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mariacallous · 8 months

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While driving in the swamplands some 40 miles west of Miami, Mike Kirkland noticed a log lying in the road ahead, so he and his colleague stepped out of their white GMC work truck. This was no log. “As we got closer, we realized it was a python,” he says. “It was so big, it looked like a fallen tree.” Kirkland asked the colleague to hang back, then crept to within five feet of the predator as it basked on the warm pavement.

“She saw me,” he says. “I’m 5'11". And she picked herself up and practically looked me in the eye.” The snake’s sheer size gave him pause—but not for long. She stretched open her mouth, revealing dozens of curved teeth as sharp as daggers, then launched her head at Kirkland. He dodged a couple of strikes before spotting an opening to grab the snake’s head. The nonvenomous 17-foot constrictor then tried to wrap herself around the sweating Kirkland, who slipped through coil after coil. About 20 minutes later, the exhausted snake gave in, and Kirkland euthanized the animal.

This is all in a day’s work for Kirkland, an invasive-animal biologist who manages the South Florida Water Management District’s Python Elimination Program. His team patrols roads like this one beside Big Cypress National Preserve looking for Burmese pythons, one of the world’s most unyielding invasive species. The team recently removed their 8,000th python.

Florida has a twisted relationship with the Burmese python. Americans imported nearly 100,000 of them from Southeast Asia between 1996 and 2006. (The US banned their import in 2012.) Many pet owners hadn’t realized that the snakes grow to 12 feet, on average, and they abandoned them. South Florida’s warm wetlands offer the perfect adoptive habitat. Their inconspicuous patterning conceals them in the already remote Everglades, which makes them hard to track. Ecologists peg their detectability at less than 1 percent. That means if there are 100 snakes in your survey area, you’d be lucky to spot just one.

The pythons officially established a self-sustaining population in the ecosystem in 2000, according to the US Geological Survey. Today, there are likely tens of thousands of them across South Florida, and the USGS believes the number will only increase as populations expand to new areas within the peninsula. (They’re not likely to spread to similar wetlands in Alabama and Louisiana, though, since they can’t survive the colder temperatures they’d have to migrate through to exit northern Florida.) According to the USGS report, eradication is “likely impossible.” And now, says Kirkland, “They are eating all of our native wildlife.”

Earlier this year, USGS scientists synthesized decades of research on python biology and potential control tools. They described 76 prey species found in the guts of pythons: mammals, birds, iguanas, and even alligators. “Our native wildlife is not used to a large snake predator of that size,” says Melissa Miller, an invasion ecologist with the University of Florida. “Something that large is not really on their radar.” Ecologists often describe an invasive predator’s prey as “naive,” since they haven’t co-evolved with the thing that now might kill them.

That has created a problem. Around 2010, soon after meeting this big, new predator that could outcompete and eat them, South Florida’s mammal populations collapsed. Large and medium-size mammals have been scarce for almost a decade, leaving mostly smaller mammals, like rodents.

Some ecologists thought the pythons would become victims of their own success. “They were supposedly out of food,” says Paul Taillie, a wildlife ecologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But Taillie’s research has shown that pythons just switched to eating the smaller mammals instead, causing those populations to drop too. In 2021, Taillie reported disappointing proof that mammals were not bouncing back. “There’s exceedingly little sign of any mammal activity” in South Florida, he says.

The only resistant species has turned out to be black rats—but they’re also invasive. Black rats arrived in the Americas from Europe centuries ago onboard the ships of explorers and colonizers. They’re resistant because they reproduce a lot and don’t compete with the pythons or large mammals for food: They can scavenge carcasses and eat plants, insects, and scraps from humans. This is the reason they thrive all over the world.

So can anything curb the python’s takeover? First, there are teams like Kirkland’s, which employ contractors to track and capture the snakes year-round. Every capture and kill follows ethics guidelines and federal laws about transporting illegal pets. “They need to be respected as the beautiful living creatures that they are,” Kirkland says. “They’re here through no fault of their own.”

And for six of the past 10 years, Florida has tried to educate the public about invasive species and the folly of keeping pythons as pets, thanks to the Florida Python Challenge, a 10-day event for amateur python hunters, in partnership with the state’s wildlife agency. Participants catch the snakes, which they euthanize. This year, at least 840 participants registered for a shot at $17,500 in prizes. The tally for this year’s hunt hasn’t been released yet, but each of the last two hunts yielded over 200 captures. “It really does a lot to educate the public,” Kirkland says, “to teach about the importance of why you shouldn’t allow an invasive exotic pet to get out.”

But scientists also want to know if the nonhuman denizens of the Everglades are pushing back against the python—specifically, to see if pythons have their own “prey naivete.” Could other species be preying on young pythons?

To answer this question, in 2020 and 2021 a team of USGS researchers implanted 2- to 3-foot-long pythons with radio transmitters and released them back into Big Cypress National Preserve. The transmitters tracked movements down to a 3-meter radius, and each transmitter had a “mortality sensor” that was triggered if the animal hadn’t moved in 24 hours.

Nineteen young pythons died during the study period. Team members waded into the swamp to find out exactly where and how. They snooped for every sign imaginable: paw prints, fur, bite marks, scrapes, and scat. Dead snakes and transmitters turned up in soil, in trees, and underwater. The team brought any carcasses they could find back to the lab for necroscopies. Twelve of the 19 cases had enough evidence to point to a killer, according to results published earlier this year in a study titled “Natives bite back.”

They had expected some deaths, but not as many as they found, says Amy Yackel Adams, a USGS ecologist on the team. “We were quite surprised,” she says, “especially by predation of native Florida species.”

Native alligators and cottonmouth snakes killed eight of the 12, and mammals killed four. One native cotton rat killed a python while being attacked. That rat was actually larger than the young snake, making it a risky meal. (The team couldn’t say which mammals killed the other three pythons, but they’ve noted bobcats and coyotes in the area. It’s possible that these species or others, like birds, killed the other seven snakes—but the researchers couldn’t find enough evidence to rule out other possibilities, like starvation.)

“It’s always nice to see native species getting the upper hand with Burmese pythons, as it’s often not the case,” Miller says. She’s experienced alligators and crocodiles killing pythons—and a 15-foot python eating a 6-foot gator. (Miller contributed to the USGS review, but not the “Natives bite back” study. Her lab measures each snake from the Florida Python Challenge in an impartial judging role.)

