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11:04:13 - Why Emotion Matters in Conservation Science

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01:03:13 - Frack the Planet

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Be part of the awakening -  feel the energy within you!

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19:02:13 - A New Era

It was a funny year for me leading up to the Apocalypse of 21st December 2012.    And now it's behind me, I've given myself some time to reflect on 2012 and did anything happen.

For me personally, 2012 certainly appeared to be an attack on British wildlife and the environment close to my home in the Forest of Dean.   Badgers and wild boar,  buzzards and even foxes were being reconsidered for hunting.  Larch and ash trees were being felled along with the nests of goshawks and other birds dependent on these trees.   Many endangered species too came under pressure from urban development, seemingly now unprotected along with the badgers now that commercial interests are on offer.  We too were under direct threat from diseases, and then there were also amazing floods, especially as the 21st December approached.  And just days ago, a meteorite crashed to Earth and another larger one narrowly missed!

It certainly appeared apocalyptic.  But what is increasingly apparent was the lack of finger-pointing on anything to do with the managed countryside.  It feels as if mankind can do no wrong in his desire to engineer his own environment for profit.  Who is brave enough to stand up and say what is so obvious?

Maybe we are all reluctant to stand up in the face of so much contrary belief?  If we believe the main manipulators of our everyday information, most of the disasters were believed to be random acts of evolution befalling the environment.  Although not explicitly mentioned, the language in the media was supposed to illicit conditioned responses.  We were meant to think of  rogue yet natural "mutations" and "infections" spuriously pervading and upsetting our ecosystem and our future health, from tree moulds to flu epidemics.  Never seems to be our fault does it?  Another country's maybe, but never ours?

We are all conditioned to think in certain moral and nationalistic ways, and this changes with time and the current political climate.  Questioning, once encouraged at school, is now thought of as an act of terrorism or at least "unpatriotic".  How can our masters possibly tell us a lie or be deceptive?  It always seems so plausible what they tell us!  And the more they tell us the same thing and the louder they shout it, surely the more believable it becomes?  But is it true?  When a country opts into this way of unthinking subservience, all manner of problems arise, especially when no-one thinks to think.

I saw this in action at a local badger meeting I attended.  A few hundred people wanted to know why our badgers are in the firing line due to the Tb risk they allegedly pose to cows.  They came to hear some facts of what could be done to prevent the slaughter if all concerned, from farmers to government, would only listen.  A dairy farmer spoke about farm hygiene being almost solely respnsible for Tb outbreaks.  Then a vet spoke presenting a bigger picture of Tb in animals, badger culling and the perterbation affect, and the pros and cons of vaccination.  And then a political speech from the RSPCA's top man accussing the government and the NFU in back-room deals.

Although each had a valid point, not one of them even mentioned the solution that has been proven to work - culling of entire herds when one infected cow in the herd is discovered.  This would probably amount to a 70% loss of our dairy herd with many farmers going bust etc.  It is unpopular thinking in this ecomomic climate, but it has been proven to work across the EU / Western Europe, with not a single case of bovine Tb (bTb) for 30 years since this stance was adopted.  Well that was until a few recent cases were discovered in 2011 onwards.

So I spoke up and suggested such an action to the panel.  After all, it seemed a fair swap from 70% of badgers dying to 70% of cows!   The panel didn't know what to say and filibustered around it.  Only afterwards when speaking in private to the vet did I get some confirmation that this type of policy does work.  So why not say so to the crowd?  Could it be a fear of becoming unpopular? 

I think so.  The feeling of unpopularity is one of the greatest tools that a government can use against its people when the people disagree with the carefully constructed "consensus reality".  The control of us through the feelings of unpopularity and also the reverse, by believing in your perceived popularity, is very effective.   And politics is about popularity after all, especially at local level.  In fact a local councillor has made repeatedly angry and belittling remarks to me ever since I spoke up at this meeting, presumably to increase his own popularity in my absence.

So yes, people can get aggressive and threatening when their popularity is challenged or they feel they can gain some at your expense.   It's getting harder to tell the truth these days for fear of reprisals from those with other agendas.  I see this happening all the time amongst land managers or conservationists who both believe they are doing the unselfish thing.  But when they come into conflict with one side challenging the other, as I see regularly between Friends of the Boar and The Forestry Commission, the fallout can be confusing.  Similarly, I (as a co-founder of Frends of the Boar) get threats from those who are, or  wish to curry favour with, the boar hunters or the Forestry Commission.   Could this all be because action from both sides is never truly unselfish, but to some degree motivated by selfish popularity ratings?

But do people's "outspoken" beliefs ever make a difference and why do most people feel the need to be popular?

Are beliefs ever translated into real world action?  Yes, maybe a few wrote to their MP hoping he may get a government to change it's mind on shooting badgers?  Yet sadly, writing letters to MPs is now another form of control.  Letter writers feel good about themselves, they think they have changed something and will often brag to other they have done so.  Their idea of self-worth has increased.  But to stay in this self-delusional state requires they don't burst the bubble and are prevented from speaking again lest they make a gaff or are ridiculed.  Controlled again.  Only the brave continue.

The thing is, opinions are worthless without evidence, and here we have a story of badgers about be shot because nobody wants to see the clear evidence that the problem would be solved by killing infected and potentially infected cows - after all, didn't we support this policy in the BSE crisis!!!!  And so the UK Government are to kill the badgers from today despite the millions of people chatting away in hyperspace saying no.

