I don't know what this bird is. But I wish I'd seen one.... One of the items on the news this morning was about Puffins on the Farne Islands. Much of the air-time was spent reminding us how "comical" they are. And they are in decline. At the moment. It seems that that's more of a tragedy if they're " comical." Had they been some dowdy species like the lowly Dunnock, it wouldn't really matter. It was interesting to hear that "they" hadn't finished their survey yet, but last year they declined by 12 %. There must be quite a few then ... if they haven't finished the survey yet. Plus ... 12% of what ? A 12% decline in a population of 54000 isn't such a big deal. But a 12% decline if you've only got 54 of them is. No actual numbers were mentioned. Of course. Also ... there was no mention at all of how many there are in the world. Of course. Whether the UK has only 1% of the world population, or 87% of the world population is useful to know. But of course, we didn't get told that. So what it amounted to was ... a "comical" and therefore "interesting" bird had declined a little bit last season in what is probably a small outpost in a small country. Which could be totally due to chance factors, or it could be the sign of an imminent extinction, or all stations in between. We weren't told about any of that. Global warming got a mention. But actually, they don't know. Still, I expect the "researchers" are having a jolly time with their clip-boards and egg-counting etc. Maybe it could occur to them that their continual interference might have something to do with it ? Who knows ? One thing's for sure ... the "clip-board" brigades are increasing "year on year." There's a famous, and true saying in the world of statistics... " Not everything that counts gets counted, and not everything that gets counted counts." And, of course, another thing in this context has to be ... why do interviewers never ask the right questions ? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !! If we really want to help "the cheery Puffin" we could knock down all those mountains of ours and tip all the rubble into the sea to make lots of brilliant islands all round the coast, and tailor them to suit various types of seabird. That way, our soggy wet cold country would be dryer and less wet, because the air-masses wouldn't have to toil up the slopes and get colder and then deposit all that rain onto poor old us. And Dunnocks. Plus, it would save billions of gallons of fuel we waste hauling lorries and cars up the Pennines and the Grampians and the Lake District. Oddly, people don't seem to think much of the idea. What about the poor old, semi-comical Dotterel for example ? In today's tough world, semi-comical isn't enough. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK ..enough of silliness and gloom ... here's a song about nada = nothing. What a beautiful song .... and the words are on it so you can join in. In this dystopian world, joining in is a good thing.
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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