Category: General
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Is the hijack of Christmas by consumerism a bad thing or has this modern religion done more for World Peace than the old ones?
The annual Christmas urban melee for presents is over. Waistlines, expanded to bursting point are now forced into post-indulgence exercise programmes. New presents lie discarded and recycling bins are fit to burst with wrapping paper and packaging. Religious leaders typically bemoan the hijacking of the traditional message of Christmas by commerce in a festival of consumption, but recently I’ve had cause…
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The Eagles are Coming! The Eagles are Coming!
A very dear friend of mine was recently bought a lesson at the Hawk Conservancy for her birthday. She is a big fan of birds of prey, especially the kestrel she sees on her daily walk with the dog, but i think the lesson transformed her. Into what remains to be seen! I could definitely…
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Where have all the Coot gone? Reflections on a WeBS core count at Burpham
In October I signed up to monitor Burpham Court Farm, Guildford, for the BTO Wetland Birds Survey (WeBS). This Sunday gone was my 3rd Core Count (the first Sunday in the month) and the first on my own. As a relative newcomer to wetland birds- I am mammal ecologist- I enlisted the support first of…
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Gatwick’s grasslands give up a gem: juvenile harvest mouse, 3g
Sunday At 05:00 this morning I headed out onto almost deserted roads, the cars outnumbered by planes overhead on their final approaches: as I cruised up the A3 to junction 10 I waved farewell to those heading north into Heathrow and instead turned east onto the M25 with those Gatwick-bound. Our destination was the same,…
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Buna Ziua! Update from Tranyslvania #2 @opwall
In Viscri at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, the sky is exploding. The sky was darkening as we sat in the cobblestone courtyard of No 22 eating our tasty lunch of chicken soup followed by apricot cake, surrounded by prowling cats, a scruffy black and white hound, and a coterie of chickens and turkeys.…
James T Jones 