So despite all the efforts to overload the chat rooms of hyperspace, to spread information and rally support, not just with badgers but with almost anything these days, nothing ever changes.  Why?  Because too many people prefer to live within a cleverly constructed artifice of reality that denounces anyone with "unpopular" claims.   Being popular is a form of control.

The advancement of popular opinion and even "facts" (Wikipedia for example is a control), especially when it involves big players, is part of the tactic called controlled opposition.  Create a strawman that in time will burn down leaving the supporters with nowhere to turn.  In the case of badgers this is vaccination - ultimately doomed (see my previous blog on the ritual sacrifice of badgers) but giving people false hope in the meantime.

Too many people now make it a life's ambition to feel important and to raise their self-esteem.  They find solace in Facebook where they can hide their insecurities in the real world, promoting idealised personas in the virtual.  Indeed, recent research is proving this (please click the link) and worries about our future with regards to social interactions and effective achievement.  And if we can't communicate effectively we are essentially controlled by the few that can - the politician, the developer, the banker, the press.

I "believe" we have passed a crossroads with our future now determined.  A majority of people are content to read about real world events but don't know what to do to affect it.  They feel informed yet disempowered, yet at the same time the machinery of social engineering tells them they are special and could be superstars and millionaires tomorrow.  Be on X-Factor, be a footballer or a fashion model.  They will criticise and demean those who seem to be making achievements, because their own feelings of discontent convinces them they are being devalued in a popularity contest.

A minority of people felt that 21st December 2012 was a magic moment to start again personally, being stronger and seeing the world and others in a new light.

This is a major reason I didn't add to this blog for much of the tumultuous 2012.  Does a blog or opinion do any good in real terms, or is it simply a way for authors (like me) to feel self-esteemed and worthy?  Is a blog more about the author's needs than the subject's needs, especially when the subject is a wildlife campaign or a human suffering?  It would seem so these days.

Now we are past the tipping point and post-2012, I still believe that our society has changed as previously predicted in this blog.  It was an awakening event felt by only the few, but mocked by the many.  For those who didn't feel it, they will continue to compare themselves against others, forever striving to be someone they aren't, forever shopping in the mall of uncontentedness, belittling others or being aggressive.  They remain controlled.

For those who felt it, and I include myself naturally, I personally believe a great change may have been achieved within me and others who I hope read this too.   A veil has finally fallen (literally an apocalypse).   I find no need to brag or to jump aboard every campaign trail on 38 Degrees, or Facebook, or make more virtual friends.   This is because for people like myself, I can only hope that the self-knowledge combined with real-knowledge is the purest and most effective form of change there can be in both the external and internal worlds.  

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17:05:12 - In the Blue

Bluebell season is upon us once again, after some delay due to poor weather and cool temperatures in April.  It is a time of year I look forward to, and this year has been made extra special due to a blossoming wild boar population here in the Forest of Dean.

Wild Boar piglet 156

After being almost eradicated last year, the surviving handful of potentially breeding sows (approximately 15-20) have all managed to give birth to 6 piglets (plus or minus one) each.   No killing is being done by the Forestry Commission after they agreed to revise with the Forest of Dean Council a new acceptable population of boar that the local people would tolerate.   Friends fo the Boar and myself have been working hard for this and this year sees some fruits of our labours.  We have in effect a closed-season until September 2012.

After much work promoting the gentle side of the boar and the ecological arguments for their existence, the local people are eventually understanding and seeing for themselves the boar (now the population has increased) and becoming much less afraid.  There are still sectors of the human community that will never like a pig in their backyard for reasons of their own, but basically is split between the farming community worried about crop damage, and narrow-minded individuals who see roadside diggings as a mess that must be stopped (they make me laugh).

Wild Boar piglet 154

One predicament we are getting now that wild boar are increasing and also unfortunately becoming too trusting of people, is an increasing number of poachers and so-called sport hunters.  Amazingly, the Forestry Commission are allowing some groups to let dogs track down carcasses laid by their owners for sport.  This has included deer heads staked down in the forest!  Yes, the Forest is now in danger of being ruined by individuals who see wildlife as something to abuse.

This has been highlighted recently (12th May) by a wild boar sow being attacked at night by someone carrying a knife.  They expertly removed a leg from the boar, covered the carcass over with sticks, and left it.  The sow had nine dependent month old piglets!  The fact she had nine piglets indicates that some piglets had already suffered a trauma of loosing their mother.  Now they have lost their surrogate mother too (wild boar cross-suckle piglets from other sows).

Wild Boar piglet 158b

So it seems that with good news is always bad, and the colour of the bluebells is now a reminder for me to remember those orphaned piglets everywhere and the uncertain future of all the wild boar here.  But just look at them, aren't they wonderful?  They simply fit in with the look of the forest and now the bluebells.

I now write about the ongoing status of the boar in the Friends of the Boar blog (www.friendsoftheboar.blogspot.com) along with other enthusiasts who want to see the acceptance and conservation of wild boar a priority in the UK.   You may also like to look at my Wild Boar gallery for much more detail on the story.

Please take a look and in the meantime enjoy the bluebells..and of course the wild boar.

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21:03:12 - Rites of Spring

It has been 11 years since I began this website and it is time for a Spring Clean. 

In the early days images had to be small because file space and bandwiths were at a premium.  But over time this has improved and most photographers now post very large images on their sites.  I have been refreshing some of my images to appear larger and better quality, so hopefully you will enjoy them even more?

This comes with pitfalls, however, namely image theft.  For this reason I've put a copyright notice across the larger images.  I know it spoils the image, but there are too many bloggers and image thieves  who believe that because an image is on Google it is free to take.  This is not the case.  Photography is my only source of income.  Like many other photographers, I spend money to get the images, and rely on sales to allow me to feed my child and myself.

