glorious morning

Just got back from a 3 hour slowish walk from Histon to Westwick and back. A tad chilly to start but warmed up towards the end, a shower building as you can see in the picture below.

But a glorious morning none the less. Skylarks in full song across the fields when the sun got out, a real pleasure to be alive and there taking it in. Quite a few blackcap about as well, some giving wonderful views both male and female. Did get one surprise, a nice male Redstart in a gappy piece of sunlit hedge lovely and bright red front and chest with his black mask, a passage bird no doubt and me in the right place at the right time.

bee news

We should all be interested in the article below, apologies if its a bit technical.

Pesticides linked to honeybee decline

Damien Carrington, guardian head of environment 29th March, 2012

The first study conducted in a natural environment has shown that systemic pesticides damage bees' ability to navigate

Common crop pesticides have been shown for the first time to seriously harm bees by damaging their renowned ability to navigate home.

The new research strongly links the pesticides to the serious decline in honey bee numbers in the US and UK – a drop of around 50 per cent in the last 25 years. The losses pose a threat to food supplies as bees pollinate a third of the food we eat such as tomatoes, beans, apples and strawberries.
Scientists found that bees consuming one pesticide suffered an 85 per cent loss in the number of queens their nests produced, while another study showed a doubling in "disappeared" bees – those that failed to return from food foraging trips. The significance of the new work, published Science, is that it is the first carried out in realistic, open-air conditions.
'People had found pretty trivial effects in lab and greenhouse experiments, but we have shown they can translate into really big effects in the field. This has transformed our understanding,'said Prof David Goulson, at the University of Stirling and leader of one of the research teams. 'If it's only one metre from where they forage in a lab to their nest, even an unwell bee can manage that.'

Prof Mickaël Henry, at INRA in Avignon, France, who led a separate research team, said: 'Under the effects we saw from the pesticides, the population size would decline disastrously, and make them even more sensitive to parasites or a lack of food.

Decline blamed on disease, loss of forage and pesticides
The reason for the huge decline in bee numbers has remained uncertain, but pesticides, the varroa mite and other parasites, and destruction of the flower-rich habitats in which bees feed are believed to be the key reasons. Pesticide manufacturers and the UK government deny a class of the chemicals called neonicotinoids cause significant problems for bees, but Germany, Italy and France have suspended key insecticides over such fears.

A spokesperson from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the new research did not change the government's position. 'The UK has a robust system for assessing risks from pesticides and all the evidence shows neonicotinoids do not pose an unacceptable risk to honeybees when products are used correctly. However, we will not hesitate to act if presented with any new evidence.'
Henry said the new research showed current approval processes for the pesticides are inadequate: 'We now have enough data to say authorisation processes must take into account not only the lethal effects, but also the effects of non-lethal doses.'

The pesticides investigated in the new studies - insect neurotoxins called neonicotinoids - are applied to seeds and flow through the plants' whole system. The environmental advantage of this is it reduces pesticide spraying but chemicals end up in the nectar and pollen on which bees feed. Goulson's group studied an extremely widely used type called imidacloprid, primarily manufactured by Bayer CropScience, and registered for use on over 140 crops in 120 countries.
Bumblebees were fed the toxin at the same level found in treated rape plants and found that these colonies were about 10 per cent smaller than those not exposed to the insecticide. Most strikingly, the exposed colonies lost almost all of their ability to produce queens, which are the only bee to survive the winter and establish new colonies. 'There was a staggering magnitude of effect,' said Goulson. 'This is likely to have a substantial population-level impact.'
The French team analysed the effect on honey bees of a new generation neonicotinoid, called thiamethoxam and manufactured by Syngenta. They fitted tiny electronic tags to over 650 bees and monitored their activity around the hive. Those exposed to "commonly encountered" levels of thiamethoxam suffered high mortality, with up to a third of the bees failing to return. 'They disappeared in much higher numbers than expected,' said Henry. Previous scientific work has shown insect neurotoxins may cause memory, learning, and navigation problems in bees.

