Creature Feature ~ Rhino Poem in Reach Poetry

There has been much in the news recently about the plight of the Rhino. Even dead rhinos have not been exempt from the poaching of their horns, a sad fact that is particularly pertinent here in Suffolk. The new issue of Reach Poetry (#182) is just out from Indigo Dreams Publishing Ltd, and contains my rhino poem, 'Letter from the Bush'.

Rhinos on the Web ...

• Fight for Rhinos
• Small Steps Rhino Poems by Children
• Elvis the Orphan Rhino with Sir David Attenborough

Stop Press ... just today Juliet Wilson (aka Crafty Green Poet) has posted a book review on Rhinoceros Summer by Jamie Thornton. 

Something New (1): Green Leaf Worm

Caswell Bay,
Gower, Swansea, South Wales, UK

I keep trying to hone my skills of observation, and am always on the look-out for something new. I owe so much to those of you fellow-bloggers who consistently draw my attention to unusual aspects of the natural world. Thank you.

It has been an amazingly sunny weekend here in South Wales, with hardly a cloud in the sky. We spent quite a bit of time on the coast. I was delighted to see a Common Starfish at Caswell Bay on Gower. I must have occasionally seen these fine creatures before, but I can't think when that would have been. It was a great thrill to see the Starfish clinging to the side of a rock pool. The translucent tangerine colour was amazing. I was so frustrated that I did not have my camera with me at the time - my own fault entirely, of course.

We also saw quantities of extraordinary green worms on the rock faces around the edge of the beach. Neither of us is aware of ever having seen these creatures before. What did we do in the days before Google? As a youngster, I turned, of course, to the weighty volumes of the Children's Encyclopedia Britannica. Anyway, a quick Google search led me to Jessica's Nature Blog, and enabled me to discover that these worms are Green Leaf Worms Eulalia viridis (Linnaeus). Do follow the link to read about them and to see what they look like! Jessica Winder's photograph also solves another mystery: it has helped me to identify an unattractive orange substance - like a slime or fungus - that we noticed in rocky crevices. Apparently it was 'encrusting sponge' (you can see some amazing examples here by clicking and scrolling down). Thank you, Jessica.

We also noticed some small fairly uniform spherical creatures along the tideline. They were like transparent globules, about 1cm across. I wondered if they were perhaps eggs of some kind, or Sea Squirts or baby Jellyfish. It seems likely that they were either Sea Gooseberries aka Comb Jellies (Ctenophores), exactly like the one in the photo here, or Salps. Salps are Tunicates, which have sac-like bodies enclosed in a membrane-tunic, with two openings or siphons for absorbing and dispelling water.

'Curiouser and Curiouser'...

• Jessica's Nature Blog
  

Creature Feature (15): Election Fever - Bill Oddie's Top 10

FORGET 'ANIMAL FARM': THESE ARE THE CUTE ONES!

I have taken a break from the Election in order to watch Bill Oddie's Top 10 'frights' and 'delights' in the world of wildlife. You can read about the programme here.

My favourite creature list would probably include the following (in no particular order):

• Cat
• Puffin
• Raccoon
  
• Pig
• Seal
• Dolphin
• Eagle
• Owl
• Kingfisher
• Pipistrelle

My least favourite creatures might include the following (in no particular order):

• Flea
• Wasp
  
• Tick
• Leech
  
• Maggot
  
• Scorpion
• Cockroach
• Louse
• Vulture
• Weaver Fish

I wonder if you have a Top 10...

Creature Feature (13): Homer the Turtle flies into the UK

Cadgwith, Cornwall
where I once saw a large Leatherback Turtle on the beach.

You can read about Homer, the blind Loggerhead Turtle here, and about plans for rehabilitation his new home in Newquay, Cornwall.

Do look at the similar turtle features on Professor P. Brain's ecology blog, here, here and here.

Poetic People (31): Sir Andrew Motion's Line, Part iii

'Can Creative Writing be taught as a university subject?'

Well, the voters have not exactly turned out in force - but my thanks to those of you who added your pennyworth to my Creative Writing poll.

The final results were as follows:

Votes cast: 9

Breakdown:

	1 Yes, of course.
	0 No, never.
	7 The craft of writing can be taught (but not the art).
	1 I'll sit on the fence!

Our Creative Writing jury for the blogosphere is still out!

It would be misleading to draw conclusions from so small a field of voters, but this poll does at least prove that bloggers are not entirely of one mind. This itself is probably a healthy thing. As bloggers, do we value debate? Perhaps we generally blog to let off steam or for promotion purposes; and perhaps we turn to the blogs of others as a means of relaxation or community activity - or, in some instances, as a kind of education. You may disagree. Perhaps you disagree strongly!

You may be interested to read about Malcolm Bradbury, the founder - with Angus Wilson - of UK university courses in Creative Writing. You may also like to look at the following links:

• The history of the pioneer UEA Creative Writing course
• Malcolm Bradbury on the Absolute Astronomy site
• Sir Malcolm Bradbury: Guardian obituary, 28 Nov 2000
• Sir Angus Wilson
• Creative Writing at Warwick - and Professor David Morley's blog
  

Creative Writing courses abound, and I (for one) choose to side with Sir Andrew Motion. I have not taken a Masters in Creative Writing (to date...), but I have thoroughly enjoyed, and benefited from, the short courses I have undertaken over a number of years. Two of these have been online, two in the community (e.g. run by the WEA), and others have taken place in university settings. A big thank you to my tutors!

Long live good courses that offer an entry into the writing world by helping with matters of craft and technique - and by encouraging students to develop ideas in the context of their chosen areas of creativity. If the students are afforded the privilege of networking opportunities along the way, well, that - for them at least - is surely a bonus.

