Climate
3 February 2007
One of those wonderful evenings – crisp slightly damp air, not a breath of wind and clear skies. Farm dogs could be heard barking miles away as the tendrils of mist wormed up the valleys. As the sun’s light faded, directly opposite, the full moon rose and the the first stars winked on.
As soon as we are into February, the cock Pheasant are out and about in force, as if they know it’s safe now. So often you see Pheasant and Rabbits in close proximity grazing, nothing unusual I suppose, but as likely as not, it’s one Pheasant and one Rabbit. I think it’s very interesting when you see non-competitive animals interacting – last weekend a Roe deer blundered into a Mallard when crossing a bog, the bird just hopped into the air a couple of feet and settled straight back down. Similarly, when I startled a Roe (again) a while ago and it burst from some Rhododendrons, it scooped-up a Woodcock in the process – the poor creature at first couldn’t get away from the chest of the deer, but when it did it just flapped a coupe of feet and settled-in again and really didn’t seem too upset. However, taking Rufus for his morning constitutional on Tuesday, he put a Grey Squirrel up a tree. On vanishing into a hole, which it probably regarding as a safe haven, it was immediately ejected by a pursuing Jackdaw – tolerance only so far!
I spent a while watching first the Starlings then the Rooks head for home, before I did so myself and wondered if the various governments would actually do something meaningful in light of today’s adoption by the IPCC Working Group I of Climate Change 2007 – The Physical Science Basis and not just use it as an excuse for raising taxes.
The emphasis