If a photographer finds their image used on a blog or another website without written permission, he has every right to demand a fee (between 3 and 10 times the usual fee) and even compensation from the infringer.  If the image has a copyright notice across it the infringer cannot claim ignorance.  In fact, ignorance has never been a defense to claim innocence and get out of a legal claim.  An increasing number of photographers are now making money from pursuing infringers, and finding infringers has never been so easy - using Google image searches for instance.

The Spring Equinox is suffused with esoteric meaning, including shedding of the old and bringing in the new.  It is Mother's Day, a drinking festival, a celebration of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem for the festival of Passover, the beginnings of Easter.

Yes, it is a day of worshipping the Mother, the Earth, the feminine principle we find in nature.  The feminine Godesses with powers of life as well as death, with the Equinox bringing forth the creative force rather than the destructive.  Symbolically, "she" is the snake, a creature that returns from the dark Earth each Spring to bask in the warm light and lay her Easter eggs.  A mother that will defend her eggs and herself with powerful venom if upset.  For the snake is the symbol of healing today, but also the serpent that granted Eve (and then Adam) with the fruits of the Tree of Life and knowing good from evil (- or Eve-el, or becoming like God themselves).

The snake guards and grants the Tree of Life to those who wish to know.

In Christian iconology we see St. Patrick ridding the green Isle of Ireland of snakes as well as importing the Christ concept of light upon a dark and heathen pagan people.  The green stands for fertility and abundance, a colour also associated with previous Gods of the life force, not to mention the colour of the vine (with wine in its veins), or the Green Man seen in many churches, a symbol of the Roman god Bacchus  who drank a lot of wine as well as becoming a judge of dead souls. 

Dead souls are an important symbol in the Jewish Passover, for which Christ is associated at the start of the Equinox (albeit a practice based upon a moon that reflects the sun).  Allegedly, the firstborns were sacrificed by the plague upon the Eyptians, but the Passover celebrates the children of Israel being "passed-over" or spared, thereby granting mercy and abundance at the same time.  In honour of God, the Jews demonstrated restraint and respect by fasting in this joy of abundance and salvation.

The one thing all these have in common is the Sun (a.k.a.Son).  At the equinox (meaning equal night), the Mother Earth begins receiving renewed light, with darkness defeated once again.  The sun "passes over" it's equinoctial point to bathe the world in light once again (actually, the Earth has no tilt and the equators of Male Sun and Female Earth marry or align together.  This new light gives warmth and vegetative abundance and fertility.  The Goddess Eostre, of the East (where the sun rises) is closely associated with this "Easter"equinox, being a Queen of Heaven and wisdom with stars about her head, that became eventually to be known as Mother Mary.  Could Equine-Ox also allude to the post-Gospel appearance of a Donkey and Ox in the stable at Christ's  birth?

So it is at this time of year that we must all revere nature in all its wonderous forms and energies.  For those who cleanse their body temples will feel re-energised, healthy and full of wisdom.  You must fill yourself with a feeling of justice and righteousness, rid your physical temple of toxins (both body and house in a Spring Clean), and eventually you may experience the divinity of the whole of creation.

May the God you seek be You!

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08:03:12 - The Badger Sacrifice Ritual and What You Need To Know

The British Government have chosen my part of the UK to undertake what can only be a ritual sacrifice of badgers (Meles meles).

It has been instigated after classic problem-reaction-solution methods aimed at both the farming community and the public.  Anyone who doesn't understand how this method works should look it up, but be confident in the knowledge that the worldwide press are used as pawns in this mass manipulation of beliefs and promotion of a false reality that is for the benefit of profit and economic competition.  The governmental lobby and spin-doctors behind this corruption is both the Dept. of Farming and Ritual Affairs (Defra), and the European Union.

Badgers are to be slaughtered by farmers (in the first instance) in an attempt to cleanse the domestic cattle of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).  This is despite a previous study (by the Independent Scientific Study Group on Cattle TB, or ISG, set-up by a 1968 Government) proving that killing of badgers makes the spread and incidence of bTB much worse.   In fact, the UK's last scientific advisor (David KIng) was almost certainly replaced after his research concluded the same.

The unelected and Nazi-inspired European Union want to make you react by the ritual blood sacrifice of innocent wildlife. 

I for one, do not give my consent to this Babylonian Brotherhood agenda of control and domination of hearts, minds and property.

Tuberculosis is an ancient disease.  Archaeological evidence indicates people in the Neolithic lived with it, and cattle during the last Ice Age also acquired it.  Whether both species suffered with the same strain of TB or two different ones is still open to debate.  But old diseases are stable (do not mutate much) and for which we and cattle will have acquired immunity against over this huge amount of time.   [I have probably had Tb when at school, but the doctors claimed I had fungal pneumonia instead - a very similar illness.  Changing a diagnosis is a way of making vaccines look like they work!]

What seems extremely likely here is that our puppet UK government has been told by it's master to slaughter badgers firstly to see if it can be done, and secondly to promote a serious reaction in the UK public.  My research can find no other reason for this ritual, other than to instigate fear and profit.  This is not the first time that invented disease fears have been used to upset agricultural stock prices, with the result being that the Corporations who donate money to party politics end up buying commodities at knock down prices - e.g.. Tyson Foods Inc. acquired a major chink of world chicken farming post a Bird Flu scam in 1997.  The scam was to make Chinese and Asian chicken farmers go bust or be forced to pay for unaffordable biosecurity.  Tyson Foods Inc. is an American company with close links to the CIA.  Indeed, James Woolsy (director of the CIA) even claimed that after the Cold War, the CIA was to enter a new era of economic espionage!

