The Conservative Party hate everything about Britain and are busy dismantling it. Now the coalition government intends to strip away protection from our most treasured places, as the chancellor establishes his Republic of Gideon, finally big landowners have their champion of slash and burn capitalism

This article titled “George Osborne’s full-blown attack on the countryside will delight rentiers” was written by George Monbiot, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 1st December 2011 14.26 UTC What sort of a world would George Osborne like to live in? I imagine him fantasising about the Republic of Gilead in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Unprotected workers, assigned their places in a fixed social system, crawl over toxic waste dumps, while the upper castes, though rendered sterile by unregulated pollution, live without fear of democracy, trade unions or the minimum wage. The Republic of Gideon began to take shape on Tuesday, when the chancellor launched a full-spectrum assault on both workers and the environment. In his autumn statement, he curtailed public sector pay and, once again, hammered the tax credits and benefits upon which the poorest people depend. At the same time he gave away £250m in yet another bailout for big business: in this case the UK’s most polluting industries. Read Damian Carrington’s withering exposure of this exercise in crony capitalism, and you will rage and gnash your teeth. He also snuffed out the government’s attempts to limit the amount of transport fuel the UK consumes, announced the construction of new roads, airports and power stations and reneged on the promise the energy secretary made just a month ago, that there would be “absolutely no backsliding” on carbon capture and storage at the UK’s power stations. Now the £1bn set aside for CCS will be given (in the Treasury secretary’s words) to “different sorts of projects”. Another corporate tax break perhaps? But perhaps the worst of Osborne’s environmentally destructive proposals was his attack on the laws protecting England’s wildlife and places of natural beauty. These were first introduced in 1994 by the previous Conservative government. He claimed that they are “gold-plating” European rules and “placing ridiculous costs on British businesses”. He is wrong on both counts. The Davidson report in 2006 found that the European rules had not been gold-plated. The laws defending our special areas of conservation and special protection areas impose costs on business only if business wants to trash the few corners of England which have been placed off-limits. That means spots such as Lyme Bay, the New Forest, Epping Forest, the Norfolk Broads and Flamborough Head. Why should corporations be allowed to do to these treasured places what they can do anywhere else? Osborne might as well complain that the rules forbidding developers to knock down St Paul’s cathedral and build a new bank there place “ridiculous costs on British business”. His intentions are spelled out in more detail in the Treasury’s national infrastructure plan 2011. To prevent the protection of our natural heritage from imposing “unnecessary costs and delays” on money-making projects, the Treasury will “give industry representation on a group chaired by ministers so it can raise concerns … at the top of government”. This, remember, is a government umbilically connected to big business, which has so thoroughly infiltrated Westminster and Whitehall that government and corporations are almost indistinguishable. Now the Treasury claims that business needs even more access? Worse still, bodies such as Natural England and the Environment Agency, which are supposed to defend our treasured wild places, will now “have a remit to promote sustainable development.” This is a complete inversion of their purpose – from restraint to promotion. The Country Land and Business Association, representing the class of rentier capitalists whom Osborne appears to see as his natural constituency, professes itself “delighted” with these proposals. I bet it is. The big landowners it represents have been pressing for slash and burn capitalism for years, while simultaneously insisting that the taxpayer stocks their wine cellars and cleans out their moats through farm subsidies. Now they have a government which gives them everything they ask for. These people will never be satisfied. No ancient woodland, no Bronze Age burial mound is safe: unless it is protected by the kind of rules Osborne now wants to dismantle. As for stimulating the economy, it’s hard to see how the UK can win the race to the bottom to which he appears to have committed us. If this country tries to compete by tearing up the rules protecting workers, the unemployed, the environment and our quality of life, it will be worsted by China and 100 other nations with cheaper labour and laxer regulation than ours. This seems obvious to everyone except ministers and officials. UK Trade and Investment, the government body which promotes this country to foreign investors, boasts that “compensation costs [ie wages] in the UK are less than most of the western European countries.” It has “one of the lowest main corporate tax rates in the EU, generous tax allowances and … low social welfare contributions.” And “the UK’s labour market is one of the world’s most flexible.” Come to Britain, where you can treat your workers like dirt. In the wake of this autumn statement, perhaps UK Trade and Investment will now seek to entice investors away from Guangdong with the promise that there are tax breaks for the biggest polluters, no planning laws worth their name, and special access to ministers if you want to trash England’s beauty spots. Even if foreign investors can be persuaded that the rules are slacker in the Republic of Gideon than in the grimmest export-processing zones of the developing world, what does “winning” look like in these circumstances? A bit like winning a nuclear war? “Yes, our nation has been reduced to a charred desert. But we’ve come out on top*. Rejoice, just rejoice! “*Customers should be aware that when, in the previous clause, the government states that “we” have come out on top, it is in fact referring to a subset of the population: namely those possessed of sufficient means to have invested in underground bunkers. The government cannot be held liable if the rest of the population experiences alternative results. If you are not fully satisfied with this outcome, please contact your nearest mortuary assistant.” In reality, the autumn statement, like much else that Osborne has delivered, has little to do with stimulating economic growth. It’s about transferring even greater powers and resources from the rest of us to an economic elite, the kind of people Osborne hangs out with on Nat Rothschild’s yacht. They are the only winners of the Chancellor’s pyrrhic victories. http://www.monbiot.com

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Blue House Farm Bird Reserve, North Fambridge Thursday is our new day off, so we took ourselves out of London on the Eastern Railway line towards Southend and then on the little single track branch line from Wickham to North Fambridge1  .

North Fambridge is a lovely quiet place with big skies, salt marsh estuary, boatyards, a good old pub and loads of wildlife. The flooded fields, dykes and river provide such special habitats for all kinds of birds that the main farm in the area, Blue House Farm, is now managed as an SSSI2 nature reserve by the Essex Wildlife Trust.   The large flocks of thousands of geese still haven’t arrived from Siberia and Eastern Europe yet, the weather over there isn’t quite cold enough all along the path but Brent geese were chomping away on the sward and flying alongside the sea wall in several flocks of fifty or more, which is a cheery sight on a mild and bright, relatively wind free morning towards the end of November. Other types of geese included Greylags and Canadas, about 25 Barnacle geese, and a small group of six White Fronted geese. Will Marsh Harrier take a Wigeon? Back home at Wanstead Flats we are always pleased to catch a rare glimpse of a pair of Teal on the Alexandra Lake, but from the furthermost hide at Blue House Farm we watched a group of about 150 teal being frightened up into the air by a pair of Marsh Harriers hunting along the reed beds. These colourful small ducks can fly really well, twisting and turning almost like a murmuration of starlings. Then one of the Marsh Harriers started to make a move towards a solitary wigeon we’d been watching sitting on the river. The Marsh Harrier approached like an Osprey towards a fish near the surface, talons outstretched to within a couple of feet above the hapless wigeon, who wasn’t in the least bit bothered by the very real threat of impending carvery, the Harrier hovered for a second, eyeing up the prospect, then seemed to think better of it and withdrew. The wigeon still didn’t move towards cover though, and the Harrier came back for a second approach, but again decided that it dan’t want to attack a whole duck right at the moment and headed off back to the reed beds where it was presumably hunting for small songbirds or mammals.

