Identify that animal - what's in your garden or park?

Now you are stuck at home and looking longingly at the street and garden. Walking in the garden more often with your phone as a camera. Up pop pop animals, or even poo on the lawn.

What I learned in England.


UK flag

Foxes
I remember the first time I saw a bushy tailed animal in the back garden in London. I called out, 'There's a dog - in our garden.'

The animal had disappeared showing only a bushy tail.
'No, it's a cat.'

'It has a dog's face and a cat's tail. It's a fox!'

Now, twenty years later, we know that our neighbours started feeding their cat by leaving out food in the evening, were visited by foxes, and eventually had a fox's lair.

Now foxes are common all over suburban London. (Reputedly the result of the campaign against fox hunting.)

Bird Watch
A garden birdwatch was the first survey which got me involved. That was just in the UK.


Singapore flag

Now the idea is alive in Singapore and elsewhere, as I discovered this week.




But why watch only birds?

Animals
What about animals/ Back in the day, back in London, I had holes. Yes, I had holes in my lawn in London. What was causing holes? Later the culprit caught my eye. Something small was digging, with an oscillating grey bushy tail. A squirrel!

In the early days you could join the World Wildlife organization, and Whale watching and whale preservation. But the animal websites seemed to me to be all about big game. I was not keen on preserving animals which ate the little and lovely creatures I wanted to protect.

Along came the campagn to save the hedgehogs. I was in favour of that.

A couple of years after I started doing the birdwatch in the UK, organized by the RSPB, they introduced an animal watch. I have just discovered another website offering animal watches and information on animals. They have information on animals, a shop and links to all over the world.

My first thought was, this UK based website is no use to people in the USA and they won't all be interested.

However, it might be worthwhile joining such a UK based website, or their Facebook page. One reason is that if you receive linked advertisements, the ads might be for international organizations or for organizations in your area.

Now with the Coroavirus keeping people off work, plants and animals can command more or our time and attention and provide a distraction and a soothing interest. Enjoy!
More photos and websites will be added throughout athe day.

https://ptes.org/get-involved/surveys/garden/living-with-mammals/living-with-mammals-results/

See previous posts. Please share with friends and family and colleages far away useful links to your favourite posts.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is an English speaking, born in Britain; lived in Spain, the USA and now yoyos between the UK and Singapore with stopovers in Europe and the USA when flights are running, before, and hopefully after Coronavirus COVID19.
You can connect on Facebook or Linked and read about Angela's books on Amazon and Lulu.com

I've been bitten! Prevention and cure ideas

Problem
Outdoors, I was bitten. Red skin. Irritation. Distraction from work. What is it, midges, poison ivy, nettlerash, wasp, gnat, mosquito, horsefly?

Answers
I was bitten after going into the garden at dusk to collect flowers and fruit. I didn't think to cover up. Even if I had thought, my second thought would have been that if I delayed any longer it would be too late, getting dark, and I would not want to be stumbling around in the dark, disturbing night life.

Foxes
In gardens in the UK we currently have lots of foxes in London, England, (not London, Canada), three foxes in one garden this year (writing in 2018 - in case you read this years later).

Fox in garden. Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

The reason for the poor quality of the photo is that it has been blown up. I took it from a very safe distance. Besides, as soon as you go near, the fox will run off. See those ears. It's listening. And watching.

Years ago we had an adder in the garden in Stanmore. Actually a pair of adders, a fat pregnant one and the male protecting and writhing alarmingly when caught with a hook and plonked in a glass box by snake-catchers to take off to a zoo. My parents moved house shortly after. "Nothing to do with the snake," my mother claimed. If she had not made a conscious decision, I think she made an unconscious one.

If you can see a snake or a fox, you can retreat or avoid it. But insects - pesky things. They sneak up on you. Nettles and ivy, you can wave at them, shout and curse as much as you like. They won't move away.

Braving all these imagined and remembered alarms, I tripped gaily down the proverbial garden path. Ignoring irritation I finished the job. I came back itching and scratching.

Singapore
In the UK I tend to uncover, unless I'm off to hike for a day. In Singapore I am much more careful. Signs on buildings warn of outbreaks of Dengue. A friend of mine has dengue. Malaria lasts and recurs for years. You don't want that.

My family told me they bought:
Germolene from any branch of Boots chemist, including in and near airports and railway stations in the UK;
Johnsons baby powder.

I tried the Germolene and was disappointed that it didn't seem to have instant effect in the first half minute. However, an hour later I had forgotten all about the bites. A day or two later the bites had compeltely gone.