Economic espionage and the resultant economic terrorism is what we are witnessing time and again, and this is what the badger and bTB scam is about.

The European Union will never reverse it's decision to refuse cattle a vaccination.  The reason is because it would remove the ability to test for bTB in live herds, as vaccines promote antibody responses, and it is these antibodies that is tested for!  You would not know if a positive "reactor" or cow has antibodies because it has had a vaccine or come into contact with infection via the environment.  The current regime allows control by the authorities to manipulate trade and prices. (Please note that dead cows with bTB can be traded - the EU are only interested in controlling living cows and farmland).

Now remember, old diseases are genetically stable and immunity is almost a certainty unless the dose is huge (i.e. via a cow with an immune deficiency who has succumbed atrociously to the infection and is sneezing and drooling in the faces of other cows, or an artificial poisoning event).

But here we stray to uncover another huge scam.  That of vaccines and vaccination theory!  This is nothing else but an assault on the immune system and a poisoning event.  Many vaccines are developed using germs created in laboratories, ostensibly for germ-warfare, but also for profiteering via Big Pharma.  Vaccine development is also a major source of new diseases!

Amazingly, the human TB vaccine (BCG) is dosed with the bovine strain of the mycobacterium (bTB).  Most people believe vaccines work including the BCG.  But remarkably, we are being dosed with bTB (mycobacterium bovis rather than the human form - mycobacterium tuberculosis).    Are we giving bTB to the cows???  And guess what the TB vaccine for cows is - yes, the same as ours!  Cows can be given the human BCG vaccine to prevent bTB, because humans are being injected with bovine TB!  And not only are we given a non-human pathogen but also cow DNA, avian DNA (eggs are used to culture the bTB), formaldehyde and thimerosol (or mercury) to boot!  These are the ingredients of further illnesses, especially allergies, autoimmune disease and neurological disorders.

So we are hearing cries of get the cows vaccinated from the public and wildlife organizations, as well as vaccinations for the badgers.   BUT, the vaccines don't work.  There is no evidence for the effectiveness of the BCG vaccine in humans at all (and why should it when it is a bovine TB we are being injected with, not a human one?).  Some compare this vaccine theory (and popular myth) to that of how COW pox was utilized by Jenner to eradicate the human SMALLpox.  This is another lie perpetrated by the Pharmaceutical industry - please look this scam up too and just how many people died as a result of the smallpox jab.

You don't believe me do you?  This is your conditioning, helped by the probable fact that you will not check this out!

I will help you.  below are some graphs that show mortality of Tuberculosis in humans over time and the point at which the vaccine was given to the public (or not).  As you will see, mortality (death) rate has decreased over time.  In the USA, no BCG has been given yet the graphs look the same.  The decrease has to be due to either, or both, increased immunity (as I've said already) and increased hygiene (or "biosecurity" if you prefer the new buzz-word).

Graphs (with source references) proving that BGC does not work.

An Indian study showing the BCG vaccine is no more effective than a placebo.

So why are cows supposedly contracting bTB?  There are only 3 very obvious answers:  hygiene at many farms is appalling, and/or the cows are being poisoned, and/or their immunity is being compromised.   Another alternative is that the cows are not being affected by bTB at all, but another pathogen that gives rise to antibodies similar to those that produce the bTB antibody.  This may not be so strange as you think when you research the transformative properties of fungal - bacterial associations (or mycobacteria).  This is complex and I don't wantr to make this piece any bigger, but fungal infections in grain used for cattle feed (and other domestic animals) is epidemic.  These fungi can combine with other pathogens (or even host proteins) to produce "superbugs".  Other "superbugs" with a probable fungal association is AIDS and BSE-CJD (the latter also affects cattle!)   So, anti-fungals may cure bTB, but curing the disease is not the goal here...

Research the rest yourself.  But even if you don't and furthermore, think I'm a crank, you may prefer these statistics:

Cows slaughtered each year for the following illnesses are,

 120,000 for being infertile

50,000 for getting mastitis

25,000 for lameness

7,000 for low milk yield

and many millions, or 50%, of all new borns because they are male and useless for the diary industry.

How many are slaughtered for bTB - just 25,000.

This is a scam for profiteering, control of the industry, keeping the dirty secrets of vaccination covered-up, and to create fear amongst the public and farmers.  Farmers, by the way, that receive above market value compensation for any "reactors".  Is this gag money, or a way for farmers to keep the compensation money rolling in because of your willingness to play an ignorant part in this scam?

If we say nothing, and don't research this, the next move is an immediate land grab and intensification of farming units across the European Union.  Corporate friends of these unelected dictators will take over - people without morals nor compassion towards animals or you.   Intensive farming promotes diseases, lowered immunity, more antibiotics in your meat, more hormones, fertilizers, and less habitat for wildlife.

It's up to you.  Please circulate my post here to as many people as you can.....

Thanks.

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06:02:12 - The New Landscape

A new year, but not just any new year; This is 2012 - Hooray!  A new beginning is imminent - maybe, as many followers of the much hyped Maya prophecies are hoping.  Actually, and since the mainstream press continually fail to expose, I will add that this is also an important turning point for many other ancient cultural traditions such as Zulu, Aztec, Inca, American Indian, Chinese and Maori to name just a few. 

