The picture above comes from Carey, M. and Fitchew D. Wild Flowers at a Glance (London, reprinted 1971), an reference book I have had for over 40 years, much scribbled in. It’s a reference book that uses paintings of plants, the norm back in 1949 when it was first published. More recent reference books tend […]

Thankfully we have not yet got feedlots in this country, but for how long? What we do have could be argued as being more sinister. We have factory farms, mostly producing chickens and pigs for slaughter, on the continent rabbits, calves and ducks produced by the same system. Factory farms can also exist under water

In the months after Brexit there was much talk about a new trade agreement with the U.S.A., this all overtaken by the pandemic. Although the Conservative government wanted to put a positive spin on new trade deals beyond Europe campaigners in Britain quickly rose to the occasion by stating that the American government would certainly

Above is part of the pre-historic cave paintings at Lascaux in the Dordogne region of south-west France (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International). The creatures that still show clearly are deer (bottom centre), wild horse (top centre) and aurochs (centre right and left). Aurochs are extinct the last recorded female dying in Poland in the 17th

Sentient means a creature (Man and others) which has the standard range of five senses and can have an emotional response to situations through those senses. Example – if a horse is pulling a cart and feels a whip strike across its back its sentient reaction is to run forward to try and escape the

The issue of the features of planet Earth’s features way back in geological times interests but I have not systematically taught myself about them. Evidence in the rocks has been analysed by geologists and paleontologists to the extent that standard maps have been drawn showing the Earth’s surface in the Ordovician geological era (s.p.b.). At