In her classic account of English rural life, Lark Rise to Candleford, Flora Thompson records attitudes to wild birds towards the end of the 19th century. At a time when egg collecting was a respectable hobby, country boys would engage in wholesale nest robbing and hunting of small birds. The families were chronically poor, and casting a net over a hedge of roosting sparrows would secure a meal:
One boy would often bring home as many as twenty sparrows, which his mother would pluck and make into a pudding. A small number of birds, or a single bird, would be toasted in front of the fire.
Ammonites are easy to find on Whitby Beach, so fossil and curiosity dealers would try to attract customers by carving snake heads on the stones. It was a particularly tempting ploy in the Victorian age, when fossil collections and curiosity cabinets were all the rage.
The carvers were inspired by the legend of St Hilda, an abbess who lived in Whitby in the 7th century. The area was infested with snakes until she turned them all into “coils of stone”. Her work was completed by St Cuthbert of Lindesfarne, whose curse left the snakes headless. Read the rest of this entry
photo taken near Dundee by John Gilmour as featured in AuroraWatch
Of course the best viewing place is in the Arctic Circle, but the Northern Lights are occasionally visible from Britain. On rare occasions they are visible as far south as the Mediterranean.
Lancaster University’s AuroraWatch has a gallery of images that testify to the visibility of the Aurora in places like Folkestone and Staffordshire.The photographs show awe-inspiring displays of green and red light rampaging above the roof tops and television aerials. Read the rest of this entry
The Selchie (or Selkie) is a seal that can shed its skin and take the form of a human on land. These legendary creatures belong to the Hebrides and Shetland and Orkney isles, where seals have been hunted for their pelt, meat and oil. The large soulful eyes of seals must have disturbed even hardened folk subsisting in these remote Scottish islands, and the tales of the selchies capture this ambivalence. Feelings of loss and longing are all pervasive. Read the rest of this entry
For the next five days, swans along the Thames are being ringed as part of the annual swan upping event, an ancient ceremonial barking-mad oddity, but also today an an important conservation effort. The Guardian celebrates it in this editorial.
Also see this short video on swan-upping with a bunch of birders and toffs.
The Herpetological Conservation Trust has this excellent page on the etymology and folklore of adders, including:
“Old natural history books often tell how female Adders swallow their young to protect them from danger. This myth is even perpetuated by some countrymen who have spent their lives amongst Adders. This story suggests a degree of parental care which is sadly lacking in Adders. If she did attempt to swallow her own young the strong stomach acids would digest them. In all probability, this story originated when a gravid female Adder was killed with well developed young inside her.” Read
Also I’ve added some statistics on adder bites here. Read
Pike were sometimes in the back of my mind when I swam in rivers and lakes as a child, my imagination fed by terrible tales told by other children and myself of their bite. Britain and Ireland, the latter where it was probably introduced by the English in the 17c, are home to one species of pike: the northern pike (Esox lucius).
The English common name “pike” is an apparent shortening of “pike-fish”, in reference to its pointed head, Old Englishpíc originally referring to a pickaxe. The generic name Esox derives from the Greek for a kind of fish, itself a word of Celtic origin related to the Welsh eog and Irish Gaelic iach (salmon) Wikipedia
Izzac Walton, who published the famous The Compleat Angler in 1653, said of the pike
” The mighty luce or pike is taken to be the tyrant, as the salmon is the king of the fresh waters” from here.
Pike will aggressively strike at any animal in the vicinity, even at other pike. Young pike have been found dead from choking on a pike of a similar size, an observation referred to by the renowned English poet Ted Hughes in his poem ‘Pike’. The poem begins:
Although generally known as a “sporting” quarry, most anglers release pike they have caught because the flesh is considered bony, especially due to the substantial (epipleural) “Y-bones”. However, the larger fish are more easily filleted, and pike have a long and distinguished history in cuisine and are popular fare in Europe. Historical references to cooking pike go as far back as the Romans. The flesh is white and mild-tasting. Fishing for pike is said to be very exciting with their aggressive hits and aerial acrobatics. Wikiepdia
Danger of being bitten by a pike
River Swimming Water Safety mentions Pike attack as a risk of open water swimming “You can get a good bite from a pike. This seems to happen when people simulate the movements of a fish.”
Why nobody is safe when the pike are biting (The Times) Lots of tales of the amazing exploits of pike “In 1922, The Field carried a report about a 14lb pike caught at Newbury on February 19 that year. The fish had an entire newborn pig in its stomach.”