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Björk, the Icelandic singer’s Biophilia project incorporates handmade instruments, iPad apps, David Attenborough’s nature films and an album too – and she’s showcasing it all at Manchester international festival.“There will be an album in September, with an app to go with each of the 10 songs“.Extraordinary.This article titled “Björk: ‘Manchester is the prototype’” was written by Alex Needham, for The Guardian on Monday 4th July 2011 19.00 UTCOriginally formulated by scientist Edward O Wilson, the biophilia hypothesis suggests that human beings have an innate affinity with the natural world – plants, animals or even the weather. Yet it’s not biophilia but good old-fashioned fandom that has drawn a small band of Björk obsessives to queue outside Manchester’s Campfield Market Hall since 10am this morning. Not that there’s anything old-fashioned about the woman they are here to see. Biophilia is the Icelandic singer’s new project – the word means “love of living things” – and promises to push the envelope so far you’ll need the Hubble telescope to see it.A collection of journalists have already had a preview at a press conference in the Museum of Science and Industry over the road. Björk is absent, preparing for tonight’s live show, her first in the UK for over three years, which will open the Manchester international festival. Instead, artist and app developer Scott Snibbe, musicologist Nikki Dibben and project co-ordinator James Merry talk through Biophilia’s many layers. There will be an album in September, with an app to go with each of the 10 songs. There will be an education project, designed to teach children about nature, music and technology – some local kids will embark on it next week. There will be a documentary. And then there will be tonight’s show, performed in the round to a 2,000-strong crowd including journalists representing publications from New Scientist to the New York Times, as well as the diehard fans waiting outside. One, 20-year-old Nick from London, is a classical violinist who has loved Björk since the age of 14. “I wasn’t really into pop at all until I heard Medúlla,” he says, citing her most challenging album. “It was like a gateway drug from me liking difficult 20th-century western art music to liking pop.”It’s a journey in the opposite direction from the one most music fans make, and one which speaks volumes about the complexity of Björk’s work. “More classical musicians respect Björk than any other pop star,” he adds.At the museum, Snibbe is demonstrating the apps. The app that goes with the first single, Crystalline, includes a game in which you collect crystals in a tunnel, through which process you alter and customise the music. The app also includes an abstract version of the musical score; and an essay by Dibben that explains, in this case, how the structures of crystals relate to the musical structure of the song. The app for another song, Cosmogony, presents a 3D cosmos you can navigate. Each app has been created by a different – often rival – developer. “To me, it feels like the birth of opera or the birth of cinema,” says Snibbe.Yet Björk didn’t have such lofty aspirations in creating the project. “My main aim is to not get too bored myself,” she says, via email (she rests her voice between shows). “I feel that if I’m curious and excited there is a bigger chance the listener might be. At the end of the day, it’s more about the feeling of an adventure rather than the details of the adventure itself. So in short: whatever turns you on.”That said, the change from a passive to an active listening experience is a radical one. “The apps are mostly made for headphones and a private experience,” says Björk. “What you see live is only us playing our version. You can play a totally different versions at home.” If you’ve no desire to do that, Merry is at pains to point out that Biophilia will still exist as a CD or download – and indeed only those with access to an iPad or iPhone can experience the apps. So far, the project has been too expensive to adapt to other handheld devices.At the show venue, the journalists are being given a tour of the new instruments that have been specially built for the project. One contraption looks like a giant silver mangle decorated with two massive ear trumpets, but is called a sharpsichord. There are two giant pendulums, which have strings plucked by a plectrum as they swing past. There’s a Tesla coil that descends in a cage from the ceiling; two prongs that emit purple flashes of lightning – and, with it, sound. There’s also a celeste, which has been gutted and fitted with the pipes of a gamelan. These fantastical devices are controlled by an iPad. Above the performance space is a circle of screens that show the apps for each new song; moving tectonic plates for Mutual Core; invading pink cells for Virus (“Like a virus needs a body, as soft tissue feeds on blood, I will find you, the urge is here,” go the lyrics).It must be one of the most complex pop shows ever, and according to Björk, it could have been more elaborate still. “Manchester is the prototype,” she says. “We had to leave many things out because of budget and time and stuff.” As it is, the whole project has taken three years and cost so much money she told Rolling Stone that “we’ll be lucky if we earn zero”.Yet, on purely artistic grounds, it’s hard to regard Biophilia as anything other than a success. As the lights go down, Björk’s childhood hero David Attenborough’s unmistakable voice, recorded just that day, fills the room to explain the songs. The show includes Björk’s favourite footage from BBC nature documentaries playing when she performs older songs. Hidden Place is illustrated by a beautiful but disturbing clip from Attenborough’s Life – of a seal’s corpse being devoured by psychedelically coloured worms and starfish. All 10 tracks from the new album are played. Such an onslaught of new material would try the patience of most audiences, but this one is rapt – no one even goes to the bar.Much of this is due to the sensory bombardment of music, images and costumes – not least Björk’s bright orange wig, which a comment on the Guardian’s review says makes her resemble a tamarin monkey. Her decision to ban cameras and other recording equipment from the venue has also played its part. “I feel since everyone has made such an effort to be there all together at the same place and time, we might as well go for it,” she says. “It can be hard to play music for people who are filming you for Twitter or whatever. It’s like going to a restaurant with someone who keeps texting their friends while you are speaking to them – hard to concentrate.”Then there’s Björk’s extraordinary voice, once compared by Bono to an icepick, and still imperishable at 45. “My voice has changed,” she says. “I thought it had gone a little deeper. On my last tour I got nodules [on the vocal cords] but managed to stretch it out with three years of vocal work, so I’m back to my old range now.” Björk “adores” a whole range of singers: “Chaka Khan, Beyoncé, Antony” – the latter being Antony Hegarty, a former collaborator who is here in the audience – though her “favourite singer alive today” is Azerbaijani devotional singer Alim Qasimov. She is accompanied by a 24-piece Icelandic choir she discovered on YouTube.After spending so long meticulously making Biophilia, performance feels liberating. Live shows and making an album are, says Björk, “extreme opposites. After noodling for ever on an album, gathering together the best moments, it’s refreshing and healthy to have to do it all in one whack. Then you sort of have to take real life into it and accept that you only have whatever you have that day – and that is  enough.”Right now Björk is at the intersection of music, nature and technology, exploring how the three together might help build a more sustainable future. But is it still pop? “Yes, absolutely!” Björk claims. (Dibben, who wrote a book about Björk, says the singer is wary of having her music hived off into the rarified world of the academy.) “Or perhaps I would rather call it folk music – folk music of our time. I was never too much into Warhol and the whole pop thing – it felt a bit superficial. I prefer folk. People. Humans.”• Bjork plays Manchester international festival on 7, 10, 13 and 16 July. Biophilia is released in September<br /> <a href=”http://oas.guardian.co.uk/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/guardianapis.com/music/oas.html/@Bottom” _mce_href=”http://oas.guardian.co.uk/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/guardianapis.com/music/oas.html/@Bottom” rel=”nofollow”><br /> <img src=”http://oas.guardian.co.uk/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/guardianapis.com/music/oas.html/@Bottom” _mce_src=”http://oas.guardian.co.uk/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/guardianapis.com/music/oas.html/@Bottom” alt=”Ads by The Guardian”></img><br /> </a><br />guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogBjörk: ‘Manchester is the prototype’Related posts:who is itExclusive Radiohead artwork plus The King of Limbs album streamCanterbury Cathederal

