Starlings and badgers - Summer 2014

Young starling

I was away for the period when baby starling and their parents thronged the garden and filled the air with noise (mainly the begging cries of the youngsters) and played in the bird baths (see images from last year here).

Now the young ones are quite independent and their parents are already leaving them pretty much on their own. Their drab plumage and grey bills make them easily distinguishable from the adults.

Young starlings in the May tree

busy busy busy

Also currently coming into the garden are up to four badgers and below are some images of them on a wet night.

coming out of the gloom

There is a badger in my pond

wet badgers

New Review of Marine Noise Pollution Published

I don't often use this blog to point at publications (mine or others) but a special edition of the Journal of Ocean Technology has just come out on marine noise and it includes a review that was the result of a good team effort. The review and the whole volume are free to download.

The review tells the story of how noise in the oceans has emerged as a prominent environmental issue in recent years , spawning considerable research and international attention and some regulation. It concludes with a series of key recommendations.

Link to the whole volume here - JoT

Click on the link below to download a PDF of the review:

• Marine Noise Pollution - Increasing Recognition but Need for More Practical Action

When Scientists go out to Play - part two

Here are some more images from the big day off -

Frank Cipriano enjoys a Bled cream cake

Daniel Palacios (left) and Mark Simmonds enjoy the bagpipes over dinner.

Happy scientists enjoy le football

Mark Simmonds addresses the Scientific Committee...

... he is well received.

And finally some more images of Lake Bled.

and more ducklings

Inner courtyard

...approaching Castle Bled

View from Castle Bled

Dr Naomi Rose and her favourite arm-rest

Dr Rose and her invisible bow

Scientists afloat

The big day off.

 Highly confidential!

The Scientific Committee as usual met for nine days without break. Nerves were jangled; patience strained and humour stretched and then, blissfully, we were allowed out for the day, although we had to return before nightfall to pick up the holy scripts of the Chairman's summaries that were reviewed over the remaining three days of the committee.

Come the day off - which proved to be wonderfully sunny - many scientists shot off in many different directions. Some grabbed their bikinis and their buckets and spades and headed to the coast and some others formed inland working groups.

With some friends I headed to the incredibly beautiful Triglav national park via Lake Bohini and the Vrisic Pass up in the snow-line at 1600m.

The Zlatorog at Lake Bohini

Lake Bohini - note trout in the shallows

Frolicking scientists,

Lake tour boat

An ancient scientist seeks the Blood Rose

The Savica 'Slap' or Waterfall

The walk-way to the Slap

Alpine Inn - note small group of English tourists in hats

World War One defensive position - note fallen trees

View of Mount Triglev in the Julian Alps

Towards the summit

Snow movers

In the snow

at 1611 metres above sea level

Intrepid Alpine explorers

An alpine settlement complete with goats

Could this be the Blood Rose?

Small disaster Strikes in Bled

So... my lap top has fundamentally broken.... there will be a pause before any further commentary from the legendary land of Slovenia.

Here is a picture in the meantime.

Lake Bohimi

Postcard from Lake Bled

Images from an early morning stroll around Lake Bled in the mist and drizzle.

 

There are many young mallard ducks

more

and more. It's that time of year.

A sign showing the many things that should not be done at the Lake Bled rowing centre

Other things that also should not be done (the two signs are a few feet apart)

The Lake Bled Olympic rowing centre - where many things cannot be done.

More indications of the mystical Capricorn or Zlatorog with the golden...

And here is one on the side of the Villa

There were lots of interesting birds in the woodlands around the lake. I could hear several cuckoos calling (but could not see them) and there were also great tits and others of the tit family, chaffinches, greenfinches, many blackbirds, grey and pied wagtails and, out on the lake, mute swans, lots of mallards and some meergansers.

Most birds spotted my camera and dived for cover (or underwater) but here is a pair of distant common meergansters (one of the sawbill diving ducks) which were sitting far out in the lake. And you can just make out that the male has a white body with a dark green head and the female a cinnamon head. They may have had chicks with them they were too far out to see.

I will try to do better.