One For The Naturalist Or Wildlife Lover -The Red Paper: Canids -Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Coyotes in the UK

 One for those interested in Wildlife -or cryptozoology!

  

 Terry Hooper

The Red Paper: Canids

Paperback, 

A4 (21 x 30cms)

202 Pages 

Photographs, illustrations and maps

Price: £10.29

Ships in 3–5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-papercanines-vol1/paperback/product-20492038.html

 

By the 1700s the British fox was on the verge of extinction and about to follow the bear and wolf having been hunted for sport for centuries. 

 

The answer was to import thousands of foxes per year for sport. But foxes kept dying out so jackals were tried. Some were caught, some escaped. Even wolves and coyote were released for hunting and "country folk" were very far from "happy" -some even threatening local hunts -one intending to release a wolf for a hunt- with legal and other consequences.

 

The summation of over 40 years research by the noted naturalist and former UK police forces exotic wildlife consultant reveals the damnable lie of "pest control" hunting but also reveals the cruelty the animals were subject to and how private menageries as well as travelling shows.

 

Private menageries, or single exotic "pets" as well as travelling shows helped provide the British and Irish countryside with some incredible events such as the 1905 "vampiric" sheep killer of Badminton, the mystery hounds of Cavan and Coyotes of Epping Forest. 

 

The Girt Dog of Ennerdale is also dealt with in detail -was it a tiger? A Tasmania Thylacine? This book gives the exact facts and details for the first time.

Up-dated 2013 edition includes a section on sarcoptic mange in foxes and treatment plus a list of wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres in the UK.

UP-DATE Two Possible "Wolf" Photographs From Germany

Two photos have emerged of "possible" wolves in the German countryside.

I actually learnt about these by checking out the Face Book page of Radio SAW -the German radio station I listen to while working.

The first of a "wolf" walking toward the photographer near Schartau bei Burg looks like an Alaskan Malmute to me.

 Below -the wolf photo

 Here is an Alaskan Malmute -head shape and colouring...?

The second the photo, taken at Krina in Kreis Anhalt-Bitterfeld is not great and could be a manged fox or, possibly, a Saarloos wolfdog?

The Wolf photo

And a Saarloos Wolfdog



Checking with the UK Wolf Conservation Trust to see if they agree (they see wolves on a daily basis)
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And the response from the UK Wolf Conservation Trust is:

" Hi Terry, The bottom picture is a wolf. The Top picture is quite poor quality & more likely to be a malumute. Thank you for sharing"

So,  Krina in Kreis Anhalt-Bitterfeld has a wolf. Just do NOT panic and go hunting it. Leave it alone.

British Wildman Report

I have never -never- found people calling for "science to take notice" as uncooperative before. I still get asked for the odd advisory from police forces as well as other bodies and my reputation has been built on looking at the evidence impartially -both on wildlife matters and other areas.

Perfect for the British Wild-man group you might think?

But, no. "Could I please use your photograph in my published notes?"

"No. It's my photograph and you can't use it!"

You might wonder why images of snapped tree branches, alleged footprints and so on are not for anyone but the little UK wild-man membership?

Just what the hell is going on -I've given long enough for reports, material and photographs to be submitted for study but nothing. Not one single piece of cooperation.

My conclusions will be part of the next book I am working on and so far it doesn't look good -but until its finished I'm still open to GENUINE accounts.

Me, The Pony-Tail Flipping Hawk and Avian Fun and Games!

  Above: Not great but between the "V" in those branches is the smaller, grey coloured male sparrowhawk -they see a camera they move fast!
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As you will know,if you invite "prey" animals into your garden then the predators follow.  Entice deer into your yards or gardens in the right countries then a predator such as a puma, leopard or even wolves/coyotes will follow.

The same applies with birds.  I've had a dove,pigeons, sparrows all killed and eaten by hungry sparrow hawks in my garden.  In the previous garden I had a kestrel (it moved so fast I assume that's what it was!) that flew in, rounded a corner of the house and flipped up the hair I had at the time tied up in a pony tail (sad -but I realised how bad it looked later).  Anyway, I was out cutting back brambles, bent over and something that was so silent pulled up the hair and I turned and just saw a brown blur fly round the other corner.

Puzzling but....

A couple days later I was in the back garden working on the large wildlife pond -same thing. A major "WTF?!" moment.  But the next week I was trimming back the bean tree when I caught a glimpse of the bird as it came from another direction and it flipped my hair again. We are talking a fraction of time 1-3 seconds and it was gone.

It was playing.  Practicing but it got bored and eventually took to the pigeons again.  

Now, the books all say that the sparrowhawk takes birds while in flight after a chase. One thing I have noticed in the last ten years or so is that these sparrowhawks do this, yes, BUT they will also actively go into hedges to try to catch birds -that includes trying to go into the heap of branches and twigs where hedgehog sleeps but dunnocks (hedge sparrows) were nesting. 

I've even seen it once pursuing birds on the ground and up into hedges. 

Above: the female (larger and brown coloured) was about 6 feet (1.4m) from me -bloody camera!)
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New behaviour developed or something ornithologists have seen but not recorded because it was "one off abherrant behaviour" so not something the species does?

The experts (a-hem) say "Chase and kill in air" and I cannot find one reference in any of my books to this hedge/tree/ground hunting.

up-date:

I can confirm that the male and female hawks are avian terrorists. 

I have watched their behaviour from my window daily over a couple years and I've noticed their entering hedges, etc. to try to catch birds. 

Above: Yes, she IS looking back at me.
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But this year I have noticed a difference. 

