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I find myself longing for cooler weather and a sense of peace in a world that is coming unraveled. There is nothing on this earth more peaceful than a bear hug and I couldn't have more respect for any other animal in the world than I do for a mother polar bear.

 

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Aunque mi opinión cuente poco al respecto (me pasa como a usted o a cualquier otro, que no sé nada del secreto cósmico) mi preferida entre las que conozco es la teoría de Arthur Schopenhauer. Si a las filosofías pudiera puntuárselas como a los restaurantes, valorando en lugar de su cocina, bodega, servicio o decoración otro tipo de “prestaciones” –cosmología, antropología, teoría del conocimiento, estética, psicología, elegancia de diseño argumentativo, etcétera-, creo que la expuesta en El mundo como voluntad y representación obtendría en su conjunto cinco estrellas. Tiene una envidiable economía de principios, buenos logros parciales en algunas materias concretas (su teoría de la risa, por ejemplo, o la de la locura), concede importancia a temas esenciales pero descuidados por otros sistemas como la muerte y el sexo, combina con acierto la ausencia de esperanza cósmica y la posibilidad de serenidad personal, incluso desciende a proporcionar algunas indicaciones prácticas de interés para la gestión de la vida cotidiana. Se le pueden disculpar las deficiencias en el terreno político y cierta brumosa mística antivitalista con la que recomienda una forma de santidad que al propio autor por lo visto atraía poco (su mayor empeño personal no era anular su voluntad de vivir sino llegar a cumplir cien años) Objeciones menores si se comparan con las inconsecuencias y quimeras de muchos otros. Desde luego, no parece adecuado hacerle el reproche de ser “pesimista” por pensar que éste es el peor de los mundos posibles (la mayoría de los pesimistas que conozco se caracterizan habitualmente por estar convencidos de que toda situación, por mala que sea, es susceptible de empeorar): el auténtico y descorazonador pesimismo es el de Leibniz, que se atrevió a sostener que éste es el mejor de los mundos posibles, lo que ya ni siquiera nos deja imaginar escapatoria alguna...

(Autobiografía razonada, págs. 168 y 169) Fernando Savater

Common Blue (female) on wild carrot on a sunny morning in " my " macro area (July,31, 2010, 7:38 am);

 

Hauhechel-Bläuling (Weibchen) auf Wilder Möhre an einem sonnigen Morgen in "meinem" Makrorevier (31.07.2010, 7:38 Uhr);

  

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Aujourd'hui nous n'avons observé que 7 poussins sur Pen er Malo, plus de poussin à la crique des amoureux (pour un hier) et 3 poussins sur 9 nés sur les Kaolins !

 

Plus que 10 poussins sur 27 !

As a photographer I love taking long exposures of the movement of the waves along our often rugged coastline. The sea demands respect and I have sometimes been too close to that rouge wave. I think the gentleman in this image was a lot closer to disaster than I have been. Fortunately he wasn't swept off his feet and into the sea but it was a close thing.

Trebarwith Strand, Cornwall Devon

This image has been MONTHS in the making. When I first found this figurine on Amazon, I knew exactly what I would do with it haha. It got lost in the mail for a month until I got my hands on it finally last week haha.

 

I took this on Moraine Lake Road this morning. It was cloudy, rainy and cold. All of these images I now have of Highway Patrol Cartman made my drive out there worth while! Oh how I love South Park haha.

   

The Lighthouse at New Brighton

 

The Original Perch Rock

 

Perch Rock, New Brighton Lighthouse, sits next to the fort, it was originally, a wooden "Perch", hence its name. A large post held a light on top and was supported by a sort of tripod. It was erected on the Black Rock in 1683 by the Liverpool Corporation.

 

When foreign ships, passed the old perch, they were charged sixpence for its respect and to keep it in repair. But it was often washed away and a boat had to be launched to recover it from Bootle Bay. In February 1821, the pilot boat "Liver" crashed into the perch and carried it away. It has been said that it was washed away in March 1824 and not recovered until the December.

 

However the cost of replacing it all the time grew too expensive and it was decided to build a new one.

