Tag: wildlife

Merry Christmas – Quick Links 24th December 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Birds, books, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, work2 Comments

Well ’twas the night before Christmas and all that. Whether you read this before, during or after I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Not sure what I’ll be posting next week, as both my Sunday Quick Links and my fourth quarter review are due on the same day. You may get one or both, but hopefully something. I also normally try to post something on New Years Day as well. Not that I am expecting anyone to read it on the day it goes live, as I’m sure you have much better things to do than read my ramblings. Anyway, if you have been reading these posts, thank you.

I was expecting a quiet week this week, and other than an appointment I attended with my Mum I’ve not really been anywhere. This is probably just as well as I’ve not been feeling very well, and think that I managed to catch a stomach bug on one of my rare trips out. I’m recovering now, but did at one point wonder whether it was going to be a pre-Christmas instant diet or something that would drag on over the festive period. Hopefully it’s the former.

Work – I’ve been doing my end of the month admin a little early, so that I can pretty much be work free next week. I’ll be checking my emails, but that will be about it and I’ll pick things up again the following week. I’ve been working on my targets for next year, and things need to get serious to develop at least some income.

Allotment – Not much to report this week, it’s been quite a mild week, and the ground has been a little soggy at times, so I’ve been staying off of the beds now that they’re dug.

Currently Reading – I read Stephen King’s “On Writing” [GoodReads] this week, there’s quite a bit of his life story in there as well as tips and approaches to writing, although I felt that I had read most of it in other places.

Neil Gaiman Reading A Christmas Carol – Audio version of the author reading the classic Dickens Christmas tale. [LINK]

Open Railway Map – Open source map of many of the worlds railways [LINK], pretty cool to look up your local lines.

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

Brexit Is Going To Be Titanic – Exactly like the ship

https://twitter.com/delboy1978uk/status/943053737995718658

Merry Christmas From The Muppets

Bird Spikes In Trees – Although this only came to light in the last week, it seems that this has been going on for a while – but why? As this other article points out, we are seemingly blind to the damage that we are doing to the planet.

Alarming Customer Service Fail From Amazon when they started sending “coded death threats” to a customer [LINK]. If this had been me I’m not sure I would have noticed, as I do read quite a few crime novels anyway.

Dolphins – Nice piece by author Philip Hoare [LINK]

The Future Worlds of Work – Although I haven’t read the full report yet, I do intend to but these different scenarios [LINK] for what the future of work will look like in 2030 are quite interesting on the surface. I think I far prefer the Green or Yellow versions but I suspect without intervention that the world is heading towards the Blue scenario. I might come back to this again once I’ve had a proper read.

That’s it for this week, catch you all again soon.

Quick Links 17th December 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Film, Fork To Fork, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, Self-sufficient, work

My week started with lots of comments on the weather, particularly the snow, of which we had not a flake. Although when I had to try and take the car to the garage on Monday morning it was sleeting just a little amongst the wet and windyness that was our prevailing weather conditions. The car was returned fixed on Tuesday – turns out the oxygen sensor in the engine had failed and needed to be replaced – so I was able to make the service of remembrance on Tuesday evening.

As I didn’t have the car at the start of the week I had to reorganise a few things, but it wasn’t as bad as it might otherwise have been, and actually ended up with more time than I might otherwise have had.

On Friday I went to see Monty Halls talk at Selborne, it was really a summary of what he’d been up to during 2017, although the focus was on The Freedom Trails which I’ve mentioned here before. He has another different series coming out early next year, which will be completely different but looks like it will be just as good. He also signed both my copy of The Freedom Trails book, and another one of his that I’ve had for a while. If you haven’t watched the TV show then I recommend it (LINK)  – not sure whether this will work worldwide and if you don’t have an account you’ll need to create one – but that’s free.

I haven’t managed to get to the cinema to see The Last Jedi yet, although I might be able to early next week. If not I’ll leave it until the schools go back in January.

Work – Not having a car for the first couple of days this week meant that I had to move a few meetings around, but otherwise I’ve been getting a few things done before the Christmas period. I did hear that a bid I’ve been collaborating in has been unsuccessful which means my first quarter won’t necessarily be as busy as I thought it might be. Shame, but that’s how it goes.

Allotment – The ground has been frozen on the plot most mornings this week. I’ve been tidying up the fruit bed, in particular the loganberries – removing last years dead stems, and tying in the new ones which will bear next years fruit.

Currently Reading – Not much change from last week on this front, although I did finish From Source to Sea [LINK] late last night.

If you’re looking for a Christmas present idea or two, you might want to check out this list of Agatha Christie books that make good presents.

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

I’ve also been enjoying the Comedy Wildlife  Photography Awards

A Couple of Movies That I’m Looking Forward To Next Year – 

I’m Very Cynical of politicians who suddenly start doing something that they haven’t really done before [LINK] and Tory government politicians suddenly growing concern about the environment leaves me a little cold. In fairness I’m willing and hoping that actually this [LINK] is genuine and not like the last time when David “Hug-a-Husky” Cameron declared that they were to be “The Greenest Government Ever” and then promptly forgot all about it once elected and successive “Environment” Secretarys did precious little to protect and promote the environment. So far Michael Gove – despite my ongoing suspicions – seems to be doing a good job, although his wildlife minister Theresa Coffey less so.

