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.

Carnival Time (3): The Festival of the Trees (FOTT)

Caught on Camera!
(through the car window)

The Festival of the Trees is up and running. Do follow the link here for an amazing rollercoaster of an arboreal adventure! My contribution to the festival concerns the New Forest in Hampshire.

Beautiful Birds (19): RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch ii

Welcome to my post for the carnival, 'I and the Bird'
hosted by Duncan at 'Ben Cruachan'

This is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch Weekend.

Dawn broke over Swansea Bay.
It was a cold, snowy morning.

The first birds arrived.

We noticed a flock of Starlings,

then a Blackbird...


... and a Robin.
(Notice those small bud signs of Spring!).

Other birds began to perch on the roof and the larch,
forming flocks of mixed species.

We sat at our window for the specified hour,
with the RSPB bird form to hand,
a pair of binoculars each
and mugs of hot coffee.

We recorded the highest number of a single species seen at a time.
Birds were only recorded if they landed.
Birds who passed over our garden in flight were excluded from the survey.
Each species could only appear once in the list.

We were quite surprised at the range of birds.
These were are results:

1. 26 Starlings
2. 4 Chaffinches
3. 4 House Sparrows
   
4. 3 Blackbirds
5. 2 Bluetits
6. 2 Magpies
7. 1 Blackheaded Gull
8. 1 Dunnock
9. 1 Feral Pigeon
   
10. 1 Goldfinch
    
11. 1 Great Tit
    
12. 1 Herring Gull
13. 1 Robin
14. 1 unidentified bird, slight, a long tail, cream-pink chest, slender bill. This bird perched in a tree.
    

The RSPB will collate the statistics that have been submitted, and will publish the final results of the Big Garden Birdwatch survey 2010 in March. The survey will include the sightings of half a million people in the UK, representing 28,000 gardens surveyed. The results will give a 'snapshot' picture of bird numbers in each region, alerting the RSPB to species with declining numbers. I was surprised to find that Starlings, the most numerous birds on our form, are listed as 'Red Status' on the conservation list. The mixed flock syndrome we witnessed may have been largely due to the cold weather.

I wonder if you took part? Do leave a link or a comment if you have posted your results.

See also:

• Paul at Little Brown Job - don't miss the Meerkat!
• The Guardian
• The Interrupted Gardener
• Midmarsh Jottings

P.S. Tuesday 2 February is World Wetlands Day!

Beautiful Birds (18): RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch - and Blog Carnivals

A little reminder about the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend - on 30 and 31 January 2010. Do consider taking part. You can find the details here. There may even be an organised activity in your neck of the woods.

On the subject of birds and their habitats, there is probably still time for you to take part in two of the forthcoming international nature-orientated Blog Carnivals, 'I and the Bird' (IATB site here, deadline 4 February) and the 'Festival of the Trees' (deadline for blog-post submissions: 30 January).

Don't miss the present IATB carnival, hosted on and around a lake created by Seabrooke Leckie ('The Marvelous in Nature' blog) in rural eastern Ontario. This is well worth a visit for the ingenious artwork in addition to the wonderful linked blogs.

You can read my FOTT post here on my Land&Lit blog for a blend of wildlife and history. If you see trees with an artist's eye, you might well enjoy a virtual wander through the new Cornish exhibition, Of Woods and Trees, at Beside the Wave Gallery in Falmouth, UK.

Don't forget: Tuesday 2 February is World Wetlands Day! It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the city of Ramsar in Iran, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, participants have tried to find ways of raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits.

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.

Poetic People (30): Sir Andrew Motion's Line, Part ii

'Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.'
Anton Chekhov

My thanks, thus far, to Mand (of the Travel Hopefully blog) and to Aidan Baker (Librarian at the Haddon Library, Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge) and for their comments on my previous post (here) on the subject of Sir Andrew Motion's views on the teaching of Creative Writing in universities.

Thank you, too, to those who have voted in my poll.

Aidan Baker refers us on to another article, this time by Louis Menand in the New Yorker (June 2009). The link to this article is here.

If you have not voted in my poll yet (top right of my blog), you might like to read Menand's piece first - but please remember to vote!

• The University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop

Postscript: On the subject of 'new writing' (well, what was once a new way of presenting writing, in this case), do read the marvellous quotation in paragraph 3 (beginning 'an essentially superficial process...') in Professor Henry Farrell's review in the current edition of the THES of A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution by Dennis Baron (OUP, £13.99, ISBN 9780195388442). Henry Farrell is associate professor of political science and international affairs, George Washington University.

Poetic People (29): Sir Andrew Motion's Line, Part i

'Clash over degree courses that try to teach budding authors the write stuff'.

This was the heading in The Times (16 January) linked to a column by the education correspondent, Nicola Woolcock, in the run-up to the announcement of the TS Eliot Prize. The link is here, although the online version has a less controversial heading!

• 12 out of the 17 on the shortlist of those with the Masters Degree in Creative Writing were women.
  
• 7 (of these?) attended UEA.
• 5 of the 17 (men and women) have been contenders in the Costa First Novel Award since 2005.

Sir Andrew Motion made the valid point that nobody makes a fuss when musicians and actors receive training. He does not agree with those who feel that (creative) writing is not a suitable subject for universities to teach.

'The idea has taken root that writing can be taught as well or badly as acting, painting and dancing,' he concluded.

Do you agree? PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE IN MY POLL (top right). It will run for a week.