 

Construction of the Lighthouse

 

The foundation stone of the new lighthouse was laid on 8th June 1827 by Thomas Littledale, Mayor of Liverpool. It was designed on the lines of Eddystone by Mr. Foster and built of marble rock from Anglesey by Tomkinson & Company. It rises 90 feet above the rocks and is considered to be a masterpiece of craftsmanship. The granite cost 1/6d a cubic foot.

 

Each piece of stone is interlocked into the next. The whole stonework, when finished , was coated with what is known as "Puzzellani" a volcanic substance from Mount Etna which, with age, becomes rock hard. The first 45 feet is solid. A spiral staircase leads to where the keeper lived and then on to the lantern house. The revolving light was said to be the first in the country. It cost £27,500 to construct.

 

The Lighthouse In Use

 

Work was only possible at low tide and it was not completed until 1830. Its first light shone on the 1st March of that yea and consisted of two white flashes, followed by one red, with a range of 14 miles. The light was 77 feet above the half-tide level. It was eventually electrically connected to the mainland.

 

The Lighthouse last shone its light on 1st October 1973 as it was no longer needed on account of the radar system operating in the River.

 

The Lighthouse Now

 

A local architect purchased the lighthouse for £100 on condition he maintained the construction, he tried to restore the lantern again but the river authorities thought it might cause confusion to local shipping. So he refurbished it so that anyone could stay there for a short holiday. Indeed, it was their idea to attract newly married couples to spend part of their honeymoon there at a cost of £50 a day, with champagne and flowers thrown in.

 

With electricity being introduced, the old lighthouse has a galley with cooker and refridgerator and, on the first floor, a bathroom with shower. There is a living room and a bedroom on the next two floors. The lighthouse even has a television, just in case one gets bored with looking at the sea. A ladder has to be obtained from the fort to gain the necessary height to reach the 15 iron rungs of the lighthouse as the door is 25 feet from the base.

Some minimalism from my local river

A red-footed booby in juvenile plumage skirts the shoreline before heading out to sea. Known as ‘ā in Hawaii, boobies have excellent visual acuity, contrast enhanced by carotenoid pigments that assist seeing through the air/water interface, and are able to easily locate their prey of fish and squid under water. It has a stout, tapered, saw-toothed bill with internal nostrils that is well evolved for plunge diving into the ocean from heights of as high as 30 meters to catch a meal. Agile fliers, they are also able to catch flying fish gliding over the ocean surface.

Respecto a la Feria de Navidad en Valencia, ya en un reportaje del Mundo Gráfico publicado el 1 de enero de 1913, se decía:

"La Feria de Navidad en Valencia, una de las más típicas fiestas populares de la hermosa ciudad, tiene un antiguo origen. Instálase desde hace algunos años en el Parque de Castelar, y en ella, a tenor de los tiempos modernos, junto a las instalaciones características de dichos mercados, figuran el Circo, los "cines", los lujosos "tios - vivos", el progreso industrial, en fin, en todas sus manifestaciones. La feria es un animado cuadro de color al que pone su nota brillante la arrogantísima belleza femenil valenciana".

 

La primera atracción de noria fue construida para la Exposición Universal de Chicago en 1893, proyectada por el ingeniero George Washington Ferris. Tenía una altura de 75 metros. Menos de la mitad que la mayor noria de la actualidad, la Singapore Flyer, de 165 metros. Otras norias mundialmente conocidas son la London Eye, en Londres, que apareció en una de las películas de la saga de James Bond, o la del Prater, en Viena.

Hibiscus Syriacus.

Même les fleurs peuvent éprouver du sentiment. Elles sont des êtres vivants comme nous, que l'on doit respecter et aimer. La nature fait partie de notre vie, du patrimoine qui nous a été offert à l'aube de l'humanité.

May an old log beaten by wind and rain,

Grey from the long winter,

burnt at the base in late summer.

 

May an old log, washed ashore by tumbling waves.

Refuged by the ants and moths, Oh… so surrendered...

May an old log so forgotten today…

command respect for what it once was?!!!