It’s not surprising that native animals would begin pushing back, says Taillie, who was not involved in either USGS study: “Prey populations of invasive species will start to respond over time and adjust their behaviors.” There are a few historical examples. On the Spanish Cíes islands, for example, native birds called shags shifted their nests to sites less vulnerable to invasive minks. In Australia, native snakes evolved resistance to the toxins of invasive cane toads, and ate fewer toads. Analogous adaptations could be happening here, according to Taillie.

But, he continues, “I would be surprised if there was enough of that to decrease the population of pythons in any significant way.”

“If they’re recognizing this invasive [species] as a food source, that’s a glimmer of hope,” agrees Adams. “That will be a piece of the puzzle, a very tiny sliver of management for maintaining healthy native species. But that alone doesn’t even come close.”

Animal dynamics won’t eradicate pythons on their own, but Taillie says neither will state hunting programs, which are at the mercy of taxpayer funding. Plus, he says, “Finding a python in the Everglades is like finding a needle in the haystack. And it’s a really large haystack. You only need a couple to survive, and then they can bounce back.”

“It’s not realistic that we’re going to get rid of all of them,” Kirkland agrees. But with the right technology, he thinks they can drive python numbers down enough that native animals will return: “The technology is updating itself every day. We’re trying to stay on the cutting edge of that.”

One of those methods is tagging pythons and tracking them to learn about their habits and to find other pythons. Miller’s team has tagged the snakes during the breeding season, when multiple males congregate around a female. “If you tag a male, he can lead you to where these breeding events are happening. And then you can remove all the snakes,” she says.

Others now tag pythons’ prey, like rabbits, raccoons, and opossums. When the snakes swallow the prey, they swallow the tag. It’s then easier to study or euthanize them. University of Florida researchers also tried putting rabbits in snake-proof cages in the Everglades to lure pythons closer to remote cameras. Nine rabbit pens lured 22 pythons over 90 days, and each stayed in the area for over an hour on average, according to a state report. “It sounds like a simple idea—and it is—but it’s also brilliant. It’s another way to get at these hidden pythons that we probably wouldn’t otherwise have found,” Kirkland says. Combining rabbit scents and remote traps might yield the same results.

Another idea referenced by the USGS paper pairs near-infrared cameras with an algorithm trained to detect the Burmese python’s unique markings. The system would display the snake onscreen as a bright white object that could be tracked in real time. Kirkland’s team has been involved in early testing, and he envisions equipping trucks and drones to find the most well-hidden invaders. “That’s still being dialed in. but it shows some promise,” he says.

USGS scientists are also wondering if gene-editing technology could help. Scientists could modify female snakes to only birth male offspring. After many years, the dearth of reproductive females would bottleneck the population. (Researchers have previously released genetically engineered mosquitoes in Florida to produce a similar population crash.) USGS scientists are exploring the feasibility of this idea, but concrete plans are still far off.

So for now, the state mostly relies on patrols like Kirkland’s. After his bout with the 17-footer back in 2018, Kirkland hauled the dead snake away in the back of his GMC, affectionately named Python 1. Five years later, he now cruises the wetlands in a new truck, Python 2. The mammals still haven’t returned. The snakes still haven’t left. But he speaks with a confidence you’d expect from a guy who grabs giant snakes by the head. “I’ve got about 20 years until I retire, and I’m really optimistic that we’re going to be in a better place by then,” he says. “But these things take time.”

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gokitetour · 3 months

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5 Best National Parks in Singapore

Singapore is a refuge for environment enthusiasts with an abundance of verdant green areas and well-preserved natural havens, surprising tourists despite its reputation as a busy metropolis. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is a green jewel among Singapore's top national parks, home to the highest mountain in the country and an abundance of wildlife. In the middle of the city, this rainforest-filled area provides a getaway into the natural world.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, located on the northern boundary, shows the splendour of mangrove swamps and tidal ponds. It is an important stopover for migrating birds and welcomes birdwatchers and environmental enthusiasts to observe the peaceful coexistence of flora and animals. The Labrador Nature Reserve, located along the southern shore, provides a peaceful respite with its coastal walks, historic treasures, and magnificent overlooks. It offers a calm hideaway for anyone wishing to escape the city's hustle and bustle. East Coast Park, which runs along the eastern coast, serves as a recreational sanctuary where the beauty of the shoreline blends harmoniously with outdoor activities. With expansive beaches, bicycle paths, and food options, it's popular with both locals and visitors. These national parks represent Singapore's dedication to preserving its natural heritage while also providing a varied range of outdoor activities.

Here are some of the best national parks in Singapore.

1. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve: This magnificent patch of tropical forest, located within the city's boundaries, provides the ideal respite from the city's hustle and bustle. This natural reserve covers 163 hectares and includes Singapore's highest peak, Bukit Timah Hill. It's an excellent area to take in the sounds and fragrances of the forest on well-marked hiking routes and mountain bike roads. Among Singapore's top four nature reserves, it's ideal for family vacations where youngsters may discover the natural flora and wildlife.

2. Singapore Botanic Gardens: This verdant tropical garden in the city center is without a doubt one of Singapore's most popular national parks, as well as the only one designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Singapore Botanic Gardens are ideal for a leisurely stroll, a family picnic, or an active nature ramble. As you travel through this botanical paradise, prepare to be awed by the sweeping panoramas, beautiful lakes with swans, and a gorgeous orchid garden.

3. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve: With its rich biodiversity and vibrant ecosystems, Singapore's first ASEAN heritage park is a naturalist's dream. Covered in enormous mangrove forests, it is one of Singapore's premier national parks for unravelling nature's mysteries, with 150 kinds of rare and unusual birds in the wetlands. Explore the various pathways on this ecological jewel to see mudskippers, water snakes, birds, and monitor lizards. The rangers are quite nice, and the kids will have a fantastic time exploring this magnificent site.

4. Labrador Nature Reserve: This is one of Singapore's nicest parks, managed by the National Parks Board, and it offers a gorgeous sea vista as well as an oasis of peace amidst the city sounds. The Labrador Nature Reserve is ideal for an evening stroll or a leisurely bike ride while listening to the sounds of woodland birds and rustling leaves. This hidden treasure is easily accessible by public transportation and is ideal for running, fishing, and enjoying spectacular sunset views. There are also two little playgrounds for children to keep them busy.

5. East Coast Park: This magnificent beach park is an excellent spot to spend quality time with family and friends. This is one of Singapore's trendiest national parks, since it is always humming with activity and offers a variety of recreational possibilities. This is the ideal weekend retreat, with distinct walking and cycling routes, a woodland lodge for rent, a lovely beach to relax on, and grill pits. Those seeking thrills and activity can participate in water sports, cable skiing, beach volleyball, and so on. There are eateries and fast-food shops where you can get a quick snack while enjoying the refreshing sea wind.

