It's been down to minus 10 here at the Old Vic during the week with temperatures below freezing for several days. Surprisingly not that much impact on the birds (as far as I know not that much in the way of vis mig i.e just the odd Golden Plover at Beddington). Perhaps as it's December (relatively early for hard weather movements) and also due to the surprising lack of wind, birds overall seem to have either gone over high (its been clear skies) or held their ground somewhat.
A couple of small groups of Lapwing and an increase in the approachability of winter thrushes was all I noticed in the garden.
Lapwings going over the garden
Fieldfare (above) and Redwings (below)
The chickens not only survived the conditions but carried on laying eggs (literally frozen ones!). For a breed whose wild ancestor is a lowland tropical forest species from Asia (Red Jungle Fowl) they are incredibly adaptable.
The mini-farm in December
New mini-zoo project. I did the spreadsheet this weekend on the number of species we now have in totally closed/ controlled environments. Between the Paludarium (Jacob's bedroom rainforest), the Tropical Aquarium and the Gecko tank we now have 56 species. The target was to get 100 'pet' species. As things are getting crowded already we need to create a new nano ecosystem so this weekend we bought a nano marine coral reef tank and will populate this was corals and tropical marine animals over the next few months. There is quite a lot to creating marine environments so it should be a fun journey. After setting it up this weekend we now have to wait for up to one month to get the water chemistry right.
A couple of scenic shots from a visit to Beddington Farmlands in the week. Good to see some of the Beddington gang there.
Billionaires Henry and George/KKR/Viridor/Valencia are currently applying for permission from the Environment Agency to burn more waste in the incinerator. Sutton Council have written a letter of opposition (as have local community groups). Personally I can't see how anything can be challenged from KKR without immense public pressure and direct action (its the only sound that reaches the board of a global corporation who then might say a sentence or two about it to it's billionaire owners who might have some kind of ethical/value consideration on the matter) so presumably any solo challenges from Sutton Council or local community groups are just puppy barks in the abyss. The EA are presumably constrained by technical details and criteria which if met over-ride any opinions (especially by low level local governors) so the whole thing simply will presumably just be another demonstration of the illusion of non-confrontational democracy e.g. the only thing that can get nurses and public sector workers a pay rise is the threat or use of strikes (disruption) and even then despite all the strikes going on at the moment it's unlikely they will still get what they want (but without the strikes they won't get anything at all). A monster can only be out-monstered, out smarted or over run by numbers- when predators are involved the negotiation table and collaborative democracy is the butchers table for those predatory entities. The timing of this planning application ahead of another application that will be submitted in early 2023 (related to the restoration and involving immense cost savings) could be more than just coincidence. A token win here by the EA/Council could be used to tee up a false sense of power in the larger win for Henry and George later? Who knows? What is for certain is the predatory billionaires will win without a full community united defence- which has for now completely disappeared from the game.
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