The Maori for instance, a "veil" will fall thanks to a meeting of the Earth and Sky Gods who have seen for too long that mankind have become so distracted from their true purpose by greed, war and lust.  Of course some see the falling veil (or curtain or shroud) as a start of a biblical Armageddon or a return of the righteous.  But other cultures such as the Zulu and Hopi see a return of other Gods, maybe signaled by lights in the sky or planetary alignments (like that that gave rise to the Star of Bethlehem?).  A Hindu prophecy  believes a Golden age will return when the sun, moon and Jupiter all meet, a period when the last incarnation of Lord Vishnu will appear.  However, this Golden Age will only occur if there is enough enlightened ones already living on Earth.

Obviously, much of this is interpretation but I for one simply feel something is about to happen and look forward to it immensely.  The change could be sudden, but more likely it is a gradual change, most of which has already happened and 2012 marks the critical mass of enlightenment being achieved as hoped for by many Hindus.  The end of the Old Age (Kali Yuga) will transition into a new beginning of less ego, greed, corruption and lies by those currently in authority.

In my personal world, this celebration has already begun when on the 17th January I met with the Forestry Commission and District Councilors to challenge the old beliefs that Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean are breeding out of control and a danger to all humanity.  About an hour into the meeting it appeared that the veil suddenly dropped, when the Forestry Commission suddenly halted their long held stance of hunting and spreading fear and agreed to a whole year of no hunting and the beginning of a new Zeitgeist whereby science and democracy will now determine the future of these controversial creatures.

A few like-minded friends and myself had been working hard for the last 6 months to make this change happen, not least calling for a closed-season on hunting the boars, even if just for a trial period (as is being proposed).  Despite my on-going petitioning, our government hold fast on allowing the boar to be killed without laws in place to protect them and as servants of Defra; the most corrupt and untruthful government department in the UK; my local Forestry Commission were also expected by many to hold fast to their dark masters wishes.  What a turn around it was and a small success for my "New Age of Reason".  You can read more on this at Friends of the Boar blogspot at www.friendsoftheboar.blogspot.com , a resource I set up to inform everyone of what "really" happens and about the "true" nature of the boar.

Safe to say I now love the Forest again.  My thoughts were seriously jaded whenever I walked within, as death and suffering are not conducive to any spiritual connection I may have with the Forest.  All is not perfect yet, as many deer and squirrels are still needlessly slaughtered here each year by the Forestry Commission - for fun and profit of course, and the badgers are also being targeted here for no reason other than to make farmers feel less guilty about the cruel ways they rear their animals and reduce them to immunocompromised quivering wrecks pumped full of antibiotocs, hormones, vaccines and constantly preganant in the case of dairy cows.  But the wild boar are seriously intelligent and once native fauna of these woodlands and somehow I feel more connected to them than any other animal here.

Lesser changes have also been taking place for myself with respect to photography.  Due in large part to my jaded feelings about my local Forest and treatment of the wild boar, I have felt less inclined to pursue the "frivolous" nature of photography and chasing about after wildlife.  Sometimes the inner self is so tormented by what is truly happening "out there" it begins to find much deeper understanding and commection and no longer wants to take part in any form of exploitation of wildlife but wants to merely be in their company and help.

But hopefully, as the wild boar begin to enjoy their Forest again, I have renewed myself  and look forward to more photography.   And although this sounds tenuous, I've begun revisiting landscape work, something I used to enjoy before the difficulties of wildlife photography took over!  Maybe because the landscape (or habitat) is everything that is important and controls the details within it, including man and the wild boar?  To bump start my renewal I went down to the Severn Estuary the other day in preparation for a landscape workshop that a client has "ordered". 

The Severn Estuary is a wild and continually evolving place, both natural and via the tinkerings and proximity of man.  In a way my visit showed me that man and nature can actually co-exist and can result in great beauty and even to the benefit of nature as a whole - after all, humans are natural beings too.  This seems to go against the current flow of thinking that man is always bad for the environment - for there is money and control to be made from those who think this way!

I've had to re-learn how to get out of bed early and re-sense that once familiar feeling of cold air on my lungs, on my clothes and against my skin as I wandered about in a pre-dawn darkness with frost on the ground.  But the experience of being guided by yourself, on your own doorstep, and getting results is what it's all about.

Maybe not the best landscape photos you'll see these days, but I'm proud to show you my efforts from literally one hour on a recent morning at a place on my doorstep I've never been to before.   I realised that great new discoveries can still be had with little cost right in your own backyard.

In just the first month of 2012, I sense some of my true spirit returning and look forward to the rest of it with renewed passion. 

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01:12:11 - Is Time Speeding Up?

I was meaning to write about my experience recently when I attended a ceremony on top of Glastonbury Tor for 11.11.11.11.11, but so much keeps happening there never seems the "time" anymore to get around to my website.

Time is always said to go faster when your busy, but the weird thing is I'm not that busy.  In fact I sometimes find it hard to find something to do - with a small child in tow - and before I know it, it's dark again and then bedtime..

The Spirit of the Wildwood often symbolises the yearly cycles of life, death and rebirth. This was taken during the deer rut just 2 days after 11:11:11.   Doesn't this remind you of Cave Art?

The only thing keeping me busy, so to speak, is "thinking" a lot about our wildlife, my place in it, and the future.  I have been doing a lot of reading too, and I'm now fascinated by how our minds work and the "nature" of consciousness.  "Time", I would say, is linked to conscious thought.  Everyone and every animal lives at its own speed according to their conscious connection with the ...... well I don't yet know!  Maybe a God, or the universe, or maybe to something deeper within the mind itself - a mind that creates its own future.  This would agree with those who say reality is an illusion.

