http://www.birdchick.com/2009/03/david-sibley-birdchick-its-on.html
As regular readers will know, I am a fan of Sharon - the birdchick who writes the blog of the same name which is always several places above us on the Nature Blogs Netword. In fact I think that I can truthfully say that she and Darren (TetZoo) are my two favourite blogs on the network.
She has some interesting news about a documentary about the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, and links to some trailers for it. I seriously suggest that it is worth having a look...
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Sunday, March 01, 2009
THE TOP TENS FOR LAST MONTH
UK
1 Dr Shuker's Casebook by Dr Karl Shuker (5)
2 Extraordinary Animals Revisited by Dr Karl Shuker (1)
3 The Owlman and Others by Jonathan Downes (10)
4 Man Monkey - In Search of the British Bigfoot by Nick Redfern (-)
5 In the wake of Bernard Heuvelmans by Michael Woodley (3)
6 Dragons:More than a Myth by Richard Freeman (9)
7 Big Bird by Ken Gerhard (4)
8 Dark Dorset - Calendar Customs by Robert Newland (-)
9 Big Cats Loose in Britain by Marcus Matthews (-)
10 Centre for Fortean Zoology Yearbook 2009 (-)
1 Dr Shuker's Casebook by Dr Karl Shuker (5)
2 Extraordinary Animals Revisited by Dr Karl Shuker (1)
3 The Owlman and Others by Jonathan Downes (10)
4 Man Monkey - In Search of the British Bigfoot by Nick Redfern (-)
5 In the wake of Bernard Heuvelmans by Michael Woodley (3)
6 Dragons:More than a Myth by Richard Freeman (9)
7 Big Bird by Ken Gerhard (4)
8 Dark Dorset - Calendar Customs by Robert Newland (-)
9 Big Cats Loose in Britain by Marcus Matthews (-)
10 Centre for Fortean Zoology Yearbook 2009 (-)
Last month's positions in purple
USA
1 Extraordinary Animals Revisited by Dr Karl Shuker (3)
2 Big Bird by Ken Gerhard (7)
3 Dr Shuker's Casebook by Dr Karl Shuker (5)
4 Monster - the A-Z of Zooform Phenomena by Neil Arnold (4)
5 CFZ Expedition Report: Russia 2008 (5)
6 The Island of Paradise by Jonathan Downes (-)
7 Man Monkey - In Search of the British Bigfoot by Nick Redfern (6)
8 Animals & Men Issues 11-15 (The Call of the Wild) (-)
9 The Smaller Mystery Carnivores of the Westcountry by Jonathan Downes (-)
10 Animals & Men - Issues 1 - 5 (In The Beginning) (-)
BTW Tony Lucas has won last month's stupid competition for claiming that Karl was the Abba of Cryptozoology and I was the Kiss. He has won a free year's membership of the CFZ. He would, however have won two years if he had said that I was the Joe Strummer or Keith Richards. A warning guys: When Max does his book he will insist on being the Emerson Lake and Palmer. Sad but true...
OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's news today
Gavin must have worked himself into the ground today, because Sunday was a bumper day for news updates on our daily news blog so without further preamble here’s the news:
What's lurking at the bottom of your garden?
New UFO and big cat sightings
'Ugly' Cat Is Big Star At NH Vet Clinic
Roving Octopus Wreaks Havoc On Office
Expedition to track down Snowman planned in Kemerovo Region
Paws for thought on mystery tracks in the snow
Frank's on cat watch
'I saw creature too'
Big cat sightings increase
Frank stalking big cat of five valleys
Is sheep attack proof of big cat?
Bear still seems headed east; Bicyclist glimpses beast along Trace
Yellowstone wolf drifts into Colorado
Big croc seen near city
Croc spotted again
Report cougar sightings near school cancels recess
Coyote sighted at C.F. school; students kept inside
Motorist reports seeing tiger near roadway
Wolf sighting raises questions about Oregon return of animal killed off in 1940s
Air-filled bones helped prehistoric reptiles take first flight
Prints show modern foot in prehumans
Giant seabird's fossilized skull found in Peru
A rare success story; Into the wild
Dinos died of cold
Footprint that is 1.5 million years old
paleontologist is attempting to hatch a live dinosaur from a chicken embryo
Killer tigers on prowl `to save their space'
Ancient fish had sex 380 million years ago
Maker of 1.5 million-year-old African footprints had a modern gait
Lonely lady wolf looks for love in all the wrong places
Colorado Backyard Yields Cache of Stone Age Tools
Urban Fox Count: The Daily Telegraph launches study to count urban foxes
and
Homo erectus walked here
Normally at this point I’d make a few bad puns based upon the last news story in the list but I honestly can’t possibly think of a single joke that could be made about it…
What's lurking at the bottom of your garden?