Singapore, despite its urban surroundings, is devoted to preserving green spaces and promoting biodiversity, as seen in its top national parks. These parks, which range from the UNESCO-listed Singapore Botanic Gardens to the verdant Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, home to Singapore's highest peak, provide a peaceful fusion of urban and natural environments.

As a crucial migratory bird habitat, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is evidence of Singapore's dedication to environmental protection. The varied experiences offered by Labrador Nature Reserve, with its charming coastal setting, and East Coast Park, which offers leisurely enjoyment along the coastlines, appeal to those seeking both adventure and relaxation.

Examining Singapore tour packages from Delhi for individuals thinking about visiting provides a convenient and exciting element to the trip. These packages make vacation planning easier and guarantee that the fascinating attractions of Sungei Buloh, Labrador, East Coast Park, Bukit Timah, and the Botanic Gardens are all expertly included in an extensive and unforgettable tour. These national parks function as urban havens, beckoning residents and visitors to experience nature as Singapore continues to strike a balance between modernization and a dedication to green areas. Travelers are invited to experience an enlightening trip into the heart of this dynamic and environmentally conscious city because of the attractiveness of Singapore's top national parks and the convenience of touring them with tour packages

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whywishesarehorses · 3 years

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A Mustang Crisis Looms in the West

With too many animals on public lands and too many on the public’s hands, the federal wild horse management program is short of money and palatable solutions.

By Dave Philipps Published March 22, 2020

CHALLIS, Idaho — Dawn broke over the peaks of the Lost River Range, revealing a chase in the wide open valley below. Seven wild horses crashed through the sage, dark manes billowing in the golden light, pursued by a government contractor in a glossy helicopter that dodged left and right like a mechanical Border collie, driving the band forward into a hidden corral.

Within hours, the captured mustangs had been sorted, loaded onto trucks to be stamped with an identification number and sent to the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse storage system. And the helicopter was back out hounding the hills for more.

All over the West, similar scenes have played out as the federal government fights to control the number of wild horses roaming public lands. Managers say they need to keep the herds down so they don’t destroy delicate native species habitat and threaten the livelihoods of ranchers.

But in recent years, the Bureau of Land Management has been losing that fight on two fronts: It hasn’t been able to round up nearly enough horses to limit the wild population. And it doesn’t know what to do with the ones it has managed to capture.

The roundup operation itself is strikingly efficient — a helicopter and a few workers in jean jackets can catch scores of mustangs in a day. The bureau rounded up 7,300 in 2019.

But once they are caught, they have to be fed and cared for. And the costs and frictions of having so many animals on the government’s hands — 49,000 at last count — have pushed the whole wild horse program toward collapse.

The rented pastures and feed lots where they are kept now devour more than two-thirds of the program’s budget, leaving little money for anything else, including looking for ways to get the bureau out of its current fix.

Low on cash, the bureau cut roundups drastically in recent years. But officials acknowledge that the move just made matters worse, by allowing the population on the range to grow rapidly. There are now about 100,000 wild horses and burros on public lands — more than at any time since the days of the Old West. The government reckons the land can sustain only about 27,000.

Bureau officials warn that the mustang herds are a looming catastrophe for the land, and there is no cheap or obvious solution. Capturing all the excess horses and caring for them in storage for the rest of their lives could cost up to $3 billion. Doing nothing may prove costly, too.

“If we don’t get this controlled, it’s just going to get worse,” said Alan Shepherd, the on-range branch chief for the wild horse program. Mustangs have already destroyed fragile desert springs in some places, and the birds, snakes and butterflies that depend on them, he said: “We are going to get to the point where the public lands are going to be almost unusable by anything.”

Mr. Shepherd started his career 30 years ago working on an emergency roundup on the Nellis Air Force Base missile test range in southern Nevada, where drought and overpopulation killed thousands of mustangs.

Now, near the end of his career, he worries that more herds are headed for a similar collapse.

Wild horse welfare groups argue that the crisis is largely invented. They say the government sets its population targets artificially low to justify mass removals that serve the interests of cattle ranchers and distract from other public land policies that are far more damaging.

“It’s a bait and switch,” said Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, a group that has lobbied against roundups. “They say wild horses are an existential threat; meanwhile, they are loosening regulation on energy extraction. We do agree that roundups are creating a crisis in management, but the claims of overpopulation and horses starving are just not borne out by on-the-ground observations. Generally, the horses are doing pretty good.”

Crisis or no crisis, the number of horses on the range has risen into uncharted territory. Mr. Shepherd estimated that while 7,300 horses were captured in 2019, 17,000 foals were born. “We’re not even keeping at status quo,” he said.

In the early frontier days, wild horses in the West were too numerous to count. Explorers saw herds running on the Great Plains, likening the sight to the roll of waves in the ocean. On early maps, vast areas were labeled simply as “wild horse desert.” Later, as the region was settled, the herds were hunted down. Many were shipped east to pull city streetcars in places like Manhattan. Others were slaughtered for dog food and fertilizer. By the 1960s, only a few thousand mustangs were left.

Congress granted federal protection in 1971 to the remaining herds, which were nearly all on Bureau of Land Management land. With few predators and no hunters to cull them, the herds began to rebound, and land managers realized in the 1980s that they were quickly outgrowing the patchwork of public land allotted to them. That is when the helicopter roundups began.

At first, the program appeared sustainable. The bureau publicized an adoption program that found homes for captured horses, and the wild population stayed relatively constant. But news reports in the 1990s revealed that most of the “adopted” horses were actually going to slaughter, often while bureau employees profited. Regulations were tightened, and a backlog of unwanted horses began to build up on rented pastures in the Midwest.

Some conservative lawmakers from rural districts have pushed the bureau to euthanize excess horses or sell them for slaughter, but those steps remain widely unpopular and have not gained traction in Congress.

The bureau has told lawmakers repeatedly that it could create a sustainable program if Congress budgeted enough money to reduce the wild population to 27,000. Three times in the past 30 years, Congress has done so. Each time, though, the efforts were tripped up by dizzying costs and lawsuits from animal welfare groups.

Now the bureau is asking again. William Perry Pendley, its acting director, is a longtime conservative activist and lawyer who sued the bureau a number of times on behalf of ranchers before entering the administration. In an interview, he said he favors a proposal to remove more than 70,000 horses from the range over five years.

“Right now, it’s the ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice,’” he said. “We’re carrying water and not getting anywhere.”

The bureau is in talks to open two huge feedlots to hold thousands of horses. But it is unclear if Congress is willing to spend billions to store unwanted horses, especially if an economic downturn drains public funds. Bureau staff say privately that they expect the population on the range to continue to grow toward disaster.