I’m planning on a relatively quiet Christmas, but I am planning to post next week, so until then I wish you adieu, and leave you with this snowy video I made back in 2010 – the last time we had any serious snow fall.

Snow – Parallel Highway from tontowilliams on Vimeo.

 

Quick Links 10th December 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links1 Comment

Ever have the feeling someone is watching your every move?

It’s been a pretty busy week both with work (see below) and other stuff. Next week is looking the same (although less work related busyness and more personal stuff). Unfortunately on Thursday afternoon on the way back from a meeting the dashboard of the car lit up like a Christmas tree. I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong suffice to say it needs a trip to the garage. The earliest they can fit me in is Monday, so it meant our plans for the weekend had to be tweaked (we’ve had a pre-Christmas thing with a part of the family) and I’llbe unable to attend a service of remembrance that I was planning on going to. There is another one on Tuesday, which fingers-crossed and the car gods permitting I will be able to make. I have several other things in my diary for next week too, I can work around most of them apart from the one on Tuesday  and a book reading / signing I have a ticket for on Friday.

Work – I was at another business networking event on Monday evening. I think it went well and it’s the last one for a while. Earlier in the day I had an unexpected phone call about some work. If it happens it will mean that I’ll be pretty busy pretty much all the way the first quarter of next year. I’m not holding my breath, but to be honest I could do with the money so I am hopeful. The rest of the week was mostly spent catching up with myself to ensure that I can take some time off completely from work over the Christmas period.

Allotment – With everything that’s been going on this week, and the family commitments at the weekend there’s not much to report from the allotment. It’s really the dormant season anyway so I’m comfortable with not having time down there this weekend.

Currently Reading –

I’ve started listening to the audiobook of “Persephone” by Julian Stockwin [LINK] when I’m in the car. I’m enjoying it so far, although I think I’m just starting the third (of 10) CD so I have a little way to go.

I’ve also been reading “From Source to Sea: Notes from a 215 Mile Walk Along the River Thames” by Tom Chesshyre [GoodReads], it’s a good read so far, not too heavy and would probably act as a pretty good guide for someone thinking of doing the same thing.

Thomas The Tank Engine Does Stunts – 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – 

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

I’d Like To Visit this bookshop if I get a chance to the next time I’m in London.

My top nine #2017bestnine Instagram photos this year are all allotment related.

 

Quick Links 3rd December 2017 ☃️🎄☃️

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links

Merry Christmas, okay well maybe not just yet. Greetings!

Our Christmas tree went up early (for us), normally we start on putting up the Christmas tree and other decorations on the first weekend of December, but this year because of our family arrangements we need to be a little bit ahead of our normal routine. This means that we’ve pretty much finished our Christmas shopping – with the exception of groceries etc. – and we’re progressing with decorations. I suspect I’ll still be glad when it’s all over.

I also sat and wrote all of our Christmas cards, although I didn’t post them until yesterday  as I felt that just because our Christmas plans were moving like a runaway train maybe the recipients would appreciate a little more hiatus before being bombarded (and then we received our first card in Saturdays mail, so someone is even further ahead than we are).

Other than work (see below) this week has been fairly quiet. I’ve been trying to catch up on a few TV programmes that I’ve recorded over the last few months / year and wondering how so much time has passed so quickly when looking at some of the dates of the recordings!

Work – A bit of an odd week workwise. I had a call on Monday asking if I had some time to help with a particular project, and what I would charge. Although I had reservations about the deadline within which I would have to work, I did have enough time around other things, and gave a price which they seemed to be happy with. As so often happens, things moved on and I didn’t end up doing anything to help, although this might come back again later on. In between that I’ve spent time preparing for another networking event that I am attending on Monday evening, and some thoughts to another workshop that I’m involved in later on in the week.

I also had a follow up email from someone who asked me a while ago if I would be interested in some work, but there were never able to progress it due  to lack of funding. Well it would appear that it might be back on the cards again. They’re going to send through a spec to which I can respond.

Allotment – Still digging and doing winter chores on the allotment. I recorded an update video last weekend, but didn’t include it in last weeks Quick Links, so here it is:

Currently Reading – This has been another week of not really reading anything specific, but I did sit down and look through what I’ve read this year and prepared a post on some of the books that I would recommend as potentially being suitable for Christmas presents.

I also received the CD audiobook of “Persephone” by Julian Stockwin [LINK] in the post. It was a prize for entering Julian’s Lucky Dip competition a few weeks ago on Twitter. A nice surprise to win.

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

Rats Of New York  – Are you an uptown rat or a downtown rat? [LINK] What the genetics of the rat population of New York has taught researchers.

Avengers: Infinity War

The Longplayer Conversation – Chris Watson & David Attenborough

Thanks to @Documentally for the link to this one in his newsletter.

That’s it for this week. In case you haven’t had enough Christmas yet, here’s another pic of our preparations.

Quick Links 12th December 2016

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links

Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read, inspired me or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.