New UFO and big cat sightings
'Ugly' Cat Is Big Star At NH Vet Clinic
Roving Octopus Wreaks Havoc On Office
Expedition to track down Snowman planned in Kemerovo Region
Paws for thought on mystery tracks in the snow
Frank's on cat watch
'I saw creature too'
Big cat sightings increase
Frank stalking big cat of five valleys
Is sheep attack proof of big cat?
Bear still seems headed east; Bicyclist glimpses beast along Trace
Yellowstone wolf drifts into Colorado
Big croc seen near city
Croc spotted again
Report cougar sightings near school cancels recess
Coyote sighted at C.F. school; students kept inside
Motorist reports seeing tiger near roadway
Wolf sighting raises questions about Oregon return of animal killed off in 1940s
Air-filled bones helped prehistoric reptiles take first flight
Prints show modern foot in prehumans
Giant seabird's fossilized skull found in Peru
A rare success story; Into the wild
Dinos died of cold
Footprint that is 1.5 million years old
paleontologist is attempting to hatch a live dinosaur from a chicken embryo
Killer tigers on prowl `to save their space'
Ancient fish had sex 380 million years ago
Maker of 1.5 million-year-old African footprints had a modern gait
Lonely lady wolf looks for love in all the wrong places
Colorado Backyard Yields Cache of Stone Age Tools
Urban Fox Count: The Daily Telegraph launches study to count urban foxes
and
Homo erectus walked here
Normally at this point I’d make a few bad puns based upon the last news story in the list but I honestly can’t possibly think of a single joke that could be made about it…
GUEST BLOGGER COLIN HIGGINS: Sturgeon Stories
One of my favourite guest blogs over the last few weeks has been Colin Higgins from Yorkshire, who - incidentally - was the winner of the compy in last month's `On the Track`.There was a good deal of tabloid fuss last year when Anwar Rashid, a multi-millionaire businessman with a 26 property portfolio handed back the keys to his luxury home Clifton Hall, claiming it was horribly haunted.
Unsurprisingly the internet was full of froth and conjecture ranging from claimed eyewitness accounts of paranormal activity at the house on the banks of the River Trent near Nottingham, to the inevitable opinion that Mr Rashid had bitten off more than he could chew in the credit crunch and wanted rid of the financial albatross.
There seems little evidence the Anwar business, which the red tops might call ‘a nursing home empire’ was in difficulty and one can only imagine a man used to extensive old houses might be familiar the normal run of bumps, creaks and apparently unmotivated groans such properties make.
What wasn’t mentioned in any of the reports I came across was that the Clifton family whose estate the house belonged to were linked to a curious omen.
A number of aristocratic lineages are host to portents of one animal kind or another; the Gormanston foxes, the Oxenham white bird, the Fowlers’ owl but the Clifton’s harbinger of doom was a sturgeon that travelled upriver past the house. As the Clifton family vacated the premises in the 1950s and the house has since been a school and a university annexe it’s hard not to link their decline with that of sturgeon in British rivers.
Two hundred years ago the fish was known in domestic fresh water and rare examples were recorded into the 20th century, indeed the biggest rod caught UK species is (depending on who you read and how big) a sturgeon of some hundreds of pounds - although I reserve doubts about the ability of even modern tackle to land such a beast, netted river giants are well attested. For more detail read: HERE
Occasional specimens turn up in British off-shore waters and a few have been placed in lakes for angling purposes (an aberration to match still water barbel and chub IMO) but it seems for the moment at least, the migrant sturgeon is absent from UK rivers.
Unsurprisingly the internet was full of froth and conjecture ranging from claimed eyewitness accounts of paranormal activity at the house on the banks of the River Trent near Nottingham, to the inevitable opinion that Mr Rashid had bitten off more than he could chew in the credit crunch and wanted rid of the financial albatross.
There seems little evidence the Anwar business, which the red tops might call ‘a nursing home empire’ was in difficulty and one can only imagine a man used to extensive old houses might be familiar the normal run of bumps, creaks and apparently unmotivated groans such properties make.
What wasn’t mentioned in any of the reports I came across was that the Clifton family whose estate the house belonged to were linked to a curious omen.
A number of aristocratic lineages are host to portents of one animal kind or another; the Gormanston foxes, the Oxenham white bird, the Fowlers’ owl but the Clifton’s harbinger of doom was a sturgeon that travelled upriver past the house. As the Clifton family vacated the premises in the 1950s and the house has since been a school and a university annexe it’s hard not to link their decline with that of sturgeon in British rivers.
