jgtuk

It’s the lack of and closures of public conveniences that’s the problem

We have Great Crested Newts in our pond, watched a Blackbird take one from the patio last year

Sadly, the Pheasant nest went (and another Pheasant with 5 eggs), two blackbirds, a Song Thrush, two Dunnock, a Greenfinch, a Goldcrest, two Wood Pigeon and, funnily enough, a Magpie too. Also an abandoned box with 7 Blue Tit eggs - a Sparrow Hawk attack I believe. More nests being built as we speak though 👍

My house insurance is due and the annual fee has actually gone down by about £20 from the current company. I’m still going to shop around though.

Swallows been back for a month, currently 4-5 pairs building nests in barns. I’ve got native birds with fledglings, others with eggs and new arrivals building nests. Rooks in two nests have fledged and are clumsily flapping in the crown of their tree.

Nooooo, love this man 😢. Met him a few times a while back as he lived relatively close, such a lovely person. Saw his solo acoustic tour back in the early 2000’s and with the alarm twice many years ago. Sad day.

Wife recently bought a Tempur divan base and mattress for lotsa £££, I wasn’t impressed but have to admit, it’s the best sleep I’ve ever had.

Far too many cats and irresponsible owners around. I won’t bore with the figures but cats are responsible for the demise of millions of wild birds every year in the UK alone. PS. I love cats in the right environment

Definitely a Sprawk

Well, 11 nests in the garden have been predated so far. Heard the first Garden and Willow Warbler to arrive this week, saw Spotted Flycatcher and found a Great Spotted Woodpecker nest. The Swifts are back too, quite early for this area. It was the third week in May last year. I expect it’s the unseasonably warm weather we’ve had, bringing lots of insects out. If you’re doing any major building work, stick a Swift box or two up in the eaves, Swifts are struggling to find suitable nest sites due to modern building techniques and their numbers are dwindling. Probably my favourite bird and so evocative of summer in towns and villages.

I’ve seen four YouTube links for Louis Theroux: The Settlers removed in the last 48 hours. Someone somewhere doesn’t like the content 👀. If you have any interest in the illegal occupation of Palestine, you should check this out. It’s available on BBC iPlayer apparently.

Trump’s written eight books apparently 🤷‍♂️

You are correct that they have a disproportionate influence on government but it’s also fair to say that they have a Zionist/pro Israel agenda which is the overwhelming factor at play. There are many Jewish people, some in high places, who don’t agree with that sort of influence. I don’t like using the term Jewish lobby as that implies antisemitism and it’s important to separate Jews and Zionists to avoid any false accusations.

We’re on the same page here, I just think it needs to move faster than currently but given the current people in charge, I’m not confident.

Depends on what you want from a holiday. It’s very Marmite. I hated it.

The key word here…

I hope so too. It just strikes me as odd that plastic cartons, bottles, food containers etc. are still being produced in huge quantities but you would expect the figures to fall if recycling were as successful as we are led to believe.

I think the recycling industry was pushed by the fossil fuel industry to make people think that it’s sustainable. In reality, recycling will never work, we need to stop producing plastics and find alternatives. JSO were onto them a long time ago.

We’ll beg to differ, unless you can recommend something 👍

My one guilty pleasure in life. I limit myself to one a day, which is nowhere near enough imo. Consultant recently suggested I go decaf, the heathen 😡

Yes, I understand that, it’s still a bit bizarre. I put God into the same category as dragons and Santa though so 🤷‍♂️

I just don’t get saints day. It seems to be that crossover between nationalism and religion (a dangerous combination imo). Maybe it’s just me, who, I suppose falls into the category of Atheist/Agnostic but the idea of a possibly mythical person who lived centuries ago in a distant land representing a country is bizarre.

Just repeated something I read in the news regarding Israeli treatment of Palestinians. Someone reported it (I’ve a good idea who). Zionism wins again unfortunately.

Being banned from posting in the general news thread 😡

I do that sort of observational stuff all the time, drives my wife mad. For instance, I noticed an unusually high number of people wearing cravats whilst in London recently 😂