Capercaillie counting
Our guest blogger today is Sarah West. Sarah is the Capercaillie Project Assistant, joint-funded by RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland. Here she gives us a brief insight to the fifth national survey of this elusive bird; an RSPB and SNH project.
Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) male displaying in snow-laden forest, Scotland ©Pete Cairns/2020VISION
The capercaillie is a large but rarely seen grouse that makes its home in the pine forests of the Scottish highlands. They are generally shy and avoid contact with humans, disappearing into the trees before you realise that they are there.
However, capercaillie are quite famous for their springtime get-togethers where males dance to attract hens to mate with. This communal dance is known as ‘lekking’, and every year we monitor the number of birds attending these leks. However, this does not provide us with an accurate population estimate as many birds won’t attend the…
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Endangered Species Friday: Solenodon paradoxus | Extinction is Imminent.
Endangered Species Friday: Solenodon paradoxus
This Friday’s (Endangered Species Post) E.S.P, I touch up again on the Hispaniolan Solenodon, scientifically identified as Solenondon paradoxus. Image credit: Mr Jose Nunez-Mino. My reasons for re-documenting on this species is primarily due to my belief that extinction is now most certainly imminent. Therefore for that reason I think its critical that we all make as much noise as possible for this little one due to is importance within the theater of conservation, and because its one of very few mammals that do actually host a venomous side to them.
Written by Dr Jose C. Depre; Botanical and Conservation Scientist.
Solenondon paradoxus was identified back in 1883 by Dr Johann Friedrich von Brandt (25 May 1802 – 15 July 1879) was a German naturalist. Brandt was born in Jüterbog and educated at a gymnasium in Wittenberg and the University of Berlin. In 1831 he was appointed…
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Warm Arctic Storm To Hurl Hurricane Force Winds at UK and Iceland, Push Temps to 36-72+ Degrees (F) Above Normal at North Pole
“As of early Wednesday morning temperatures at the North Pole had risen to 1.1 C or 34 degrees F representing the highest temperatures ever recorded at the North Pole for this time of year and the first time this region of the high Arctic has experienced temperatures substantially above freezing during Winter.”
We’ve probably never seen weather like what’s being predicted for a vast region stretching from the North Atlantic to the North Pole and on into the broader Arctic this coming week. But it’s all in the forecast — an Icelandic low that’s stronger than most hurricanes featuring a wind field stretching over hundreds and hundreds of miles. One that taps warm tropical air and hurls it all the way to the North Pole and beyond during Winter time. And it all just reeks of a human-forced warming of the Earth’s climate…
Freak North Atlantic Storm Featuring Extremely Low Pressures
Sunday afternoon, a powerful, hurricane force low pressure system was in the process of rounding the southern tip of Greenland. This burly 960 mb beast roared out of an increasingly unstable Baffin Bay on Christmas. As it rounded Greenland and entered the North Atlantic, it pulled behind it a thousand-mile-wide gale…
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What To Do With All That Holiday Plastic — Plastic Pollution Coalition
http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2015/10/26/what-to-do-with-all-that-holiday-plastic
Plastic pollution threatens all life, including our own. There is a giant floating, swirling rubbish heap in the North Atlantic ocean and another in the Great Pacific which are gradually increasing in size and are responsible for countless marine animal deaths.
Ocean trash is an embarrassing reminder of how far we have yet to adapt and evolve our cultures away from everything disposable and wasteful, and move entirely in the direction of bio packaging and respectful use of everyday food and (reusable) objects.
Cheese Addiction?
In light of recent research published on the addictive qualities of cheese (casomorphin) I think this article highlights how addictive many other foods might also be. From personal experience, however, I found cheese the hardest thing to crack (pardon the pun) when going vegan. It took me two weeks to stop craving cheese! I genuinely craved that stuff.
Maybe casseine is designed to be addictive to baby cows to encourage them to feed. Maybe adult humans are weaned and should not be drinking the baby milk of another species. Just a suggestion.
It is common to hear claims in the vegan community that milk & cheese are literally addictive and contain a morphine-like substance, for many this factoid has become so ubiquitous that it is generally taken as an accepted scientific truth. But what is the actual evidence for this claim?
One of the main proponents of this claim is Dr Neal Barnard who heads up the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Barnard has gone so far as to claim that cheese “can be as addictive as morphine” and referred to it as “dairy crack”. Barnard’s premise in Breaking the Food Seduction is that not only is the food addiction model correct (still a contentious issue in itself) but that it is not, as hypothesized, merely due to endogenous biochemicals acting on reward pathways in the brain but also due to the fact that many foods such as dairy, chocolate, and…
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Sea Shepherd UK :: Sea Shepherd Concludes Grueling Faroe Islands Pilot Whale Defense Campaign
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society – Protecting oceans around the world
Source: Sea Shepherd UK :: Sea Shepherd Concludes Grueling Faroe Islands Pilot Whale Defense Campaign
Actions speak louder than words – our responsibility as consumers
The same people who say that they “love animals” will also say they “hate seeing cruelty” and that seeing images of animal suffering “makes me cry”. The same people who I’ve friended on Facebook will then tell me “Please stop posting those things on Facebook. I can’t watch them. It makes me so sad. I do eat meat and dairy and I’m not going to stop…I always try to eat free range and local meat, so I’m doing my bit.” Step back. Look at your words. Listen to your thoughts and see the absolute lie and disconnect. I’ve had the same convo a number of times with a number of ‘friends’. I think we all have them at least once. Closed eyes, closed minds. I know I’ve been unfollowed by many people (but remain friends). I’ve also been unfriended. Those who have the balls to stare down the truth will eventually make the connection and change their level of contribution towards the suffering. The rest will keep living a lie, not making the logical connection, suffering cognitive dissonance for the rest of their lives.
- Aubrey and her baby Gioia, safe at Willowite Animal Sanctuary Copyright Pete Crosbie
The things we say
All my life, I’ve heard people say, ‘I don’t believe in cruelty to animals’ and ‘I love animals’. They’re like mantras. It’s what people say to each other to reassure themselves and others that they’re good, kind people. I used to recite the same mantras myself not so very long ago which is how I know that what I’m about to say is true.
They are each an automatic utterance that bypasses any conscious awareness of action or consequence. It’s like saying ‘good morning’; it’s not tied into our thoughts or intentions, its simply a pleasantry, a social nicety. When we say ‘good morning’, we don’t consciously mean that anything about the morning is particularly ‘good’ or that we intend to take some sort of action that will result in the morning being ‘good’ to our audience.
The same is…
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