Duck House Duck HouseTaken June 9, 2010 at 4:17 pm  Canal Boat Isabella Kennet & Avon Canal Canal Boat Isabella Kennet & Avon CanalTaken June 10, 2010 at 2:24 pm  Pumping Station Pumping StationTaken June 11, 2010 at 12:56 pm  Hungerford Fete Hungerford FeteTaken June 12, 2010 at 1:00 pm  Small Pond Lilly Small Pond LillyTaken June 18, 2010 at 3:53 pm via posterousThanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogtime capsule June 8th to June 22nd, 2010Related posts:Photo time capsule from May 8th to May 22nd 2010time capsule from May 25th to June 8th, 2010Canal Boat Holidays

I don't know if it's just a dream but wouldn't it be nice to hole up in a luxury  hotel somewhere you don't even notice which country you're in and escape from everything in the company of strange and exotic sea monsters? This place is called 'Atlantis' after the mythical ocean kingdom which may or may not have existed somewhere in the Mediterranean, or the Red sea, nobody really knows.  Now there is a hotel resort, a celebration of the ocean, with real live sea animal occupants alongside the human guests!  You may have heard of the man made islands in Dubai, some are shaped like countries, well Atlantis The Palm is in the middle of a cresent shaped island. There are 17 hectares of water park amusements, and 1,539 rooms. The special attraction  is the possibility to connect with a world full of wonder and surprise, based on the as yet undiscovered world of the ocean and beyond. This is the home of the largest open-air marine habitat in the world, with some 65,000 marine animals in lagoons and displays including The Lost Chambers, a maze of underwater corridors and passageways providing a journey through ancient Atlantis. I don't know who would be able to go there in person, but there is also a social interactive video that enables all of us to join in by uploading a profile photo into the Atlantis Perfect Day video – http://www.SpottedInAtlantis.com Choose 3 friends and cast them in your 'Spotted in Atlantis' video for a chance to win the adventure of a lifetime.It's easy and only takes minutes. I think one of the most amazing features of  Atlantis The Palm is the fact that the underwater experience is integrated into every aspect of the resort's luxury facilities, such as the restaurant pictured below.   But the real stars are not the fixtures and fittings, but the wildlife creatures including Piranha, Giant Arapaima, Moon Jellies, Moray, Eels and more. Some more Atlantis, The Palm, Features •          Ray Feeding Guests are waist deep in the Shark Attack pool and can feed the resident Rays •          17 unique bars and restaurants with different themes and cuisines •          4 Michelin starred chef restaurants •          Spa •          Dive Centre and it goes on. Try the interactive video and see more for yourself.   Atlantis Hotel Sponsored PostViral video by ebuzzingThanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogAtlantis has been found in DubaiRelated posts:Elche Palm Gardens with Surprising Water Feature Sculpture

Red Breasted Goose, a photo by AndyRob on Flickr.This Red Breasted Goose appeared on Alexandra Lake in Wanstead Flats today, having a rest on its way home to Siberia.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogRed Breasted GooseRelated posts:Bar Head Goose at Wanstead FlatsWhat Easter Is All AboutWalk in the woods

Wild Fires hit Northern Ireland, north-west England, and several areas of Scotland including the Balmoral estate, as well as Swinley Forest in Berkshire

This article titled “Wildfires blaze across parts of Britain after hottest April on record” was written by Helen Carter, for The Guardian on Wednesday 4th May 2011 12.53 UTC Heathland fires have been burning across parts of the UK for days amid unprecedented dry weather, with no respite on the horizon until the weekend. The hottest April on record, which registered only 21% of expected rainfall in England and Wales, has hampered the efforts of firefighters and caused vast areas of parched land to go up in flames. Blazes fanned by high winds have been seen in areas of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, with hundreds of firefighters called in and helicopters used to drop water in the worst-affected regions. The weather forecast shows little chance of any substantial rain falling before Thursday, with central and eastern England having to wait until the weekend. Roads have been closed and 170 firefighters have been called to the Swinley Forest area of Berkshire, where a number of fires broke out. In the north-west of England in Lancashire, fires began on moorland in Belmont, near Bolton, as well as in Ormskirk and Bacup. Police in Northern Ireland are investigating reports of a man seen with a petrol can close to one of the worst gorse fires for years in the Mourne mountains. There were reports of two youths lighting fires in south Armagh. Hundreds of acres of land are being destroyed and homes and livestock threatened by fires which burned for much of the bank holiday weekend in counties Down, Armagh and Tyrone. Scotland, where the royal estate of Balmoral is affected among several other areas, and Northern Ireland had just two-thirds of the rain normally expected in April. The average temperature in England was the hottest since records began 353 years ago. Despite the dry weather, the Environment Agency is not planning a hosepipe ban. A spokesman said: “We feel confident there is enough water to see out spring and summer without restrictions on the public supply.”

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Well this article arrived just on the same day that Linda reported seeing an enormous flying beetle, shiny green coloured, in the back garden near our small pond. We identified the beetle as the great diving beetle and I knew that these insects are viscious predators, at least in the larval form. I’m not going to panic about loosing frog tadpoles though, or even fish fry. As far as I’m concerned if a great diving beetle chooses to use our small garden pond as a nursery for his aquatic offspring then we should be honoured to play host to such an auspicious example of native pond wildlife. I’m sure the frogs will manage to keep up their numbers one way or another.

Who’d be a tadpole? http://thegardenpondblog.org.uk/2011/05/01/whod-be-a-tadpole/

Who’d be a tadpole?

Who’d be a tadpole? By Jeremy Biggs

Larva of a great diving beetle feeding on a frog tadpole.

A common question we get at this time of the year is: “Where have my tadpoles gone?” A common answer is probably provided by this picture from Pond Conservation member Carole Woodall who managed to capture what must be a common fate for many a tadpole. Indeed, it’s probably one of the main fates that nature intended! And this is not the only way that our precious tadpoles get gobbled up: fish of course are regular frog tadpole eaters and so, to the surprise of many, are our innocent looking newts. Now of course, almost every normal person loves newts – but not your average tadpole because a tadpole is basically a tasty newt snack. A common course of events is: - Pond lover makes pond, frogs arrive in year 1 or 2, pond lover very happy. - Newts arrive in year 4 or 5, pond lover even happier. - Tadpoles disappear, pond lover puzzled, calls Pond Conservation. - Frog and newt lover discovers newts eat tadpoles and realises newts not quite so cuddly as previously thought. - Pond lover becomes older and slightly wiser! But it’s not all one-way traffic: our clever little frogs have learnt (excuse the anthropomorphism) to steer clear of the nasty newts, and other predators. Tadpoles can sense the presence of backswimmers and dragonfly larvae, and take avoiding action. They can also sense fish too. Although many may still perish, if you are one of the few that gets through, that’s all that matters.

——

Andy Roberts

http://distributedresearch.net/blog

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Fish pedicure Ban in a dozen US states prompts British scientists to investigate risk posed by treatment amid animal welfare concerns. Have you tried a fish pedicure? What happens to the fish afterwards?

