swift nest on my own house and it's true as she says, that when the parents home in to their young, the other swifts - the younger ones that aren't mated - just disappear. Now I know they just go upward till I can't hear them any more. Read on ...
Those of us with gardens could help support Tisbury's bat population - remember Peter Shallcross's report back in the summer (15 August summary on this page and the full report on the MoreNews page, with stats)? The RHS's 'Wild about gardens' campaign this month features an item on 'Welcoming bats in to your garden' They say, 'Often wrongly thought of as pests, bats are in fact highly efficient natural pest controllers, eating hundreds of tiny insects every night, including many of the pests that can be damaging to some plants. TV presenter Chris Packham and garden designer Juliet Sargeant share how we can help bats this autumn.' Some of the advice would only be relevant to larger gardens, but there's probably something for everyone and 'every little helps'. Game is such a healthy food, if you do like to eat meat. But I admit I'd never thought anything more about the shot on which I try not to break a tooth other than that - but Waitrose are seriously concerned at the impact on our own health as well as the environment, of all that toxic heavy metal falling on the ground and eventually making its way into the rivers. Bearing in mind that lead in petrol and pipes in our houses was banned decades ago because of the threat to health, there is a plan to convert to steel shot over the next five years, but rather like unleaded fuel being a problem for cars' engines, it's a problem for the guns. This video sets out the issue very clearly - with some alarming stats to support the argument. Alas, no Hinton Hall meeting on 19 November as we'd hoped but you don't need to miss out. Please go to the Talks page for full details of the alternative arrangements Dick has made.
Or does it? Seems it's been there all along. Sorry I missed Hallowe'en with this one ... Those who enjoyed the lovely talk back in 2018 by Leif Bersweden based on his book The Orchid Hunter (see the Reading List for details) will remember what he said about not managing to find the mysterious Ghost Orchid. He'd be really pleased to know it's alive and well at Wisley! James Armitage, botanist and editor of The Plant Review, tells its story in this entertaining podcast (start at 14.20 mins unless you want to hear it all). Would Ines leave you with nothing to do under the new lockdown rules? I think not ... go to the Young Nature Watch page for details on how to enjoy a fungi foray independently. If you don't yet know Grovely Wood, it's really interesting - we have an annual butterfly day there in the summer and once even saw a purple emperor, so it's well worth getting to know.
By 5.30 on 10 November it'll be too dark to keep gardening and too early to think about dinner, so why not learn something? How about this in the Insights Lecture series from Newcastle University - 'Birds and us: how we shaped them and they shaped us,' by Prof Tim Birkhead.
'This lecture will explore everything from the birds deified and mummified by Ancient Egyptians to Renaissance studies of woodpecker anatomy; from the kleptomania and taxonomic obsessions of Victorian ornithologists through to the present-day fight to save endangered species.' Go to the website for information and registration (and scroll down the sidebar to see all kinds of other YouTube delights available). And details of some brilliant-sounding books the Prof has written, too, which I've added to the list on the Reading list page. It couldn't be better timed: Wessex Museums Wildlife in the Red is their first online exhibition, and all I can say is, more! more! It's beautifully presented, full of fascinating information, and points the way to how we can help.
'Wildlife in the Red presents a range of natural history objects and environmental issues. From birds to butterflies, flowers to fish… explorers once scoured the globe to find exotic species to display in museums or private collections. They tell stories of collectors and early environmentalists, but also of species that have been pushed to the brink of extinction.' Each of the four focuses on a particular collection - Poole Museum on Sawfish - woe! I missed International Sawfish Day on 17 October; The Wiltshire Museum in Devizes on Donald Grose's Flora of Wiltshire (which we helped with at a later stage); The Salisbury Museum's Great Bustards - a subject close to our hearts!; and the Dorset Museum in Dorchester on Bees - there is a housing development that required bee bricks into every building: why can't they all do that?! Each museum poses key questions for you to answer. And they all include information on specialist organisations you can support and wonderful information to download, such as Plantlife's Spotter Sheets. I've just had a look, but I'll be back several times - a wonderful way to forget the storm howling round outside and other worries. This is superbly presented, money could not have been better spent. |
Photo: Avocets (Izzy Fry)
The headers display photos taken by our members. Do get in touch via the Contact Form if you'd like to submit a photo for selection.
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