Otters Will Be Otters
This story from the Metro, shows how we should co-operate a bit more, where wildlife are concerned. Here’s the first few paragraphs.
When Brian Dodson set up a carp fishery from scratch he had no idea the business would be quickly ruined – by otters.
The 60-year-old discovered the carnivores had eaten his entire £250,000 stock after a river haven for the animals was built nearby.
He is now seeking £2.5million from the Environment Agency, which he claims failed to tell him about the scheme and prevented him building protective fencing.
Surely there should have been a middle way.
But then as the story says otters are carnivores and will get their food no matter what. There was a story a couple of years ago, where otters were taking koi carp out of a pond in a suburban garden in Birmingham. No-one knew that there were otters in the nearby canal.
I’m reminded of the tale I heard when I shared the driver’s cab in a High Speed Diesel Train from Edinburgh to Inverness.
The owner of an hotel close to the line, built a lake, which he stocked with fish for his guests. But just down the road was Loch Garten, where ospreys have made a home. And as ospreys are wont to do, they found the hotel lake and decided it was a good place for dinner.
The hotel owner cut back on his fishing, but apparently, he now promotes the lake as a place to watch ospreys feed.
Mother Knows Best
Yesterday, Slummy Mummy in The Times had two interesting thoughts courtesy of her mother.
The first was an absolute gem.
Since it’s people in towns who like badgers, we should exchange them for urban foxes.
Now that’s an idea! But it might get rid of the last few urban hedgehogs. The second was a sensible aside on the subject of horsemeat.
You’ll be glad to know that everything is shop-bought,” she says, opening the fridge door with a flourish. It is full of Findus lasagnes.
“They were on offer. I got them before they were withdrawn
I bet she’s not the only one who took advantage.
It’s A Pig Of A Job, But Someone’s Got To Do It
I saw this story about a pig being used to train firefighters, in The Times, but it is also here in the Daily Mail.
I’m reminded of the time C and myself caught an escaped pony and Suffolk Police turned up as they had had reports of damage to flower beds being caused by the escapee. At the time, the police used Escort vans for local officers and we almost convinced him to put it in the back to take it to the station.
So perhaps, animal training is something that is now more common with the Fire and Police Services.
Another Urban Fox Attack
There is a report of another fox attack on a baby. Happily, it doesn’t seem to be too serious and not outside the capabilities of the NHS.
One of my friends is Korean and I asked him, if they get these sort of problems in Seoul. he said that they don’t and he felt, there was many wild animals in the city except for rats and mice. This is confirmed by this post from a blog.
But how many other cities in other countries have urban animals, that aren’t always cuddly?
This is a story about wildlife in Berlin.
So it’s not just a British problem!
Gorillas In London Zoo
I remember the famous gorilla,Guy, who came to the Zoo in the year of my birth, although he was probably born a few months before I was.
In those days his cage wasn’t as spacious as the modern gorilla enclosure, where about four gorillas live happily together.
These pictures show them inside, as it wasn’t very tropical today.
C used to tell a story about one her clients. He was an habitual criminal and every time he came out of jail, one of the first things he used to do was visit Guy in the London Zoo.
He’d tell the gorilla, that he was now out of jail, but he could see that Guy was still incarcerated.
Guy’s reply was not recorded.
The Mouse That Interrupted Radio
The clip of yesterday’s rodent has been uploaded to the Guardian’s web site.
More On Hedgehogs and Foxes
In this post I mused on the decline of hedgehogs and felt that foxes were to blame.
I’ve just found this article on the web from the Epping Forest Hedgehog Rescue. They are in no doubt, that foxes are cutting the number of hedgehogs.
I can also think back to the 1980s and 1990s, when I used to live in East Suffolk, just north of Ipswich. In that area, foxes were not a common sight, and I never actually saw one, although I did smell them, just as I smell them on my doorstep here in Hackney.
When I moved to Newmarket, foxes were much more numerous and hardly a day passed, without seeing one on the stud.
So what is the difference between East and West Suffolk. In the east, they used to hunt hares with hounds, whereas in the west, they hunted foxes. So I suspect that any fox in East Suffolk, got short shrift from farmers and gamekeepers, as they knew the hunt wouldn’t do anything about them.
As I said in the previous post, I never saw a hedgehog in West Suffolk, but in the East, I at least saw the occasional one.
Thinking about the problem more, you don’t see much traditional fox food in London. There are no rabbits or hares, so that just leaves hedgehogs and squirrels. Even scavenging round here isn’t a good idea, as we all have wheely bins.
So I suppose, once the foxes learned to kill hedgehogs, it was just passed on through the generations.
I believe, that must do something about foxes, if we want to save the hedgehog.
Hedgehog Decline
A few years ago, when we owned the stud, I remarked that I hadn’t seen a hedgehog in years. when I lived in London as a child, they were always about and you used to see quite a few squashed ones on the road.
Now it would appear they are in serious decline according to this article in the Mail.
I’ve never seen one here in Hackney, although given the number of gardens, parks and cemeteries, there must be a few. On the other hand, we do have lots of foxes.
I did type “Hackney hedgehog” into Google and found this article. The writer suggests that foxes could have predated on the dead hedgehogs found.
So is Basil Brush one of the reasons for the decline.
A Rather Forlorn, Cold And Manky Fox
I walked through De Beauvoir Town about five o’clock tonight.
I thought at first it was a bit of an overweight moggy, but my path in the square was crossed by a fox, who definitely looked the worst for wear and absolutely freezing in this cold night, judging by his gait.
The life of the urban fox is not as comfortable as many would like to think.
Shooting Animals
They were discussing shooting animals on Richard Bacon on Radio 5 this afternoon.
I remembered an incident from my past.
I was in the hallway of a stately home and standing in front of a massive stuffed polar bear with Lord Xxxx. We both agreed it was magnificent. He then put forward the view that they shot big game a hundred or so years ago, to prove that they had seen it.
Now we use the camera! Much more civilised.
I think Lord Xxxx was right, as we all like to show off to our friends, the things we have seen.
The Anonymous Widower 