This article titled “Popularity of fish pedicures fuels health and animal welfare concerns” was written by Tracy McVeigh, for The Observer on Saturday 30th April 2011 23.05 UTC One of the fastest-growing beauty treatments in Britain, fish pedicures – during which tiny toothless carp smooth down feet by eating dead skin – has come under new scrutiny from health experts and animal rights campaigners. The number of UK outlets offering pedicures with Garra rufa – fish that lift off hard skin and, through an enzyme in their saliva, diathanol, are thought to heal conditions such as psoriasis and eczema – is growing rapidly. As the craze catches on, beauty salons are already starting to move on to full body immersion tanks. But even for those who can get past the “ick” factor, the treatment is not without controversy. Following the decision by more than a dozen states in the US to ban the pedicures over fears they could spread infections and disease, scientists from the Health Protection Agency have begun an investigation into potential risks. A spokesperson for the agency said that, while it did not expect to be enforcing a ban in the UK and believed the risk of catching an infection from a fish foot spa to be “very small”, it was looking at publishing guidelines for the public. “The HPA and Health Protection Scotland are currently unaware of any cases of infection associated with the use of fish spa pedicures in the UK,” the spokesperson said. “However, following a number of inquiries to the HPA from local environmental health officers, the HPA, Health Protection Scotland and the Health and Safety Laboratory are currently examining the most up-to-date evidence and will publish practical advice to help both salons and the public to minimise any possible risk in due course.” Animal rights groups have also voiced alarm over the conditions in which the fish are kept. “We do have concerns about the welfare of any fish involved in this practice,” a spokeswoman for the RSPCA told the Observer. “Fish are covered by the Animal Welfare Act. They need a stable environment, with the correct water quality and temperature range. Sudden changes in temperature should be avoided as they can severely compromise welfare and even kill the animals. Water quality is of paramount importance in maintaining healthy fish. Having people bathe in the water with the fish is likely to affect quality, particularly if they are wearing any lotions or other toiletries that could leach into the water. Similarly, chemicals used to disinfect tanks and to clean patients’ feet beforehand would have to be non-toxic to the fish.” The practice of using Garra rufa fish – often called “doctor fish” – to heal skin dates back over 400 years in their native southern Turkish river basins. Turkey’s government has now made the Garra rufa a protected species over concerns about over-exploitation by spas, which has led to some outlets in the US using the chin chin, which masquerades as a Garra rufa but doesn’t do the job as well and often dies in the process. In the UK the business is booming, helped by the cheap cost of setting up. At least three companies run franchise operations for fish pedicures and several dozen online offer complete kits for a Garra rufa business. One firm, Appy Feet, has opened 21 stores throughout the UK with double that planned. “Appy Feet is extremely popular with both sexes and all age groups and the interest continues to grow. It is not just people trying the treatment for the novelty factor, many of the customers are regulars who come for a treatment around one to two times a month,” said a spokeswoman, who added that the welfare of the fish was high on their agenda. BEASTLY BEAUTY

Bull semen A moisturing hair treatment is on offer at a London salon that uses the sperm of Angus bulls.

Ox bone-marrow shampoo Exactly what it says on the bottle. From Brazil.

Nightingale droppings Salons in Japan and New York offer the so-called Geisha facial as a cleanser. Victoria Beckham is allegedly a fan.

Snail slime Farmers in Chile raising snails for the French market discovered secretions gave them smooth and soft hands. They now produce an ooze-filled hand cream.

Snake venom Several face creams contain a protein that is a replica of the venom produced by the temple viper, claimed by some to have the same face-freezing effects as Botox.

Leech Therapy Used for centuries to treat disease and still used in medicine, the slimy parasites now appear in a “detox” spa in Austria beloved of celebrities such as Demi Moore.

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From protecting the natural environment to badger culling to water bills, key policies are being postponed. Have cuts bitten too deep?

This article titled “Defra delays: why are so many key environment policies overdue?” was written by Damian Carrington, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 13th April 2011 10.49 UTC Cutting a 30% of an organisation’s budget before working out how that organisation will actually run on the reduced funds isn’t very clever. But that’s what appears to have happened under Caroline Spelman’s stewardship of the department of the environment, food and rural affairs. How else can we explain the long list of delays which span right across the work of the department, from water bills to badger culls? Not forgetting the humiliating U-turn on the forestry sell-off, the deep cuts to flood defences across the nation and a feeble sustainability vision, here’s a list: Natural environment white paperDue: April 2011Expected: Officially, later this year – before the summer, I’m toldThis flagship policy will, Defra says, protect and enhance the natural environment that “underpins our economic prosperity, our health and our wellbeing” and will be the department’s first environment white paper for 20 years. It is eagerly anticipated by greens across the spectrum – but it will miss its April deadline, as set out in Defra’s business plan. Badger cull consultation: government’s responseDue: Feb 2011Expected: Possibly late MayBovine tuberculosis takes a terrible toll on cattle farmers, but effective culling of badgers in complex and costly and many animal lovers oppose any cull. The proposals – that farmers do the culling themselves – has many flaws, not least being dismissed as “among the worst options” by scientists and likely to cost more than doing nothing. In February, announcing a delay, agriculture minister Jim Paice said: “we need to make sure we get it right.” With emotions running high on both sides, it’s a tough one, but how many more months must we wait? Waste policy reviewReview announced: June 2010Expected: May 2011The government announced their review of waste policies in June 2010 to “ensure we are taking the right steps towards creating a ‘zero waste’ economy.” But, according to stakeholders, its results have been repeatedly delayed. In its absence, the government has said it will ban fines for misuse of dustbins, but is unable to say how refuse will be better dealt with than now, especially ending the UK’s addiction to landfill. Water white paperDue: June 2011Expected: Autumn 2011The white paper will “reform the water industry to ensure more efficient use of water and the protection of poorer households”. It follows the Cave review of competition in the water industry and Walker review of water charging, published in April 2009 and June 2009 respectively. Food policyDue: UnknownThis is not strictly late as there’s no such policy being developed, despite criticism of the government’s plans for feeding a growing population sustainably and healthily being ‘insubstantial”. Banning wild animals from circuses consultation: government’s responseConsultation ended: March 2010Due: UnknownThis issue raise huge passion among animal rights campaigners, but a year on, there’s still no response, though the first moves were made by Labour in 2006, who must share some of the blame for the delay. Dangerous dogs consultation: government’s responseConsultation ended: June 2010Expected: “Later in the year”, I’m toldThis consultation on increasing the protection of the public was launched by the last government after a campaign by post men and women. Parliamentary answers:Thanks to work by Thomas Docherty MP, we can see that Defra has failed to answer 42% of written questions from MPs on time, making them the third worst of the 13 departments Docherty challenged. By contrast, the department of energy and climate change answered 77% of questions on time. Defra refutes my suggestion that the deep budget cuts are taking their toll. “Defra is playing its part in reducing the deficit, but this has no impact on policy development,” said a spokesman. “It is important to address all likely practical issues and ensure the department has properly consulted stakeholders before final decisions are made – which will mean less red tape and more opportunities for business and communities.” Unsurprisingly, Mary Creagh, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for environment, has a different view: “This is a department in special measures. The government’s ideologically driven belief in the small state is sending environmental policy into reverse. Defra’s stop-go approach to policy is creating uncertainty for businesses and communities that want to invest in green jobs and improve the environment.” Perhaps the Defra delays stem from the forestry sell-off fiasco, meaning every policy now has to be examined over and over in order to avoid another disaster. I’d be interested to hear more about that. Whatever the reason for the delays, while we wait, biodiversity continues to decline, cattle continue to contract TB and rubbish continues to be dumped.

