Then of course there's Irish Technology.....

This is environmental Ireland at it's best. This is Co Offaly Power Station. Despite standing against the River Shannon this is not hydroelectric, this is peat-fueled... This eats the local boglands, which were once important habitats for Brent Geese. The cutting operation is also blamed for filling the Shannon causing flooding of the river margins... the callows... an important area for breeding birds...


This isn't an Irish invention, but I saw my first one today and thought that I'd share it. This is a 30 foot wide lawnmower, it's cutting capacity is brutal. Most of our callows have been cut by 5 foot 6 rotary cutters. This is equivalent to 6 tractors driving side by side...




The plot that this one is cutting had one calling male corncrake. It was the first corncrake in Ireland to be heard calling in 2006.. by me! We believe that the female actually used the opposite side of the river, where chicks were seen early in the summer by the farmer cutting there. We had not protected that side of the river.... It happens.

The great news is.... You can always find yourself a LUCKY RABBIT'S FOOT! (As long as you're willing to use to use Hare!)

Technology Gone Mad!

Hiya all Technology has gone mad... Or I have, this is a photo of my 4 pairs of binoculars, (including one with a camera). It was taken with my new camera! But instead of photographing the binoculars, I decided to photograph them, (with my mobile phone.. which doesn't have USB or bluetooth), email them to my yahoo account, download the photo, open it for display, then photograph my computer.... that's not sane is it?




This is a photo of my new camera, taken with my camera on my "Irish" phone, transferred to my computer by "Bluetooth"..... No cable involved.... clever stuff eh? We have technology.......


This a just a photograph of lots of things that now seem to have to carry around with me, because they're mine and I might need to use them..... The scope will be in the boot, with two tripods...... One big and one small, the laptop will probably be in there too....








My other phone doesn't have bluetooth, or a USB cable, so....



I was going to stand outside with my binocular camera and photograph the whole lot of this on my blogpage in cyberspace.. but I can't get the pictures to upload, so I'll send it back....






Thank God for some sanity in the world eh?

11th in the World!

Well 11th out of 350,000 or there-abouts....

Check this out, look closely at my team stats.... Season position 321562nd place.... It was a late entry team... 78 points.... Monthly position 11th!

It's great being me!

Just purchased......
Digital Camera Type: Compact
Optical Zoom: 10x
Brand: Olympus
Digital Zoom: 3x
Model: C-700 Ultra Zoom
Memory Card Format: SmartMedia
Resolution: 2.1
Condition: Used
Battery Type: Rechargeable LR-6 AA
Features:
--
Bundled Kits:
Camera Bag, Extra Memory
Display Size:
1.5 inches

Read the review, spot the price......

Olympus C-700 UZ

Body: Front magnesium alloy, back plastic
Street price US$ 650
Lens: 10 x optical zoom, 5.9 mm - 59 mm35 mm equiv: 38 - 380 mmF2.8 - F3.5
Lens type: Extending
Lens thread: 55 mm with optional adapter
Image stabilizer: No
Sensitivity: Auto, ISO 100, 200, 400, 800
Sensor: 1/2.7" 2.1 megapixel (1.92 effective)
Resolutions: 1600 x 12001280 x 9601024 x 768640 x 480
Image formats: TIFF, JPEG
Digital Zoom: 1.1x - 2.7x
AF assist lamp: No
Manual focus: Yes
WB manual preset: Yes
Exposure modes: Auto, S-Prg (3 modes), Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual
AE bracketing: Yes
Movie clips: Yes, 320 x 240 / 160 x 120
Shutter speed: 16 sec - 1/1000 sec
Flash: Pop-up (flip-up)
Flash range (max): W: 5.5 m, T: 4.4 m
Ext. Flash: Yes, synch terminal
Remote control: No
Power: 4 x AA batteries (rechargables supplied by the seller)
Storage: SmartMedia (up to 128 MB)
Storage included: 8 MB SmartMedia card (But supplied with an additional 64 MB memory card by the seller)
Viewfinder: Electronic viewfinder (mini LCD)
LCD: 1.5" (114,000 pixel)
Weight: 410 g (14.5 oz)
Dimensions: 108 x 76 x 78 mm (4.3 x 3 x 3.1 in)

I beat a guy on ebay, with 2 seconds on the timer..... £59 (that's around the price that you'd pay for a couple of bottles of 12 year old Irish whiskey.....)

Thrown or Mown? “Does frog-lobbing serve any function other than self-gratification?”

Ok..

Thrown or Mown? “Does frog-lobbing serve any function other than self-gratification?”

I’ve a question for you to POND-er.. Forgive the pun-type-t’ing.

I’ve been coming across a lot of frogs during my mowing activities, and when they are in the most recently cut sward, fully endowed with allocated appendages still attached, and their insides in and their outsides out… so to speak… I have to make a decision, “thrown or mown?”

Now, it should be obvious that you can throw a big frog further than a small frog… so I throw small ones into the zone that has already been cut, on the basis that the turning process might not harm them. Big frogs might get damaged by the turning process, so I lob them…. You wouldn’t believe how far they’ll go…. I was shocked! So there's the first t'ing.....

Q? Are frogs aerodynamically designed for flight? They go further than you’d imagine.

Q? Given a weight/strength/leap-capability, are small frogs better equipped to penetrate grass and escape? Or is a bigger frog better equipped?

Q? Which size is likely to be minced larger or smaller?

Q? Which size is more likely to be spotted by me and therefore saved?

Q? Which size is more likely to be spotted by a predator?

Q? What is the optimal size for survival in a meadow-cutting operation? With me present and without me present. Do I make any difference?

Q? Is frog-lobbing justifiable under any circumstances? Or is this personal self-gratification?

Please post comments. If anyone would like to determine some formula to help me in my decision making, I would appreciate it…. Please base all calculations on fully intact frogs, as I have my own formula already for dealing with less intact specimens….

Slainté

Davy

Cutting season...

Leverets (young hares) they rely on camoflage too.... This one had more than 5 minutes to move less than 10 feet. It decided to stay and hide....Do you want to see the inside of a frog?

Davy

Couldn't believe the two boat names, moored together...

Hi all... I couldn't believe it today... I'd turned up on this callow at 8.00am for a cutter who didn't show... He got there at 13.15, (Irish-time), and I left the callow at 20.45pm, and as I was turning my car round in this little corner of a marina (my first car was a marina.... and I want a boat... fancy that...), I spied a boat-name.. As I approached it I noticed the name of the boat behind....

Tune in over the next few days, and join in with the exciting new "Thrown or Mown" debate, in which the public will be allowed to discuss the benefits, aerodynamics, likelihood of survival and other related topics, related to why and how far can you throw a frog..... Don't get too upset, it's not dwarf throwing, it's not for profit, (and hey, when they cracked down on dwarf-throwing, a lot of dwarfs lost their proffession....). So, I'll add that link later but for now....

Fancy finding two little (none-seaworthy-little-river-boats), on my 13 hour stint on a meadow, moored together with these two names.... and does it mean something wierd. I'd like to add..... strangely, I emailed the Shetland Biological Record Centre Manager today.. after at least a year of none-communication to ask him if he'd be a referee for me... weirder and weirder?

Slainté till frog-link,

Got to get up at 7.00am for crake-cutters... I may even add a carnage link for those that want to see cut-up frogs, leverets, rails, etc., and pictures of nice little tractors, with nice little cutters, as opposed to great big nasty tractors with huge great meadow swallowing-mashing-ripping-chopping-turning-chopping-some-more-conditioning-blades..... But I might not...

Slainté,

Davy