ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Crypto Squad USA:

• When Bigfoot Winks Out — Micah Hanks on Bigfoot 'High Strangeness'...

From Nick Redfern's "There's Something in the Woods...":

• The Disappearing Bigfoot — Micah Hanks again...

From CFZ Australia:

• Golden Possum no illusion — A cute little baby brushtail possum...

JON'S JOURNAL: Sunday Part 2 - IT'S EGRET SPOTTING TIME

When I was a boy in Hong Kong, just starting out on my lifetime's path as a naturalist, my favourite birds were the little egrets, which then were extinct back in my homeland. As a boy I could quote you chapter and verse how Victorial ladies wore the plumes of these dainty herons in their hats, and that the pressure of hunting had driven these lovely creatures to extinction in Britain.

Nowadays, however, girls no longer trim their headwear with egret feathers, and they are slowly making a comeback. They started breeding here in 1996, and are spreading rapidly. So rapidly, in fact, that for the first time since I was a boy, I got really close to one. We were just leaving Northam Burrows when Corinna slammed her foot on the brakes, and we shuddered to a halt. "Look" she whispered urgently. Unfortunately it took off before I managed to photograph it on the ground.

Huzzah!

JON'S JOURNAL: Strange and spooky sunday (Part One)

For reasons best known to themselves, possibly not unrelated to the fact that I am as mad as a bagful of cheese, the powers that be have changed my medication. As of this morning I am on an anti-depressant called Venlaflaxine which is making me feel woozy
and slightly nauseous.

Therefore the events of today have been seen through a chemical haze (not for the first time in my life, but for the first time in a long time). This is also the main reason why this blog post is in several parts. It is just too complicated to fight through the wooziness and write anything too complicated with too many pictures.

(Note to Liz - fix my spelling pleeeease)

Today's strangeness was compounded by the fact that most of North Devon was shrouded in a sea mist which gave the landscape a Lovecraftian hue. We met Matty and Emma at a Bird Sale in Northam at 1:00, made friends with a pair of rosellas which were ridiculously cheap and which I yearned to own, but as we have absolutely nowhere to keep them, I was brave enough to be sensible.

Then down to the Burrows, which were so misty it was difficult to see anything. Indeed we saw no birds of any interest apart from some scholarly looking rooks until the end of our time there (see part 2). The ponies were taking advantage of the mist and being even more obstructive than normal, wandering around the middle of the road and holding up the traffic, much to Prudence's chagrin. As I have said before, I believe that she gets all ancestral when she sees any ruminants, and remembers the days when her ancestors were bred for bull-baiting. Not being very bright, she can't tell the difference between a bull and a horse, so she growls and barks anyway.