CFZ NEWSLETTER #5

The long awaited weekly newsletter from the Centre for Fortean Zoology View this email in your browser

#5 - April 28th 2014

Since 1999 we have been collecting addresses for our mailing list, and occasionally sending out newsletters. We always meant to do them regularly, but life - as it has a habit of doing - got in the way. Now, finally we are doing what we should have done a long time ago. You are receiving this because at one point or other you opted in to our NotifyList account. If you do not wish to receive them for any reason you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this page... Welcome to issue #5.  I am not exactly sure what I can write in this little text box today; filing, answering the telephone, spreadsheets and such like are not really interesting to anyone - including me!  But as you can see below, things are moving apace in various other areas of the CFZ.  And On the Track got finished eventually, although at one point I thought I was going to get completely suffocated by two eager extras (Pru and Archie) whilst trying to deliver the monthly news on vagrants (vagrant birds that is).

The CFZ Newsletter is edited by Corinna Downes, administratrix supreme, and the wife of the ringmaster of the CFZ Circus. NEWT CONUNDRUM In all the years I have lived in North Devon I have only come across one species of newt – the palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus).  However, according to the species distribution maps, Woolsery should be within the range for the smooth newt (L.vulgaris).  A couple of years ago, however, Jess the elder found a small, and very dead newt in the road outside our house.  It appeared to be a smooth newt. This weekend, the ever resourceful Charlotte, whilst moving stones around our waterfall, found this newt.  I can’t tell whether it is a female helveticus or a vulgaris of indeterminate gender (probably female).  Is there anyone out there who can help me? (I’m thinking Lars, or possible Darren) And while you’re at it, the lovely Andrea has just come up with a very good question: What does palmate mean?   BIGFOOT BLURB Both an advantage and a disadvantage of the internet, as far as being a journalist who chronicles events in the world of cryptozoology, is the sheer volume of information available.  And when a particular subject grabs the attention of newspaper editors across the world, and the great unwashed who read them, this can get almost overwhelming.  This is what has happened in the world of Bigfoot in the last six months. Bigfoot is now a major media property. It is the subject of several fatuous reality television programmes and – as such – has spawned a ridiculous amount of newspaper coverage. This is why, a few weeks ago, instead of posting Bigfoot stories as ‘CRYPTOLINKS’ we have been posting daily ‘BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF’ daily digests, and dealing with the build up of Bigfoot news that way. However, something which has become particularly noticeable in the last couple of weeks is that since the egregious Rick Dyer finally came out and admitted that his Bigfoot corpse is a hoax (something that no one with more than a few brain cells to rub together had actually doubted for a minute). However, the number of daily news stories from newspapers from around the world has visibly dropped off.  I have a sneaking suspicion that this tells us more about the brain cell quotient of those whom society has deemed responsible for making and changing the opinions of the people. Scary huh? Tickets for this year's Weird Weekend are now on sale. So far confirmed for this year's event are: Nigel Mortimer: Opening Portals Ronan Coghlan: Bogus Bibles Lee Walker: Urban Legends of Liverpool Lars Thomas: Tales from the CFZ Laboratory Jon and Richard: Introduction to Cryptozoology Nick Wadham: Alien Abductions Tony Whitehead (RSPB): O.O.P birds Carl Marshall: Out of Place animals at Stratford Butterfly Park Judge Smith: Survival after death John Higgs: Chaos, Magick, and the band who burned a million quid Richard Freeman: Tasmania 2013 Expedition Report Matt Salusbury: Baron Walter Rothschild's Deinotherium caper C.J. Stone: a MODERN King Arthur Results of nature walk (Lars/Nick) Ronan Coghlan: The Amphibians from Outer Space Jon Downes: Keynote Speech PLUS Miss Crystal Grenade The CFZ Awards Silas Hawkins Raffle Kids Nature walk with Lars and Nick Kids Mad Hatter's Tea Party Speaker's Dinner at the Community Centre and of course: The Tunnel of Goats The event takes place from the 15-7 August this year in North Devon. Find out more HERE.Tickets are available at a special discount price of £20/head for the whole weekend as long as you buy them in advance. Buy online HERE. The event takes place from the 15-17 August this year in North Devon. Find out more HERE.Tickets are available at a special discount price of £20/head for the whole weekend as long as you buy them in advance. Buy online HERE. The tickets for this year's event are selling, slowly but surely. However, it would be much better for my blood pressure if they sold a little faster. So, ladies and gentlemen; do your bit to save my arteries... SO, WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE CFZ? Over the last week we have been doing quite a lot. Andrea Rider, who has recently started working in the office has been working extremely hard on Volume 2 of George Eberhart's Mysterious Creatures  as has Lizzy Bitakara'mire Steve Rider has been working on the next generation of CFZ e-books Saskia England (the other of our two lovely interns) has, ably assisted by her brother Riley and a young lady called Charlotte Phillipson - who is nearly 12  - been working with Richard and Graham on refurbishing the conservatory. She is doing all the designs and masterminding the work as part of her college course on Animal Management. Its not quite finished but looks bloody good.Charlotte and Graham have also been installing our waterfall into the wildlife pond area. Alexandra Cook is working hard on a project about which we shall remain schtum for the next few days. Gareth Shaw has also been working on this project, and I hope we shall be making an announcement about it soon...

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