Ring-necked parakeets are in the news again. Although they’ve been in the UK since the 1800s, and first bred here in
1969, over fifty years ago, periodically a news item with dire warnings about invading parakeets is dusted off and broadcast.
A yew’s lifetime can transcend centuries surviving for over a thousand years, often
appearing immortal. The heart wood can rot away while other parts can regenerate.
A hen blackbird sunk low in its cupped nest, its upturned beak protruding over the rim, is often an enduring childhood
memory.
In medieval times, Nightjars were seen as a bad omen. When hunting moths and other insects in farmyards, they were believed to drink milk from the udders of sleeping goats, transmitting a disease that would cause blindness.
Read More
Secretive yet common. The hedge sparrow is as much a familiar bird in urban areas as in the countryside, every park
and acre of farmland.
Age increases value. That’s why I rarely venture outdoors for fear of being held to ransom. But antiques are hard to
define. Artwork and artefacts increase in value as they age, but when mass-produced are rarely valuable unless they’re defective.
I agree with the sentiments expressed by
Bruce Springsteen in his 1992 song “57 Channels (and nothing on.)” In the US, there are around 2,000 TV channels. In the UK, about 480.
I’ve slept in some uncomfortable places. Once on a steamer out of Papua with no money for a cabin I hung a hammock
in the engine room.