While reading about basking sharks, I came across the story of the Stronsay beast, a large, dead sea-creature that washed ashore on the island of Stronsay in the Orkney Islands, after a storm in 1808. The decomposed carcass was said to measure 55 feet in length, without the tail. The terrible beast was reported in the local press athe time:
“Its flesh was described as being like ‘coarse, ill-coloured beef, entirely covered with fat and tallow and without the least resemblance or affinity to fish’. The skin, which was grey coloured and had an elastic texture was said to be about two inches thick in parts.” Account of the Stronsay Beast as reported in The Orcadian newspaper. From The Stronsay Beast
The Natural History Society of Edinburgh was unable to identify the carcass and decided it was a new species, probably a sea serpent. Later the anatomist Sir Everard Home dismissed the measurement, declaring it must have been around 36 feet, and deemed it to be a decayed basking shark as basking sharks can take on a ‘pseudo plesiosaur’ appearance when they decompose. “First the shark’s jaws - which are attached only by a small piece of flesh - drop off leaving what looks like the remains of a long neck and a small skull.” More here
Shearwaters are associated in folklore with death. This undoubtedly comes from their eeirie cooing nocturnal cry like a cackling witch from the underworld.
“A description of their voice on The Isle of Man, in 1731 says this: “The spirit which haunted the coasts have originated in this noise. , described as infernal. The disturbed spirit of a person shipwrecked on a rock adjacent to this coast wanders about it still, and sometimes makes so terrible a yelling that it is heard at an incredible distance. They tell you that houses even shake with it; and that, not only mankind, but all the brute creation within hearing, tremble at the sound. But what serves very much to increase the shock is that, whenever it makes this extraordinary noise, it is a sure prediction of an approaching storm. . . . At other times the spirit cries out only, ” Hoa, hoa, hoa !” with a voice little, if anything, louder than a human one.”
Richard Dawkins cites the Manx Shearwater on page 87 of his book The God Delusion.
One of the cleverer and more mature of my undergraduate contemporaries, who was deeply religious, went camping in the Scottish isles. In the middle of the night he and his girlfriend were woken in their tent by the voice of the devil, Satan himself; there could be no possible doubt: the voice was in every sense diabolical. My friend would never forget this horrifying experience, and it was one of the factors that later drove him to be ordained. My youthful self was impressed by this story, and recounted it to a gathering of zoologists relaxing in the Rose and Crown Inn, Oxford. Two of them happened to be experienced ornithologists, and they roared with laughter. ‘Manx Shearwater!’ they shouted in delighted chorus. One of them added that the diabolical shrieks and cackles of this species have earned it, in various parts of the world and various languages, the local nickname ‘Devil Bird’.
In Turkey it was believed that the Dusky Shearwaters which daily travel in mysterious flocks up and down the Bosphorus were animated by condemned human souls. Read here
Aboard French ships in the nineteenth century both storm petrels and shearwaters were known as âmes damnées (”souls of the damned”), the subtext being that, like some ghosts, part of their punishment after death was to continue to haunt the earth. Muslim seafarers in the nineteenth century similarly said that the Manx and Mediterranean shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus and Puffinus yelkouan) of the eastern Mediterranean were inhabited by damned souls, a belief possibly suggested by their dark plumage. Read here
Fictional countryside March 17, 2010 Interesting article by Jonathan Meades in The Guardian.
No longer a place of work, the English countryside has been tidied up and made picturesque, based on a mythical rural idyll…Read
Reminds me of DH Auden comment in the 1940s on the Lake District.
“Am I to see in the Lake District, then….Another bourgeois invention like the piano?”
Swift survey March 17, 2010
The RSPB is gathering extensive information about exactly where swifts are nesting in the UK. It is suspected that their rapid decline in recent years is linked with a drop in suitable nesting sites, as buildings are modernised.
The first year’s survey reveals that of the houses where swifts are nesting:
Over half (51%) were built before 1919
Exactly a quarter were built between 1919-1944
Over half (52%)had been known swift nesting sites for more than 10 years
Almost a fifth (16%) were considered threatened
Almost 5% of swifts were recorded in churches
The data will be used to make sure that exhilarating displays of screaming swifts continue being part of British summers.
New Forest conservation March 17, 2010
A new generation of commoners will receive financial support to ensure animals continue to graze in the New Forest and so conserve its rich biodiversity.
Commoning has shaped the New Forest over hundreds of years. It is because of it that we have this beautiful landscape, a mosaic of pasture, heath and lawn. And it needs to be encouraged - Lyndsey Stride, commoner.
Urban bee project March 1, 2010
The Co-op is further expanding its Plan Bee campaign by providing aspiring urban bee-keepers with free training and equipment. Life in the city can be better for bees than in the countryside, points out Chris Shearlock, the Co-op’s Environment Manager:
They can find flowers in city parks and gardens, and they are away from some of the pesticides that are threatening them on farmland. It’s a misconception to think that they won’t thrive in cities and towns. I’ve heard of honey being sold from apiaries around King’s Cross station in London.