The remarkable thing that occurred to me at Glastonbury was that time almost slowed to a stop for a few hours.  About 200 people had gathered there to meditate and to celebrate that precise moment in time of 11:11 hrs on 11:11:11.  I was wandering about with my camera on my own watching the others do their thing, but at the same time my mind was freed of all the material things in my life.  I was taking photos more or less without thought and with as clear a mind as I could by using Light as a symbol to focus on.  The time came and went and people hugged, others started drumming, some chanted or sang and others continued their meditations.  Nothing seemed obviously different at first until I started talking to my family about how slowly the day had gone.  They agreed, and it became obvious that for the next few hours we were playing out a scene in our lives yet the clocks were hardly moving.  Trust me, there was no drugs involved in this!  I am still trying to work out what happened during this illusion or reality.

The Tor is steeped in stories about a consciousness that brought Light or transformation to those willing to try.

King Arthur, Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus and The Magdalene are the main contenders for Christians, but Sufis, Buddhists and Hindus also know of the energy here.

One clue maybe the reason I had gone there.  It was to help reverse the usual mass hypnosis of Armistice Day.  I went NOT to think war, death and the colour of a bloody poppy in my mind.  I went to mediate on a future that is beautiful.  To help this become realised I believe I mustn't think of what we collectively mustn't do (thinking of past mistakes) but of a future filled with natural harmony and peace.  Many great thinkers have claimed that the cosmos does not grant prayers according to a negative (I mustn't do...I don't want...), it only creates a future of positive intent.  If you pray for no war or death then that thought will only create war and death!  The more who think like this simultaneously the more likely it is to be played out.  I now believe we have all been tricked into creating conflict, which creates profit for the few and suffering for the many.  By meditating on a symbol - a flower associated with the ritual blood letting onto soil, a flower associated with opium and the drug trade (which has historically funded wars), and of sadness in the world, it is doing the opposite of what you may want.  The numerology of 11 may also have been reversed by the manipulators to create control and order out of chaos, when in fact it should symbolise freedom and transformation.

The Pilgrimage on 11:11:11

11:11:11 was hoped by many to be a moment in "time" when we could create our own future or become connected to some higher conscious dimension.  For the few people who were there that day, and the many millions of others around the world doing the same in their "time zones", I sincerely hope the future is now brighter than the one being intended by the unelected thieves, manipulators and murderers who presently run our country and planet.  This includes those who rape our planet of its natural riches, kill animal for fun or profit, and take the miracle of life as something for granted.

Was this a sign?  It was a very dull morning and very windy.  Just as the ceremony began the LIGHT appeared and this sunbeam struck the Tor.  No kidding! 

This is the view over the Somerset Levels.

Here's to Love and Light and a shedding of the skin in readiness for next year.....

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12:08:11 - Good News and Bad News.

I have had the most hectic month of my photography career!

Apologies to all those who I did not email or talk to promptly, or even forgot about, but ever since my monkey photos hit the press in early July I have been inundated with well-wishers, press calls and magazine write ups.

Please look at my Sulawesi Macaque page so I don't need to repeat myself here!  Anyone who is interested may like to Google "Slater + Monkey + Camera" to see just how big this story got!

I have also been busy doing prints of the monkeys.  Yes I do prints and a poster.  Poster is A2 size and costs £10 (GBP).  It is on 180gsm poster paper and good enough to frame or just pin straight to a wall.  The prints are much better quality in terms of colour and detail, and they take a little more effort to do (I do them myself).  They cost £20 for A4 and 35 for A3.  I do several versions and formats so please email me for details - I will send you thumbnails to look at.  All payment will be by PayPal which I will send to you (you don't need to be registered with PayPal to use).

I have also made a screensaver / desktop wallpaper that I can email to you for £20.  It is a really fun image and will make you smile whenever you turn on your computer.  There is a nice space for your icons too!  Email me again for a thumbnail.

The Bad News is all about the Wild Boar again here in my beloved Forest of Dean.  I am so worried for them now as the population appears to have crashed.  I am also getting eyewitness reports and other evidence that the Forestry Commission are now shooting, through need or through bloodlust, piglets and sows with young.  This is a serious welfare issue, and I have already taken the story to the Daily Mail, and intend to spread it much further afield when I get more time.

Please link to my Wild Boar page from here now, again to save me time repeating myself.  I have added a lot more new and amazing images of the boar just now, so take a quick look - and a LONG read....

Take Care Everyone

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20:06:11 - Life & death.

I don't usually catch Springwatch on the TV, but I happened to catch an episode that showed a nestbox with pied flycatchers, and they also debated the possibility that redstarts compete with them for food as they seem to share the same insects. It was interesting because I always try to photograph both these birds every year here in the Forest of Dean, and it's always been hard to find redstart and easy for PFs. It has always had me thinking about the relationship of the two. Last year, but particularly this year, I have find the opposite occurring. I have long been a critic of PF nestboxes, and I am becoming increasingly sure that this has something to do with the decline of PFs here. Without the data, which is hard if not impossible to find, it is hard to prove, but time and again I see PFs outside the areas with nestboxes and there is always a redstart nearby. Within the areas with nestboxes, there are fewer redstarts. Are nestboxes becoming unpopular with PFs (the redstarts may have realised this long ago?) and pushing them into competition for food with redstarts? Is competition more ferocious in nestbox areas? Additionally, PFs are easily bullied off a nestbox by other small birds, even blue tits, making life doubly difficult for them. Maybe competition with just redstarts is preferable? I've been watching 2 families of PFs very carefully this year, one in a box and one in a natural hole far away from the nestbox area, and it seemed to me the natural nester was much more active in terms of nest visits with food - leading to healthier chicks maybe. I have never seen a natural nest getting visited by tits or the usual predators of chicks such as woodpeckers and jays, so maybe it's a case of where there are redstarts there is food albeit to share, but less disturbance from unwelcome nest visitors? Just my thoughts. Here is a pic of this year's pied flycatcher chicks:

Aren't they delicate little things? You have to worry!