So that's my experience. What's yours? You can reply to me on Facebook.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Zoo Reviews : Write Parody Animal Reviews For Fun Whilst Travelling + Cute Photo Captions

Problem
How to brighten up a visit to a zoo, or even sitting on a park bench, or seaside bench watching the birds.

Answer
Spoof  Zoo Animal Reviews
Oregon Zoo and Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens have been doing this. What a great idea. Amusing.

An amusement for teens and tourists. Rate the animals or species at a zoo. Some zoos have started this and got attention. Create a game for the family or a school trip or charity event. Give a prize or vote for the best caption or review.

Fun Photo Captions
You could even do it to brighten up captions on your holiday snaps. I find it easier to write an advertisement than a review.

Cat : Self-cleaning.
Cockroach: Pre-historic model.
Dog: Noisy.

Fox in garden in London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Elephant: Difficult to find a large enough parking space.
Fox: Runs well.
Magpie: Smartly dressed.
Rabbit: Buy one, get twenty free.
Robin: Very friendly.
Snake: Handle with care.
Spider: Useful for decorating corners.

Spider. Useful for decorating corners. Available in brown, black or mixed. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The old jokes are the best: Zebra - horse designed by a committee.

Use it as NLP to get over your fear and disgust - perhaps not.

USA
California Academy of Sciences
Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
Monterey Bay Aquarium - @MontereyAquarium
Oregon Zoo - @OregonZoo ; rateaspecies
Tennessee Aquarium - @TNAquarium (On the Chatanooga riverfront)
http://www.tnaqua.org

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-5504799/Zoos-post-hilarious-Amazon-style-reviews-animals.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Informative and amusing. Please share links to your favourite posts.

How To Photograph A Fox In The Frost in London and find John Peel Pub in Cumbria

Photo of fox in garden, by Angela Lansbury.
Problem
How to find and photograph a fox and other wildlife.

Answer
Always have your smart phone handy. Set up a camera near a window at a home or hotel.

Story
Foxes are a familiar feature of gardens and streets in the suburbs of London. They run across the street at night. However, we have seen foxes in daytime.

Foxes must be around in day time. That's how fox hunts operate in daylight. Do you remember the old song, 'Do you ken John Peel with his coat so gay? He lived at Troutbeck once upon a day ...' We used to sing this when I was in primary school and secondary school. (What Americans call elementary school and high school.)

I didn't realise how much family photography had improved until I looked back at my old family photographs. The good ones are taken in good light on summer holidays. But now I can take photos indoors, at night, and in poor weather. If not today, tomorrow.

Today, at 10 am in London it is frosty on the lawns and leaves. I have asked my family photographers to go out looking for photos in the frost and snow. I was hunting for photos of prize winners at a club through the past year for the class president, and I came across my summer time photos, brightly coloured flowers. Amazing. Next summer in the sizzling heat I shall be equally astounded to look back at my winter frost pictures. As L P Hartley said, the past is another country.

The real reason that we see foxes in our garden is that our neighbours feed the foxes. The family cat used to come to the house for dinner in a plate left in the garden. Foxes found the food. The cat died. The neighbours continue to feed the foxes.

The neighbours the other side used to have a rabbit. No more. You can guess who ate the rabbit for dinner. It was not the neighbours, not either side. It was the fox.

I can imagine the fox saying, 'Humans eat rabbit. Why shouldn't I? There are loads of rabbits.'

I have written a book called Larry, The Talking Labrador. It is about a dog which supposedly asks other animals questions and feeds back the answers to its owner, a teenage girl who is doing a school project on animals.

Tips
1 You could set your camera to video. Modern cameras and systems allow you to take still from videos.
2 On a smart phone I like to take a video and a still.
3 You can also familiarise yourself with the multiple shot feature on a camera in a smart phone.
4 Editing programmes can improve a photo: cropping makes the distant creature nearby or in the centre of the nine square grid. A stalking animal would be better on one side of the screen shot, approaching from the left, juxtaposed with two other photos, one with it in the centre, the third showing the stalking cat or other creature it moving off to the right.
5 If moving large animals are too much of a challenge, photograph fruit and flowers close up. We blew up some photos of flower petals and found that the almost invisible insects were amazing when enlarged. Yes, those pesky insects on your roses reveal pictures of delightful insects - or hairy monsters!

Here are the words of the John Peel Ballad:
D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay*?
D'ye ken John Peel at the break o' day?
D'ye ken John Peel when he's far, far a-way.
With his hounds and his horn in the morning?
Chorus
For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,
And the cry of his hounds which he oftime led,
Peel's "View, Halloo!" could awaken the dead,
Or the fox from his lair in the morning.