When I first arrived in Iceland, it took a while to let the thoughts fully sink in that I was indeed, actually, in Iceland; the number one country I had dreamed of visiting for years. The first couple of days passed with that dreamy, hazy feeling, not quite believing life is real. On the third day (a month ago today as I write this), my team and I went to visit some waterfalls... We were at Skógafoss, where I set up my tripod and camera while staring in silent awe at the cascading water. I began to shed my layers of scarves, coat and sweaters in preparation to put on my red dress for this self-portrait... and then I patiently waited. Waited for the sun and clouds to line up correctly to light the waterfall just right. Waited for the surrounding tourists to finish taking their photos. Waited for the breeze to blow the mist away from my camera lens. After almost 45 minutes, I finally saw my chance. I slipped off my shoes and ran towards the falling sheets of water, camera clicking away behind me... and was suddenly engulfed in the freezing, falling mist as I spun around joyously at the bottom of the falls. It was that very moment, when my clothes were soaked through and my feet kept slipping between rocks and I felt absolutely frozen, that my mindset finally changed from "dreamy, hazy" to "Oh my frognoggin' firecrackers this is freaking real" before I had to run back to the safety of my coat and scarf. It was one of those moments where I felt most alive... My heart felt so big and yet the rest of me felt so small. I have greatest respect for these places in nature and I simply can't fathom how beautiful this world is. It blows my mind over and over again.

 

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May 17, 2022 - South of the I80 Minden Interchange Nebraska US

 

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Storm Chasing Video from that Afternoon on Flickr Click Here

 

Working on Spring projects with the wife. Enjoying our day together. Plans were made & I had no plans for chasing any storms even if they form.

 

Honestly, My time with family succeeds any other activity. I knew there were storms to the south of us this day. But again it was family time. I didn't even look on radar.

 

Finished our projects & went out to the front of the house and my jaw dropped!!! Literally in front of me this incredible updraft on a NON-severe warned storm. This had no warning on it, and I was dumbfounded. Asked... Wife said go get'm Tiger... Rest is History.

 

Storm Chasing is not always about catching a Tornado. This storm cell was already in its dying stages... Finished off this afternoon with some up close and personal shots of this dying thunderstorm!

 

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No, it's not gratuitous use of the Flood filter, there was plenty of lake in front of this temple; I simply rotated the scene 180 in Photoshop (plus a few other tweaks, of course).

 

Taken today: Wat Chalerm Prakiat. Nonthaburi.

 

Apologies, my ISP problems have resurfaced, hence no post and no visits to your images yesterday / today (I'm briefly in the office to post this).

   

Reino:Animalia

Filo:Chordata

Clase:Aves

Orden:Charadriiformes

Familia:Laridae

Género:Lares

Especie:L. argentatus

Lugar Captura:Vaticano Roma.Italia.

Nombre Comun:Gaviota Argéntea.

RESPECTO A LAS GAVIOTAS DEL VATICANO Y A PROPOSITO DEL HECHO DE LAS FOTOS DONDE UNA PALOMA DE LA PAZ FUE ATACADA POR UNA GAVIOTA Y UN CUERVO DEL VATICANO ,TRAIGO UN RELATO DE LA GAVIOTA DEL VATICANOS Y SU RELACION CON EL PAPA FRANCISCO.

Cuando la elección en el segundo día del cónclave de cardenales que elegiría a Jorge Bergoglio(Papa Francisco) un episodio inesperado captó la atención de millones de personas que esperaban el humo blanco.

 

En la previa de la segunda fumata, una gaviota se posó sobre la chimenea de la Capilla Sixtina;

 

La primera teoría de los fieles apuntó a que se trataba de una paloma que indicaba la supuesta presencia del Espíritu Santo (el catolicismo suele representarlo con esa ave), inspirando la elección papal; de ahí en más se sumó otra decena de especulaciones que llegó al extremo con la hipótesis de que el pájaro escondía un mensaje apocalíptico.