It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. More than a decade ago, government auditors warned that the cost of storing captured horses would “overwhelm the program.” A 2013 report by the National Academy of Sciences urged the bureau to shift away from roundups and start using readily available and inexpensive fertility control drugs, which are typically administered by dart gun annually in the field.

Bureau leaders acknowledged the warnings and promised to embrace fertility control drugs, but their use actually declined in the years after the report. Less than 1 percent of the program’s current budget is spent on them.

Nearly all of the fertility control now happening on wild horse ranges is done by local volunteers, often retirees, who have learned to wield dart guns in the field.

That includes Andrea Macki, a visual artist who has been darting horses in the Challis herd for more than five years. She says the fertility control treatments have slowed reproduction rates by half, and could do more.

“It’s the obvious solution,” she said as she squinted through the dawn light to watch the helicopter rounding up horses she knew. “I wish the B.L.M. would invest in it, instead of all this.”

Bureau officials say that darting tens of thousands of horses in the field each year is not practical, and would take years to shrink the herds as much as a roundup can in a few days. Congress approved a $21 million increase in the wild horse program’s budget for this year, with the stipulation that the money would be released only when the bureau submitted a five-year plan that includes increases in both roundups and fertility control.

The bureau has also taken steps to dispose of captured horses, including deals that may be sending horses quietly to slaughter. It has ramped up sales of horses it deems unadoptable, charging $25 a head. In 2019 it sold 1,967 that way, often by the truckload in bulk sales; officials have refused to say who the buyers were.

Mr. Shepherd say the bureau tries to screen out slaughter buyers, but acknowledged that it does nothing to monitor the fate of horses after sale.

The bureau also created a program that offers $1,000 to anyone willing to adopt a horse.

Together, the sales and adoptions put about 7,000 horses into private hands last year, not enough even to keep pace with roundups, let alone draw down the number now warehoused.

On the edge of the wild horse range in Challis in central Idaho, Jackie Ingram, a rancher, has shared 168,700 acres of public land with the mustang herds for 46 years. Each spring her family drives hundreds of Black Angus cattle up a steep road through Spar Canyon to graze the high, windswept hills on Bureau of Land Management land.

In some years, she said, the wild horses left so little grass to eat that other wildlife disappeared, and her family had to cut back their cattle herd.

“We like the horses, but we also want to protect the land,” she said. “Every time they do a roundup, we’re happy. If the horses get to be too numerous, it affects the sage grouse, the elk, the antelope and us. All of us depend on the grass.”

#long post #blm mustang #mustang horse #horse news #equestrian #equine

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rjzimmerman · 3 years

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When I lived in Nashville, we used to visit the Cumberland Plateau several times a year. We were always surprised discovery, as well as the strange names carried by some of the natural features. Such as: Calfkiller Creek, near Sparta. Excerpt from this story from Knox News:

Skinner Mountain rises from the Cumberland Plateau near the headwaters of the Obey River. Its sides are flanked with white oak and yellow poplar. Its crown is topped with shortleaf pine. Tiny golden-crowned kinglets and dramatic cerulean warblers nest in the trees.

And deep below the surface, the mountain is riddled with caves. More than 50 documented caves bubble through the limestone bedrock with many more likely undiscovered. The Mountain Eye Cave System, the fifth-largest in Tennessee, snakes 15 miles under the hills.

Some caves contain petroglyphs and pictographs drawn over generations by indigenous people. Other caves house endemic species seen nowhere else and provide critical hibernation shelters for endangered bat species.

Tennessee state agencies and the Conservation Fund have closed a deal to dramatically expand protected forest land near the Skinner Mountain Wildlife Management Area on the Cumberland Plateau in Fentress County. More than 11,700 acres of ecologically diverse forest land will be conserved and managed as working forestland by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Tennessee Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

The forests and streams of the Cumberland Plateau together are both a biodiversity hotspot and a migration corridor for millions of birds. These forests also filter water going into the local streams and aquifers, protecting the drinking water supply and maintaining the health of the sportfishing industry.

#Skinner Mountain #Tennessee #Cumberland Plateau

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dansnaturepictures · 3 years

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18/03/2021-Peacock, parakeet and more on another pinch of spring at Lakeside and home: 10 different pictures in this photoset to those I tweeted tonight

I took the first picture in this photoset of three Starlings out the back as I worked today, and second of flowers on the green out the front with some speedwell present I tweeted a picture of a zoom in on one of those beautiful flowers too. I then took the third and fourth picture in this photoset at Lakeside when I got there of more great blossom lately.

I had a spring competition going on a little at Lakeside on the walks currently, which star of the last two springs for me here would I see first out of Peacock butterfly or Snake’s head fritillary flower. The Peacock had looked the most likely, and the moment happened funnily enough when I walked into the southern fenced off nature reserve area from the southern gate over to the area underneath trees where these flowers usually grow in a big clump just to see if they were there. They weren’t, but I saw a butterfly fly towards me. At first wondering about the Red Admiral a species I had already seen this year so far at Magdalen Hill one Sunday in February, but then I remembered being in the now quite widespread blossom laden country park the Peacock based on previous years was also very likely and I just about made it out from seeing it fly that it was a Peacock. I then saw it land and there was no doubt as I saw its shining turquoise and beige circles standing out, I did take a picture of this butterfly which I tweeted tonight on Dans_Pictures. It looked so brilliantly bright for spring it was in immaculate condition which is so lovely to see.

So the Peacock won the little competition as I noticed one whilst seeing if the fritillary flowers were there. This was my second butterfly species of the year following the Red Admiral. On that very sunny walk I remarked at how I rarely see both Red Admiral and Peacock early on in a butterfly year. So after Red Admiral was in the early order for the first time since 2018 I thought a wait would be on for the Peacock this year, but not so as like 2016 when I saw them both on the same day for the first time that year at Magdalen Hill I had seen both early on. The picture today meant I’ve currently photographed 100% of the identified butterflies I’ve seen this year, both with my big lens rather than macro as its traditionally harder to get macro pictures until later on as you need butterflies to land for a while to get close to so its harder to get on the colder or relatively colder earlier days and earlier on the butterflies are naturally more flighty as today’s was. But with my big lens it meant I didn’t have to get very close to it but could zoom in from a distance. I have used this lens for more butterfly pictures where needed over the years so it could be really changing when my butterfly pictures start a little.

