Knowing the score and that.

We've updated the roll call of heroes at the side with a link to the Conservation Volunteers blog, they look at invertebrates among other things so if you like bugs is worth a look.  Now with actual link.

Apart from that we have a lot of new stuff in thanks to a trip to an old haunt of mine.  A trip to Walthamstow provided me with a massive haul of old hardcore and breaks tracks from 1992.  All your old favourites are there including Hurt You So by Jonny L, tracks by Manix, Shades Of Rhythm and an LP by The Goodies (sample track Spanking the Goldfish) also a nice 7" from Cabaret Voltaire Here to Go, from the late 80's and such been ages since I've got anything worth a damn on a 7" so will be worth listening to.

CD wise I have albums from Moby (Ambient the track Dog is definitely the stand out there.) Vitalic and Smash TV on BPitch Control.

Finally we have a few things for your consideration if you're at a loose end with articles on  Vegetable Lambs at Shukernature.

Or some piss poor chinese electronic tat via Xjets youtube channel. 

Holiday 16. Bichos yo!

Hello You.   I was toying with the idea of a live update during my hols and  that but thought better of it. Even though we had free Wifi and cut off mobile data and roaming I'm not sure how much it would have cost me (turns out its bugger all) and the fact is I've grown accustomed to a physical keyboard. Without ceremony here is our report part 1.

This was a welcome break from work and the norm, we stayed at the Golden Donaire (pronounced don irie rather than don air) hotel in La Pineda.  Previously we only visited for a day trip so it was all new to us,  I thought it would be further down near the old town and such but we were completely the other way down past Cap Salou and onto the main strip itself.  Hotel is nice, Golden hotels are renowned for their food which is top notch, had pancakes every day for breakfast along with many other nice stuff.  Also managed to have a good room too even though it was maze like in its design.  Pool is cold but a sensible depth for once and was mainly used for activities such as water basketball and water polo.  There were also some smaller pools that my room overlooked, these were largely dominated by kids and a few sun loungers for the adults.  Indoor pool was thin and long and hot for once, there was a sauna used only by Russians which kinda looked like a shop window for boiled Slavs.  Nice

The beach is a  huge sandy one complete with a few rock jetties out into the bay at one end, the other end is dominated by an industrial landscape and harbour complete with random fires and visiting container ships. There is an old sketch with Reeves and Mortimer blacked up as Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye sitting on the dock of the bay in an old TV watching the boats come in and that was us really as its quite busy.  The sea wall is the most intriguing place on there being random boulders with a small beacon at the end and a jumble of flat areas for sunbathing.  But mainly its good for snorkeling, and by good I mean really good.  I've seen things I've never seen before and ticked off one of my bucket list items as well. 

What was down there then.  A few Peacock Worms on the rocks and hermit crabs including a white one clawed species.  They had less urchins for once which is a blessing and as a result had space for much more weirder residents.  I saw 3 octopuses and was crawled over by another which was totally unpleasant, nasty suckery tentacles ugh.  They also had a few fish around the rocks including stuff that had its boundaries.  This included a black fish with round pectoral fins that only lived at the bottom under the rock itself and small Blennies that lived in the rock peering out with their blue dotted faces. 

If you want to know my bucket list item then read on as its quite involved.  I've always wanted to see a sea slug in the wild.  I kinda realised this back when I first started going to Spain in the 90's, as I saw a Sea Hare on my first visit to Mallorca but as its brown and not very photogenic it doesn't count (even though Aplysia is a Nudibranch).  It didn't help that all the photos and pictures I saw back in the books made them out to be beautiful.  This time though it was going to be different though, my first trip round the sea wall I found and photographed a couple of what I thought would be a sea slug but turned out to be a Flatworm Pseudoceros Velutinus. The next time I was down there I found what I was looking for a tiny Aeolid Sea Slug called Cratena Peregrina. It was pink with a white body and is easily overlooked and that I thought would be that.

Can you spot it?

Felimare!

The next time I was down by the wall I thought that I had seen most of what it had to offer and a good look around the rocks had scared up the aforementioned Octopus (really nice moves like a cloud across the rocks with accompanying camouflage to boot.) This time I came across, what I thought was a large yellow fish that turned out not to be.  I'd clocked the big gill on the back and knew I had my second sea slug and this time its huge.  I mean its about 5 inches long and bright yellow decided to take a few shots and then because it might not come out some film as well just for good luck.