A spokesman for Syngenta said: 'Although we take good research very seriously, over the last four years,independent authorities in France have closely monitored the use of Cruiser – the product containing thiamethoxam – on more than 1.9m hectares. When properly used no cases of bee mortality have been recorded.'

Julian Little, spokesman for Bayer Cropscience, criticised Goulson's study because the bees were exposed to imidacloprid in the labaratory, before being placed outside in a natural field environment to feed. 'All studies looking at the interaction of bees and pesticides must be done in a full field situation,' he said. 'This study does not demonstrate that current agricultural practices damage bee colonies.'
Goulson dismissed as "nonsense" Little's suggestion that the doses given to the bees were higher than in reality. Both Bayer and Defra suggested other field studies had shown no harmful effects to bees. Goulson said: 'If they have done these studies, where are they? They are not in the public domain and therefore cannot be scrutinised. That raises the question of just how good they are.'

This article came from ENN and before that from the Guardian Environment Network

digging andrena

I was working in a garden Thursday afternoon planting some shrubs. Got a hole dug and started noticing these rich reddy brown blobs starting to move about.

They were Tawny Mining Bees Andrena fulva and there was muggins digging a load up. They are a solitary bee which hopefully with the weather we are having will survive having come out of hibernation a bit sooner perhaps than they would have liked.  I had no idea that last year some females had all found that bit of garden and then used it for their brood tunnels. I was finding then up to 150mm deep in little chambers.

Thinking back afterwards about May/June I had seen a very tame female blackbird sitting in that area catching and eating some insects but did not go too close to her.

Heres hoping some survive they are lovely little bees and should be about soon.

baby boomers to blame

I have heard this suggestion a few times of late and find it laughable to blame the consumer, in this case baby boomers, for all the ills of society at this time.

In the first place none of us of who fit that description asked to be born then, our parents were even encouraged to have children to help rebuild the country after WW2 I seem to recall. What did that increasing population then see, an explosion of consumer products and services which we were all encouraged to enjoy and own to support the economy. The same goes for the health service we were led to expect more. Then we come to housing and the decision to allow tenents to buy council houses and not replace those sold with new ones. Could the problems have been foreseen, who knows but as we all know hindsight is a marvellous thing.

I might be over simplifying but it strikes me that some folk are just looking to blame someone, whether that be bankers, public sector staff and now baby boomers for the mess this country is now in. Something else that folk dont mention and which has occurred over the last fifty years is a decline in community spirit and a belief in us as a society, that has been coupled with a rigourously promoted rise in me and self. A return to the values of that bygone age might not be a complete solution to all the ills but it might help to make it easier to cope with.

I am not worthy or am I

I apologise for existing, getting in your way and holding you up this evening, to the driver of the metallic goldish large Ford saloon, it was a bit mucky so cant be precise about the colour or the registration number. 

What did he do, he overtook me this evening in Histon at about ten past five as I had just about stopped in the middle of the road and was about to turn right. 

I had  given my usual plenty of notice via my indicators that I was turning right as well and had seen the car wanting to turn right out of the road I turn into, I was going to let it go before I turned right.

For some reason I looked in my mirror again at the last moment after making sure nothing was coming towards me to see the Ford saloon coming up behind me deliberately swerve out, overtake me and just carry on. No flashing lights, no siren, no nothing.

What can you say.

I am just glad I stopped still and watched him go past. I am still here and uninjured. Those who look after me were obviously doing just that.

Take a look at this petition please

Now lots of folk watched the recent adaptation I am sure of Sherlock. An interesting set of adaptations.

Well Conan Doyles house needs saving which is where the link below will take you. Go on sign up a fuss needs to be caused and someone needs to be found to buy it.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31207

observations on life

Mothers Day coming up so in T**** the other day I found a card and of I toddled to pay and go home. Back home of course I look for the envelope and yes you might have guessed it there was none. Why is it that some shops these days have cards and envelopes seperate and you have to rememebr to pick one of each up.

Talking about the T shop for weeks if you wanted a member of staff in my local one at Milton you have had to look for someone in their own clothes packing shelves and hoping they had a name badge on.

Am I becoming a grumpy old man, dont say yes.