I took the fifth and sixth pictures in this photoset of the ground in this area and a daffodil before moving on towards the lakes with the trees adorned by the green buds and blossom of the landscape. Going towards here I first of all thought I had heard a Ring-necked Parakeet calling its eccentric high-pitched call. But I knew a Moorhen or Coot could quite easily imitate the call in a way. Still quite atmospheric to hear it. I then inspected Concorde Lake getting a brilliant closeup view of a pair of Great Crested Grebes.

And then something amazing happened. I heard the high pitched call again and then I looked north and saw the distinctive body of a Ring-necked Parakeet fly over. I then watched it fly south east into tall trees towards the steam railway station. This was a monumental moment! I was so thrilled to see this special bird fly and get a binocular view. They really are such a beautiful and special species. A species that for so long were a London park bird but that’s four times I have seen the birds that seem to be regular in the Southampton area now which is fascinating. That’s two years running I’ve ticked them locally now. This bird was not just a year tick, my 112th bird of the year, but also a patch tick as my previous sightings of them in this area last year were from my room or at Grantham Green. It was the first species I’ve had since I started my patch and from garden/home lists that was also a year tick so this added another element to it. I was certainly enthused in December when I set up my patch and from home lists by the amount of more notable birds I had seen whilst working from home at Lakeside but I didn’t really think I’d add to it necessarily so to have now had two patch ticks this year Ring-necked Parakeet and Shoveler and one from home a Cormorant shows what amazing birdwatching times I have had.

I took the seventh picture in this photoset as I walked towards the steam railway station to try and see or get a photo of the parakeet but I didn’t see it again. I did however see a sea of yellow created by some very lush and large daffodils on a verge in the car park area which I tweeted two pictures of tonight on Dans_Pictures so this was some sight. I then went on to take eighth and ninth pictures in this photoset of daisies on the ground and a view over the westernmost lake. Today at lunch time I also enjoyed seeing Lesser Black-backed Gull, noticing most Black-headed Gulls now have the brown heads of summer plumage showing how we are really going into spring now and I saw a Moorhen fly across the lake I am not sure I have ever seen this bird fly before! A bird I am having a great year for seeing a lot I’ve found especially here. I managed the tenth and final picture in this photoset of a view on the way home on the tarmac path north of Lakeside. This was a breathtaking, memorable and really very rewarding walk during working today the supreme sightings made me smile. I hope you’ve all had a good day.

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first Peacock butterfly and Ring-necked Parakeet of the year, two of my favourite birds the Green Woodpecker and Great Crested Grebe, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Starling, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Collared Dove two now seeming to arrive on the roof visible opposite as sun casts an afternoon shadow which they did on the opening parts of the t started working from home a year ago next week, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Carrion Crow,

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ultraheydudemestuff · 3 years

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Superior Wildlife Area

Township Route 13

McArthur, OH 45651

The 2,442-acre Superior Wildlife Area is located in Richland Township, south-central Vinton County, OH, approximately eight miles northwest of the town of Wellston, directly adjacent to the Richland Furnace State Forest in Jackson County - the county line divides the two.. Timber operations are ongoing on this property by Superior Hardwoods and for safety precautions, areas of harvest will be marked with signage and off limits for hunting for the duration of the work. This wildlife area features a terrain that ranges from rolling to hilly. Logging roads provide easy access on foot to virtually all portions of the area. Nearly all of this wildlife area is wooded with the dominant tree species consisting of oak, hickory, yellow poplar, and maple. Recent timber harvesting operations have provided a mosaic of woodland age classes throughout the forest which, in turn, provide a diversity of wildlife. Newly harvested tracts are dominated by blackberry and raspberry bushes along with young trees.

This public hunting property is a cooperative project between the ODNR Division of Wildlife and the Superior Land Group LLC, and is managed for timber production. The mission is to grow and harvest timber on this tract, promote wildlife habitat, restore the soil environment which has been desecrated by illegal off-road vehicle use, while preserving the historic iron ore furnace and the area surrounding the furnace. Like many of Ohio's wildlife areas, Superior Wildlife Area consists of former coal-mining lands. During the mid 1800s the Hanging Rock Iron Region was the second largest producer of iron for our young nation. The stone remnant of the old Richland furnace still stands on this property south of the established parking lot at the end of Township Road 13. Furnaces of this era usually employed up to 450 people and most lived in the small crossroads company towns such as Richland.

When the Richland Furnace was in production, the state forest property and the wildlife area were owned as one 5,000-acre property by the Richland Furnace Company. In the 1930s, the two properties were divided. The opening of Superior Wildlife Area reunited the historic land holding of the Richland Land Company property and provides expanded opportunities for wildlife enthusiasts. The wooded hills of southern Ohio are part of the Appalachian Forest, the oldest and most diverse forest system in North America. When healthy, these forests are home to a rich array of flowering and medicinal plants, dozens of tree species, songbirds, game species like deer, squirrel, ruffed grouse, and wild turkey, and other wildlife including bobcat, black bear, bats, and snakes. White-tailed deer, wild turkey, and gray squirrel are the principal abundant game species. The timber management occurring on this property provides habitat for grouse, turkey, whitetails, and cottontail rabbit. Users of Superior Wildlife Area should be aware that motor vehicle use is prohibited. Vehicle access to the area is limited to Township Route 13. A parking area is located at the end of Township Route 13.

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esevoire · 4 years

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soo a little bit about the fanclans i use in my books ♡ im noting here that if anything seems off we're gonna blame the tumblr mobile ai ;; constantly warping to the end of the page, trying to delete paragraphs instead of just...select a few words tumblr p l e a s e relax

im also working on a visual map for these clans, but i havent the slightest idea of how to make maps so it's uh . . . it's a work in progress xx

Note: Organisms found in the territories are influenced by both European and North American wildlife and plants, so they are not limited to any specific region, though I've tried to keep it somewhat accurate.

☆ The Gorge

>> One of the five groups of cats that call themselves Clans. They chose their current name from whence they reside—in a cave system above a sheer gorge on the outskirts of Clan territory. Super original, right?

>> Past Name: MistClan

>> Current Leader: Deadeye

>> Past Known Leaders: Crowstar, Shadestar

>> Their training is unlike the other Clans. They are extremely strict with their apprentices, often not even allowing them to attend Gatherings or speak out of hand. Mistakes are met with serious consequences.

>> Camp: Located at the far south of their territory. On the cliffside, there are steep ledges leading down into a complicated cave system that serves as their camp. In the center of the main cave is the Smoothstone, which is a hollowed out, massive stone that serves simultaneously as the leader's perch and den.

>> Territory: The territory is notably rocky almost all over, though it's also consistently forested.

>> Landmarks: Boulderdrop (dangerous rocky outcrop to the east, often used for training). Twoleg nests beyond the eastern border.

