SENEG OTAMOT WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH - THEY WONT CREATE THE SUGO DI CARNE

Greetings everyone!!!!

The flying penguins on the BBC iPlayer is prettty good too.

none of You lot said

pinch punch first day of the month and no
returns
Response
up the ladder down the wall your the biggest fool of all

Driving Today noticed the rooks nests -----
high in the trees
so tought about the old country adge ...........................................



The height at which their nests are built is governed by their weather predictions. With a fair season in prospect, the nests are established in the topmost branches. Should a season of gales seem probable, they build at a lower level, which results in fewer casualties. I have often noticed this variation in altitude, and have found it a tolerably accurate indication of the weather for the next two months, which covers the nesting phase. I have never compiled statistics, but in general their instinct appears to be sound.

Sooner or later in February, they abandon their winter habits and show increasing interest in the old rookery. During the greater part of the year peace and harmony prevail in the community, but now there arises a period of competition, when squabbles and jealousies are rife. Surviving nests are inspected and eagerly claimed by the enterprising first-comers, while others lose no time in taking possession of eligible sites, guarding their property long before the first stick is laid.

The nesting phase is a period of the utmost importance, comprising far more operations and considerations than are apparent at first glance. Unless the whole performance is efficiently conducted, the species will fail to survive. We see the nests in haphazard array, each apparently just a collection of interwoven twigs in a forked branch, of which there are thousands. There is a great deal more in it than that, however, for the choice of a site is no casual affair, but the result of deliberate survey and assessment. The first sites to be claimed are the selfsame forks in which last year's nests were built, these having been blown down in the winter, and not a single stick being left as a clue. Why should these particular forks be chosen, rather than hundreds of others apparently as good? Simply because they fulfil certain essential conditions, as we shall see.

Elms are much in favour, as they provide the right kind of forks for the bulky nests. A single fork is inadequate, for there the nest would lack adequate anchorage and would rock and swivel to destruction. A multiple fork is essential, for this provides a crutch ensuring stability, and the nest can be built round the branches, not merely within the recess. This fork must also be at the right level, neither too high nor too low, according to the weather prediction. This is the ideal, of course; but it cannot always be attained. We now begin to see that suitable sites are decidedly limited.

The fork is not easily found; for the branches comprising it must all be on one bough. In a gale all then sways as one coherent unit—nest, branches and bough—with little movement which might cause damage (Fig. I8). Interlocking branches of adjacent boughs often provide multiple forks, but such a choice would be disastrous. Lashed by a gale, the branches writhing in opposing directions would soon tear the nest asunder. Inexperienced young birds sometimes lack this discrimination. Such carelessness must not be perpetuated, so the welfare of the species is best served by a drastic course of destruction. The laws of Nature are stern in their decree.

Although a number of old sticks may figure in the coarse foundations, the bulk of the nest is constructed of live twigs, nipped off the tree tops by powerful bills. A structure of dead sticks alone, brittle as sticks of candy, would very soon disintegrate. Despite the diligence of the builders some nests make little progress, for thieves and rogues abound, brazenly pilfering in the absence of the owners. When caught red-handed by the irate occupants, lively, battles ensue, usually ending in a rout. When thieves are persistent, one of the owners is obliged to remain on guard.

so we might well get a good summer


Night nite all