The Beginning of April

Audobon's Mourning Doves
@ Creative Commons

Sometimes news can be good or bad;  John Audobon killed thousands of birds to portray his exquisite book of birds, but what a legacy he left in his paintings. The 'mourning doves' reminded me of our own collared doves who also seem to mourn after the loss of their mates.....

So to the good news, from Greenpeace Huge win for whales! The International Court of Justice has just ruled no more permits for Japan's "scientific whaling. The court voted overwhelmingly that the size and scope of Japan's whaling program was not driven by scientific considerations. Therefore all permits must be cancelled and no new ones issued.

Watching the videos of the, (I think,) Australian 'Sea Shepherd' harry the Japanese whaling ships was a statement of how people feel when seeing the slaughter of these huge creatures.  Anger and contempt are always unruly emotions, but scientific investigations? who were the Japanese whalers kidding?

What else, well this morning they announced on the radio that 1.2 million elvers had been caught in Somerset to be transported up river so that they may have a chance of survival before they return to their breeding ground in the Sargasso sea. Such plenitude is not often found in the animal or fish kingdom, so there was a certain note of triumph around.  Looking this up and I cam across the news of the dredging of the River Parrett is at last underway, whether it will stop flooding next winter after heavy rains, is still to be seen.

Ivory billed wood peckers
@ Creative Commons

No April fools, though today see that it is the anniversary of my daughter's  and Darron's wedding , and he has written appropriately on Face book.  Talking to her over the weekend, and the house in Todmorden slowly goes forward, plastering has been done on two floors, the walls have been 'stitched' together (scary) but there is a house on either side holding there's up ;). A reconditioned aga, (she gets one I don't!) is to be fitted in the kitchen.