In the end, what’s going to save the British honeybee, whose population has dropped sharply in the last 25 years, is its value to the economy: as fruit-tree pollinators and annual producers of 5,000 tonnes of honey, they’re worth 165m a year. Independent
Landscape blogs February 24, 2010
There are now some excellent landscape blogs covering Britain. Here are a few:
Some landscapes Landscapes evoked, depicted or transformed in the arts: painting, literature, music, film, etc. Britain and the rest of the world.
Walking and writing. by Linda Cracknell. Good stuff in the Robert Macfarlane school.
Ravens are not responsible for the dramatic declines in the numbers of wading birds seen in many parts of the UK uplands, according to the results of a new study. The Independent
Remarkable photo of a flock of starlings in the shape of a rabbit. Daily Telegraph
Bunting bounces back: one of Britain’s most threatened farmland birds is continuing to fight its way back after nearly disappearing completely, thanks to help from farmers in the south-west. Birdwatch
Allotment fever February 10, 2010
With more and more people wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables, the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners have over 100,000 people on their waiting lists. The National Trust have responded to this demand by allocating land for “super allotments” or community farms. In return for a monthly fee, members will decide what should be grown, and have the opportunity to work on the farms, receiving a share of the produce. Daily Telegraph
The 87 mile-long Ridgeway National Trail is remarkable in being the oldest road in Britain and because you can still walk it, following the same route used since prehistoric times by travellers and, herdsmen. The route connects the Dorset and Norfolk coasts, passing over rolling, open downland to the west of the River Thames, and through secluded valleys and woods in The Chilterns to the east. It is littered with historical sites dating back to the iron age. Lots of details from the National Trail website here.
A trip to a children's farm is a great idea in the lambing season. The Guardian has a list of recommended places in their half-term holiday special, including Cannon Hall Farm in Barnsley, where they are expecting no less than 300 lambs and 50 piglets to be born in February, with more expected for Easter. They have other attractions such a baby Alpaca called Snowy.
"This area boasts 35 acres of unspoilt countryside, offering the opportunity to stay on board a unique houseboat. Each widebeam barge is permanently moored on her own private jetty and sleeps 4 to 6 in ensuite cabins. Watch the busy wildlife right outside the galley window. Land organic rainbow trout for dinner. Be awed by the silent swoop of the barn owl. And in the evening as you watch the sun setting from the aft deck know that it has given its solar energy to power your lighting for the night ahead."
For the first time in many years, the freezing conditions have been perfect for ice skating, allowing the inhabitants of the Cambridgeshire Fens to revel in a centuries-old tradition. The Guardian
The Fens of East Anglia, with their meres and washes, networks of drainage ditches, slow-flowing rivers and easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Skates were introduced into Britain from Holland or France in the seventeenth century. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century they had become a feature of cold winters in the Fens. The golden age of fen skating was the second half of the nineteenth century, when thousands of people turned out to watch the top skaters. Wikipedia
David Munt from Potter’s Bar, Hertfordshire braved the Arctic weather and sub-zero temperatures to spend a night in an igloo in his garden. He decided to sleep in his creation after spending the previous day making the igloo from snow and ice, with help from the children on his street. More here
Yowie snowshoes were designed, fittingly, in Australia. They look like beach sandals attached to rubber flippers with a deep hexagonal tread and metal cleats. Extremely versatile and user-friendly, once you're strapped in, with body weight nicely spread out to avoid sinking, you can enjoy snow walks on the flat or more challenging treks up and down mountains. The material reportedly offers better insulation from the cold than more conventional heavy-duty snowshoes. They are also lighter, cheaper and easier to stow in your ruck sack.
Another idea is to use ice grips - unobtrusive devices you can attach to your usual footwear to radically increase traction on slippery surfaces.
Meirion Owen is an expert sheep dog handler, who’s been working with Border Collies since he was nine.He now travels around Britain, showing the skills of this intelligent breed at fairs, private parties and, increasingly, corporate days out.The other stars of the Quack Pack are a troop of Indian Runner ducks, who love to charge around at a fast pace in a tight group (with the occasional lone rebel).First of all, Owen gives a demonstration of how it’s done, instructing his dogs with only four commands to herd the ducks through an obstacle course.Then the spectators have a go.
"We never try to embarrass anyone," he says. "I'll always try to help. With duck herding, there is a sense of the unexpected and seeing a manager lose control of his ducks is great entertainment for the staff."