 

Sin embargo, la Agencia Informativa Catolica Argentina (AICA), órgano de difusión del arzobispado local, sumó un dato que alimentó el misticismo del mensaje porque, casualidad o no, podría haber indicado la inminente elección de un Papa argentino.

 

"Quienes no saben distinguir las distintas especies de aves, suponían que era una paloma (...). En realidad, la aposentada en la chimenea de la fumata era una gaviota de la especie Larus argentatus", aseguró AICA.

 

"Larus es el nombre genérico de las gaviotas, y argentatus hace referencia a su color blanco, color que en heráldica se llama plata (argentum), lo mismo que el nombre del país de donde proviene el nuevo papa: Argentina, cuyo nombre se deriva del Río de la Plata, el río más ancho del mundo, sobre el que se recuesta la ciudad de Buenos Aires, llamada por ello “La Reina del Plata”, que hasta este momento era gobernada eclesiásticamente por el nuevo pontífice", concluyó.

Entre les tritons et les notonectes.

 

(it's an old slide - c'est une vieille diapo)

  

To brighten your recovery, painted with admiration and respect for a truly wonderful woman.

Respect de la nature

 

| RespecT |

 

W/ The great Paulo Battista

 

Photography bY © 2015 FBranquinho

 

Did you really think you would escape the ugly face of today's politics by retreating to nature? There is nothing wrong with being in nature, just do not look the other way. Respect yourself!

Hand-held, edited in Fuji's raw converter and refined in Luminar.

La locomotora diesel Hitachi 1014 con bogies B`B`B de la empresa Boliviana FCA (Ferroviaria Andina) con el tren paquetero vacío procedente de Antofagasta - Ollague (Chile) circulando con el majestuoso fondo del Volcán Aulcanquilcha de 6.176 msnm situado en Chile.

 

Después de las respectivas maniobras el tren saldrá con una composición mixta (mercancías y pasajeros) al importante núcleo ferroviario y turístico de Uyuni.

 

Avaróa, Potosí (Bolivia). Año 2012.

 

Música Recomendada: Héroes del Silencio - Entre dos Tierras.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkucM3w7knw

It is located at the western tip of Ile de la Cité, in the Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois district of the 1st arrondissement.

 

The level of the square is seven meters lower than the current level of the other parts of the island, which corresponds to the level it once had.

 

The weak overhang of the square with respect to the Seine explains that it is flooded, or even totally submerged during the most important floods of the river.

 

The square owes its name to Henry IV, nicknamed "Vert-Galant" because of his many mistresses despite his advanced age.

 

It was created by the union of several small islands, including the Isle of the Jews, where the last Templars were burned, and the island of the Patriarch.

 

A commemorative plaque also recalls that this is where, on March 18, 1314, the executions at the stake of the two highest dignitaries of the Order of the Temple, Jacques de Molay and Geoffroy de Charnay took place. (Source: Wikipedia)

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Se encuentra en el extremo occidental de Ile de la Cité, en el distrito de Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois del distrito 1.

 

El nivel de la plaza es siete metros más bajo que el nivel actual de las otras partes de la isla, que corresponde al nivel que alguna vez tuvo.

 

El débil voladizo de la plaza con respecto al Sena explica que esté inundada, o incluso totalmente sumergida, durante las crecidas más importantes del río.

 

La plaza debe su nombre a Enrique IV, apodado "Vert-Galant" por sus muchas amantes a pesar de su avanzada edad.

 

Fue creada por la unión de varias islas pequeñas, entre ellas la Isla de los Judíos, donde fueron quemados los últimos Templarios, y la isla del Patriarca.

 

Una placa conmemorativa también recuerda que aquí tuvo lugar, el 18 de marzo de 1314, la ejecución en la hoguera de los dos máximos dignatarios de la Orden del Temple, Jacques de Molay y Geoffroy de Charnay. (Fuente: Wikipedia)

La posición de Cristo ha provocado una de las primeras objeciones respecto a esta pintura. Desde el punto de vista religioso, esa objeción no está fundada, pues mi cuadro fue inspirado por los dibujos en los que el mismo San Juan de la Cruz representó la Crucifixión. En mi opinión ese cuadro debió ser ejecutado como consecuencia de un estado de éxtasis. La primera vez que vi ese dibujo me impresionó de tal manera que más tarde, en California, vi en sueños al Cristo en la misma posición pero en paisaje de Port Lligat y oí voces que me de decían: "¡Dalí tienes que pintar ese Cristo!".

