Tag Archives: environment

Pictures

Big tree, cattle, butterfly

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It was a very nice sunny spring day in West Berkshire today, so I went for another walk in the countryside near the village. I had hoped I might still be able to see some Bluebells, but couldn’t really find any. Didn’t see anything spectacular, so here are three fairly mundane pictures of a big tree, some cattle in the sunshine and a butterfly on a leaf:

(Click on the pictures for the larger versions)

I hope you had a nice weekend as well, hopefully spring and soon summer continue to be nice.

Pictures

A few local birds from this weekend

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This weekend I visited two local nature reserves, on Saturday I visited Decoy Heath, on Sunday I visited Padworth Common. While I didn’t spot any rare birds there were a few common local birds around. Here are a few of the pictures I took:

Click on a picture to see the larger version.

Pictures, Thoughts

I’ve walked/driven over that bridge, now it’s gone

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If you actually know a place in the news it makes it much more real than if it’s a place you’ve never even heard of. I’ve been to Pooley Bridge twice, among other things to go on an Ullswater Steamer cruise. While there I crossed the bridge giving the village its name a couple of times, both in the car and on foot.

Picture of an old bridge over a river
Pooley Bridge in April 2012

Storm Desmond and the related rain has now destroyed the old bridge, built in 1764. Not to mention the flooding and misery it has brought to other parts of Cumbria. Carlisle (where I usually stay overnight on my journeys to Islay) has also been badly hit. I’m not sure of the exact area, but I believe one of the hotels where I sometimes stay is flooded as is the park where I go for my morning run.

As far as I know nobody has died and I hope it stays that way, at least people seem to be safe. Still, it will be a long hard slog for those impacted by the floods.

Snippets

Very worrying: Antibiotic resistance

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While there’s a lot of talk about the threat of terrorism and the fear of becoming the victim of a terrorist attack I think there are many other things we should be much more worried about. Like this one: World on cusp of “post-antibiotic era” (BBC News)

A simple bug could mean death, something that could be treated fairly easily so far might soon be deadly. As far as I understand it not a question of if, but of when. Scary.