A recent tendency among lowland livestock farmers is to replace Border Collies with quads, and Owen would like to turn this around by promoting the many qualities of this breed. More information
The Woodcraft School runs various courses for acquiring skills that pre-historical man needed for survival. Bark, Bone and Antler is a particularly interesting 2-day course that explores the materials available to our primitive ancestors. Those attending will be taught about the sustainable harvest of bark, weaving crafts to make knife sheaths, folding crafts to make baskets and containers, and the preparation of bone and antler.
This particular course will be held in May 2010 in West Sussex, with groups limited to 12, but there are many others to choose from.
Paragliders will use birds of prey to guide them to the best thermals. They often report that the birds are not afraid of them and will even approach out of curiosity. Parahawking takes this one step further. You're taken on a tandem paraglider and specially trained birds of prey will accompany you on your flight, rewarded by offerings of food. This unforgettable experience is available in Wales, organised by the Axis paragliding school
With Pesky Husky Trekking you can become a musher for a day. Instead of a sledge, you stand on a specially designed non-motorised scooter. And instead of snow-covered arctic lands, the Siberian huskies whisk you through the Yorkshire countryside. The experience is only available between October and March, after which it becomes too warm for an energetic husky. You can start off on a practice lap or do a more advanced trek of up to two hours.
A few good wildlife apps for iphone / itouch are starting to trickle onto the market. The best is probably the Collins British Wildlife Photoguide, priced at £5.99 which is an app version of a large book. The Guardian notes "Arranged by taxonomy – mammals, invertebrates, butterflies and moths, birds and so on – it features photos and brief descriptions of over 1,500 species. The navigation is a bit fiddly and there's no identification feature, so you need to know what you're looking at or be willing to scroll through several pages to get a match."
In the same article they recommend a guide to 24 of Britain's trees and a guide to European bird songs - but this only features 80 species. When are they going to produce an app for the Collins bird guide?
For those who don’t succumb to the charms of grey squirrels, keeping them off the bird feeder is a challenge. There are plenty of ideas on the forums, such as placing a table on top of a greased pole, or capitulating by scattering food on the ground to distract the squirrels and give the birds a chance. If unwanted rodents are consuming kilos of bird food, it might be worth investing in a specially designed squirrel-proof bird feeder. Those sold by the RSPB include conventional seed and nut dispensers caged within bars too narrow for a squirrel to pass through. Then there’s the robust–looking Squirrel Buster, which automatically closes down when something heavier than a small bird tries to access the food. It’s the most expensive option, but comes with a life-time guarantee. Not bad considering the fearless acrobatics and determined wire-chewing tendencies of squirrels.
View at the RSPB
Cute they may be, but this article in The Guardian thinks that it is not a good idea to keep a fox as a pet. Others agree. the US foxes.org list these reasons
They smell as strong as a skunk in close quarters, and although it is theoretically possible to have their scent glands removed, this is not very healthy and will not eliminate the smell of their urine, which is very powerful.
Foxes need a huge amount of space in which to run.
Foxes love to dig, and can easily dig out of a yard or through a sofa.
Foxes are at high risk to carry rabies. In many areas, there is no approved rabies vaccine for foxes; even if you have papers proving your fox has been vaccinated, some states will still have it destroyed and tested if it bites someone.
Because foxes are at high risk, you MUST get it vaccinated. This can prove very difficult. Veterinarians need a special license to treat wildlife, which many don't have, because it's a high-risk, low-reward proposition.
Lastly, it is very likely that a fox you own as a pet will be very unhappy. Many wild animals become depressed when removed from their natural habitat, and foxes are subject to depression as much as any other animal.
Useful list of the best or at least most unusual bird feeders on the market put together by The Guardian here. I liked particularly the above mobile bird feeder. Meanwhile the RSPB's national Feed the birds weekend starts tomorrow.
Shopping trolleys have lost their social stigma, partly because of pleasingly designed trolleys like these.Using one will help avoid unnecessary use of plastic bags and also contribute to saving turtles in Sri Lanka where the Turtle Trolley was created. Turtle bags online shop
The RSPB is gathering extensive information about exactly where swifts are nesting in the UK. It is suspected that their rapid decline in recent years is linked with a drop in suitable nesting sites, as buildings are modernised.
The first year’s survey reveals that of the houses where swifts are nesting:
A new generation of commoners will receive financial support to ensure animals continue to graze in the New Forest and so conserve its rich biodiversity.
The Co-op is further expanding its 
There are now some excellent landscape blogs covering Britain. Here are a few:
With more and more people wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables, the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners have over 100,000 people on their waiting lists. The National Trust have responded to this demand by allocating land for “super allotments” or community farms. In return for a monthly fee, members will decide what should be grown, and have the opportunity to work on the farms, receiving a share of the produce. 
