Two contemporary drawings of the Soay sea monster, the first
made by the witness Tex Geddes, the second by someone with a vivid imagination
Archelon ischyros in all its glory dwarfing the bloke next
to it
Saturday, June 29, 2013
DALE DRINNON: South American wildmen, Benny's Blogs and a visit to the world of Cedar and Willow
New at Frontiers of Zoology:
New at Cedar and Willow:
{Meant to go with Benny's Blogs]
New at Benny's Blogs:
FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES
In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out of place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.UAE releases 93 endangered falcons into the wild i...
THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN vs THE MINGO MICE
I need to apologise to Max. Every year when
he goes to the Glastonbury Festival he telephones me afterwards and tells me all
about it. Because last weekend was the Solstice Festival in Wales, I assumed it
was also Glastonbury. I have been sulking all week because I hadn't heard from
him.
Yesterday I looked for YouTube footage of
The Rolling Stones at Glastonbury, and not finding any I jumped to the
conclusion that the all powerful Rolling Stones organisation had quashed such
things, a bit like the Led Zeppelin organisation did after the 02 gig six years
ago. I had even got half way through an article about Corporate Big Brother in
the music business. I was waxing lyrical on my themes.
Then, last night my dear nieflings Dave B-P
and Jess H came round. In passing Dave said that he was planning to spend this
evening (Saturday) watching The Rolling Stones and Primal Scream on the BBC
coverage of Glastonbury Festival. I had got may dates wrong and my proverbial
knickers in a twist over nothing. Glastonbury Festival is, of course, this
weekend, and I am an idiot. But then again, everyone else knows both of those
things anyway. I am now gonna sit and lick my wounds and listen to Marianne
Faithfull.
What's new on the Gonzo Daily?
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com
The Gonzo Track of the Day is from UFO
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/gonzo-track-of-day-ufo-this-kids-with.html
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/gonzo-track-of-day-ufo-this-kids-with.html
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World
Poet.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_29.html
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_29.html
Exclusive music from Corky Laing
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/corky-laing-college-girls.html
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/corky-laing-college-girls.html
Double Dutch: Review of the Dutch
Woodstock.....from Holland
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_29.html
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_29.html
Liam Davison review
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/liam-davison-treasure-of-well-set-jewels.html
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/liam-davison-treasure-of-well-set-jewels.html
* The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If
you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk.
If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello
please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk.
Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as
possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is
viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun,
spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining.
See you tomorrow...
* The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
* The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
* We should probably mention here, that
some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we
think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in
other people's websites. Honest guv!
* Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?
* Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?
ANDREW MAY: Return of the cryptoturd
Hi Jon,
The
two-days-per-week job I'm doing at the moment means I can go for a lunchtime
walk round the Winfrith nature reserve, where I saw the mysterious
"cryptozoological turd" a few years ago (Animals & Men issue 47 page 72). I
saw something similar yesterday, in almost the identical location (photo
attached). It was similar in size and had the same regular striations, but this
one appeared to be fresher (less dried out). I would say that it's fairly
clearly a fox dropping, particularly with the distinctive pinched end. What do
you think? The scat was surrounded by downy feathers (a few of which are visible
in the photo), which again is suggestive of a fox. So if this one is a fox, then
the previous one probably was too.
Another
question -- is there a way of distinguishing at a glance between a newt and a
baby lizard? Both species are supposed to be common in that area, but usually
when you see them it's only for a fraction of a second as they scuttle under
cover. Is there anything about time of year, location, colouring, way of moving
etc that would allow you to tell from a momentary glimpse whether it's a newt or
a small lizard?
Andrew
KARL SHUKER - MY TOP TEN NEW AND REDISCOVERED ANIMALS OF MODERN TIMES
Karl Shuker reveals his ten favourite zoological arrivals and revivals from the modern age.
Read on...
GLEN VAUDREY'S WHOLE WIDE WORLD #30. Scotland
30. However, we are going to stay on land for this mystery animal; we are going to look at one of those out of place big cats. While there have been plenty of sightings made over the years on the Scottish mainland it is perhaps even more surprising to learn that they have also taken place on some of
Of course the sightings on Mull and Colonsay are just a couple of the reports of strange creatures recorded in The Mystery Animals of the
Starting soon you will be able to tune in and hear about the mystery animals of
Next stop is a trip south of the border to
Conserving globally threatened bugs on the UK Overseas Territory of St Helena.
The Spiky yellow woodlouse (Pseudolaureola atlantica) occurs nowhere else. Recent surveys indicate that there are less than 50 individuals left at a single cloud forest location. © Ed Thorpe
June 2013. Wildlife charity, Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust, has launched a 3-year ‘Bugs on the Brink' project, on the UK Overseas Territory of St Helena. Many of St Helena's unique invertebrates are on the brink of extinction, with some of its most iconic species, such as the Giant earwig, feared lost within living memory. Funded by the Darwin Initiative, the project will help to conserve St Helena's globally threatened invertebrates. This is the first time that anyone has set out to create a long-term plan for conserving St Helena's invertebrates.
400 endemic invertebrates
St Helena is one of the UK's ‘Overseas Territories', lying in the South Atlantic Ocean, mid-way between Africa and South America. It is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world and, for now, can only be reached by boat. The island's flora and fauna evolved in extreme isolation, resulting in more than 400 invertebrate species found nowhere else on Earth. For this reason, St Helena has been called the ‘Galapagos of the South Atlantic'.
Extinctions
Unfortunately, following its discovery by sailors in 1502, St Helena suffered immense environmental destruction, caused by introduced livestock and forest clearance. Today, much of the island's unique wildlife is threatened with extinction. Iconic invertebrates such as the Giant earwig (Labidura herculeana), Giant ground beetle (Aplothorax burchelli) and St Helena darter (a dragonfly - Sympetrum dilatatum) are believed lost within living memory. The remnants of the native flora and fauna are struggling to survive in habitat fragments, which occupy a tiny fraction of their original area. They also face a wide range of pressures from non-native plants and animals.
Read on...
WALLY THE COMEDY RHINOCEROS: Yesterday's News Today
Oll is away, so for todayYesterday's News Today is done by Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros. He is a stand up comedian of some renown. Here is one of his rhino-related jokes.Knock Knock
Who's there
Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros
Ha Ha that was funny. Sidesplitting. Yes. Ha! Now for the news...
And now for a happy tune that you can whistle while you work: