A natural history of Britain

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