I don't think its got a common name but I'm proposing calling it a Yellow Fellmare from a corruption of its Latin name and its colouring.

Here endeth this lesson.

Butterflies at the Natural History Museum

Took a trip up town to see this spectacle of nature.  Every year the Natural History Museum in South Kensington puts on this show. Its in a polytunnel out in the grounds near the tube entrance, as you come in, you buy your ticket from the shed nearby and enter inward.  After the lab like plastic strips separating the outside from the inside you'll find yourself in a small tropical rainforest area complete with path and a few boards up with fun facts on the Lepidoptera.

There are plenty of things to see including a hatching area where if you are lucky you can see a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis or the table of rotting fruit which is favoured by some species.

Not pictured rotting Pineapples

 The fruit theme is explored further by the addition of orange and lemon bushes alongside some less recognizable flora. 

So what is there to see?
You get a few large species including Morpho, Owl Butterfly, some Swallowtails and an Atlas Moth bringing up the moth side of things. Some were quite tatty looking, especially the Eggfly with frayed wings and the like, possibly due to age and that. 

In the center was a shed with rows and rows of Chrysalises on poles.  I noticed a Monarch or another Danaeus species newly hatched as well as a Sulphur Yellow too.  They also had a guy in a shirt holding up an Atlas Moth which is truly huge. 

If you want to know the size check his hand in comparison.

After checking yourself for any stowaways in the mirror you can exit through the strips into the gift shop where you can buy all sorts of butterfly related tat and such. Reminds me a bit of the old butterfly house at Syon Park but that is now sadly closed.

Butterflies at the Natural History Museum.

It Costs. £6.50 to get in, Natural History Members get in free.

You can get there by Tube on these lines

Piccadilly. District and Circle exit at South Kensington and follow the signs down the tunnel as you go out.

(In fact this makes a great day out, there are a cluster of  museums in the area and a short walk will bring you to Hyde Park as well).

Son Baulo 2015

You were supposed to get a post from us explaining about my up coming holiday and maybe a link to some stuff interesting or not.  Blame me for being preoccupied and that but still have a link to something interesting
(especially if you own a PSP still).

I've dug out the blog post from back in 2010 when we were last at Can Picafort. A few things have changed since then, including an archaeological survey team sent to fix up the Iron Age Graves at the necropolis on the headland and an absence of the Guided walk to the Son Serra Museum.  Also the Torrent (small river) has been capped, where it used to flow down to the sea, now it doesn't.

However as I'll detail here, there is still a shedload to see especially if you like animals.

Still a good walk down to what I call Leekspin Island (S'illot Des Porros) where the little beach and attendant watchtower are still there.  Finally had the guts to actually swim out there (I estimate the sea floor to be about 8ft/ 2.5 metres down  at the deepest and as there are no real currents you could conceivably walk most of the way out) but as the rocks surrounding it are full of urchins not to mention the island itself is composed of largely jagged rocks I'd recommend flip flops or some other waterproof shoe to swim with.

There is a smaller island further out that is a regular seabird roost with Audoin's Gulls on one side and cormorants on the other. You may catch a glimpse of a Little Ringed Plover on the rocks as well as a few other things too. There are a load of ducks as well as Moorhens and Coot on the Torrent by the hotel and occasionally there were Little Egrets stalking the shores.

There was some pretty cool insects too, a massive amount of beetles this time (more later) as well as the ever present Cicadas too as well as an incursion of  Painted Lady butterflies mostly on Sea Holly.  Most interesting of all was some huge hornet (actually a hornet like Mimic)  Scolia Flavifrons an easy 2inch/ 5cm in length, that sculled around the dunes (we have film as well as a few photos) with ease.  Most odd of all was that we saw some dung beetles packaging up some fresh horse shit and bundling it into a pre dug hole in  the dune.  We have a good clip of this including the smaller beetle shirking its responsibility and buggering off up a dune halfway through.  I also saw a dead longhorn beetle (and at present still unidentified) which is impressive as well as a number of smaller ground beetle types.

