What will be the star of Springwatch?

As I am typing this, I am watching the brand new series of one of my favourite TV programs in the UK: BBC's Springwatch. It comes a bit late in the year really, but all the same, it's my favourite program of the season. There's nothing like British wildlife. And I am wondering what animal will be the star of the show this year, the one that will fascinate the viewers and . My money is often on some sort of owl and I have seen some on the show already, but honestly I find owls a more autumnal bird. Another great contender is the otter, as you can see here from the otter sanctuary in Buckfastleigh in Devon. Otters are among my favourite animals in Britain, so I am truly rooting for them.

Keep the ban on fox hunting!

As people living here in the UK know, there will soon be a Parliamentary vote to relax the ban on fox hunting. You know with the title of this post where I stand on this issue: fox hunting is a cruel, barbaric, backward pseudo-sport enjoyed by cruel, barbaric, backward people who hide their uncivilized, crass, vulgar nature behind family wealth and often titles. Like Prince Charles, a prime example of the rich and thick, who threatened to leave the country if the ban was maintained. Please do, Charles! Foxes are part of British wildlife and far more useful to its ecosystem than that parasitic, inbred family of yours. In any case, they are not for your sadistic enjoyment, or your dogs. You little, little man. And Mr Cameron, you are a coward by pandering to those brainless, bloodthirsty idiots.

And don't get me wrong: I am not against hunting per se. I am a meat eater. But I find it pointless to hunt for something you would not eat. It is also cruel and unfair to the animal to go after him riding horses and with hounds to shred the prey to pieces. A prey that as I said has its place in the ecosystem and one of the most beautiful animals of Great Britain. And let's not forget that it is British wildlife that makes this island great in the first place. And the British love of their animals, domestic or wild, is one of their most admirable traits as a people. I felt very proud of my adopted country and its people when I saw these citizens wearing fox masks protesting against fox hunting by the Parliament. One of the most passionate and moving plea for keeping the ban comes from Chris Packham (of Springwatch/Autumnwatch fame) which you can find on YouTube here. I admit I borrowed a lot from him to write this post. Tell it like it is Chris!

Penultimate Springwatch tonight

I don't know if it will feature otters, but it is the penultimate Springwatch episode of 2015 tonight in a few minutes on BBC2. I did not follow it as much this year, what with life taking a lot of my time and keeping me away from the TV screen. I hope I can find time to catch up on BBC iPlayer. Anyway, to my British readers: watch it. Get the reminder on now. Turn the TV on. And enjoy British wildlife. So anyway, to illustrate this post, I decided to use this picture from the otter sanctuary in Buckfastleigh. From last year's holidays in Devon. The otter was eating a rats burger. This is one thing I love about otters: they are also predators and they eat the rodents I hate. Think of me if otters are featured tonight.

Michaela Strachan You Broke My Heart (When I Was 12)

There is no Springwatch tonight (booh, hiss!). It is a darn shame as there should be one episode every night of Spring, until Summer comes. Just like there should be one episode of Autumnwatch every night of Autumn. So well, instead of watching it, I am blogging and listening to an homage song by Scouting for Girls. Not an homage to the show, but one of the show's stars, and I am not talking about one of the critters. I am referring to Michaela Strachan,whose smile and shining personality makes for a good part of the show. Anyway, if I had been 12 watching her, I probably would have had a teenage crush on her. And there would have been nothing wrong with it: she is both a good role model for girls and a model for a boy. She has both beauty and brains and she also loves nature, so she has a good heart (and, my wife loves to remind me, she is also vegetarian). What's not to love about this woman? Anyway, this song is an homage to her, it is a very sweet one and pretty much the description of a teenage crush in a nutshell.