 

Dalí

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Seven metres at 11:36am on Thursday May 12th 2022 off the Mall and Horse Guards Road within the grounds of St James's Park in Central London, one of the Royal parks of London situated in South West London.

  

THE EASTERN GRAY/EASTERN GREY SQUIRREL (SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS)

  

By Paul Williams

  

The Grey (or Gray) squirrel, you either love 'em or you hate 'em. Cute and fluffy little funsters or destructive critters who ruin trees, kill bird chicks and trees and damage our homes... oh and it's their fault we lost our native Red squirrels as well!

  

OK

  

I get it and I see both sides of the story of course. For my part, I am a nature, wildlife and landscape photographer who prefers the company of animals and natural beauty to fellow humans who are systematically plundering Mother Earth's resources and killing off her beautiful creatures at an alarming rate! I believe there is a natural order of things, creatures kill other creatures to survive, they adapt to situations and when mankind encroaches on their territory to make a fast buck, those animals sometimes adapt to survive and the order changes. That is the balance of nature which is ever changing and affected by us..... the dumbest of the great apes. Some species are driven out by others, some may be destined to become extinct, the fittest will survive, and sometime a species will need intervention and help from mankind in order to survive... usually as a direct consequence of mankind's own actions in destroying the animal kingdom's natural habitat of course.

  

I adore these little fellas and at almost sixty years old, I never grew up knowing red squirrels at all. I've seen reds in Scotland and black squirrels in Stanley Park on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, but in my beloved home country of England I have always known and loved the cute little Greys. They visit my garden and give me hours, days, weeks of happiness and wonderful photographic opportunities, and I see them in Parks and forests all around me, so it's time to offer up an insight into the Grey squirrel, much loved, much hated... a sort of Marmite rodent if you will.

  

WHAT EXACTLY IS A SQUIRREL?

  

The word 'Squirrel', was first recorded in 1327 and hails from the Anglo-Norman word 'Esquirel', from old French 'Escurel', which was a reflex for the Latin word 'Sciurus'.The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is also known as the Eastern Grey squirrel or simply grey squirrel depending on the region of the world it is found. It is a tree squirrel, of the squirrel family Sciuridae including over one hundred arboreal species native to all continents of the world other than Antarctica and Oceania. Tree squirrels live mostly in trees, apart from the flying squirrel. The best known genus is Sciurus, containing most of the bushy tailed squirrels which are found in Europe, North America, temperate Asia as well as central and south America.

  

The scientific classification for the Eastern Grey is:

 

KINGDOM: ANIMALIA PHYLUM: CHORDATA CLASS: MAMMALIA ORDER: RODENTIA FAMILY: SCIURIDAE GENUS: SCIURUS SUBGENUS: SCIURUS SPECIES: SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS

  

They were first noted by German naturalist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist - Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788.

  

A mammal and rodent, predominantly herbivorous they are none the less an omnivore with a life span of between two and ten years. They can grow to 70cm in length and weigh up to 8kg. There are more than two hundred and sixty species of worldwide squirrel, the smallest being the African pygmy squirrel at just 10cm in length, whereas the Indian giant squirrel is three feet long! The oldest fossil of a squirrel, Hesperopetes, dates back to the late Eocene epoch period Chadronian period of 40-35 million years ago. The tree squirrels rotate their ankles by 180 degrees, so that the hind paws pointy backwards gripping tree bark which enables them to descend a tree headfirst.

