Out and about. Canals and Romans and wildlife stories.,

I walked up the hill to Dobcross this morning and down the other side to Uppermill. The road to Dobcross looked as though it was still very icy. Cars coming down the hill were being driven very slowly and gingerly, less so those going up! My weather app told me it was still -3° but it was bright and sunny - a good morning to be out and about, provided you were wrapped up against the cold

The sun trying to come up over the distant hills was quite picturesque.

As I predicted, the market in Uppermill was seriously depleted, only the fishman in splendid isolation! 

Now my weather app tells me it’s 0° but the sunshine has completely disappeared. And I just tried to take some recycling out to the various bins in the garden, all to no avail as the lids are frozen shut! 

I’ve not been past the millponds today - last time I did that the slush inundated my boots and I ended up with wet feet - so I don’t know how frozen they are. The bits of the canal I have seen this morning don’t appear to be frozen; maybe the water is moving just enough to prevent freezing.

According to this article, we need to be careful:to protect and preserve our canals. Those of us who live near them tend to take them for granted, a good place to go for walks along the old towpaths. The recent heavy rain caused a serious collapse in the Bridgewater Canal in Cheshire, not too far from here. And from time to time we notice erosion in our bit of the canal system, which provides boat trios in the summer and is regularly used by narrowboat enthusiasts. But it seems that canals are not just ornamental; they keep cities cool during heatwaves and can even provide drinking water (presumably cleaned up, I hope!) during perids of drought.

The Romans knew a thing or two about water distribution systems. However, according to this article, as well as spreading technological advance throughout their empire, the Romans also reduced everyone’s IQ. Lead pollution in the air, coming from the various metal workings they introduced, was breathed in by everyone, with resulting IQ damage. Just imagine how bright we might have been if the Romans had stayed away - our roads might not have been so straight, we might still have been pagans but the average IQ would perhaps be higher!

I’ve come across a new bit of terminology, well, new to me: sleep divorce! Apparently this is the term used for couples who sleep in separate beds, as opposed to sleeping snuggled together like spoons. Who knew? Maybe it’s a way of preventing an actual divorce!  

Now for a couple of wildlife stories. The first of these might become relevant to Greater Manchester as the city centre is rapidly filling with very tall glass fronted buildings. These can be a hazard to migrating birds, or perhaps just birds flying around at dusk. Birds crsah into the glass fronts andmostly die as a result.,

“In the US, it is estimated that more than a billion birds die each year this way.

About 60% of birds that collide with windows are killed. Sometimes, a single building can be deadly: more than 1,000 birds died on a single day in October 2023 from colliding with the McCormick Place skyscraper in Chicago.”

There is an organisation called FLAP  (Fatal Light Awareness Program). Their Canada branch, has about 135 people patrolling the streets across Toronto

“At the end of the season, the 4,000 dead birds collected by Flap volunteers are laid out in a display showing the scale of the damage. Volunteers can record their findings on the Global Bird Collision Mapper. So far, more than 100,000 birds have been reported as colliding with a window – 73,000 of which died.”

Here’s a link to an article about it.

And in France Brigitte Bardot is campaigning to save the life of a wild boar, raised as a kind of pet after being found a an abandoned piglet. Baby wild boars are rather cute and appealing. Grown up ones less so but they are intelligent animals. Living in the wild, they can cause damage to property and plants. They can be a big problem in parts of France and Spain, even “invading” town centres. Now someone wants this one put down. Ms Bardot, a great animal rights supporter has joined the campaign. So it goes.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well  everyone!