Happy Birthday Big Man

Two hundred years ago the most important human to walk the planet thus far was born into a comfortable middle-class existence in leafy Shropshire. By the time of his death, 73 years later, he had completely reshaped our understanding of life on this planet and had laid down the bedrock upon which all modern biological science is based.

If you claim to have an interest in anything vaguely biological, from cutting edge oncology to the finer points of redpoll taxonomy, you really should have read On the Origin of Species and The Decent of Man. The majority of Darwin's written works are available absolutely free of charge here. I would, however, suggest you invest in physical copies of the aforementioned masterpieces as, in addition to being beautiful things in their own right, they also happen to be precisely the correct dimensions and heft for beating door-knocking evangelical religious types over the head with (my personal favourite edition in this regard is the 1928 Everyman's Library version of On the Origin of Species [the one with the Jurassic fossil on the dust-cover] although I daresay the cracking new Penguin anniversary edition [complete with Damien Hurst cover] would prove equally efficient at rendering Jehovah's Witnesses unconscious).


"...above all, Darwin has shown us that we are not apart from the natural world, we do not have dominion over it, we are subject to it's laws and processes as are all other animals on earth to which, indeed, we are related." David Attenborough, Tree of Life. Or,... to put it another way, Darwin's works prove you are just another animal, so stop thinking you are something special and stop believing that some fantastical deity will appear and save your arse in this, or the next, world; take some responsibility and start working towards ensuring this planet is not utterly f*cked during the period of time you spend on it.

PS. For the truly lazy, attention span deficient, members of generation Facebook, gentle little introductions to the great man's work and its consequences are presently being aired by the BBC, see here for details.
PPS. Finally, for information on the sterling work being undertaken in the name of Darwin see here.

The coldest winter for how long?

No time to blog,... football.

The green and gold

There's a half decent flock of plovers on Caldicott Moor at the mo, counted 1,300 Lapwing are 55 Golden Plovers on the way past this afternoon but the Lapwing estimate is probably a conservative one.

Knot to be missed

Might be worth double-checking Knot and Dunlin for colour rings/flags at the moment. A friend of mine in Essex has been turning up a decent number of colour-ringed/flagged Knot and Dunlin originating from everywhere between Norway and Mauritania; given the number pottering about the estuary, there must be one or two out there awaiting discovery. Of course, they would have to bowl up somewhere amenable to semi-close viewing, Goldcliff? Peterstone? St. Brides?

Bjork, Sigur Ros, dodgy banks and now...

Magor Marsh this morning failed to produce Dusky or Hume's Warbler (one day) but the fields immediately south of the reserve did have 33 Golden Plovers in them. Luckily, just as I was starting to become disenchanted with Magor's meagre muneration, the indefatigable 'weekendbirder' phoned to say he'd found an Iceland Gull at the tip, which saved me the bother of finding an answer to the oft asked question 'What to do next?'.


Got the gull (showing down to 500m) half an hour or so later and obtained stunning pics, in the best the bill tip is rendered invisible and a Herring Gull partially obscures the primary projection (see below), nice. That, by the way, is four Gwentish ticks in five weeks,... giggidy-giggidy.


Having seen Nathan's Bittern pics (see them for yourself here) I then made the pig's ear of a decision to go to Hendre Lake where I saw the following: three oiks mit scrambler, 5000 dog turds, 50 dog walkers, half a dozen 12 year old girls complete with really quite impressive smoker's coughs (hack-hack-hack-gurgle, etc.), 5 oiks with push bikes (presumably a lower class of oik as compared to those with the scrambler), two police officers (aged approximately 15 and 17) and two or three Kingfishers. The Bittern was wise enough to keep its head down.

Didn't happen

I was sure this weather would push something interesting onto the feeders, so sure, I ate my lunch staring out the back window. Unfortunately, a solitary Redwing was the result (although another small flock had gone 'down valley' earlier in the morning), no Brambling, no Reed Bunting, no Woodcock and not even a sniff of a Dusky Thrush.

Winged beasts

Not a lot doing this afternoon; a few Blackcaps at Redwick were followed by a couple of Pegs, a couple of Stonechat, a few Snipe and a Cetti's at Magor Pill. All told, it was pretty dire on the bird front. Luckily, I did see a big bloaty dead cow and a communist angel. Unluckily, the photo of the big dead bloaty cow came out crap, so...


NB 1. Please note the angels down-at-the-mouth demeanor, this is common among angels as they live with the terrible irony that, whilst they possess wings, they can't actually fly, lacking, as they do, a sternum and an appropriate flight muscle bulk to enable a large, solid-boned biped to fly. In fact, strangely, they totally lack the anatomical architecture, as supplied by evolution to other flying organisms, to fly. If only they had believed in Darwin.
NB 2. For this particular angel, the tale is sadder still. Close inspection of the neck region shows a rather large amount of repair work which had to be undertaken after the poor chap/chappess/he-she (does angel sexuality confuse anyone else?) attempted to hang themselves (the damage was blamed on local youths but we know the truth).

Swanning about

No Bewick's Swans at St. Brides this morning, just the same 50 Mutes in the same field they were in on the 11th. Different story in the Usk valley though; the Bewick's were with Mutes, Canada Geese and a solitary Shelduck just north of Llangibby Walks. Unfortunately, the field they were in is miles from the nearest viewing point, didn't even see a colour ring, let alone read the darn thing.

Let's be serious for a moment

The proposed shortlist of Severn estuary energy schemes was announced on Monday. Unfortunately, the government are already attempting to rule out the tidal stream and tidal reef/fence options (potentially the least damaging) on engineering grounds; no scheme has been ruled out on ecological grounds. As per usual, it would appear engineering/economic/business concerns are being afforded more weight than the ecological/environmental issues.

The public consultation exercise runs until 23rd April and consultation responses can be filled out online here, make sure you have your say.

The initial responses of the major conservation bodies are listed below for your information (just click on the name):

CCW

RSPB

The Wildlife Trusts

WWF

Personally, I think a 'green energy' scheme is inevitable but a barrage is going to completely fuck the estuary (that's a technical ecological term btw) and will be used by the likes of the Welsh Assembly, local planners, 'developers' and poxy little local business consortiums to further purely economic (and unsustainable) goals such as: 1. a "golden triangle" of development between Cardiff, Bristol and Brean; 2. another road bridge across the Severn; and 3. a significantly expanded Cardiff Airport.

Like I say, wherever you live (this is an internationally important site), have your say now and at every future stage of the process. I'm sure your MP, MEP, AM and local councillor would also like to hear your views too.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento,... or maybe not

Saw this on the Transfers January 2009 section of the BBC Football website:

"Pele [Porto - Portsmouth] Loan"

Avoiding the oh-too-obvious 'isn't he a bit long in the tooth,... even for Portsmouth' gag; I would like to nominate the naming of this poor unfortunate footballer for the 'Making a rod for your own (or a close family member/friend's) back award 2009'.

Deed poll my little footballing fellow, deed poll.