt lovely.

not enough blogs and town criers

I keep meaning to post a blog but cant find my roundtoit, dont know where I left it.

Anyway last Saturday I helped out with the procession for Eel Day at Ely by volunteering as a steward, standing there waiting for it to start it became obvious that there was quite a hussle of Town Criers also in the parade. Naturally enough I started to wonder what the collective noun or words would be for such a gathering, see picture below, and that was less than half of them.

So I voiced this thought to the other stewards waiting to help with the procession. After some thought the words suggested by a thoughtful Mark were "a disturbance of Town Criers".

What can I say, it fits, might not be too popular with the aforementioned Town Criers but!