April 1st

The blackthorn archway

promised enchantment, a door

distant bells ring out

 

What a beautiful walk this morning. One of the blackthorn trees on the edge of the moors, bathed in the warming sun of early spring, was flowering. It must sit in a sun trap, as the other blackthorns nearby were not as magnificently decked out as this beauty. The sky was a clear blue, the morning chill was ebbing away. There were birds everywhere. Woodpeckers (Green and Great Spotted), Buzzards, Chiff-Chaffs, Treecreepers to name some of the more unusual ones.

Managed to get some (I say this humbly!) wonderful photos. Here are four, two of the blackthorn tree in question, one of a feisty wren who took exception to my presence and sat above my head singing loudly at me (I assume telling me in musical terms to “piss off”). And finally a teeny baby frog Debbie found on the moors. It is very early for a juvenile frog, when most of the new brood seem to have only just hatched into tadpoles, seething in the shallow ponds and stagnant parts of the river, not sure how it emerged so quickly as I doubt something this small crawled up onto land last spring.

March 23rd

Firing a warning

Shock absorbing skull rattles

Eager drummer boy

 

Woodpeckers, specifically the Greater Spotted are getting right into their woodpecking at this time of year. I went for a run and I could hear one clearly. The biology of a woodpeckers skull is quite incredible. The cushioning of their brain casing is a miracle of evolution (if I’m allowed to use the words “miracle” and “evolution” in the same sentence).

This article from the Independent gives some indication as to how Woodpeckers avoid serious brain damage from their incessant head banging.

I quote:

“Brain injuries may be caused by an impact or a sudden change in the velocity of the head.

However, woodpeckers experience no ill effects even though their beaks hit tree trunks at six to seven metres a second, with deceleration producing enormous forces of up to 1,000G.”

Yes, 1,000G.

Now, your average human, according to my sources – i.e the internet :) usually gets knocked out when G-force suddenly reaches between 7G and 9G, so this is an incredible feat. I shudder to think what would happen to a person if they were suddenly  subjected to 1,000G, the least of our worries would be our eyes popping out cartoon style (or retracting to pea sized shrivelled raisins), considering what would be happening to our brains.

So here is a vid of a test subject being subjected to extreme G-force through a wind blast test. Purely for scientific purposes and not in any way comedic.

 

And finally a pic of a male Greater Spotted Woodpecker, the UK’s most common woodpecker. (from RSPB website).