UFO Info Week-End

Rooks line great stretches of the A1 and so they are just spilling over into the trees in the middle of the

“Rooks line great stretches of the A1 and so they are just spilling over into the trees in the middle of the roundabout,” said Mr Farrar.Birds preferring a more secluded location include peregrine falcons. For the past 10 years one pair has chosen the dramatic setting of the ruined Crusader castle at Beeston, south-east of Chester, for their breeding. They share the site with a pair of ravens, but another pair of ravens has created more of a stir by nesting amid the gargoyles of Chester Cathedral for the first time in 400 years – “urban” ravens have been seen in the UK only at the Tower of London.Meanwhile, in another tale of springtime breeding, the only pair of golden eagles in England are awaiting the hatching of a chick at the RSPB’s Riggindale Valley reserve in the Lake District.. “It would be quite comfortable with the noise from cars because it is a constant drone.”The same approach explained the oystercatcher’s presence at Prestwick airport, he said. “The oystercatcher wouldn’t be particularly bothered by a 747 thundering past on the runway – it sees a grass verge that mimics its natural environment.”Motorists using the A1 in Lincolnshire can take their pick of several rookeries, though the RSPB believes that the best location is the roundabout by the Great Gonerby service area north of Grantham, home to more than 20 breeding pairs. Other cases this spring have included oystercatchers on the verge of the runway at Prestwick airport, rooks on A1 roundabouts, ravens at Chester cathedral and peregrine falcons on the crags of Beeston Castle, Cheshire.The reasons are varied. For the lapwing, it is the fact that their natural habitat of open, usually tilled, fields is being eroded by agricultural practices; for the rook, the birds simply require extra space as the numbers in overcrowded rookeries increase.”The lapwing doesn’t see a roundabout – it just sees a nice site on the periphery of its usual habitat in this area on the uplands of the Peak District,” said Andre Farrar, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ publicity officer for the North-west.

To the casual observer it appears to be a straightforward case of enjoying sex in hair-raisingly dangerous places: an adventurous pair of lapwings has chosen a busy roundabout by a motorway in Greater Manchester as a breeding and nesting site. But from the lapwing’s viewpoint, the Mottram in Longdendale roundabout at the end of the M67 east of Manchester is prime real estate: the short grass provides a ready supply of insects with which to feed the hungry young and good views of potential predators.
The lapwings are not unique among Britain’s bird population in seeking out unlikely locations to rear their young. You have been warned.o PRESCOTT inherits a far greener department than it was only a few years ago, largely thanks to the man holding the farewell party on Thursday night. Tom Burke – a former head of Friends of the Earth who advised the last three environment secretaries – is the first Green to have wielded power in Britain.

He, with a few others, changed the department’s ethos and gave ministers extra confidence to fight their corners But change has cut both ways. The former anarchist, who 30 years ago wore red trousers and gave a Black Power salute at his graduation from Liverpool University, now fills a pinstripe suit and flourishes a CBE.o TALKING of appearances, a press release hits my desk (why mine?) from L’Oreal cosmetics, boasting of signing up Claudia Schiffer. “The choice of Miss Schiffer,” it explains, “reflects the wish of L’Oreal Paris to associate with a personality of unparalleled international notoriety.” Now this, as you know, is not that sort of column, but what can she have done? I think we should be told.. But he has already set out to reconcile transport and the environment, including tackling air pollution. He protests that he is “greener than Gummer”, and has the necessary breadth of vision – not to speak of Cabinet clout So, on balance, I am cautiously optimistic. And Michael Meacher – whose hard work and enthusiasm did much to green Labour’s agenda over the past six months – has been unfairly left out of the Cabinet.Robin Cook should be the greenest Foreign Secretary to date.

(He helped lead an anti-nuclear demonstration in the late Seventies, not the sort of thing immediately associated with, say, Lords Carrington, Howe and Home.) And Clare Short’s Cabinet place demands three heartfelt cheers.Lord Clinton-Davis – a former EU Environment Commissioner – has been appointed Minister of State in the Department of Trade and Industry, which constantly blocked green initiatives in the last government. David Clark has been put in charge of pulling together the new Food Safety Agency while Chris Smith (given a bit of chutzpah) could have quite a hand in the National Parks.All really depends on how John Prescott – as Deputy Prime Minister the unsackable supremo of environment, transport and the regions – approaches the subject His first concern, understandably, is to revive the regions. “It is,” replied Mao, “a little too early to say.”Mao, thou shouldst be with us at this hour For it is far too early to pronounce on the new Government. But here, as at the party, I go.First impressions disappoint.