Two hundred years ago the fish was known in domestic fresh water and rare examples were recorded into the 20th century, indeed the biggest rod caught UK species is (depending on who you read and how big) a sturgeon of some hundreds of pounds - although I reserve doubts about the ability of even modern tackle to land such a beast, netted river giants are well attested. For more detail read: HERE
Occasional specimens turn up in British off-shore waters and a few have been placed in lakes for angling purposes (an aberration to match still water barbel and chub IMO) but it seems for the moment at least, the migrant sturgeon is absent from UK rivers.
Perhaps a glimpse of a bone-headed fish the size of a midget submarine passing the bottom of the garden - having negotiated various locks and weirs - would itself bring on a seizure. Whether the portent is transferable to a new owner Mr Anwar is now unlikely to find out.
SOMETHING ODD FROM OUR ARCHIVES: THE VENGEANCE OF THE EARTH-GNOMES
Writing in “Devon Traditions and Fairy Tales”, the renowned Devonshire Folklorist J.R.W Coxhead included this following tale, which has been presented in a number of nineteenth century accounts as being true:
“THE VENGEANCE OF THE EARTH-GNOMES
The water supply of the attractive seaside resort of Torquay in South Devon was assured for many years to come when the Fernworthy Reservoir, on Dartmoor, was completed and opened on 22nd June, 1942. The reservoir was formed by the construction of a dam across the upper part of the valley of the South Teign River. Work on the project was commenced on 14th August, 1936, and during the course of the work the ancient farm-stead of Fernworthy was demolished. The house was last occupied in 1928, and its former site, on the northwest bank of the reservoir, is commemorated by a very strange little fairy-legend.
Fernworthy was built in 1590, by the last male member of an ancient yeoman family, on the site of a much older house which had been the home of his franklin ancestors for many generations. The house was solidly built of granite blocks quarried from the moor, a stark and gloomy structure, well in keeping with its remote and desolate setting.
The granite used in the building was obtained from outcrops of rock, of a particularly durable quality, on a hillside at some distance from the farm, and unbeknown to the yeoman, these particular rocks were under the protection of certain mysterious members of the fairy race.
Deep within the heart of the hill there lived a number of earth-gnomes who strongly resented the presence of human beings on their domain. When the workmen employed by the farmer commenced to quarry stone for the new house, the gnomes were so enraged that they vowed vengeance upon the rash mortal who had dared to violate the fairy hill.
Soon after the completion of the new farmhouse an event occurred for which the yeoman and his wife had long been hoping in vain. This important happening was the birth of a son. The farmer's ardent desire to have an heir to inherit the home of his ancestors seemed, at long last, to have been fulfilled.
Unfortunately, for the yeoman and his wife, other creatures had also been eagerly awaiting the birth of the heir of Fernworthy. These vindictive little people, were the elusive earth-gnomes of the enchanted hill, who were now ready to have their revenge on the yeoman for taking stone from the rocks belonging to the fairy-folk.
One winter evening as twilight was falling, and the farmer had not yet returned from cutting turf on the moor, his wife was sitting by the great open fireplace in the farmhouse kitchen watching over the child in the cradle. She had left the door of the room slightly ajar in order to be able to hear her husband enter the yard on his return from work. The pleasant warmth of the turf-fire made her feel drowsy, and after a short while she dropped off to sleep.
The opportunity for which the ugly little gnomes had been patiently waiting had arrived, and they acted swiftly. The mother awoke from her brief slumber just in time to see the flutter of a grey cloak as something darted through the half-open doorway. A weird laugh of triumph sounded from outside, and when she looked in the cradle she found to her dismay and anguish that her beloved child had gone. The cruel vengeance of the heartless earth-gnomes was complete.
The people of the neighbourhood were firmly convinced that as the new house at Fernworthy had been built of stone taken from an enchanted hill the first human being to be born in the building had thus fallen into the power of the fairy-folk.
A brief version of the foregoing fairy-legend is given by John L. W. Page in his book “The Rivers of Devon," published in 1893.”
“THE VENGEANCE OF THE EARTH-GNOMES
The water supply of the attractive seaside resort of Torquay in South Devon was assured for many years to come when the Fernworthy Reservoir, on Dartmoor, was completed and opened on 22nd June, 1942. The reservoir was formed by the construction of a dam across the upper part of the valley of the South Teign River. Work on the project was commenced on 14th August, 1936, and during the course of the work the ancient farm-stead of Fernworthy was demolished. The house was last occupied in 1928, and its former site, on the northwest bank of the reservoir, is commemorated by a very strange little fairy-legend.
