Category Archives: ramblings

Living with Mammals

28 December 2016 Keith

For a couple of months every spring/summer the People’s Trust for Endangered Species runs a survey Living with Mammals which asks us to record the mammals we see in our back gardens. I’ve been taking part in this for some years and just before Christmas I received the 2016 Living with Mammals survey update. For those of you who are more ecologically minded here are a few snippets from this brief report.

The value of biodiversity and the wildlife in our towns and cities is recognised today more than ever.
… … …
A hundred years ago, red squirrel numbers were already declining, while their grey counterparts, introduced in the last quarter of the 19th century, hadn’t yet become established.
… … …
Since their introduction from North America, grey squirrels have replaced red squirrels across much of their range. Both red and grey squirrels eat acorns, but greys are better able to digest them and, in deciduous woodland, this gives them a competitive advantage.
… … …
Hedgehogs [have] shown a decline of a quarter in the population since the survey began in 2003.
… … …
Ensuring gardens are accessible, forming a network of ‘hedgehog highways’; growing plants that benefit insects; providing nesting sites, such as a woodpile or access under a shed; and removing hazards, such as netting, are easy to do and might be turning a corner for hedgehog conservation.

Photograph © Sam Hobson
The proportion of sites recording foxes each year has fallen slightly and worries that fox numbers are a worsening problem are misplaced. Foxes have few specific habitat requirements; they are adaptable and savvy enough to make use of the food and shelter provided by the built environment and provide a service clearing up much of waste we leave around … foxes, like all wildlife, want a quiet life and while they can be bold, they are rarely unruly.

This reinforces the point that gardens, especially suburban gardens, are an invaluable haven for wildlife and the ever encroaching fashion for paving, decking and manicured grass does the wildlife few favours. [One exception: decking provides a super condominium for rats and mice.]

personal, ramblings

Christmas Solitude

26 December 2016 Keith

Yesterday, like most of the last 20 or more, we spent on our own. We have no immediate family — no parents left and we’re both only children. Our very elderly neighbour, who Noreen often pops in to see, is unfortunately in hospital. All our other friends were (rightly) engrossed in the bosoms of their families.
This was good as it meant we could do exactly as we pleased, so we made it up as we went along … starting with getting up late and fiddling about for the rest of the morning while drinking tea.
A light lunch of smoked salmon sandwiches and a large gin & tonic (for me), Bacardi & coke (for Noreen).
After lunch we sat and opened presents — mostly books and booze. In fact enough booze to float a battleship. This was accompanied by playing “hunt the kibble” amongst the discarded wrapping paper with the two youngest cats. Then we spent a merry hour organising the discarded paper for recycling.
For many years we’ve had Christmas Dinner in the evening, and so it was this year. Roast crown of turkey.** Garlic roast potatoes; roast Jerusalem artichokes; steamed sprouts. Sausage, sage & onion stuffing. Shallot sauce. Washed down with the obligatory bottle of Bollinger. Naturally enough the cats assisted with the turkey!
We never have Christmas Pudding these days as Noreen isn’t keen and we’d just as soon have a good stuff of the main course. However I have bought a couple of individual Christmas Puds this year as I quite like it; I shall enjoy them over the coming days — I’ve even been known to eat Christmas Pud for breakfast. In fact Christmas Pudding was a bit of a family tradition when I was a kid. My mother used to make her own, and always made several: one for Christmas, one for New Year, one for my birthday in January, one for my father’s birthday in March and sometimes one for Easter!
After Christmas Dinner we sat about doing very little and sampling some of the new spirits and liqueurs until it was time to clear up and head for bed.
So yes, we had a day doing exactly as we wanted, ie. eat, drink and be idle. Not a minute of television was watched, nor radio listened to. And the phone didn’t even ring.
Isn’t that how holidays should be? Relaxing.

** Turkey Crown. If you like turkey (we do, but not every year) this is a good wheeze which takes about 5 minutes with a good knife and some kitchen scissors. Buy the size of bird you usually would; this saves you from weeks of eating up turkey. We buy a whole small-ish bird from our good butcher who specialises in free-range, humanely reared meat. (I then butcher the bird: remove the legs; then the wings; now cut horizontally through the ribcage and remove the spine. (If you need a video of how to do this, have a hunt on YouTube; different butchers have slightly different methods.) This leaves you with just the breast (crown), on the bone, which will be about half the weight of the bird and so cook faster; roast according to your favourite method. Bag the legs, wings, spine and put them in the freezer for use during the year.

ramblings

Advent 24

24 December 2016 Keith

An Advent Calendar
Old London in Paintings and Photographs
Whitehall from Trafalgar Square; 1839; Daguerreotype by M de St Croix

This image is, for me, especially interesting. It is one of the earliest daguerreotype photographs of England, taken when Frenchman M de St Croix was in London demonstrating Louis Daguerre’s pioneering photographic process during September and December 1839. The statue in the foreground is Le Sueur’s statue of Charles I on horseback which stands at the top of Whitehall on the south edge of Trafalgar Square — on the spot what was originally occupied by the original Charing Cross in memory of Queen Eleanor. And it is from this spot, called Charing Cross, that all distances are traditionally measured. I the dim distance is Inigo Jones’ Banqueting House; practically everything else shown in the image has subsequently disappeared. Like all daguerreotypes the original image was reversed, but is shown here in the correct orientation, as we would view the scene today.
Image © National Media Museum

ramblings