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Thousands log on worldwide to the Osprey webcam to watch the oldest breeding osprey keep vigil beside a Scottish loch.

This article titled “Osprey webcam thrills bird lovers as Lady of the Loch awaits mate” was written by Tracy McVeigh, for The Observer on Saturday 2nd April 2011 23.14 UTC Inside a wooden hide at the edge of a Perthshire loch, there is a flurry of excitement and a crackling of waterproof clothing. Binoculars are raised and whispered instructions exchanged. But hopes quickly fade as the alarm proves a false one. The bird that has swooped into sight is not the one they’d been waiting for. “She is taking a defensive stand; it’s not Him,” said seasonal ranger Anna Cheshier. “Look, she’s seeing him off. It’s just an interloper trying his luck.” There is a palpable feeling of disappointment in the hide, where half a dozen people sit glued to the goings-on on a platform of sticks less than 200 yards away, 60 feet up a Scots pine tree. Inside the nearby visitor centre, many more are watching the action in real time on two large HD television screens. More than 100,000 people have already viewed the webcam. The object of all the attention is Lady, the osprey, who stands in her giant nest and looks out to the blue skies. Having confounded the experts by not only living to the age of 26, against the eight years’ lifespan the bird was thought to have, but also by producing 48 fledglings, she is now waiting for Him – a 10-year-old male with whom she mated last year. He is due to land any day after a 3,000-mile migration back from west Africa. Ospreys mate for life so, if he has survived, he should be on his way. But if he doesn’t get here within the next few days, Lady is likely to presume him dead and move on to another male. In her lifetime, she has already outlived two mates. “The interest is huge,” said Cheshier, 25, from the Scottish Wildlife Trust‘s Loch of the Lowes nature reservation outside Dunkeld, an hour’s drive north of Edinburgh. “Lady is a star attraction and also very important. She has been coming back to her nest here for 19 years, but last year she was very ill and we all thought she was going to die, so no one imagined she’d be back this year.” Lady survived her near-death illness and arrived back from her African winter late last Monday night. She is not chipped or ringed, so it wasn’t until later, when the cameras got a look in her eyes, that the rangers were sure the remarkable raptor had returned. “She has a unique defect in the iris of her right eye – it looks like a lightning bolt,” said Cheshier. “It was amazing to see her come back; she is bucking every trend, rewriting the books.” Since her return, Lady has been helping herself to the loch’s supplies of perch and trout, even visiting the nearby Tay to catch herself a salmon, tidying up the nest, and waiting. Meanwhile, she is being closely watched by experts and fans. On the branches around her are positioned discreet cameras trained on the nest, one for day and one for night, and two microphones that pick up every ruffle of her feathers and her occasional piercing hawk cry. Live pictures are being eagerly watched around the world. Last year 33,000 people viewed the webcam online, but this year 120,000 have viewed the Lady of the Loch. “We will have the computer on all day in the background, just having a look every now and again,” said Jenny Hillier, up from Southampton with her husband, Pete, on a short break to see the bird. “We followed her on the webcam last year and the year before, but assumed she’d be dead. It’s amazing she’s back.” Pete Hillier has been writing about their trip on a wildlife blog to envious bird lovers around the country. “It’s quite something to see her – I think it’s the age of her, and the fact you can see her so close up here, that makes her so special,” he said. Colin and Dorothy Wilson from Dunfermline, Fife, are rooting for Lady, taking a detour from their spring break to make a pilgrimage to the nest. “We were here last June to see her and then we heard she hadn’t been so well, so we were astonished that she was back, and we had to come. It makes such a difference to be able to see wildlife like this,” said Dorothy. Two other diehard osprey fans, Alan Barraclough, 77, and Hazel Studham, 74, have come up from Cumbria to see Lady. “She’s a very special bird; we didn’t think she’d make it through the winter. I hope her beau turns up,” said Studham. Smaller than an eagle, larger than a hawk, the osprey disappeared as a species from the UK in 1916, when the last pair was killed by egg and bird hunters such as Victorian collector William Dunbar, who guiltily wrote to a friend that their obsessions “had finally done for the osprey”. Even when they returned in the 1950s to recolonise old haunts, their small numbers remained under threat, especially from postwar pesticides such as DDT. But now the osprey’s tenacity gives real encouragment to environmentalists. Roy Dennis, a conservation veteran and honorary director of the Highland Foundation for Wildlife, said Lady’s return was an astonishing feat. “It’s a real emblem, the osprey. People can see it [while they are] having a picnic on the side of a loch and you’ll see one dive in, so it’s very visible, distinct and identifiable, unlike a lot of birds. “It’s a great ambassador. But the reason osprey came back is that the habitat and the food supply are still here. It’s the persecution of the species, the shooting, that has stopped. With some of our other birds, it will be harder as their habitat is going. If Scotland isn’t becoming entirely the nature reserve of the UK, then it’s certainly its lungs – the successes with sea and white-tailed eagles, red grouse are great, but we need to do more for conservation, encouraged by these successes.” But as Dunkeld’s aged raptor enchants wildlife lovers around the world, Dennis thinks Lady may have a wait ahead of her. “I was out checking on osprey nests near me today and of 12 only two birds had returned. The weather hasn’t been so good and the closest of the tracked males is still in Spain, so it’s early days,” he said. “It could be another three or four days.”   Find the webcam at swt.org.uk/wildlife/webcams/loch-of-lowes2/

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More research into adder genetics may prevent small isolated colonies from dying out. Our only venomous snake is an important part of UK wildlife heritage.

This article titled “Why we must make the adder count” was written by John Baker, for guardian.co.uk on Saturday 2nd April 2011 09.00 UTC One of only six reptile species native to Britain, the adder is a fussy creature. Its restriction to specific habitats, and its frequent disturbance by human activity, well-meaning and otherwise, have made its populations isolated and prone to the effects of inbreeding. The Institute of Zoology, Natural England and Oxford University is undertaking a survey of adders (also known as vipers) to identify whether their population in the UK is suffering from a lack of genetic diversity. This is encouraging, and I fully support further research into adder genetics. Two of the other reptile species in Britain, the sand lizard and smooth snake, have always had limited natural ranges here. Because of this, they have strict legal protection and have been the subject of conservation programmes to protect and manage the few sites where they occur, and to reintroduce them to places from where they have disappeared. The adder is one of the remaining four species that we call “widespread” because they have much larger natural ranges in Britain. The adder can be found from the very south-west of England all the way north to Scotland. This does not mean that Britain is brimming with them or any other reptile species: within their apparently large ranges, they are restricted to certain types of habitat. The adder prefers grassland, scrub and woodland edge, primarily on sandy soils. There are also other factors that make it a particularly vulnerable species. Back in 2004, English Nature (now Natural England) contacted naturalists around the country who had good knowledge of adder populations and asked them to evaluate the health of “their” adders, with some interesting results. In their opinion, “disturbance” was the greatest threat. But analysis of the data revealed some other trends. A third of the adder populations were small (estimated as fewer than 10 adult snakes), and more than a third of the populations were isolated. Population declines tended to be more frequent among these small or isolated populations, as is to be expected due to chance fluctuations, but also as you would expect from inbreeding. Amphibian and Reptile Conservation co-ordinates Make the Adder Count, a project encouraging local adder conservation and long-term monitoring of populations, pooling information from a small but dedicated band of adder-watchers around the country. They, too, have consistently reported that the greatest threat to adders is disturbance. On further questioning, it become apparent that disturbance can have different causes. In some cases it refers to destruction of habitat – something that can happen even on protected sites, unintentionally, through “habitat management”. Adders are also still being killed by humans, through overly heavy-handed management of some of the areas they inhabit. Sometimes disturbance can also result from people visiting well-known adder sites. So, can the general public help at all? Certainly. They can visit the Sliding Scales campaign website, a project for recording current or recent distributions of any snakes, as well as visiting the Add an Adder site – which aims to collect “records from the past” (both from personal experience and anecdotes from friends and relatives) to get a better idea of not only where adders are, but also where they used to be. If people find shed skins (or “sloughs”) of adders, they can also be sent to the ARC Trust – those will be used in a research project to better understand adder genetics. The animals we love face a range of threats. We herpetologists wait with interest to learn more about the genetics of our adder populations.