Life

This past weeks been taken up with catching up on preparations for Christmas. Up until this week I’ve not done anything much in that respect. So putting up lights, writing cards, buying presents etc. etc. have been the order of the day. In between times, there’s still plenty to do in connection with my Dad. I think the latter is going to go without saying for some time.

I can’t say that I am particularly looking forward to Christmas –  but I can’t do much about the timing, as it is what it is – so I guess I’ll just be making the most of it.

Currently Reading

Entering the Silence: Becoming a Monk and a Writer: 2 (The Journals of Thomas Merton) by Thomas Merton [GoodReads].

The Wastelands (Dark Tower III) by Stephen King [GoodReads], ongoing read for an online disucssion group.

When Eight Bells Toll by Alistair MacLean [GoodReads]. By the time this post goes live I expect I will have finished this. It’s a reread too, although I think I was about 13 or 14 when I read it the first time. Despite being published over 50 years ago it stands up really well, great little action novel. I like many of MacLean’s books, but this is one of my favourites.

The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

Giraffes have been hitting the headlines this week after the IUCN report showing how they have declined in numbers in recent years. The report also shows that there are 24,000 species at risk of extinction in the world. Humans are driving this planet to destruction and without major changes we won’t be able to stop it. It’s not just the exotic species either, everyday we place pressure on an already strained system in the name of “economic growth”. It seems that have more and more money is the answer to everyone’s woes and yet it is the rich who seem to get richer and the poor, poorer. Poverty amongst working people is on the rise in the UK,  and our NHS and elderly social care systems are bordering on collapse. There are sections of society that are also likely to become extinct, the only difference here is it’s one species and eventually the issues will rise up the wealth ladder until poverty and related issues has a wider reach. We seem to have forgotten what is important to society as a whole. Maybe it’s because we don’t use some of those systems, for example most people hope that they will never need the NHS, but wouldn’t you want it to be there when you did? So doesn’t it matter that just because your not using it, it should still be in a good condition in case you do?

 

Quick Links 5th December 2016

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links4 Comments

Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read, inspired me or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.

Life

2016-11-30-07-32-06Most of this week has been taken up with things related to my Dad, plus my maternal Grandmother is sick, so that’s been taking some time too, leaving little time for anything else.

We’ve had freezing weather all week long with temperatures dipping down to between -3°C & -5°C in the early hours of the morning.

I’ve been up and out with the dogs most mornings before sunrise, so have got to enjoy the sunrise most mornings, and the weather conditions and clear skies have made for some pretty spectualar sunrises.

This Is The Most Dangerous Time For Our Planet – Prof. Stephen Hawking

Currently Reading 

Not much time to really read anything much apart from the next part of the book in my online discussion (see below). I’ve been listening to (or rather re-listening to), the excellent audiobook by David Hewson – “The Flood“, in the car, but I finished this on Saturday so I’ll be looking for something else. I have a few to choose from.

Entering the Silence: Becoming a Monk and a Writer: 2 (The Journals of Thomas Merton) by Thomas Merton [GoodReads].

The Wastelands (Dark Tower III) by Stephen King [GoodReads], reading this for an online disucssion group

The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

If you should also happen to play Words With Friends and fancy challenging me to a game or two, my user name is Tontowilliams.

Leap Day Wildlife

On By TontowilliamsIn Birds, Dogs, Wildlife/Nature3 Comments

I started the leap day off right with a buzzard sighting at the Fort. One (large) buzzard flew overhead as I was walking the dogs this morning, pursued by 2 crows. Strangely all 3 birds were silent, and if I hadn’t been looking at the time, I probably would have missed them.

Normally the crows call out and harass a buzzard they are trying to drive away, so that it draws attention to what they perceive as the interloper.

The buzzard gracefully slipped through the upper branches of the trees to shake off it’s pursuers.

A few steps later, I also saw some fresh deer prints in the mud, another good sign.

Quick Links 1st December 2015

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links

Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read or just sparked my interest in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.

Little Sister: the third Pieter Vos book [davidhewson.com]

Festive Gingerbread Stars [Hole Food Family Blog]

The Dog In The Clouds [The Dog In The Clouds Blog]

When I’m sixty-four: world’s oldest tracked bird returns to refuge with mate [The Guardian]

The Week In Wildlife In Pictures [The Guardian]

The Atlas Snow Arch Greenhouse Build Part 6 Covering the Greenhouse With Greenhouse Film [YouTube]

Quick Links 11th November 2015

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links

Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read or just sparked my interest in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.

Hugh’s War on Waste – Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall look at just how much we waste as a society. Quite shocking statistics, and facts. BBC TV programme (programme video only available in the UK)

Gennaro Contaldo 90 Second Pesto Sauce (YouTube)

The Atlas Snow Arch Greenhouse Build Part 4 Framing the Steel End Walls (YouTube)

How I Built Our Hoop House (Greenhouse), pt. 1: Framing (YouTube)

Energy minister expects UK to miss renewables target, leaked letter shows (Guardian)

Earth’s climate entering new ‘permanent reality’ as CO2 hits new high (Guardian)

The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures (Guardian)