>> Typical Physique/Traits: Considering the cats of the Gorge are cats from all the Clans and rogues—some stolen as kits, some the result of forbidden or hidden relationships, some taken in with the desire to be stronger—the builds of these cats are extremely varied, though their nighttime eyesight is incredibly enhanced due to their life inside the caves.

>> Prefix Conventions: As stated above, the Gorge turned into a kind of melting pot of cats from all Clans, and as a result they don't follow much of a pattern with naming conventions—especially considering they often change their names when they receive notable battle scars (Deadeye, Hawkscar). However, they occasionally take influence from plants and critters in their territory, especially cliff- and cave-dwelling flora and fauna such as Aster–, Lichen–, Eagle–, Falcon–, Bat–, Poppy–, Moss–, Spider–, or Ivy–

◇ SwiftClan

>> Current Leader: Fishstar

>> Past Known Leaders: Ivorystar

>> Camp: Between several of the hills, there's a large area where the gorse is especially thick, along with some divets in the hills that make up the dens. It lies in the heart of the territory.

>> Territory: Much more barren than most of the other Clans, though not quite as barren and uninhabitable as BlazeClan; it's a very marshy moorland. The wind hits hard, and the bogs stay nasty and cold most of the year. Many invaders and trespassers often end up stuck in the sticky bogs, and the cats of SwiftClan are known to only save them if they agree to leave the territory.

>> Landmarks: Fallen, partially rotted tree stuck in the bogs by the southern border with the Gorge.

>> Typical Physique/Traits: Cats from SwiftClan tend to be very lanky and long-legged as a result of their lives running along the moorland. In addition, their paws are said to be slightly webbed to help them navigate the marshes in their territory without getting stuck in the mud and bogs.

>> Prefix Conventions: Cats in SwiftClan are more accustomed to the boggy moorlands, and therefore tend to name their kits after plants and terms more applicable to their territory. Prefixes tend to follow themes like the following: Bog–, Marsh–, Swamp–, Mire–, Moss–, Juniper–, Owl–, Cypress–, Adder–, Snake–, Ash–, Elm–, Frog–, Sedge–, Cotton–, Plover–, Bracken–, and more!

♤ NightClan

>> Current Leader: Harestar

>> Camp: In the heart of the territory, there is a massive oak tree that shelters the camp. Their dens are among several uplifted roots, and several boulder piles that they've collected over time. Like BlazeClan, they've learned how to weave together plants, though they use more ferns along with brambles. Beneath the common mossy nest is a layer of pine needles, carefully layered for extra cushioning. The camp is protected like a fortress by thick, woven walls of brambles and bushes.

>> Territory: Very thickly forested area, both pine trees and oak trees. On the east, the river marks a small portion of their border with RushClan. In the west, near SwiftClan territory is an area where Twolegs often come camping. They often bring dogs that have gotten loose in the past.

>> Landmarks: Twoleg camping at the western border, near their southern border with SwiftClan

>> Typical Physique/Traits: Life in NightClan isn't nearly as demanding as the others, so their traits aren't usually so defined. It's not uncommon, however, for them to be notably large-pawed and long-furred, or for them to have plants stuck in their fur.

>> Prefix Conventions: The forest they live in is thick with trees and rich with all kinds of life. Almost anything you'd see in a thick forest could be found here, and their naming conventions often take many plants and animals into mind: Coral–, Bell–, Wren–, Warbler–, Thyme–, Deer–, Doe–, Fern–, Pine–, Skunk– Oak–, Holly–, Weasel–, Sorrel–, Dove–, Needle–, Clover–, Kestrel–, Thorn–, Newt–, Robin–, Mint–, and Thistle–.

♧ RushClan

>> Current Leader: Kinkstar

>> Camp: The camp lies on a strip of land over the river, and said river is often used as protection against invasions or attacks from other Clans. The leader's den is wedged underneath a series of sturdy sunning stones in the center of the camp; while most Clans consider their meetings and announcements to be formal, RushClan cats often relax on the sunning stones while their leader gives announcements from atop the highest one.

>> Territory: Not as thickly forested as NightClan, but still quite forested. A large river runs through the heart of their territory, leaving their bellies full on the many fish that thrive there.

>> Landmarks: On the western side of the river lies a large treebridge; on the eastern side, there are multiple stepping stones. Both landmarks serve as an escape route in the case of an emergency, though most cats know how to swim.

>> Typical Physique/Traits: Because of their fish-based diet, many cats of RushClan are notably sleek-furred, but they're also incredibly lean due to their comfort with swimming in the river. Most have rounder faces and ears, though it isn't uncommon for them to have unusually long tufts of fur on their cheeks, chins, or ears. Like SwiftClan, it's also rumored that these cats develop something similar to webbed paws to help their swimming.

>> Prefix Conventions: Many naming trends in RushClan tend to follow water-based ideas or comparisons, such as: Salmon–, Reed–, Eel–, Spruce–, Duck–, Birch–, Pike–, Turtle–, Newt–, Willow–, Minnow–, Frog–, Lily–, Tadpole–, Aspen–, Snail–, Pond–, Perch–, Otter–, Trout–, Heron–, and Dragonfly–

>> Special Notes: RushClan medicine cats will use water lily roots to help treat swollen limbs and may sometimes trade it to the other Clans for other herbs!

✧ BlazeClan

>> Current Leader: Heatherstar

>> Camp: A circle of huge, sharp, skyward-reaching stones forms the walls of the camp. Along the tallest of these formations, a small ledge leads up until it reaches an overhanging cliff. On this cliff is a cave; the leader's den.

>> Medicine den is half-cave. Stone in the back with large crevice for herb storage; "shelf" ledges on outside of stone for prebundled herbs. Ceiling is brambles and thick leaves interwoven. Far back corner is a pool, with brambles woven at the source of water to manage its flow.

>> Many of their dens are woven together in the same fashion as stated above, utilizing the dry shrubbery that litters their territory.

>> Territory: Mostly barren, sandy, and rocky territory. There are several grassy patches here and there, along with smaller, bare trees, though they're few and far between. At the far eastern edge of their territory lies a small town with Twoleg structures.

>> Landmarks: Abandoned Twoleg structure near the southeast border; very old and made of stones and bricks. Beyond the east border are clusters of Twoleg nests.

>> Typical Physique/Traits: Due to recent attacks and territory loss to the Gorge, many cats, while very muscular, are becoming very gaunt. Usually, the cats are seen as very broad-shouldered and strong, with angular faces and tough, calloused paw pads accustomed to their harsh, sandy territory. Cats whose fur blends into this environment are more often than not used on hunting patrols.