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Fukushima coastal waters see high levels of radioactive iodine, which could build up in seaweed commonly eaten in Japan.

This article titled “Japan fears radioactive contamination of marine life” was written by Ian Sample, science correspondent, for The Guardian on Wednesday 30th March 2011 17.57 UTC High levels of radiation in the sea off the coast of Fukushima have raised concerns over harm to local marine life and the risk of contaminated fish, shellfish and seaweed entering the food chain. Tests on seawater near the nuclear power plant showed that levels of radioactive iodine reached 3,355 times the legal limit on Monday, one of several peaks in recent days that have fallen rapidly as radioactive substances decayed and were steadily diluted and dispersed by ocean currents. Officials are watching levels of iodine-131 in seawater because although it has a half-life of eight days, meaning it is half as radioactive after that time, the substance builds up in seaweed, a common food in the Japanese diet. If consumed, radioactive iodine collects in the thyroid and can cause cancer. The International Atomic Energy Agency said iodine-131 in seawater would “soon be of no concern” presuming there are no further discharges of contaminated water from the power station into the sea. The IAEA added that Japanese authorities have released the first analyses of fish, caught at the port of Choshi, in Chiba prefecture south of Fukushima, which found one of five to be contaminated with a detectable level of caesium-137, a far more persistent radioactive substance, though at a concentration that was far below safety limits for consumption. Many countries, including Britain, have begun radiation testing of fish, shellfish and other fresh produce from Japan or have imposed wider bans on imports from the region. Fisheries are not entering waters within the 20km (12-mile) exclusion zone around Fukushima, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. The fate of many local seafood and shellfish farms, including scallops, oysters, sea urchins and sea snails, was sealed more than two weeks ago when the tsunami wiped out beds and destroyed fishing vessels and ports around Fukushima. In Iwate prefecture, authorities say the disaster may have wiped out businesses that account for 80% of the revenue of the region’s fisheries. At the Fukushima power plant, engineers continued the arduous task of trying to pump contaminated water from turbine rooms and trenches, which is hampering work to connect the reactor cooling systems to the national grid. Tepco, the power station operator, plans to spray parts of the site with a resin to stop radioactive dust blowing off the site and is considering shrouding the reactor buildings with sheets to reduce radiation being released into the air. Fish and other sea creatures are unlikely to be seriously harmed by the radioactive leaks, even in the most contaminated areas. After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, fish in three freshwater lakes within the exclusion zone became contaminated with radioactive caesium but showed no obvious health problems, though some fish were born with reproductive abnormalities which may have been caused by radiation, said James Smith, an environmental physicist at Portsmouth University who studied fish in the area. While fish accumulate radioactive contamination, this happens less in the ion-rich waters of the oceans than in freshwater lakes.

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After a long, hard winter, the seasons have turned and at last the days are lengthening. Spring is here with skylarks, moths, moles, chiff chaff, rowan tree buds, wagtails, catkins and lambing.

This article titled “Spring’s here: skylarks overhead, moles in the garden, moths in the bathroom” was written by Rob Penn, for The Observer on Sunday 27th March 2011 00.05 UTC Winter was very long in the Black Mountains. We’ve been embattled by the weather since snow fell in late November and the temperature hit –15C. I’m not expecting a campaign medal. I can’t remember anticipating spring so eagerly, though. There is no universally accepted event that heralds the new season, but it arrived incontrovertibly for us last week, with a period of high pressure that brought warm sunshine, temperatures in the teens and stirrings of new life in the dead land. For meteorologists, who like to tidy the year into four neat sections, spring begins on 1 March. For astronomers, the vernal equinox (20 March this year) marks the turning of the season. For some, it’s the moment the clocks go forward. For trout fishermen, it’s the first hatch of March browns or even grannom, the drab fly that erupts in clouds over rivers at the beginning of April. Others identify more intimate ambassadors: the first dashing yellow daffodil, the rising dawn chorus of birdsong, the earliest appearance of frogspawn in ponds and ditches, the first cut of grass, a pied wagtail over ploughed land and yellow catkins dangling from hazel branches all symbolise spring’s arrival for someone. . For me, spring is evidenced in many ways. On dewy mornings, when the sun rises over the hill behind our house and illuminates the lawn, lighting the million pearls of moisture suspended from the tip of every blade of grass, I know the waiting is over. When there are moths in the bathroom, moles in the garden and the moor is full of the liquid trill of skylarks, spring has arrived. When I can cycle down the hill to my office in Abergavenny in a T-shirt, with sunshine on my forearms and warm air funnelling over the creases in my face, I feel the wheel of the year has turned. It’s an elementary pleasure, a madeleine moment that validates my existence at this time, year after year. Observing the coming of spring is part of the British condition. I’m told it’s the moment in the year when expats pine for home the most: Oh, to be in England/ Now that April’s here, Robert Browning wrote in Home-thoughts, from Abroad in 1845. There is satisfaction in knowing that its arrival is timeless: a joy identical to me and to someone who inhabited the iron age hill fort a mile from my home, 2,750 years ago.   Exactly 275 years ago, we started documenting it. In 1736, Robert Marsham saw the first swallow of the year wheeling and banking over the open fields at Stratton Strawless in Norfolk, eating insects on the wing in celebration of having completed an epic, 6,000-mile journey from southern Africa. Marsham wrote the event down, in effect inventing a new field of study, phenology – the effects of cyclic and seasonal phenomena on plants and animals. Marsham recorded 26 “Indications of Spring”, as he called them, without interruption, for 62 years. He noted the dates different trees first came into leaf, blossom and flowers came out, frogs first croaked and butterflies appeared. In collating his observations, Marsham, a friend of the more famous naturalist Gilbert White, crystallised a British fascination. It’s a fascination that could be as old as the seasons themselves and which is still manifest today, not least in the popularity of the BBC series Springwatch. For farmers in the Black Mountains, spring means lambing: an arduous, 24-hour vigil that lasts for up to eight weeks, leaving many of the protagonists looking as if they’ve just been released from a POW camp. “Most farmers are lambing by the end of March,” said Mark Morgan, a farmer in the Llanthony Valley. “It’s the most important time of year. Everything depends on these few weeks. It’s hard work, but it’s fulfilling and something we take pride in. For me, spring starts with lambing. It’s like waking up from some primeval nightmare.” The winter preparations for this moment are complete and the monochrome landscape looks ordered. The hedges are laid and trimmed or “flail cut”. Gates have been rehung. The fields have been “chain-harrowed”. Though the grass is still pallid, the effect of this raking is visually dramatic from afar: the green, two-tone strips are the first hint there is life in the long-dormant earth. In our garden, growth meets decay when spring arrives. The decay is a reminder that I’ve been idle over the winter. I’ve pruned some of the fruit trees and cut the raspberry canes, but there’s still a mountain of clearing and pyres to be set alight. Last week my wife and I dug over and weeded the vegetable patch – another winter task we didn’t get round to before the earth turned to iron in November. We like to toil over the veg patch together each year, satisfying an immemorial urge to provide food. Lettuce, coriander and rocket seeds have been planted in the greenhouse. In a rare fit of exuberance for gardening, my kids have planted sunflowers, alpine strawberries and a packet of wild flower mix. The first wee shoots of basil are showing on the windowsill in the kitchen. The old spaniel, who was all but written off by the vet a month ago, has a touch of his swagger back. He loves the warmth and passes the afternoons in a suntrap in the lee of the byre. The young spaniel stalks under the copse of birch trees, thrusting his snout into the rabbit holes and intermittently exhaling hot air from his nostrils into the burrows. Inside the house, the mice have thankfully moved off to their summer residence. The coat cupboard has had an interim clearout: arctic boots, salopettes, woollen hats and a diverse selection of single children’s gloves have gone to the attic. It snowed in the Black Mountains in late March last year; the rest of the coats stay out for now. In the wood we manage as a community group, high up on Hatterall Hill, the rush of activity to coppice the stools of hazel is over and the chainsaws are quiet for now. In fact, we stopped all tree felling at the beginning of March, as birds are nesting earlier and earlier. There’s still plenty to do: the trunks and thicker branches of hazel need to be cut into 2ft lengths, ready to be loaded in the burner we’ll use to make barbecue charcoal over the following months. The hazel sticks will be bundled up and left in a pond for a fortnight, until they’re used for making hurdles. The firewood, most of it windblown, will be stacked and left to season. The clocks go forward today. The extra hour of daylight in the evenings is always welcome, but the more significant milestone for me is the passing of the equinox. Daylight hours are now longer than the hours of darkness and increasing by three or four minutes every day. It’s a psychological crossroads: for the first time in the year, I feel I can be profligate with daylight. I can be outside and content doing nothing. I walk the dogs because I want to, not because I have to. There is time to lean against a tree, look up and let the sun burn golden palaces on to my closed eyelids. Of course, spring is the time to be social too. Human interaction redoubles as the sun strengthens, turning even the dourest farmers into extroverts. On the lanes, people stop to chat on the thinnest premise. In town, every face offers a smiling reception. It is no wonder spring is pregnant with pagan mating rituals. It’s the season of possibility, for us as much as nature. For that alone, we should celebrate its arrival.   Rob Penn is the author of It’s All About the Bike: the Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels (Particular Books).