The peregrine falcons of Norwich Cathedral

This is a little piece of news that i found on the Facebook page of Springwatch. Which new season starts tonight, by the way. So for my readers living in the UK, please don't forget to tune in tonight at 8. Anyway, here is the bit of news: a family of peregrine falcons has chosen the Norwich Cathedral as their home. In French, the name is "faucon pèlerin", "pilgrim falcon", so it makes sense that these ones have a church as a nesting place. It must be quite a sight. My family has a bit of history with peregrine falcons, as they were among the hawks that had chosen our back garden as hunting grounds, because of the many birds mangers we had (and still have). Maybe I should choose Norwich as a future holiday destination. Until then, I wonder if they are going to be featured on Springwatch tonight.

A fox on the railway

I blogged before about the menagerie on the railway I travel every day to go to and back from work. The cats at the station where I wait for my train home especially, but also the pheasant. And there are rabbits, deers, other things too I haven't blogged about yet. Yesterday evening, a new fellow showed up: a red fox. They are very common here in the UK, I remember seeing them very often around the university residences where I lived. I loved seeing them, foxes being among my favorite animals. I cannot remember the last time I had seen one live. When I heard him ruffling in the shrubbery, I thought at first it was one of the cats, then he came out of the open. I could see him very well for a few moments, he was very close. But only for a few moments. He looked at me, I looked at him. I had this brownish orange-red colour (red foxes are never red, they are more orange foxes really) and I think he had something in his mouth, maybe a black bird, maybe some rodent. Or maybe he had nothing. When I tried to take a picture he moved away, then he started walking on the tracks, so all I could get of him was this shot. He is the brown blur on the right rail. The fox carried on walking away from the station, while the train was coming, just as oblivious as the cats seem to be in the same situation. But it made my day.

This of course reminded me a lot of Springwatch, where foxes are often featured. This year, they are quite a lot anyway. In the moment I saw the fox, the thought crossed my mind that, if I could take a good photo, I could send it to the program. A lot of viewers do it. But this one will certainly not make the cut. Nobody would believe this blur is a fox. A shame, really. But I was always a lousy photographer. This fox will still be around I hope for Autumnwatch. I might get lucky (okay, very lucky) then. I associate foxes far more with Autumnwatch and of course autumn. The fiery fur of the fox fits the autumnal surrounding perfectly. Nevertheless, it was nice to see one yesterday. I love to see them in any season.

Springwatch is on tonight

A quick post to remind every people living in the UK that the new season of Springwatch is on tonight on BBC2, at eight o'clock. As May is about to end, I find it late in spring to have a show featuring seasonal changes to British wildlife, but at least it is still on and I intend to watch it eagerly. I have uploaded here a picture I took at the Natural History Museum. It is of a stuffed barn owl, one of the many stars of the show. I love owls, as my long-time readers know, so it is one of my favourite of the stars of Springwatch and I hope we see plenty of them this season.

A barn owl

This picture of a barn owl was not taken by me, obviously. t was taken by the webcam of Springwatch. I thought I would upload it on Vraie Fiction because the colours fit so well with the blog's background. And because it is an owl and I love owls. I love how ghostly they are, especially barn owls (and they were at the origins of many haunting stories), with their spectral faces and deeply black eyes. I recently complained on this blog that Springwatch is aired way too late, when Spring is already becoming Summer. That said, I still love the show all the same and its many stars. So I won't complain too much for now on, I will just enjoy the wild life.

Springwatch comes late

Tonight was the first episode of Springwatch 2013. On the 27th of May! There was a special program in the afternoon, but I didn't watch it, I was outside (it was a bank holiday here) and for once it was warm and sunny. I watched tonight's episode distractedly. It was an interesting program. I remember mainly the otters and there was also a lot about the cold and thus slow season we have been having in 2013 and how it affected British wildlife. I still find it odd that it starts so late. I don't know how June will look like, but Spring is at least in theory mostly gone in June. Even in May, it is ending. Shouldn't they air it in April, when it is more representative of the season, including its nastier sides, which we got plenty of in 2013? I guess it is less about the season than the wildlife.