Collared doves are known as "hawk food" -they might chase each other but compared to wild pigeons they are gentle and hawks take them a lot. Today I watched the dove on the fence where they always tend to sit -either the pair or the lone one. It was there a long time and I thought "You need to move or one of the hawks will get you". Looked down but then up as I thought one of the doves was chasing the other off....but one then casually arced back and landed in the tree above where the dove had been. 

It was the female hawk. 

I've seen them do this with the doves, pigeons and other birds. Time and again there was no way that these birds -which move like greased-up-lightning could possibly not make a kill. 

They are playing. Whether this is similar to a leopard -there is very good night time footage of a leopard in Africa moving right into the centre of a group of antelope and then scaring them. Not killing but scaring them. Practicing its skills and having fun? 

The hawks seem to be doing the same thing. They are in fine condition with enough prey in the area, So this is practice.

Ghost Adventures -Black Dahlia. Where Is The Shovel?

So I decided to watch the first episode of this series while working.  Then I stopped working to watch it properly.

That good?

That BAD

Bagans and his old pal, Billy, were up to their usual bad acting and "let's not let facts get in the way" methods.  If that 'psychic' they had on the programme was not a bad actress then I think it proved my point several times over about psychic fakery.

More of "adult content and situations" special effects.  Hey, Zack -how many times can we mention the 'killer' (according to his son who is an ex cop and seems obsessed with writing books about his father's alleged crimes -as an ex cop you'd think he might have heard of hard facts and evidence rather than conviction by trying to sell books) had "incestuous sex" with his daughter -and her daughter seems to be thriving on that notoriety- of which he was not convicted?

Sensationalist bull crap from start to finish.  In future it isn't even going to be on in the background.

Bury the damn show -because that is what it is: fantasy entertainment.
 

Babylonians Used Geometry? So Where Do The Aliens Come In??

And once again we "Lost History" buffs sit back smugly.

Babylonians did this and not an alien in sight History Channel!
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/28/babylonians-used-geometry-to-track-jupiter-1400-years-before-europeans?CMP=fb_a-science_b-gdnscience

Babylonians used geometry to track Jupiter 1400 years before Europeans

Astronomers discovered how to calculate Jupiter’s position with geometry between 350 and 50 BC, predating work of European scholars by 14 centuries

A fragment of one of the Babylonian tablets studied and which contains geometrical calculations. Photograph: Mathieu Ossendrijver/British Museum

Haroon Siddique

Babylonian astronomers calculated the position of Jupiter using geometry 1,400 years before the technique was previously believed to have been developed, according to an expert.

The finding, published in the journal Science, is based on analysis of ancient Babylonian tablets, believed to have been written between 350 and 50 BC.

They depict two intervals from when Jupiter first appears along the horizon, calculating the planet’s position at 60 and 120 days.

Previously, it was thought that Babylonian astronomers operated exclusively with arithmetical concepts, but the texts contain geometrical calculations based on a trapezoid’s area and its “long” and “short” sides, writes Mathieu Ossendrijver.

Ossendrijver, professor of history of ancient science at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, says the ancient astronomers also computed the time when Jupiter covers half of the 60-day distance by partitioning the trapezoid into two smaller ones of equal area.

European scholars in Oxford and Paris were previously credited with developing such calculation in the 14th century, but Ossendrijver suggests they were far behind their ancient Babylonian counterparts.
“These computations predate the use of similar techniques by medieval European scholars by at least 14 centuries,” he writes.

Weird 'fish with legs'

 

If you read my books you would know why a "fish with legs" stirs up memories of Canvey Island, UK, Kilwa, Tanzania and other reports of Dead Aquatic 'Humanoid' Creatures!

Weird 'fish with legs' found by New Zealand snorkelers puzzles scientists

By Carol Christian

 http://www.chron.com/news/strange-weird/article/Weird-fish-with-legs-found-by-New-Zealand-6769410.php


An odd specimen found recently by snorkelers in New Zealand is being studied by experts to determine what it is.

The black creature, about 10 inches long, looks something like a fish with legs but also bears some resemblance to either a bird or a bat.

It was found by family members Claudia Howse, Glenys Howse and James Beuvink as they were snorkeling close to shore in New Zealand's Bay of Islands, according to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.


Glenys Howse took a photo of the fish and sent it to the museum to ask for identification, spokeswoman Rebecca Edwards said by email Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning in New Zealand).

"This weird creature is likely to be a species of Frogfish, but we won't know until we have a chance to examine it closely!" the museum said Friday on its Facebook page. "Frogfishes have the fastest bite of any vertebrate. Their mouths expand at the speed approaching a .22 rifle bullet - and that's in a medium 800 (times) denser than air."

Andrew Stewart, the museum's fish expert, said by email that he would be thawing the specimen later in the day and would have an identification after examining the head.

The fish was found in about two meters (about six feet) of water close to shore on the northeast coast of North Island in the Bay of Islands.

Unbeknownst to the snorkelers, it was included in some kelp that was collected and put into the live bait well at the back of the boat.

"It was very alive when found but, sadly, it died before it could be re-housed in the Aquarium at Auckland (Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World), so it will now 'live on' as a scientific specimen in the National Fishes Collection held here at the Museum of New Zealand," Stewart's email said.


I'm surprised that they need to puzzle over this as it clearly looks like a Black Frogfish. There are different species of frogfish but you can find out more about this type and why it might cause a bit of confusion here:http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/fish/antennariidae/black.htm

 Sisters Island, Aug 07