Creature Feature (12): A Pond Seal? [Gulliver's Travels]

Seal pup in its natural environment on a Scottish skerry
Summer 2009

No sooner had I blogged about the seal in one of our local rivers here in South Wales (here) than David told me he had heard an even more extraordinary story about a seal pup who appeared in a pond in Benenden, Kent, some 18 miles inland from Rye, in the south of England.

• Rudolph aka Gulliver, the Christmas seal pup... on the BBC website
• Photos of Gulliver The Sun
  

Creature Feature (10): Mercedes the Polar Bear moves North

Ruins of Ruthven Barracks near Kingussie
(sorry - no Polar Bear pics!)

Mercedes, the only UK's Polar Bear, has just moved from Edinburgh Zoo to a The Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie (home of some of my ancestors!) in Scotland. You can read about Mercedes here. Soldiers from 75 Engineer Regiment and the Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers volunteered to build the enclosure with its viewing platform, road and its car park, reducing the cost from an estimated £300,000 to £75,000.

• Highland Wildlife Park site
• Mercedes in The Times
• Mercedes, her former life (2005) ... in The Times
• Edinburgh Zoo: Mercedes and the Centenary Appeal
• A polar cub hitches a ride...

Postscript: you might like to read Gillian Clarke's poignant 'breath and growl' poem, 'Polar', on p.10 of Roundyhouse 28.

Creature Feature (10): Seal Saturday, 10 October 2009

Intimate moment: we watched his mother seal with her pup
on the Pembrokeshire coast.
I hope the pup is just shedding his thick white baby fur. He did not appear to be injured.

The seal pup feeding...

The mother goes off for a swim, leaving the pup in a sheltered spot.
She turns round to check that all is well.

The mother patrols the mouth of her cove,
ensuring that no predators come near her young.

Another furry seal pup a bit further round the coast.

You can watch our Seal Saturday video clip here...
... or here:

We went on to St David's Cathedral,
and had tea in the cloister in warm sunshine.
I can recommend the walnut cake, if you are in the area!

Creature Feature (10): Computer Cats

I mentioned some days ago that we failed to find a copy of the Radio Times, so bought a copy of the Telegraph in order to have a copy of the week's television listings. The paper had a column on cats and computers. It reminded us of the time when our cat jumped on the keyboard and completely re-set the alphabet...

I was amused therefore to find the article mentioning cat software, Pawsense, which you can read about here. We have a volume called 'Why cats paint' - but is this all going just a bit far?

Perhaps our feline friends are winding us round their tails!

Creature Feature (9): Dragonfly at WWT, Llanelli

I spotted this dragonfly at the WWT Llanelli a few days ago.
If anyone can identify it for me from this photo, I would be very grateful!

Creature Feature (6): Seals around Cardigan Island

Holy Cross Church, Mwnt, Cardiganshire, Wales
(The white belfry of the church can be seen in the top photo,
taken from the Cardigan Island area)

Cardigan Island is off to the left.

The video clip was taken by David this afternoon and shows the seals enjoying life around Cardigan Island. You might also like to take a look at the seal photo on the Guardian feature on British walks.

Creature Feature (7): Seals near Cardigan Island

This photo of Cardigan Island (the island at the back of the bottom photo) was taken from Mwnt this afternoon. All the seal photographs were taken from the cliffs around the Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park.

Creature Feature (8): Mwnt, Cardigan Bay

Burnet Moth Caterpillar on the cliff at Mwnt

Holy Cross Church, Mwnt

Our first view of the Bottlenose Dolphins from the headland
(while we ate our picnic)

Dolphins again in Cardgian Bay

Painted Lady butterfly, who had flown in from Morocco!

Creature Feature (5): Rare bumblebees to be flown home

I have just read on Facebook (I think it was on the RSPB page) that a rare species, the Short-haired Bumblebee is about to be flown back to Britain. It travelled to New Zealand by ship for the purpose of pollinating clover crops in the latter part of the 19th century and has not graced our shores since 1988. The bees will be hibernating in cool boxes during the long flight, so they should not be aware of significant disturbance.

• About the bee on the Natural England site.
  

Creature Feature (3): Barry, the giant worm ...

... and you can read about his devastating antics here.

Creature Feature (2): Enormous Eyes

Above: shells, skates' eggs and cuttlefish (composite picture courtesy of Photoshop!)
Below: Llansteffan Castle, through the mist

I was on the beach at Llansteffan last Saturday, doing a spot of 'beach-combing'. I did not collect any of the items I came across, but it was good to look along the tidelines and to see what I could see. I was amazed at the colours - blue, black, pink, white, silver, orange and grey - of the shells. I also found a few clusters of skates' eggs and a couple of pieces of cuttlefish in among the pieces of seaweed, fishing net and driftwood. Cuttlefish are cephalopods, and as such, close relatives of the squid. A giant squid was found recently: its record-breaking eyes were almost as long as a 30cm ruler! My favourite cephalopod poem is The Paper Nautilus by Marianne Moore. You can read a commentary (or several) here. I love the imagery of the Pentelic marble sculptures of the white horses on the Parthenon.

Creature Feature (1): Deer in the City

I was sorry to miss a programme shown yesterday on BBC2 about a pair of roe deer who have made their home in a city cemetery in Scotland. I blogged about unicorns a few days ago, and it seems that we now have a unicorn-deer in Italy. Just over a year ago Russian deer herders (click pic.2) were casting votes in a snowbound camp.

• BBC Autumnwatch: meet the deer (& other animals)
• Professor P. Brain on Scotland and red squirrels
• Sociable Scandinavian robins in North Wales