  

Originally native to Eastern and Midwestern United States of America, they were first introduced into the United Kingdom in 1876 in Henbury Park, Macclesfield in Cheshire when Victorian banker Thomas V. Brocklehurst released a pair of Greys that he brought back from a business trip to America after their attraction as pets had waned. Victorians had a penchant for collecting exotic animals and birds of the world, but trends came and went and subsequently animals were simply discarded into the wilderness. There are early records of greys released near Denbighshire in north Wales from private collections. Later introduced to several regions in the UK, they quickly settled and spread, colonizing an area of three hundred miles in a quarter of a century between Argyll and Stirlingshire in Scotland.

  

Introductions of the Greys between 1902 and 1929 (the year of the last recorded introduction), included: Regent’s Park in London, Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, Devon, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Hampshire. Grey Squirrels spread into Gloucestershire and eastern Wiltshire with animals coming directly from the United States or from Woburn. One hundred greys were released in Richmond Park in Surrey in 1902, Ninety one into Regent’s Park between 1905 and 1907 and a further ten New Jersey imported greys were introduced into Woburn Park in Bedfordshire.

  

Predators include hawks, weasels, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, domestic and feral cats, snakes, owls, and dogs, African harrier-hawks in Africa and... oh yes, Mankind pretty much everywhere who despise, mistreat, cull or eat it .

  

FACTS, MYTHS AND THAT POXY PARAPOX!

  

The massive decline in native red squirrels blamed upon the spread of the invasive greys has always been perhaps a little harsh as reds were already in a steep decline due to loss of habitat and disease and thus the greys simply took over the areas where the reds were dwindling. It's also a fact that reds were also seen as a plague, branded as pests who killed birds and damaged trees and the culling of reds almost brought them to the brink of extinction. Licenses to kill reds could still be obtained up until the seventies!

  

Reds suffered at the hands of mankind thanks to a combination of agricultural deforestation also linked with war and fuel needs which caused extinction in Southern Scotland and Ireland by the early eighteenth century, way before greys had been introduced. Harsh winters killed off the less hardy red population in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

  

Greys are more adept at finding food and adapting to locations and environments, but also carry the squirrel poxvirus (SQPV) which although not particularly harmful to them, is a serious infection for the reds.

  

Parapox in red squirrels causes swollen lesions around the mouth, eyes, ears and nose also the front paws and sometimes genitals and skin ulcers and kills a red within fifteen days. There is no definitive correlation between the spread of the virus and the spread of the Greys, it actually arrived in several areas before the greys began to colonize there. An epidemic virus was observed in Red squirrels from at least 1900 with isolation attempts failing, and the first case of Parapox in the UK was in 1980 in the county of Norfolk. Greys cannot transmit the virus to reds via saliva or faeces, but reds can between each other from bodily secretions and at animal feeders in gardens. The transmission from greys to reds is though to come from parasites. Eight to ten per cent of reds survive the virus, and there is some evidence that reds are slowly building an evolved resistance.

  

Greys are seen as pests to forest land, stripping bark from trees during May and June, and are also capable of destroying household bins, water pipes, causing roof damage not to mention taking eggs and killing young chicks of ground nesting and songbird populations. They also take from bird feeders and there is a whole industry for creating squirrel proof feeders these days.

  

THE CULLING OF GREY SQUIRRELS

  

Grey squirrels have limited legal protection and can be legally controlled all year round by a variety of methods including shooting and trapping. Methods of trapping and killing include Drey poking and shooting, Tunnel trapping using spring traps set in accordance with BASC’s trapping pest mammals code of practice. They can also be shot using a shotgun or powerful air rifle or up until September 30th 2014 poisoned by Warfarin (Now outlawed).

  

Whilst professional trapping and extermination is hopefully done as humanely as possible, there have been cases, many of them where cost savings have been gained by battering the squirrels to death! Grey squirrels are trapped in ghastly metal contraptions for hours and hours, wearing themselves out frantically trying to escape by gnawing at the metals bars. They bite the floor and scratch at them with their claws and do not get a moments peace or rest through absolute fear. Once the traps are retrieved, each squirrel, terrified will be thrown into a sack and smacked on the head countless times with a blunt instrument. When a mother is slaughtered, her babies who are totally dependent on her, will die a slow death of thirst and starvation.

