Butterflies At The Ness…… Building By The Bay….A Very Tempting Whisky Auction.....Recent Garden Birds - Plus…..From ‘Wild Justice’…..
by Bernie Bell - 10:03 on 09 August 2023
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Butterflies At The Ness…
Another ‘Brodgar Butterfly’….
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/2023-day-27/
…to add to the collection….
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/2022s-top-ten-butterfly-stone/
I envisage a little booklet - ‘The Brodgar Book of Butterflies’ – of all kinds! - proceeds to go to The Ness of Brodgar Trust – mebbe?
My tuppenceworth about ‘art’ at The Ness……
https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/04/23/stromness-museums-new-exhibitions-makers-then-and-now/
And – are those concentric circles on the Grooved-ware fragment? Concentric circles.....
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/08/28/a-meditation/
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Building By The Bay….
Remember these?…..
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=15899
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=15905
Steve-Next-Door told us that Bradford Spencer was back, and building again – so Mike took a stroll down to the Bay and took some photos.
With Bradford’s permission, here they are…..
Possibly more to come? I hope so – I likes them!
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A Very Tempting Whisky Auction…
https://www.johnraesociety.com/science-festival-2013-john-rae-whisky/
And I quote….
“This is an amazing chance to bid for this exceedingly rare Highland Park Single Malt Whisky. Just thirty bottles of this 40% vol edition were ever produced. It commemorated the 200th anniversary of John Rae, the great Orcadian Arctic Explorer’s birth.”
Now’s your chance….
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Recent Garden Birds - Plus…
A Thrush bathing in the Hedgehog’s water dish – two Goldfinches flashing across the front of the house – a female Sparrow-hawk sweeping low over the meadow – looking for voles? We’ve seen them too, recently.
And – a Frog in the watering can again – how do they get there?
Monday lunchtime - a gang of sparrers were bathing in the Hedgehog’s dish – some in the dish, some post-bathing preening on the terrace, a couple of young ones perched in the bushes being fed when….. suddenly….. they all dived into the bushes – just in time as the Sparrow-hawk landed on the near-by fence, paused momentarily, then dive-bombed the bushes, twice. No luck, as the growth is tightly packed. She went back to perch on the fence then flew away – no doubt noting the spot for next time she’s passing.
This all happened within about 10 ft. of our front door.
All was still for about half an hour, then we saw a sparrer peeking out of the top of the bushes, looking about warily, then they all emerged - cheeping loudly and flew away.
Mike described the bushes as being the sparrer’s ‘air-raid shelter’!
Let your garden grow, and the life will come….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/08/14/bernie-bell-i-can-hear-the-grass-grow/
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From ‘Wild Justice’…..
“Good morning, today we publish a report on the controversial practice of interfering with Hen Harrier nests on English grouse moors. Some call this brood management, we call it brood meddling. Read - Meddling on the Moors - and see what you think, click here to read and/or download.
A five-year trial of brood meddling has ended without many clear answers and Natural England has given itself a licence to continue for another two years.
Some of the concerns about brood meddling:
- It’s giving in to criminals - a reward for past crimes against Hen Harriers
- It’s a waste of money that could be better spent on other aspects of Hen Harrier conservation or elsewhere in nature conservation – the initial estimate for the five-year trial was £875,000
- It’s a delaying tactic to put off more effective and stringent measures against criminality – all Hen Harriers need is the illegal killing to stop
- It’s the thin edge of a wedge that will lead to lethal control of Hen Harriers and brood meddling of other species
- It’s not a long-term sustainable solution – how feasible, and how expensive, would brood meddling be if Hen Harriers reached much higher population levels?
- It’s irrelevant because it only addresses one tiny aspect of the problems with driven grouse shooting.
Wild Justice's view:
We:
- OPPOSE brood meddling but we have decided, on balance, not to take a further legal challenge against its legality this year, although we reserve the right to do so at a future date.
- WELCOME the increase in Hen Harrier numbers in England but we are
unconvinced that this is because of the introduction of brood meddling and we have set out further possible contributory factors. - BELIEVE that the investment of time and money in brood meddling has been a distraction from other approaches to Hen Harrier conservation such as enforcement of existing laws, promotion of diversionary feeding and working on the ground to bring about change.
- REMAIN unimpressed by the standard of scientific enquiry that is evident in NE’s brood meddling study.
- ENCOURAGE Natural England, the Northern England Raptor Forum and the RSPB to work together on the data collection and analysis aspects of the brood meddling trial.
- NOTE that if the five-year trial was on budget, nearly £900,000 has been spent on a ‘trial’ that is continuing for a further two years and which may drag on for much longer – a trial which has produced few certain answers.
- are CONCERNED at the lack of safeguards against data manipulation by
vested interests and NE’s inability to provide reassurance on this matter. - REITERATE that there are a wide range of other species, avian and mammalian, illegally persecuted on areas managed for intensive grouse shooting and that Hen Harrier brood meddling will not address
those issues. - SEE the regime of driven grouse moor management, both legal and illegal
aspects, as being a sub-optimal and unsustainable use of the uplands for a
wide range of environmental and social reasons.
See the full report - click here.
If you like what we do and would like to make a donation which will be used across our range of work, then please consider donating through PayPal, bank transfer or a cheque in the post - see details here. Thank you for all your donations.
That's it for now. We couldn't do any of this without you.
Thank you,
Wild Justice (Directors: Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay)
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Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/10/20/cuween-cairn-wideford-hill/
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