>> Prefix Conventions: Due to the dry and degraded land that makes up most of BlazeClan territory, their naming traditions might be some of the most unique. Plants and animals that thrive easily in sandy soil are more common here, so their common prefixes follow a similar pattern: Sand–, Sage–, Wild–, Iris–, Fern–, Beetle–, Yarrow–, Poplar–, Ant–, Cedar–, Lizard–, Newt–, and occasionally Larch–. Because of their limited fauna and flora, they've become creative with their names, featuring prefixes like Bounce–, Fir–, Pounce–, and Talon–, or names of things they hear in stories from traveling loners!

♡ Sacred Spots

Starfalls ;; A clearing north of the RushClan and NightClan borders. There's a pond that reflects the light of the moon, with a series of waterfalls falling down ledges until it reaches the pool. Because of the waterfalls, mist shrouds the clearing and nearby forest, sparkling in the light of the moon, as if it were tangible starlight.

The Gathering Stones / Tallrock ;; Massive ancient boulder among other smaller boulders in a dirt/sandy clearing, with many large trees and overgrown plants bordering the clearing.

#warrior cats #warriors fanclan #warriors fandom #warriors fanfic #erin hunter #warriors #warriors designs #wcttoc

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mirkwoodshewolf · 5 years

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Ridge farm memories; Queen x teen reader

*Author’s note*

Well this fic is DEFINITELY LONG OVER DUE!!!! For those who were fans of the Deacy fic “Always family” here is a scene I decided to do based off the comforting scene Roger and reader-chan had. So no warnings except RAW FLUFF but if I had to add a warning, it would be that SOB Paul makes an appearance. But other than that this is a SUPREME FLUFF FIC. So I hope you all enjoy this fic as well as the last one I just posted up :)

Taglist:

@psychosupernatural

@plethora-of-things

@ixchel-9275

@waddles03

@queendeakyy

@coolcxt

@geek-and-proud

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I was downstairs in the kitchen sitting between Deacy and Brian eating my breakfast while they were in the middle of an argument regarding Rog's new song.

"Put my heart and soul into this song." Roger spoke up as he cut up a loaf of bread.

"No one is disputing that." Answered Deacy.

"And you don't like it because you want your songs on the album." Roger retorted.

"It's not that Roger."

"Then what is it?"

"'I'm in love with my car?'" Answered Brian as my cousin shrugged giving him one of his funny looks. "Maybe it's not strong enough?" suggested Brian.

"What does that even mean not strong enough?"

"I know that I'm late, what did I miss?" Freddie's voice soon spoke up.

"They're talking about Roger's car song." I filled Fred in on the details as he came over and kissed the top of my head before getting himself a cup of coffee.

"Is it strong enough that's all I'm asking. If I'm on my own here, then I apologize." Brian spoke up as he raised his hands in defense.

"How does your new song go then? Hmm?" Roger picked up a sheet of paper that had Brian's current song that he was working on as he read out loud, "'You call me sweet, like I'm some kind of cheese'."

"It's good." Defended Brian.

"Wow." Roger exclaimed sarcastically.

"Is that, you know 'with my hands on your grease gun?' That's very subtle...."

"It's a metaphor Brian!"

"It's just a bit weird Roger, what exactly are you doing with that car?" my cousin spoke up.

"Children please. We could all murder each other but then who would be left to record this album?" Freddie spoke up.

"Statistically speaking most bands don't fail, they break up." Deacy piped in.

"Deacy!" I slapped his arm.

"What the hell would you say something like that?" Freddie asked Deacy as he stared at him in shock. Deacy merely shrugged before Freddie turned to Roger and said, "Roger there's only room in this band for one hysterical queen." Before walking out to probably have a smoke break.

"I know why you're angry Roger." Brian spoke up.

"Why?" demanded Roger.

"Because you know your song isn't strong enough." Roger grew quiet and he nodded before walking back over to the oven, grabbing the bacon from the pan and throwing it straight at Brian who was unaffected by it.

"Oh great, now you've done it. Way to go, Bri." I muttered quietly just before the bacon hit Brian square in the face.

"Is that strong enough?" Then with one quick motion, Roger knocked everything off the counter, all our food, plates, the vase full of flowers, everything except our mugs that we each held as Roger roared out again, "What about that!?!" He then went and grabbed the coffee machine and was just about to smash it when we all exclaimed to him.

"NOT THE COFFEE MACHINE!!"

It's been a few days since we've moved from Rockfield studios here to Ridge farm studio to record the 'A Night at the Opera' album. And so far if I had to compare the two, I'd say I'd like this one a lot more because it had a nice pool to take a morning dip and it was a lot more spacious than Rockfield was because there was also a wooded area just behind us where we could hike, hell even campout if we wanted to.

After breakfast I decided to take my morning swim since I knew Paul would be breathing down my neck about getting all the pictures the record company required during this trip, and of course bash on how most of them didn't include more pictures of Fred. So I figured a little relaxing swim would do me some good, plus it'd get me away from the stress the guys are having to be under especially after what had just happened at breakfast.

As I passed the kitchen heading for the backdoor, I felt something grab my arm and I was pulled into a dark room. I was about to scream when I heard Roger's voice say.

"Don't scream it's just me." I shoved his hand away from my mouth and I hissed out in a whisper.

"What the fuck Roger you know I hate it when you do that."

"Why are you whispering?"

"Wha? I don't know. What are you doing here in this cupboard?" I first questioned in a whisper but then spoke in normal volume.

"Lesson number one you'll learn from your dear old professor Taylor my dear. Is that when you want something but other's won't give them what they want, you protest against them."

"Seriously Rog?"

"Yeah, I stayed up all night putting that song together, the least they could do is allow it in the album. I mean we went with John's sappy song. God if I have to hear that line one more time, I think my ears will just explode."

"Okay one that song is special to him cause it's for Veronica. And second and most importantly, why drag me in here with you?"

"That leads to my rule two, in order to get this less biased, you need people to support you in your cause." I just looked at him weirdly and when I didn't respond the way he was hoping he spoke up again, "What you think the song's stupid too?"

"Well I mean it's—"

"Don't you dare finish that answer." I shut my mouth before speaking up.

"I mean Roger you've got to slightly admit; it does sound like you're trying to do something more with a piece of machinery."

"It's a metaphor (y/n)."

"For what? Your car sex fantasy? Roger please let me out of this cupboard right now, I just want to go for my morning swim."

"Well it can wait; cause you're not going anywhere."

"What?"