Finally if you really want to go to a great place to see wildlife and have binoculars with you then the marshlands at S'albufera at Playa del Muro, a mile or so outside of Alcudia is well worth a trip. Its free to go in but do pop into reception to gain a permit (and browse through their collection of guide books, they had bird books in all major languages including Collins Birds Of  Britain and Europe) and see whats around.  I saw Egrets using a tree as a sort of Heronry as well as knobhead Coot (red knobbed Coot) and a suspected Gallinule lurking in the reedbeds.

Anyway that was part one, stay tuned for nude beaches, days out and a dog being hit with a slipper.  As I've yet to upload any shots anywhere have some old clips from 2010 or so.

Sand Cicada

Incidentally they've added a Italian translation and misspelled "Pickpokets" now.

Small hermit cave Son Baulo.

Cylindropuntia Possibly subulata, what a cracker.

Oil is 32 an lives at the bike hire place, its the bollocks cocker.

S'illot Des Porros aka Leekspin island.

Namco Fun City VS god and that

Yesterday I took a trip up town as it was nice out, and it never fails to surprise me how much strange stuff I find out and about.  For the most of the day I was round by  the Namco Centre now called Namco Fun City but will probably change next time I'm up there. Decided to come out at Southwark and head down that way via The Cut and see what we could find.  First of all there was a shop that sold nothing but sheet music so if you have a piano or guitar (other instruments available) and have a hankering for any music in sheet form then this will be your first port of call, its near Waterloo station if you are interested.  I finally found my way down to the river (its by the London Aquarium near County Hall) and I came across a plaque dedicated to those who lost their lives through VCJD (you may know it as BSE) on the wall opposite Big Ben.

Finally made my way into Namco Fun City or whatever it is now and had a go on a few cabs.  They still have the Temple Run infinite runner cab set up to dispense tickets (nearly everything dispenses tickets) and somehow its gained a Flappy Bird cab as well which to my knowledge is the only hardware left that its not been ported to (there are a ton of 8bit / 16bit ports including Colecovision and possibly Sharp X1).

The only other thing was playing a few games on the slot and understanding how a person could get addicted to them.  I got 2 7s due to activating a feature and was 1 nudge short and for the rest of the day was convinced it was all my fault and if I had one more coin I COULD get the bonus.  Luckily I was only £2 down but damn that was scary.

Walking around Soho some guy stopped me with a random don't kill him and points to the pavement.  There is a tiny rat hopping along, tail outstretched and acting for all the while like a little clockwork toy.  I know vermin aren't cute but damn it was endearing to see it hop about and its just like a cat toy.  Also managed to find a place that sells Jones Soda one of the best Cola's around, they had a panda pops style blue Bubblegum flavour but in a glass bottle and totally ace it was.  You don't see them much but their straight cola is definitely worth it too.

I Can't Sing stuff.

I don't normally go on about work very often. Largely its dull and boring and its the same thing day in and day out, but occasionally, just occasionally we get drama.

Clearing out a bin at work we found that one of my tenants had been a part of the recent(ly closed) musical I can't sing.  Its loosely based on the X Factor, but mainly comes across as an extended TV Burp sketch (its co written by Harry Hill) from bits that I've subsequently seen online. They are definitely funnier read out than sung that's for sure.

How do I know this, because I have a few ring binders with the sheet music and a script from the show, as well as a few other bits and bobs including an etched spanner with I can't sing on it.  Not sure if this is valuable or not or whether its worth the hassle scanning and putting up the sheet music, maybe in 40 years time.

X Files Season 10

Big fan of this back in the day and didn't realize that Chris Carter had authorised this comic as a continuation of the TV show.  This is something else I'm trying to get scanned in as I have most of the Titan comics lying around with a few graphic novel anthologies as well (that and Edge Magazine I definitely want some space back).

Finally we always have room for wildlife.

Saw two odd things today while out in the garden, the first was a newt not sure of the species though it could be a Common Newt.  Its hiding under some plants by some bricks and is very small.

About an Inch long fact fans.

I also saw a Rosemary Beetle which are new to the UK and are pests on Rosemary, Sage and Lavender.
Its rather nice and appears golden in the light, but if you catch it a certain way then it turns green with red stripes.

Not a great shot, but you can see the lines on its back just about.