Clever crow stealing peanuts

I felt bad recently because when I replaced my bird feeders with ones that had a protective cage to keep pigeons away I realised it would also prevent blackbirds from accessing the food. Blackbirds are ground feeders but I did see them occasionally use the hanging feeder. I remember it because there were two of… Continue reading Clever crow stealing peanuts

A bird feeder and 50% off eating out

The bird feeder in our backyard fell apart so we replaced it with one of those feeders that sticks to the outside of your window. They're made in the UK by Meripac. I stuck it on the window yesterday and within hours there were birds there. Here's a picture of it with three birds (the… Continue reading A bird feeder and 50% off eating out

Frank Spencer at the allotments

I went to the allotment today to assemble a small cage I purchased to keep the pigeons off the vegetables. I bought what I thought was an easy click-together frame but when I pulled it out I discovered screws and I hadn't taken a screwdriver with me. Who carries a screwdriver around with them? I… Continue reading Frank Spencer at the allotments

Should I chain myself to a tree?

A little part of me grieves whenever someone chops down a tree and this very nearly happened today. This morning some workmen appeared on our street to chop down several beautiful old beech trees. We did not receive any warning of this other than a street sign which appeared about a week ago to say there'd be roadworks… Continue reading Should I chain myself to a tree?

Bicycles, birds, and mathematicians

We've just returned from a very enjoyable departmental party at Ben's work. The pure maths department is very small so it was a small and friendly gathering. There were some other kids there and they paired up with our kids and spent the time tearing about the place and burning off energy. We cycled there and home… Continue reading Bicycles, birds, and mathematicians

More photos from the Shetland Islands

Dad came with us to the Shetland Islands and took much nicer photos of the puffins than I did so I thought I'd share his photos as they're really terrific. He also took some nice ones of Shetland Ponies: And some of the beach: Seals (that's Lerwick in the background): A photo of Scalloway: And I took this… Continue reading More photos from the Shetland Islands

The Shetland Islands

I'm not quite sure how to begin this post. I've just had a fantastic adventure in the Shetland Islands and saw and did so many wonderful things so this is probably going to be a long post. On Friday evening we boarded a ferry, the MV Hjaltland, for the Shetland Islands. The Shetland Islands are at… Continue reading The Shetland Islands

A robin redbreast and more of Elizabeth’s writing

I was out in the garden today and this little robin redbreast came and said hello. Isn't he cute? There are a quite a few birds around. They, and the sunlight, wake us up at 5:30am 🙂 The little robin was interested in what I was doing because my digging was revealing tasty morsels to… Continue reading A robin redbreast and more of Elizabeth’s writing

Wind farms: love ’em or hate ’em?

I promised one of my commentators that I'd write a blog post about wind farms. This is perhaps against my better judgement since there is sure to be a heated discussion in the comments but I am not usually one to shy away from a good debate.  So here goes. Why do wind farms generate… Continue reading Wind farms: love ’em or hate ’em?

Wind turbines and birds

Yesterday I wrote about the nocebo effect in wind turbine syndrome and a comment was made in that post about how windfarms kill birds. It is true that wind farms kill birds when they collide with the spinning blades but it is also true that the total number of deaths associated with wind farms is… Continue reading Wind turbines and birds