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Sarah Crown strolls through Kensington Gardens, the Serpentine and the ponds, an enduring source of inspiration for authors and poets

This article titled “London walks podcast: Poetry and literature in Kensington Gardens” was written by Presented by Sarah Crown, produced by Francesca Panetta and Lucy Greenwell, with field recordings by Pascal Wyse, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 23rd February 2011 12.08 UTC London’s parks have been a source of escape and inspiration for centuries. Kensington Gardens has seen the likes of JM Barrie, Matthew Arnold and Ezra Pound scribbling lines in pads of paper as they sit on the park’s black benches. Sarah Crown explores the city sanctuary with Nick Lane, the park’s education and community engagement officer. They set off from the ornate Italian Gardens where the fountains play their own sort of music. To test the old adage, “inspiration doesn’t come by appointment”, poet, and Costa Book of the Year winner Jo Shapcott takes a parallel journey on her own through the gardens – with notebook in hand – to get her creative juices flowing. Sarah and Nick meander along the Serpentine towards the statue of Peter Pan, worn down over the decades by the hands of little children. JM Barrie erected the statue in the dead of night as a surprise for the park’s young visitors, to remind them that Peter Pan was dreamt up here, under the bows of the huge plane trees. Author William Boyd values the escape that London’s parks offer and explains why parks are so important to urban writers like him. Ever since he was a child, and especially after his wife died, poet Dannie Abse has sought sanctuary in London’s parks, and reads a poem that reminds him of his own park life. The bridge over the Serpentine is a good spot to survey the Lido, where the Serpentine Swimming Club members plunge into the waters every morning of the year, even if they have to bash through the ice first. Sarah stops by the Serpentine Gallery and then onto the Round Pond, where Paul Cavel, circle-walking meditation expert, takes us round and round the pond as a means of calming our minds, and healing our bodies. They finish in the shadow of Kensington Palace, where you can stop for a cup of tea in the Orangery. You can enjoy this documentary at home by listening here or you can download it on to your phone or mp3 player and take it out as a walking tour. Click here to download. And there is a map to go with the audio too.

Many thanks to: Nick Lane, education and community engagement officer for the park William Boyd Dannie Abse Jo Shapcott The Serpentine Swimming Club The Serpentine Gallery Paul Cavel of Circle Walking

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24,000 adders, common lizards and other species moved from oil refinery site to reserves to make way for London Gateway container port.

This article titled “Essex reptiles settle into new Wiltshire home” was written by Steven Morris, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 21st March 2011 14.23 UTC They had lived peacefully in their tens of thousands on an old refinery site in Essex. Now after what is thought to be the UK’s biggest artificial movement of animals, 24,000 adders, grass snakes, common lizards and slow worms are settling well into new homes 140 miles away. The reptiles were transported from the east of England to reserves in Wiltshire to make way for the £1.5bn London Gateway container port and logistics park. Since 1998 the creatures have been captured by hand and moved in vans – early in the morning so they did not dry out – around the M25 and down the M4 before being released into their new homes. The reserves in Wiltshire have now been declared full and this year the relatively few remaining reptiles at the Essex site will be rehoused closer to another reserve closer to home. Marcus Pearson, environmental manager for DP World, said the move seemed to have been successful. Reptiles that had been moved and then recaptured to check their wellbeing seemed healthy and doing well in their new home. Construction is under way at London Gateway, 25 miles to the east of central London. Once complete the development will allow the world’s biggest container ships to berth close to the capital. But one of the challenges the developers faced was rehousing the animals that had moved on to the site after an oil refinery ceased operating in 1999. Homes were found nearby for the carefully protected great crested newts. But no new local habitat could be found for the reptiles so the decision was taken to move them to reserves managed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. DP World also bought a chunk of land to link areas owned by the trust. It has moved 290 adders, 400 grass snakes, 17,000 common lizards and 6,000 slow worms. Pearson said finding a new home was tricky because they could not be moved to places where they were already large populations of a particular creature. The Wiltshire reserves are now judged to be full and the remaining reptiles found on the Gateway site this year will be moved to the RSPB reserve, West Canvey Marsh.

