Grass snake and goshawk

This is a video about the Ankeveense plassen.

Today, to Ankeveense plassen nature reserve.

Before we got there, rheas and llamas at the same farm as last November.

Just before Ankeveen village, close to a cycle track in a meadow, a grey heron, and Egyptian geese behind it.

Barn swallows flying; the sound of edible frogs,

It was very unexpected to, on the same day that I have blogged about young grass snakes, actually to see one. Not 2,500 juvenile snakes, like in that blog, just one. But even that is more than many people see in their whole lives.

The snake was lying on a water-lily leaf. Then, it started swimming. The leaf was still reddish, as this is early in the season for water lilies and the leaves get green only later. Yellow pond lily leaves are still under water here now. However, once above water, they are green immediately.

As our boat starts, a buzzard high in the sky.

First, we pass the 400 meter track of the local speed skating club, which is over a century old. The track is water now, as speed skating is only possible in below zero winters here.

Then, the boat continues to the lakes. Our guide tells us that gray leg geese start breeding here at the end of February. They nest on small islets, where foxes cannot come. Last year, 12 black tern couples bred here; and there were 42 black-headed gull nests.

Two Canada geese pass. So does a common tern.

We hear cuckoo and reed warbler sounds. A white stork overhead.

A hobby and a great cormorant fly past.

Swan mussels on the lake bottom.

Willow warblers singing.

Marsh ferns on the banks.

Two great crested grebes on the lake. A dragonfly sits down on a T-shirt in the boat; too fast to see which species.

Acorus calamus growing at the water’s edge.

Yesterday, our guide says, he saw little grebes here; but not today.

We pass a big buzzard nest in a tree not far from the water.

Great water dock and milk parsley on the banks.

Just before we get out of the boat, an angry mute swan flies up from the water, then lands, and swims close to the boat.

As we get out of the boat, a male goshawk flies overhead.

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• Spoonbills and shelduck ducklings
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• First godwits, redshank of 2013 (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
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Conservationists revive rainforest in Borneo

From British weekly The Observer:

Rainforest seeds revive lost paradise

Endangered wildlife returns to tropical wasteland as conservationists work a natural ‘miracle’

Six years ago the area around Samboja in Borneo was like much of the world’s tropical rainforest: denuded. The trees had been cut for timber, the land burnt, and in place of what should be some of the richest biodiversity on the planet were thousands of acres of grass.

But from this ruined landscape a fresh forest has been grown, teeming with insects, birds and animals, and cooled by the return of moist clouds and rain. It is a feat that has been hailed by scientists and offers hope for disappearing and ruined rainforests around the world.

The secret was to use more than 1,300 species of local tree and a fertiliser made with cow urine, says Dr Willie Smits, the Indonesian forestry expert who led the replanting. …

The area around the small town of Samboja was like a ‘moonscape’ when Smits first visited it nearly a decade ago. The rainforest had been cut and burnt and was covered with grasses. Without the forest, the rains disappeared and temperatures rose: streams dried up, harvests failed, fires broke out, jobs disappeared and ill health soared.

‘The only thing I saw was this huge sea of yellow, waving grass; there was wind, but there was no rustling of leaves,’ Smits said. ‘There were no birds, not even insects, nothing but this damned grass.’

Smits raised money to buy 5,000 acres and six years ago set about planting seeds collected from more than 1,300 species of tree, more even than would have lived in the original forest. These were planted with a special ‘micro-biological agent’ made from sugar, excrement, food waste and sawdust – and cow urine.

Planting finishes this year, but already Smits and his team from the Borneo Orang-utan Survival Foundation charity claim the forest is ‘mature’, with trees up to 35 metres high. Cloud cover has increased by 12 per cent, rainfall by a quarter, and temperatures have dropped 3-5C, helping people and wildlife to thrive, says Smits. Nine species of primate have also returned, including the threatened orang-utans. ‘If you walk there now, 116 bird species have found a place to live, there are more than 30 types of mammal, insects are there. The whole system is coming to life. I knew what I was trying to do, but the force of nature has totally surprised me.’

McCain admits Iraq war is about oil

This July 2012 video from the USA is about General Wesley Clark admitting the the Iraq war was about oil.

From Crooks and Liars blog in the USA, about the Republican candidate for president:

At a town hall meeting today, Senator McCain made a stunning admission when he announced that his energy policy would aim to reduce our dependence on Middle East oil, which would in turn ensure that we never have to fight another war there again.

“My friends, I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from Middle East that will then prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

Think about how amazing this is. McCain is essentially saying that our quest to “spread democracy” throughout the Middle East is a sham. It has nothing to do with freeing oppressed people, or protecting Israel, or defending ourselves against future attacks. It’s about gaining control of foreign oil. Stunning. Will this get any significant media play?

So, after George W. Bush’s financial man Alan Greenspan; after the Australian pro-Iraq war Howard administration; basically, even after George W. Bush himself; and long after the opponents of the Iraq war: John McCain at last admits the obvious.

Recently, McCain admitted as well that Bush’s Iraq war had killed “hundreds of thousands” of Iraqis. Though that was still less than realistic estimates of over a million dead, it was more than George W. Bush is willing to admit.

Which makes McCain’s talk about one hundred years of United States war in Iraq all the more disgusting and absurd.

McCain and Islamophobia: here.

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Australian trade unions say get troops out of Afghanistan

This is a video from Australia about pro peace protests against the visit by United States vice president Dick Cheney.

By Margarita Windisch & Pip Hinman in Australia:

Unions call for troops to leave Afghanistan

3 May 2008

The death of the fifth Australian solider in Afghanistan on April 27, followed a few days later by the wounding of another, has refocused attention on Australia’s involvement in the US-led occupation.

Defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon, in a fleeting visit to troops stationed in Oruzgan [Uruzgan] Province, in south-central Afghanistan on April 29, told the troops to “keep well”.

But several union leaders have called for the troops to be brought home. Tim Gooden, Geelong Regional Trades and Labor Council secretary, said on April 29 that while the soldier’s death is sad, the Rudd government’s response is “tragic”.

“The news that Lance Corporal Jason Marks has been killed in Afghanistan is sad but Canberra’s response is tragic as it means the troops will be there for the long haul. That means more troops will be sent to their deaths in an unwinnable and unjust war of occupation.”

2,500 grass snakes born in the Netherlands

This is a video of a grass snake.

Translated from RTV Oost in the Netherlands:

In the Kuinderbos near Kuinre, last year 2,500 grass snakes were born. Staatsbosbeheer says this after counting empty eggshells.

One third of young grass snakes survives into adulthood; the rest gets eaten by other animals. The numbers of grass snakes in the Kuinderbos are among the highest in the Netherlands.