permaculture

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

Unfortunately, it does not quite work like that. When you work here with 
animals, some of them big brutes, often in bad rain, you can not drag 
cameras around. Chances are they would not last long.
I don't even wear a wristwatch any longer for that reason and I also never 
carry a mobile phone. I used to and it became too expensive.

And then there is the time factor. I ridged my potatoes for the last time at 
least 12 years ago and it was a lot of work going with the draft horse 
pulling the ridger between all the rows. When we were done it looked 
professional and neat with the top of the ridges a good foot higher than the 
bottom of the trenches. Two days later it was all flat again with potatoes 
lying on the surface everywhere. And it was a sight when two hundred or more 
blackbirds (Turdus merula) were digging like badgers in the soft soil. Good 
shot for a film but I did not have a camera then and I just grew potatoes in 
the flat from then on without problems. A good layer of rough mulch kept the 
blackbirds from doing their worst but they did continue to pull up large 
numbers of seedlings and generally be a pain. If I had filmed all that it 
would have given the impression that blackbirds are the devil and need to be 
destroyed. And I like birds.

Interesting shots of New Zealand flatworms would be rare. We find most of 
them underneath silage bales. Mostly black worms clinging to black plastic 
while not moving overmuch. Great film! There were four months between seeing 
the slug being eaten and the fly being prevented from flying and on both 
occasions it was about a mile away from home and in the middle of nowhere. 
On the one occasion we were moving sheep and on the other cattle and there 
was no occasion to hang about for longer than about 30 seconds and also no 
chance to go back later.

The hawk now is another thing! A good professional might be able to capture 
on film a flash of a bird weaving between trees or hugging the tops of 
hedges in fast flight, striking a smaller bird and disappearing with it over 
some other bushes in seconds. We saw the hawk almost every day, sometimes 
2-3 times per day, for the best part of three years. Especially that they 
also cleaned out my tame carier pigeons at a rate of 1-2 per week. If I had 
been carrying my shotgun ready to fire at all times (and I don't do that 
either because it is dangerous and illegal) I might have had a chance of 
shooting that hawk maybe 5 times in three years. I am a lot better with a 
gun than a camera. So, no cheese.

john

> On 10/18/2012 8:38 PM, John D'hondt wrote:
>
> > Another new bad thing is an explosion of a new species, the New Zealand
> > flatworm, (Arthurdendyus triangulatus) that is known to reduce earthworm
> > populations below detectable levels. The situation is dire. We even 
> > noticed
> > 36 immature worms eating a big slug (Arion sp.) and one half grown worm
> > holding a life Tipula fly (big!) on the ground and preventing this from
> > talking off.
> > Interesting times.
>
> I would say that you have the making of a great new nature video, an
> action packed thriller...to say the least.
>
> ......birds eating most of the worms in raised beds causing them to sink
> and become more compacted.....hawks eating the birds doing this
> then flatworms moving in and decimating earthworm populations all over
> again....   what a scenario...document this in a video and sell the dvd
> for $25 each - upload trailer to youtube, let it go viral, make lots of
> money, buy villa on the cote d'azur, retire kick back and relax eat
> truffle quiche .............
>
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