Changing the subject, I want to just pay my own albeit humble tribute to a man called Brian Haw who passed away this weekend. He lived in a tent outside parliament since mid 2001 as a protest of UK foreign policy in the lead up to 911 and the illegal invasion of Iraq (see link). He was an inspiration and a hero for fighting the all too forgotten corner for the innocent across the world caught up in war zones, particularly our own species youngsters. This is a topic almost never spoken about due to its totally abhorrent nature. Bully boys creating wars on behalf of our corporations and the US war machine's need to protect oil supplies to feed its airplanes and ships in over 700 bases in over 100 countries. The daily consumption of oil by the US military equals that of Sweden. It is a self-fulfilling need to invade countries to keep the war machine alive. It is an industry - a military-industrial complex that needs to protect fuel, air space, water and food for a quarter of a million US soldiers living in these permanent bases, even long after the "war" has finished. Feeding this Empire's grid requires, and is their evil justification for, war that kills not just those who attack them but millions of innocent children every year. They call this "National Security". It is actually "International Insecurity". This does not include the injured and seriously ill citizens of the planet dying from the toxic effects of depleted uranium weapons and biological agents, some of which are included in vaccines that are being promoted by the west (pharmaceutical corporations) under the disguise of humanitarian and health aid!. Thank you Brian for all your efforts, you will be missed by many. I only wish I met and spoke to you more than I did.

Brian Haw 1949-2011

"It's not the dates on a headstone that defines a person's life, but how he lived the dash between them."

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24:05:11 - Lining the Nest.

The weather this year has been brilliant so far and a relief for so many of our breeding birds. Many species seem to be a little ahead of what I've seen over the last few years, a sign of a return to a normal Spring, maybe? Yes, it's now accepted the climate has been cooling since 2000, so hopefully that trend has started to reverse again. It may also be great news for our adders for they too have been disappearing...

Forest Adder fresh from hibernation

For some reason the scientists think that DNA tests will uncover why. Maybe they know something more serious is happening much akin to the plight of amphibians around the world - genetic mutations possibly occurring due to a toxic environment - such as radioactive fallout from nuclear power stations and especially from "depleted" uranium weapons used in the Balkans, Iraq, and now Libya. Or maybe it's due to chemicals in many airplane vapour trails these days - many researchers are uncovering evidence of chemical experiments (see link) with the climate - and your health too (what is this new fear of smog about eh?)...just connect the dots... Of course, the warming / cooling of our climate and strange things happening to our wildlife may also be due to naturally occurring pulses of radiation (see link) from the sun or galactic centre?

My chick Indigo has long since fledged her nest and is now running around demanding more and more time from me. I hardly find the time to get out and about with my camera, and when i do I'm so out of touch with things here in the Forest of Dean I find it hard to find anything worth a photograph. I have thus resorted to nest photography - the irony! I've never before been "into" nests, but they are strangely compelling in that they give just a little more insight into the dedications, hardships, failings and successes of our wild animals. I feel somewhat like an interloper prying into someone else's business, and as such I respect even more the privacy and welfare of these tiny bundles of fluff and energy. Here are a few examples:

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Nuthatch and Wood Warbler

I have many more to show and will in due course put them all up on the website. In the meantime just enjoy nature and all the benefits it brings into your life.

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17:02:11 - A Climate of Change - Thank Goodness!

The big and much hyped sell-off of the public forests in the UK has been scrapped today, or at least that what the government are saying now. A lot of hot air, not to mention forests of paper in consultation documents, letters to MPs, replies from SW1, leaflets, signs and newspaper lines, has been spent in large volumes that would in itself have contributed significantly to climate change and raised profits of the pulp industry.

The entire debate was to my mind a red herring from the outset, as nobody seemed to speak common sense on the matter, but rather just recite what someone else was saying. The politicians keep bleating it is all for "Big Society" not "Big Government". This included our snivelling career MP, Mark Harper, who would rather cowtow to Cameron and his bankster puppet masters, rather than his constituents, but also the voices of angry residents and the HOOF campaign who used fear and spin in the effort to fight the government's plan of change.

But after speaking with some of the leaders in the HOOF (Hands Off Our Forest) Campaign, I again realised and agreed with them that we live in a world of politics that is not working for your rights and privileges, but for corporate interests only. This is the UKplc. It is the Statutory system often misleadingly called "Society" that runs on a for-profit basis, including taxation and fines for anyone breaking the "rules". This is not law but a deceitful system that "Acts" as though it is law (by your consent). You see, Big Society IS Big Government (both run for profit in exactly the same misleading way)

The government had simultaneously enacted a public consultation document about how we want the future of forest management and ownership to go, at the same time as a background change to an existing "Act" (law?) that would make the consultation a waste of time. It seems they had already agreed a plan for sell-off and privatisation without proper procedure of introducing a Green Paper then White Paper to engage in discussions with the public and elected officials. The Public Bodies Bill (precursor to an "Act"), as it is known is/was (?) being simultaneously pushed through with clear aims to take away current legal protection measures given to the Forest of Dean in 1981 (after a long fight by angry residents or "Foresters") thus allowing sale to private investors. Maybe this illegality is the real reason for withdrawal of the sell-off, rather than it just simply being a mistake by fall-girl Caroline Spelman, who has today apologised (see link) for "her" mistake (does anyone actually believe ministers can change laws on their own say-so without pressures from elsewhere?).