Wikipedia has more about John Peel. (1776? – 13 November 1854). His exact birthdate is not known, only his baptism date.

Here's the 18th century ballad on You Tube illustrated with paintings and a photo of a fox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxUIWmuJARg

If you travel to Cumbria you can visit:
1 Caldbeck where John Peel lived. See the John Peel Cottage and Barn house where he lived. It is a listed building.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listed_buildings_in_Caldbeck

Photo of John Peel home in Caldbeck by Paul Taylor in Wikipedia. See Wikipedia for license terms.

The name Caldbeck is derived from the words for cold and stream.
I was just singing the song to myself and somebody else when I realised it goes 'he lived at Troutbeck - once upon a day'. Not Caldbeck, but Troutbeck.

2 John Peel Pub which displays the song, and John Peel's riding crop and his stirrups.
The Old John Peel Inn,
Rayrigg Rd,
Bowness-On-Windermere,
LA23 3BZ.
Tel:015394 43699.
Open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 12 noon to 10.30 p.m.

Photos show the pub sign of John Peel in his high black hat. The TripAdvisor reviews mention that in winter it serves mulled wine and mince pies, and has a coal fire. The pub accepts dogs - as you might hope from a place featuring a song about John Peel and his hounds.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190820-d3343406-Reviews-The_Old_John_Peel_Inn-Bowness_on_Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html
Apparently there used to be three pubs named after three of John Peel's dogs. We also know the name of his horse, which would carry him home when he was drunk.

3 John Peel Grave in Caldbeck's churchyard. See Find A Grave.

The number thirteen figures twice in his history. Unlucky for him, he died on the 13th. However, he lived to a good age, especially for those days, and was lucky enough to have 13 children, all but two of whom survived long enough to survive him. He had married young. When his wife-to-be's mother said they were too young to marry, he took his young bride-to-be to Gretna to get married.

John Peel was a farmer, who stood over six feet tall. That was tall, in those days. He rode a horse, across his farmland after the fox, but dismounted on the steep hillsides which were too steep for the horse, following his hound dogs which were following the fox back to its lair. The names of the dogs are in the song.

John Peel and the songwriter spoke English in a Cumbrian dialect which is preserved in some versions of the song. (Ye instead of you; ken for know.)

One controversy over the song is whether John Peel's coat was gay (pink or red) or gray. Apparently written copies of the song by the writer of the song use the word gray, which would have been local wood from a farmer's black and white sheep.

The sheep were Hardwick cattle. Beatrix Potter used to breed them.

What Else To See Nearby
Beatrix Potter Centre is opposite the John Peel Farm.

Doggie Pubs
Three pubs were named after John Peel's dogs mentioned in some versions of the song.
The Towler Inn
460 Walmersley Road
Bury
BL9 6OE
Named after the lead beagle in the former Holcombe Hunt.
https://whatpub.com/pubs/ROB/286/towler-inn-bury

The Hark to Bounty
Townend
Slaidburn
BB7 3EP.
https://whatpub.com/search?q=The+Hark+to+bounty&features=Pub%2COpen%2CRealAle&t=ft&p=1

The Bellman Inn
Closed. Now a private residence.
http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/lancashire/clitheroe_bellmaninn.html

Where to Stay and Eat
If you like pub food, there's the John Peel Pub. For something grander, Miller Howe, or Sharrow Bay Hotel.

Story (Personal)
One year we visited the lake district. I had the Good Food Guide and/or similar guidebooks to good food and good hotels. I wanted to stay at or eat at one of the grander hotels and restaurants. We drove around the lake and I saw Miller Howe.

My husband did not want to stop on the grounds that they were too expensive for out budget. So I said, "I just want to get a photo of the outside of the place and the inside and the menu."

I popped in, asked permission to take a few photos, and left my business card in the bowl or box. We continued getting updates on the expensive meals for high summer, special occasions, Christmas and so on.

All of a sudden, in came an off-season offer at one of the upmarket hotels in rainy spring time for two nights for the price of two, breakfast and dinner included. We booked it! I still remember the meals, the pyramids of coloured vegetable purée, the recipe book we bought.