  

There is an argument for the control of Greys on many grounds but also a counter argument that Culling does not work, and has not on countless times where, once a population of greys have been culled, the nearest group will move back in and claim the land. The university of Bristol concluded that there was little evidence that culling greys to save red squirrels was effective, and that perhaps finding a way of boosting red squirrel immunity to the poxvirus or planting areas of yew trees where reds are known to thrive and spending money on research into positive moves might be a better option.

  

In Ireland, the re-introduction of the Pine marten, a species made extinct originally by the very same land owners who also wish to do the same to the grey squirrel, has seen the rapid demise of the grey and the reintroction of the native reds. Red squirrels are smaller and more nimble than their grey counterparts, and as such can get to the very ends of tree branches where neither the pine martins, nor more importantly the heavier greys can, thus surviving and thriving. As a result in Ireland, the grey squirrel population has crashed in approximately 9,000 km2 of its former range and the reds has become common once more after a thirty year absence... oh and Pine Martens are protected again!

  

In Scotland, Pine Martens exist in areas where Red squirrels thrive, and greys do not. So perhaps there is a lesson here, as in England where there are no pine martens, the greys are prolific breeders. So there is an argument against the barbarity of shooting and poisoning greys, and if, as so many believe, the greys MUST be controlled, how about a more humane and natural method that nature intended.. with re-introduction of predators. Just a thought!

  

So a few facts and figures on the greys and to wrap up, from a purely personal perspective I love these little guys, as I do almost every creature in nature other than those eight legged beasties that shall not be named and for which I have a deep and powerful phobia that borders on paranoia!

  

I could no more harm an animal deliberately than eat a McDonald's McRib (Once saw how they are made and let me just say... eeeuuuuuwwwww!!).

  

They are small, cute, cuddly, furry, they photograph beautifully, have great personality and make me smile. They trust me enough to take food from my hand in parks, and I can't bare the though of ugly, hairy land owners sticking a shotgun in their face and blowing them away! I appreciate they can be a pest, a problem, a menace, that their PR managers might have a bit of a problem winning you over when they flay small chicks alive on your lawn or decimate the songbird population by stealing their eggs.... and perhaps there is a need to keep the population under control and try and re-establish the red population.....

  

Yep I get that....

  

I just hope we can solve the problem more humanely to create a peaceful coexistence of the reds and greys in different areas. A man can dream can't he.

  

Paul Williams June 18th 2021

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams).

 

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Nikon D850 Focal length 150mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture f/6.3 ISO160 Hand held with Tamron VR Vibration reduction enabled on setting 1. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). (14 bit uncompressed file) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled AF-Area mode: 3D-Tracking Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4770K). Colour space: RGB. High ISO NR: ON (Low) Active D-Lighting: Auto Vignette control: Normal Picture control: (SD) Standard with sharpening +3 and clarity +1.00

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

  

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LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 11.41s

LONGITUDE: W 0d 7m 59.86s

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Hong Kong's skyscrapers. IFC and ICC sit on the opposite end. The Central Plaza, Times Square and Central Skyscrapers are visible as well.

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leica M9 cosina voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 heliar

“We are sailing in different boats and possibly we may possess a superior boat; but we must remember that we share the same river called life and death.”

― Aditya Ajmera

The fresh snow covered the landscape surrounding Dream Lake high up in the Rocky Mountains creating a magical winter scene! There is nothing quite like a fresh snow high up in the mountains. You can feel the crisp air and the wind blowing thru as you stand beneath the massive snow capped mountains under a beautiful morning blue sky! Places like this remind you that there is still beauty found in our world. Places that feel like they are only meant to be enjoyed and respected. Places such as Dream Lake show us the impressive handiwork of our Creator and help teach us to slow down and stand in awe. We are not designed to rush past the beautiful treasures that God has made for us. We are meant to take them in and fully experience what He has given to us so that we will know and experience even more of His perfect love for us! He gives these wonderful gifts to us out of His abundant and overflowing love for us. He is full of love to the point it is not possible for Him to contain it, He gives it freely and generously and this is perfectly displayed by what Jesus did on the Cross!

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