I am sure this will raise it's head again once the Public Bodies Bill is passed, and perhaps in a more aggressive form as part of some future invention such as some UK international agreement to trade pollution permissions through the Carbon Tax trading scheme.

Until then, I wish the Wild Boar and all other woodland creatures peace in their natural home.

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14:01:11 - Wading through Winter

For the first time since May I actually got away from the Forest of Dean and stayed in the UK to do some photography! It was Christmas and I visited the Isle of Man with family for a week, when down came the snow. The Island was in shock and not a single road was gritted. For 3 days it didn't stop falling and everyone was confined to home - good practice for martial law I thought! With temperatures down to -3C much of the island's birdlife fled to the coast. When finally I could venture out, the beach in Douglas gave me some much needed time away from the hideous Christmas TV.

In fact, the weather over Christmas Eve and Day turned out to be fantastic, with superb light and clear skies, just perfect for lying down on the beach! Well OK, it was freezing, my hands hurt and body went numb as I lay motionless in full view of bemused Christmas shoppers. I doubted they could even see my intended subjects from the short distance from tide to promenade, which perhaps explained why so many dog walkers and Christmas strollers came up to me to have a nosey, and at the same time of course scaring away the prize - waders! It's been quite a while since I last enjoyed these tiny little tearaways that play a teasing and torturous game of "you creep as close as you can and when you put your eye to your camera I'll fly away!". Waders are so small that to get anything like decent sizes in the frame you need to be within 5 metres or so of them with a 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter.

The birds included ringed and grey plover, turnstone and sanderling, accompanied by gulls, rock pipits and hooded crows.

Yes, I really enjoyed the challenge and even though the light was short-lived at midwinter, the couple of hours a day I had with them was the best present I could have had.

Douglas Beach, Isle of Man, on Christmas Day. Great for lying down on!

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31:10:10 -  Trees, Climate and Health

It's the end of the harvest or Samhain, and I'm glad to say I'm back!  It's been a tough few months harvesting my efforts whether it be photos or my daughter!  She now walks and gets ever more demanding of my time and doesn't like me on the computer updating websites, and if ignored will climb everything in sight (my genes!!). 

On my return from Svalbard it took over 4 weeks  just to get my images processed and ready to send out to Aqua-Firma (baby to blame again!).  At the same time I'm trying to reply to an increased volume of emails, organising workshops, a talk (very time consuming!), and last but not least, I'm now involved with the UK's best known photography monthly, Practical Photography.

There have been several alarming, as well as some overdue, events on the world and UK stage that should concern us.  Worst is the sell off of Forestry Commission land (click link).  Half is to be sold to privatisation (Tories in power!)  and hence threatening a huge amount of land home to British Wildlife.  Houses may be built when or if trees are cleared, and more and more theme parks may appear, also at great cost not just to the ecology but the spiritual welfare of us as well.   We are told this is due to the UK deficit.  This is a joke of enormous proportion.   The UK has been bankrupt for decades.  Income tax goes mainly towards the paying off JUST the interest payments on "fiat" currency (pounds sterling) bought from a Central Bank - The Bank of England.   This bank prints money simply to sell to the government at interest.  When the government needs more cash, rather than print it's own, it buys it from this private company (it is not a public body as they want you to believe).  But many banks are now publicly owned that are offshoots of the Central Bank.  If The Bank is owed, as it is, and it's mainly ours, then we all can say - hey Bank, let's just drop the debt and start again.  I forego the debt I'm owed!  Bingo.  But they don't because the BofE is one huge illegal, deceitful and certainly uncharitable entity this country has been burdened with.  Our leaders are coerced into to supporting it - they are shown pictures of JFK etc.

One story linked to all of this could be (I say could be as no-one else has made the link yet as far as I know) the selling off of trees as carbon based funny money.  Trees could be worth vast fortunes if traded on a corrupt market - which carbon-trading is!  If you didn't know, carbon trading was introduced to the world hidden in the Bank Bailout Bill (HR1424 Division B: sections 100-115), and as part of the population's gullibility in believing carbon is an enemy where the climate is concerned.  Mmmm - you are made of Carbon too!  But thankfully, some scientists are now getting the story of climate change being the greatest pseudoscientific hoax (click link) ever foisted upon mankind into the press (October 9th, 2010).  I leave it to you to read the details and put these connections under your own scrutiny.  Don't take what I say as truth, find it for yourself, not from others.

I  believe the forests, including the world's great rainforests, are our spiritual heart.  They give us peace and silence.  The trees give us oxygen to breathe and homes to zillions of animals.  They are possibly ecosystems in their own individual right.  Trees help prevent floods and stabilise what could be dusty ground that winnows away in a wind.  We need more trees, not less.  We need more space to breathe and escape the corporate and stressful world this aggressor bears upon us.  The monetary and moral benefit to health in keeping our forests intact will far outweigh any other form of profit.  We will never get other nations to preserve their forests if we cut ours down.  We will never get them to grow more forests until we do likewise.  This is the World's Harvest.

Please fight to save your nearest forest, as well as the far distant ones in the tropics. 

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