Fernworthy was built in 1590, by the last male member of an ancient yeoman family, on the site of a much older house which had been the home of his franklin ancestors for many generations. The house was solidly built of granite blocks quarried from the moor, a stark and gloomy structure, well in keeping with its remote and desolate setting.
The granite used in the building was obtained from outcrops of rock, of a particularly durable quality, on a hillside at some distance from the farm, and unbeknown to the yeoman, these particular rocks were under the protection of certain mysterious members of the fairy race.
Deep within the heart of the hill there lived a number of earth-gnomes who strongly resented the presence of human beings on their domain. When the workmen employed by the farmer commenced to quarry stone for the new house, the gnomes were so enraged that they vowed vengeance upon the rash mortal who had dared to violate the fairy hill.
Soon after the completion of the new farmhouse an event occurred for which the yeoman and his wife had long been hoping in vain. This important happening was the birth of a son. The farmer's ardent desire to have an heir to inherit the home of his ancestors seemed, at long last, to have been fulfilled.
Unfortunately, for the yeoman and his wife, other creatures had also been eagerly awaiting the birth of the heir of Fernworthy. These vindictive little people, were the elusive earth-gnomes of the enchanted hill, who were now ready to have their revenge on the yeoman for taking stone from the rocks belonging to the fairy-folk.
One winter evening as twilight was falling, and the farmer had not yet returned from cutting turf on the moor, his wife was sitting by the great open fireplace in the farmhouse kitchen watching over the child in the cradle. She had left the door of the room slightly ajar in order to be able to hear her husband enter the yard on his return from work. The pleasant warmth of the turf-fire made her feel drowsy, and after a short while she dropped off to sleep.
The opportunity for which the ugly little gnomes had been patiently waiting had arrived, and they acted swiftly. The mother awoke from her brief slumber just in time to see the flutter of a grey cloak as something darted through the half-open doorway. A weird laugh of triumph sounded from outside, and when she looked in the cradle she found to her dismay and anguish that her beloved child had gone. The cruel vengeance of the heartless earth-gnomes was complete.
The people of the neighbourhood were firmly convinced that as the new house at Fernworthy had been built of stone taken from an enchanted hill the first human being to be born in the building had thus fallen into the power of the fairy-folk.
A brief version of the foregoing fairy-legend is given by John L. W. Page in his book “The Rivers of Devon," published in 1893.”
REDFERN IS BACK AT CANNOCK CHASE - snake stories
A dense and eerily atmospheric forest situated deep within the heart of the historic and ancient English county of Staffordshire, the Cannock Chase is a high plateau bordered by the Trent Valley to the north and the West Midlands to the south.
And it’s also the very location where I spent much of my childhood and teenage years.
The huge and picturesque Cannock Chase has been an integral feature of the Staffordshire landscape for generations. Following an initial invasion of Britain in A.D. 43, Roman forces advanced to the south to what is now the town of Cannock, and along a route that became known as Watling Street: a major, and historic, Roman road.
The surrounding countryside was heavily wooded even back then, as can be amply demonstrated by the Romans’ colorful name for the area: Letocetum, or the Grey Woods.
And those Grey Woods are, today, home to some distinctly strange and diabolical beasts.
For example, just three years ago, the local Birmingham Post newspaper recorded that: “In March, 2006, ramblers reported seeing a ‘fourteen-foot snake moving through the bracken’ near to Birches Valley. They said the beast had a powerful head and ‘coloring that stood out sharply against the greens and blues of the bracken.’” Read on....
And it’s also the very location where I spent much of my childhood and teenage years.
The huge and picturesque Cannock Chase has been an integral feature of the Staffordshire landscape for generations. Following an initial invasion of Britain in A.D. 43, Roman forces advanced to the south to what is now the town of Cannock, and along a route that became known as Watling Street: a major, and historic, Roman road.
The surrounding countryside was heavily wooded even back then, as can be amply demonstrated by the Romans’ colorful name for the area: Letocetum, or the Grey Woods.
And those Grey Woods are, today, home to some distinctly strange and diabolical beasts.
For example, just three years ago, the local Birmingham Post newspaper recorded that: “In March, 2006, ramblers reported seeing a ‘fourteen-foot snake moving through the bracken’ near to Birches Valley. They said the beast had a powerful head and ‘coloring that stood out sharply against the greens and blues of the bracken.’” Read on....
Does anyone know what this is?
This is not a competition, whereby we sit back smugly and already know the answer. This has got us beat too. The image was posted on Usenet this morning with the only comment being that it was found behind a bathroom mirror in a North Somerset house.It is presumably dead. But what the heck is it???
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