I also recall our meal at Sharrow Bay Hotel. I notice that the Sharrow Bay hotel is still operating under that name in the area.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186330-d951152-Reviews-Miller_Howe_Hotel_Restaurant-Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1450266-d210050-Reviews-s1-Sharrow_Bay_Country_House_Hotel-Pooley_Bridge_Penrith_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html

Searching and Researching The John Peel Song
The song was written by John Peel's friend who used to go hunting with him, after the songwriter's daughter asked him for words to the lullaby her granny was singing to a baby. The songwriter was sitting with John Peel and wrote the words. The songwriter's words were changed and improved, a new tune was added, and the song was made popular when it was sung at a leaving party for a Benevolent Association in London. The songwriter died in Tasmania.
Full details from this website which has a photo of the portrait of John Peel.
http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/john_peel_f.html

The song is now well-known worldwide, from America to Australia. The song features as the regimental march of one section of the Canadian troops.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorized_marches_of_the_Canadian_Armed_Forces

Tasmania, the island off the coast of Australia, has the grave of the songwriter, John Woodcock Graves (1795-1886). You can read more about him in Wikipedia.

I have a previous post about feeding foxes and rats.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my Angela Lansbury writer / poet / author blogs and posts, also Angela Lansbury on Facebook, AnnatheAuthor on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, webpages, and books on Amazon.com and more and more recent self-published books on Lulu.com Thanks for reading and please follow me, like my pages and share.

Ted Hughes statuette in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England

Homage to Ted Hughes. Painting by Reginald Gray. Photo from Wikipedia Commons. Public domain. A stone carved with Ted Hughes dates is in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

A statue of poet Ted Hughes is in Barnsley where he used to live. The sculptor has included elements from the poets' life and poems.

You can follow the links back from national newspapers to local newspapers for details.

What do I remember of the poet? At school reading a rather nasty poem about a pike. Learning that he had had two wives or girlfriends who committed suicide. (Wife Sylvia Plath. I used to confuse her with Stevie Smith who wrote the poem about not waving but drowning.) The two facts about the vicious pike poem the and wife's suicide together rather put me off Ted Hughes poetry when I was at a younger and more sensitive age.I wasn't the only one. Or I was influenced by the others. The whole story is rather grim. After he left Sylvia she committed suicide. The women he left her for, Assia Gutmann Wevill also committed suicide. Eventually, so did Hughes' and Plath's son Nicholas.

Looking for negatives, I find the quotation from Ted Hughes: Nobody wanted your strange glitter, your floundering life and your efforts to save yourself.

In his defence it should be said that Sylvia had been suicidal before she met him. Their daughter has written in defence of her parents.

But then as soon as you discuss figures from the past, people you have not met, memory shuffles them altogether in a drawer.

I tend to feel the whilst somebody is alive to support them and their work is channeling money and attention and adulation (admiration and praise, worship) in their direction. I steer clear or being hurt by their actions, or by approving their actions.

Yet, what if you love their earlier work? What if you have been a fan for years? What do you feel about Woody Allen and Roman Polanski? What if their next of kin hate them? Or support them?

Does their work reflect their lifestyle and beliefs? Or is it totally separate? Does their work lead you into following their lifestyle? What about Wagner? What about Woody Allen's humorous comment on Wagner that whenever Woody hears Wagner he feels like invading Poland? That's a comment on Woody Allen, and a comment on Wagner.

However, after an artist has died, it is too late to have any influence on them. Their descendants are not to blame for anything and indeed may be victims.

Many artists, and indeed famous and successful people of any sort,  have private lives, or public works, which some people find distasteful. Take nude statues and paintings. Impressionists. Lady Caroline Lamb described Byron as: Mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Mad is mostly a matter of opinion. Except for those who were in mental asylums. Several cases of those exist. Van Gogh had what I instinctively and succinctly think of and describe as his 'ear trouble'. Was Sylvia more mad than her husband Ted Hughes? Does one have to take sides?

As for literature, Victorian era bowdlerised Shakespeare. Chaucer was bawdy. D H Lawrence was banned.

Activities go in and out of fashion. Even the leaders of great cultures, such as the Greeks and Romans, and major religions, have been accused of all kinds of immorality.

So now I am prepared to take another look at Ted Hughes' poetry, and admire the statue.

I'll be checking facts I half remember for accuracy or at least a source closer to the poet and other than myself and posting more later.I want to check his poems and find an out of copyright picture of the poet and the statue. Even if I have to wait six months until I have a chance to photograph the statue myself. In the old days I used to go back and update blog posts. Now that I have so many, and so much to say, I feel it would be more appropriate to give a link from one to another written at a later date.

Wikipedia neatly sums up his success and the controversy.

Edward James "Ted" Hughes, OM (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation.^[1] He served as Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.

Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath from 1956 until her suicide in 1963 at the age of 30.^[2] His part in the relationship became controversial to some feminists and some American admirers of Plath. His last poetic work, Birthday Letters(1998), explored their complex relationship. These poems make reference to Plath's suicide, but none addresses directly the circumstances of her death. A poem discovered in October 2010, Last letter, describes what happened during the three days before her death.^[3]

In 2008 The Times ranked Hughes fourth on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".^[4]

http://www.barnsley-chronicle.co.uk/news/article/11267/sculptor-unveils-memorial-for-poet
Please follow me on the blog posts, or Facebook, or link to me on Linkedin and check out my books on Lulu.com and Amazon. I hope to add some ebooks in 2016. If you are likely to meet me at a speakers or writers' meeting, I can bring along a book for you to browse and maybe buy, and will be happy to sign it for you.

Ted Hughes

by Angela Lansbury

The poet's statue stand and stares

He's gone and lost, with no more care

But left behind his leaping mind

But left us all steel words to share

From writer's block to solid rock

The poet, reader, sculptor find

All gain profit of a different kind

His ripe thoughts rippling everywhere

The weak and strong, the right and wrong

The endless fight, the day and night

Flowing but tight, both dressed and bare

As we gaze at his statue there

Too late to correct or condemn

We must just save, see good, in men.

Copyright Angela Lansbury Nov 24 2015.

If you wish to quote me, please quote up to but no more than four lines and refer the reader back to my post with a link. Thank you. For commercial use of the poem, please contact the author in writing.

In case you had not noticed, my poem follows a sonnet form of three four line verses ending with a couplet.

The writer's block is the block of stone which makes the sculpture, as well as the writer's hesitation before starting to write. Steel is also a pun on steal. Profit is financial and spiritual.

Flowing but tight can mean the construction of a poem. Dressed and bare, the statue or the thoughts. Correct and condemn applies to both the poet's actions in life and his verse. Men refers to both mankind and the tendency of men to dominate women and be the fighters.

Barnsley
Barnsley is in South Yorkshire. If you drive north from London and use Barnsley as a stopover, in addition to the Ted Hughes statue, you might also visit the town hall, a listed building containing a museum.The area is also known for the Bard of Barnsley, glass making, the former coal mining, brass bands, and the sign of the the Stork shop, which said it stocked everything except the baby.

Quotes from Ted Hughes
Nobody wants your ...
... the words look after themselves, like magic.

TED HUGHES MEMORIALS & PLACES TO VISIT
1  Westminster Abbey, London, England
Poets Corner. Stone.

2 White Bear Inn, Barnsley
The 16 inch maquette or model Ted Hughes is at The White Bear in the town centre and includes a pike, fox and crow.
The sculptor is local man, Graham Ibbeson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnsley
http://www.barnsley-chronicle.co.uk/news/article/11234/woman-who-ran-famous-shop-dies
http://www.wearinns.co.uk/our-pubs/51/The-White-Bear-Barnsley-South-Yorkshire
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g528795-d4106647-Reviews-The_White_Bear_Pub-Barnsley_South_Yorkshire_England.html

3 Mexborough, Yorkshire (15 miles from Sheffield)
Birthplace of Ted Hughes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexborough (Lists Ted Hughes)

4 Gravestone of Sylvia Plath, Heptonstal, Yorkshire
Photo of grave in Wikiquote.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath
http://www.thetedhughessociety.org

In the USA Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath were in Massachusetts.

Made in Mexborough: Ted Hughes's South Yorkshire by Steve Ely.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Killing For Self-Defense On Farms, Not For Fun In Cities

An eleven year old in Washington state killed a cougar which was following her brother. Some people wonder why she poses with the dead body of the animal. I've always thought that the antic of fox hunters were strange and rather suspect.
   But now I understand why. What are the choices when you live on a farm or in the countryside or in the USA with big, wild animals such as bears and cougars. The opposite of feeling sad or scared is happy. If the girl with the gun were to hesitate, she or her brother and the animals on their property could be caught and killed by the cougar. So she has to feel emboldened and encouraged and happy that she won this fight.
    This dichotomy also explains the worrying attitude of thugs in cities. They live in rough neighbourhoods where they practise killing the innocent, so that when they face real danger they are not afraid.
     However, being endangered by wild animals all day and every day, far from police, is not the same as going up to a stranger in a city and picking a fight for 'fun'. In the UK and Singapore we are in crowded cities and rely on strangers to be full of goodwill, to help in times of trouble, not to practise fighting in the street nor having fights for fun. Police marksmen are nearby to defend us. Cougars are not normally roaming the streets. (That's why I oppose importing wild animals into cities. Keep wild animals on safari parks out in the countryside.)