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As world communications improve, the number of local languages is bound to be reduced. But some of those about to be lost could be repositories for specialist knowledge and important cultural heritages, so should we care about the living languages facing extinction? This article titled “Half of living languages face extinction” was written by Lucy Tobin, for The Guardian on Monday 21st February 2011 17.00 UTC You’ll never again hear anyone speaking Laghu, and anyone yearning to communicate in Old Kentish Sign Language is out of luck: it, too, has gone the way of the dodo. But there’s still a chance to track down a conversation in Gamilaraay, or Southern Pomo – if you’re prepared to trek to visit to one the few native Americans still speaking it in California. Of the 6,500 living languages currently being used around the world, around half are expected to be extinct by the end of this century. It was concern about the cultural and historical losses that result from a language disappearing that inspired the World Oral Literature Project, an online collection of some of the 3,500-plus “endangered languages” struggling for survival in the world. The heart of the project, run by Cambridge University, is a large database listing thousands of languages alongside details such as where they are spoken and by whom, plus audio clips. On the site, surfers can discover that Laghu was a language spoken in the Solomon Islands until it disappeared in 1984, Old Kentish Sign Language was a precursor to the modern-day version, and Gamilaraay is still used by the Kamilaroi tribe of New South Wales. The project is the brainchild of Mark Turin, 37, a research associate at Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He grew up in London speaking Dutch and English and had planned to study linguistics at university, but on a gap year in Nepal realised he was interested in “what language unlocked, not just the nuts and bolts of linguistics”, and switched to anthropology. “We know very little about most of the world’s languages, and an incredible amount about the histories and changes of a handful of western European languages,” Turin explains. And he has devoted his academic career to trying to open up little-known languages. “Most endangered languages are primarily oral, and are vehicles for the transmission of a great deal of oral culture,” he says. “That’s at risk of being lost when speakers abandon their languages in favour of regional, national or international tongues.” So the World Oral Literature Project aims to document vanishing languages – and everything about the culture and society they convey – before they disappear. Its database used three major sources to collate the information about the disappearing languages, including Unesco’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. About 150 of its listed languages are in an “extremely critical” condition, where the number of known living speakers has slipped to single figures, or even just one. “As soon as a scholar declares a language to be extinct, you get a phone call from someone furious who says ‘my mother still speaks it’,” Turin says. “But in a way, these corrections are all part of the process of drawing attention to the cause and the sense of urgency involved in careful documentation and description of endangered speech forms the world over.” The project also provides funds for local fieldworkers in countries including Malawi, India, Mongolia and Colombia to collect data and recordings about little-spoken languages. In the past, Turin says, major collections of recordings were lost because they weren’t deemed important. He sees the new site as a “safe haven” for fieldwork on languages that might otherwise be lost. “The vast majority of tapes are just kept in dusty boxes, but to put them on our database we digitise and hopefully future-proof them,” he adds. “All manner of people have been getting in touch to give us their collections, including missionaries, retired scholars and community activists.” One early donor was Reverend John Whitehorn, a former missionary and Cambridge linguist who lived with an indigenous community in Taiwan in the 1950s. “When he came back to England, he walked into Cambridge’s Museum of Anthropology and said, ‘I’ve got books, textiles and tape recordings, are you interested?’ The museum took it all apart from the recordings because they didn’t know what to do with them,” Turin explains. “He went home and stored his collection around the house in plastic carrier bags, where they stayed until he walked into my office with the bags under his arm, and asked, ‘do you want them now?’ The tapes are brilliant, with songs and interviews and linguistic information that might otherwise have disappeared.” The database is currently updated exclusively by academics (though users are encouraged to send in contributions), but Turin hopes that it will ultimately become a Wikipedia-style web 2.0 project “that people want to contribute to”, with user uploads, recordings and discussion to help keep languages alive. To that aim, Turin organises lectures and workshops for linguists, librarians, academics and members of the public to discuss the best strategies for collecting and protecting languages and their research. But he worries that, in academia, funding pressures mean the importance of languages is being overlooked. “These days, students are in a huge rush to finish their PhDs due to time and funding requirements,” he says. “They often don’t have the time to develop a linguistic awareness for the people they’re studying, and have to rely on interpreters and translators. But it’s just not the same.” Turin is used to hearing sceptics dismiss the research. “I get a lot of people saying that they think this work is pointless as all minority languages that have no utility are better off dying off anyway – a kind of social Darwinian position,” he says. “But I usually ask them whether they feel the same about all the old churches and buildings that Heritage Lottery money is helping to restore – or the plight of species around the world. Our work means we’re helping not only endangered languages to stay with us, but all the culture and history that they denote.” http://www.oralliterature.org/database

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Thinking of taking cheap breaks over half term to Norfolk for the countryside, coast, broads and wildlife. Lapwings make a great spectacle.

This article titled “Country diary: Claxton, Norfolk” was written by Mark Cocker, for The Guardian on Monday 21st February 2011 00.05 UTC It may be a projection of my own sense of seasonal change – such as the crocuses in our hedge and the song thrush shouting from the wood – but I cannot help thinking that there is a definite edginess in the birds gathered on the Yare floodplain. It is as if they know themselves that it’s in the air – a kind of pre-migration tension – and it will soon well up and drive these wigeon and lapwings north for their breeding grounds. The mood is stirred further by a male peregrine, who rises above the woods and glides south so smoothly that it feels as if I’m watching a floater pass gently down the curve of my own eye, rather than a distant physical object. The anxiety among all the 5,000 ducks and waders across the marsh wells up in a great symphony of flight. Momentarily their lives are shaped and answer to the beating of one falcon’s heart and I wonder how we should process morally that all this glorious spectacle of the rising flocks is a product of raw fear? Can something so dreadful truly be beautiful? The most compelling part comes when about 2,000 lapwings lift in a single elongated group. As they rise so their upper wings are tilted towards me like a billowing sheet of black. Then, as one, they present their undersides and rise higher in a broken veil of white. From below and almost through the middle of these lapwings blasts a denser flock of wigeon with even greater urgency. They cross. I can hear all the woodwind chaos of their wings. Out of this terror they build upwards into a great momentary cathedral of birds and the peregrine, shining powder-blue even in this flat light, twists down upon them. Yet he fails. They scatter and in sub-groups slowly they simmer back down until all are once again spread across the marsh. Still nothing has happened.

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Join us for ‘Take Back Wanstead Flats’ on 2pm on Sunday 21 November. The Save Wanstead Flats campaign plans to use wooden stakes and tape to mark out the boundaries of the proposed police base on the Flats, in order to show just how much space it will swallow up in 2012. Maps or drawings can never make as much sense as… seeing its massive size for yourself but we’d prefer not to wait until construction starts and it’s too late… to stop these plans. Facebook: Protect-Wanstead-Flats-and-Epping-Forest

As you can see from the publicity, the message behind this event also harkens back to the historical opposition by local people to enclosure of the Flats. We hope people will see this as an opportunity to come along and celebrate in their own way our right to enjoy our open spaces – although it is late November, so we do recommend that people wrap up warmly! Leaflets available to download from http://scr.bi/9sZkjy and A3 posters from http://scr.bi/9AgXOE – please ask local shops and businesses to put up a poster, or stick one up in your window (but no flyposting please, as it gets some of us in all sorts of trouble!) Take Back Wanstead Flats

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Lime Hawkmoth: London, UK

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It’s just an old picture of an amazing moth which was later identified as a Lime Hawkmoth up against the dark bark of an urban tree.

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