Winter Purgatory

I was wondering about it yesterday, today it was confirmed: it had snowed during the night. This morning, it looked quite lovely on the ground. And the train was on time. They were forecasting a snowy Apocalypse, icy Hell. This was not nearly as bad as this. Then it snowed some more, I walked in it at lunch break. It was not so lovely, as the snow was not a pleasant one: it was thick, melting snow that wouldn't stay on the ground, but would turn someone wet and cold in minutes. On the way back, it had turned into rain and the station was icy. They had put buckets of salt all around. I rarely find winter hellish. I sometimes find it heavenly, especially when I have nothing else to do than enjoy it. But today and this evening, I thought it was pure Purgatory.

But not all is bad: there is Winterwatch on right now and it will be on all week. It is the spinoff/brother of Autumnwatch/Springwatch. I am a bit too tired to give it much attention, but I love to see images of British wildlife and the English countryside can be so beautiful during winter, all bare and quiet. It makes me forget about wet snow and how unpleasant winter can be when it is Purgatory on Earth.

I miss (most of) Springwatch

There is Springwatch on the BBC since the end of May. I have been watching it, but episodically and rarely a whole episode. I barely noticed it was back. There are reasons for it: I love British wildlife, but I much prefer it in autumn, so I am a more eager viewer of the brother show, Autumnwatch. I also think that starting the Spring season in late May is, well, late. Springtime is almost over with and it is practically summer. I had the same issue with Autumnwatch in 2007, which had started in November. it is just a bit too late to get into it properly. I still enjoy watching clips of it. And I still believe the team is doing a great work educating the public about animal life and environmental issues. I almost feel bad not watching it much. There is so much rubbish on TV, after all.

The bats by the attic

I missed Springwatch tonight, but I had the chance to witness my own bit of wildlife: I saw our neighbours the bats tonight. It was just a moment, but I saw them fairly well. They were two of them, dancing together (courting?) as the sun was going down. I can see them when the sun goes down and shadows get bigger, in that moment in the evening when night takes its place but is not quite there yet, "entre chien et loup" as we say in Québec. It was a fantastic spectacle. I never get tired of the bats. Living in the attic creates a certain proximity with winged creatures. They really are neighbours. Elusive ones, but still.

Springwatch is on

Hey, I just discovered it this evening: Springwatch was on! I catched it just in time. I cannot believe I didn't know, although it is a bit late in the year to have a "Spring" watch. It is true that I am not as big a fan of Springwatch as I am of Autumnwatch, but it is still lovely to see British wildlife. There are the usual stars of the show: beavers (they have been reintroduced in Britain), foxes (among my favourite), barn owls (another favourite of mine), various small rodents, birds and badgers. For me, a badger is mainly the name of a character in this British classic and this weird song. I saw a dead one by the road last Sunday, going back home. I felt a bit sad. Badgers, like all animals, are fascinating creatures. I will learn more about them with the program.I don't think I can love them as much as foxes or owls, but they will be my wildlife discovery of the year.

This picture was taken in the Keswick Museum. Any excuse is good enough to put pictures from Keswick here, but there is another reason for putting it here: as badgers are elusive, it was easier to take a picture of a dead stuffed one than a live one.

All the good TV I have been missing

It might be the nice weather, it might be because I am too absorbed in watching DVDs and trying to get through, but I missed quite a lot of good TV recently. Well, good, I don't know for sure for some of it, but I certainly am missing on program that would interest me, incidentally all of them are from the BBC.

There is Springwatch, which I have been watching this year, but not regularly. It is Autumnwatch's twin program. I like it a lot, but not nearly as much. Question of atmosphere, maybe? Autumn might be a more suitable season for animal watching, for me anyway. In any case, I don't watch Springwatch nearly as much. There is also Luther, which I haven't bothered watching. There is also a series of programs on opera on BB4, which I have been really curious about but never came around to watch them. I sort of hope it's not so good. I hate to miss good TV.

So, have you been missing any good programs lately?