sime42

Interesting. That doesn't seem like a good evolutionary strategy by starlings. The egg from the ski turned out to be an almost whole but empty shell. Small chicken egg sized. So probably was stolen or maybe even just scavenged from rubbish. Not so interesting. Continuing the egg theme; at work the other day I came across a duck nest. A few weeks ago I was clearing an area of scrub and brambles when a duck suddenly flew up and away in front of me. There was a nest hidden down on the ground complete with about a dozen eggs. I immediately stopped work there and moved away to cut some trees in another part of the wood. The following week the nest was empty when I checked. The next week, so two weeks after the first encounter the duck was back on the nest with a similar number of eggs. I'm mystified by what had happened. I can't believe that she'd managed to move the eggs away to safety temporarily, but I'm also surprised if she'd layed a whole new clutch in that time.

Do you know any local blacksmith's with a Drop Hammer, or even better a power drop hammer? One of those might be capable of providing the force required to soften the lignin to fuse a block of sawdust together.

A quick but important tip for using a hook knife for the bowl of the spoon; it's much easier to cut across the grain with it. Less force required so safer, and leaves a better finish as you won't end up cutting against the grain. That should all make sense once you've had a play around and gained some experience.

An egg had just dropped from the sky on to our lawn right before my eyes! I just happened to glance out the window at the right time so didn't see the source. I'm guessing an egg stealing bird like a maggie or a seagull.

I reckon the giant multinational food and agriculture companies are not far behind Big Pharma in terms of being enemies of the people and the planet. Here's one kicking off because they've been told to stop contributing to the childhood obesity crisis. I wonder if a large bung will end up in Rishi's suitcase in due course. Kellogg's in court battle over new rules for high-sugar cereals WWW.BBC.CO.UK The company says new healthy food rules fail to consider the nutritional value of milk added to cereals.

It's not about money, though I'm sure he'll make some from Twitter. [emoji848] It's about being able to maintain a free and open discussion platform without allowing the ranting, slathering, single issue voices from dominating the whole shebang. Maybe he will be able to make it work. [emoji848] His ideology is that the online ecosystem should be self regulating; the voice of the calm and rational majority of users will be enough to drown out and suppress the screeching from the vocal minority. [emoji848] We'll see. It'll be an interesting experiment at least.

He's an absolutist over free speech apparently. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out when he tries to remove all moderation, censorship, regulation etc. I can't see it ending well, he's a bit of a dreamer and tends to skip over practicalities.

Interesting trees Elder. They're almost unique in being by far the most common host, of a very small group of trees to do so, Jelly Ear, (or less PC; Jew's Ear!) Fungus. Good to eat if you're feeling adventurous, a nice crunchy texture.

I've only dipped into it a few times really; I don't have a copy but my mum does so I've thumbed through when visiting her. The thing about ivy stuck in my mind for some reason. I noticed that it had somewhat mixed reviews online.

I think I read about it in this book;- The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs : Tristan Gooley (author), : 9781444780109 : Blackwell's BLACKWELLS.CO.UK Readers may be familiar with such things as natural weather forecasting, basic tracking and natural navigation, but this guide will reveal intriguing new lesson

I've read that too. In theory you can use ivy on a tree to deduce the direction of North. I can't quite remember the name of the book but I think it may have been this one;- Waterstones WWW.WATERSTONES.COM

As above really, there's nothing on a par with Silky. I'm currently using a Samurai saw, a Japanese cheaper version. It's good, better than any other brand I think, but still noticeably inferior to a Silky. Judged on a value for money basis it might actually be better, its about half the price of the Silky equivalent, but much better than half as good.

I find that my council garden rubbish wheelie bin consumes rather a lot of sawdust .........

Ok, thanks. I'll try it again and persevere with the next one. I'm intrigued by the mechanism of how it works.

I've nothing to add on the subject of cohesion, (@Openspaceman seems to have addressed the technicalities of that comprehensively anyway). If you do crack it then i reckon it would be worth incorporating a hole through the centre of the brick, into the mould. For ventilation purposes; it should improve airflow and hence combustion rate. My dad used to have an old trick whereby he'd tamp bandsaw sawdust down hard into a metal tin, (coffee I think as it happens), with a dowel through the centre, which was then removed. Once ignited with a splash of meths it would burn/smoulder quite intensely for half an hour or so. I think he said they used to use it for cooking on in Scouts or something. Also the catering type of charcoal always looks to have a hole through the centre of each bit.

How does it work, how do you use it? I tried it once, after hearing about how good it was, but it didn't seem to do anything at all.

How time flies.........

Yikes

This week's news remixed;- The Skewer - Series 6 - Episode 2 - BBC Sounds WWW.BBC.CO.UK Jon Holmes remixes the news. This week - Hashtag Partygate and Kicking Against The Pickles

Exactly! But what was your point? This is what I was alluding to;- Why many experts aren't impressed with the UK's energy plans WWW.BBC.CO.UK The new energy strategy will not help bills or carbon emissions in the short run, critics say.

Sycamore is a good bet if you can find any of that. There's masses around, it's a "weed tree" really, so you should be able to source some. It's kind of a half way house between soft and hard wood; dries much more quickly than Oak but doesn't burn as fast as most softwoods.

He's got a lot of good stuff to say, once you get over his shouty delivery. Anyway, here's some good news on natural treatments for health conditions. Bad news for the big pharma industry however. Psychedelic frees up depressed brain, study shows WWW.BBC.CO.UK The drug found in magic mushrooms could treat depression in a unique way, researchers say.

Towards the next roll of wallpaper perhaps. The sum won't cover much more than one of Carrie's preferred rolls I expect.

Regardless of people's views on the Covid rules and restrictions, (which the majority of people did try to adhere to, as they understood their purpose), it's the repeated barefaced lying and double standards that they ought to give a shit about. The irony is that if people are too busy struggling to make ends meet to be concerned about this, then that is largely down to the same group of individuals who claim to run this country. The current cost of living crisis has been greatly exacerbated by their policies and actions. (Just consider the energy policy that was announced recently; very little help to the millions struggling right now, and a disaster for the environment). I'm astounded that some people are happy to be led by such a dishonest, unscrupulous group who clearly have no empathy or compassion for the rest of us hardworking general public. This guy really shouldn't be still in power. It's not even a party political issue, (other parties are available btw, it doesn't have to be a dipolar debate). Even a genuine Conservative government would be better than this lot.