"This has now turned into a hostage situation and you're not leaving till either you accept and be my partner in this, or the lads finally accept and have the song go on the album. Whatever one comes first. You are the Rumpelstiltskin to my Mungoblizzar."

"What?"

"You know the two cats from that poem you love so much. I see you read it all the time and you even read it to me."

"Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer?"

"Yeah that's it. Why are they named that again?"

"I don't know I'm not T.S Eliot."

"So partners in crime till the end. Like we pact."

"Yeah Rog we did make a pact, but I draw the line here."

"Nope, since I'm the oldest between us, you've got to respect your elders and you are going to stay in here with me to protest against them. Whether you like it or not." He bopped my nose which made me groan.

Hours went by and of course once the guys found out that roger forcefully made me the bait of negotiation, it turned between a tug of war to see who'd give in first. Until finally Freddie agreed to have Roger's song be on the B-side of the album.

God and all I wanted to do that day was have a nice relaxing morning swim.

A couple more weeks passed and the album was almost about done. One day Brian had told us that he had managed to find a perfect spot for stargazing and thought it would be a good idea for all of us to pack up some gear and go star gazing.

Immediately agreeing after working so hard, Freddie agreed to the idea instantly, Deacy was down for it as well wanting to have a break from the arguing and the complaining. I agreed to it because it would feel like a camping trip and I hadn't been camping since I was a child. Roger also agreed because that'd give him some time away from the recording studio since his hands were still recovering from abusing them so much.

Unfortunately Paul Prenter decided he needed to insert himself on this little outing, claiming that he needed to make sure the band wasn't too distracted since they were on a strict deadline and that Mr. Reid would come and check on the progress of the album, along with Miami.

So here we all were out in the forest walking across logs, hopping from boulder to boulder, gazing at little mini streams, or observing the wildlife of nature, especially Brian. He especially got distracted when a fox would quickly come out from a bush and stare at us before running away.

I was currently hopping from boulder to boulder and of course Deacy being the overprotective cousin that he was said to me.

"Careful (y/n), last time you did that you had a broken ankle for weeks."

"I was 7 years old when that happened Deacy, I'm as agile as a jungle cat." As I hopped onto one boulder I nearly almost fell until I was caught by Roger who said smugly.

"Yeah, a dead jungle cat." I stuck my tongue at him and we continued to tread on.

Of course Paul made the walk seem longer because like every 2 minutes he just had to take a break so I took the time to screw around with him and fill his backpack with small rocks. Roger who of course supported my pranks on Prenter kept watch to make sure the other three didn't rat me out.

As we came down a step hill. I first got on the log and walked down it before squealing out and jumped onto the boulders below.

"Careful guys, that last step is pretty steep."

"Thanks for the warning love." Brian spoke out as he came down next, followed by Roger, Freddie and Deacy. While Paul mainly crawled along the rocks like the snake that he was exhausted and winded.

"Ohh I'm going to kill my doctor. He always said I was in perfect shape." Before we could go on, Brian then spoke up.

"Alright, we'll break."

"Again?" complained Roger. "Brian, at this rate it'll take us a week just to get to this special spot you found."

"Look I don't like it either but since it's not too far from here we'll just rest for a bit, allow Paul to catch his breath and we'll walk the rest of the way. Just chill Roger." He then walked on ahead with Deacy and Fred walking alongside them to talk while I slowly sneaked back behind Paul who had taken his backpack off and I proceeded to quickly fill more pockets of his bag with rocks.

"God I'm in such bad shape. Someone had me my water, I can't move."

"I got it." I said. I soon found his water bottle lying between the two boulders that we were sitting on top of but what I found interesting was the little lizard just a couple inches from his water bottle just sunning on the rock. A smirk spread across my face as I whispered, "Brilliant."

I grabbed the lizard which squirmed between my fingers till I set her down on Paul's bottle. I turned to Roger to see him trying to hold in his laughter as I said as I handed Paul his water bottle.

"Here you go Paul." He took it without even looking at me let alone thanking me as he immediately began to douse his water down his throat. A split second later he let out a scream as he fell off the boulder and screamed like a little girl waving his arms in a shooing motion as his legs spasmed.

"What's happened?" asked Deacy. I then grabbed the female lizard and said as I held her gently between my fingers.

"This cute little girl made herself home on Paul's water bottle." I stroked her long tail as Freddie said.

"Be thankful it was just a lizard Paul. It could've been a lot worse you know."

"Oh right, right you're right Freddie. I'll be fine, thank you." I rolled my eyes as did Roger and pretty much the rest of the guys minus Fred because we all knew of Paul's infatuation with Fred. I then held the lizard out towards Paul so that when he turned after milking his praises, the second he turned the lizard squeaking in his face making Paul shriek out as he told me, "Get that bloody thing away from me! I hate things that crawl!"

Wow then I pity the poor child that you'll have to bear one of these days Paul, though I hope you never reproduce your poisonous seeds.

"How can you even touch that, I thought girls were supposed to hate things like that? Just—put it away!"

"Okay, okay I'll put her down." I muttered as I stood up before an even better idea came to mind. I slowly leaned over Paul's head and placed the lizard on top of his head.

"Rog, (n/n)." Deacy spoke up.

"What?" Both Roger and I chorused alarmed almost fearing I had been caught.

"Brian, Freddie and I will take the lead. You two help Paul, okay?" As the three of them walked ahead, Roger came up beside me before Paul as the mustached arsehole muttered as he stood himself up with his backpack once again on his back.

"Sure you'll help me. Right over a cliff you'll help me." He then walked on ahead complaining and muttering in pain as Roger whispered to me.

"Not a bad idea."

"Yeah see any cliffs? I doubt he's got anyone that'll really miss him." We turned towards Paul who was still muttering in agony as I spoke up in mock sympathy. "Need some help Prenter?" He stopped in his place and turned towards me as he sneered through his forked tongue.

"Not from you Deacon. Don't think I can't see the She-devil behind that angel face of yours. One more trick out of you lass and I promise I will make your life hell from the day this album takes off into the charts. Got it?" Roger protectively wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I was unaffected by Paul's empty threat before he turned around.

"Got it, Norman Bates." I muttered. Roger snickered as Paul froze and turned around and hissed out.

"What did you call me?"

"Nothing, nothing she didn't say anything. Norman Bates." Roger muttered as the two of us walked past him. He muttered the name to me and I softly snickered as Roger stopped to say, "Oh by the way Prenter, I think I saw something on your head." He then turned back and followed behind me.

The two of us hid behind a tree while Roger peeked out and I could hear Paul scream before it was silenced for all but his whimpering.

"Oh my god." Roger was almost in complete hysterics. "You brilliant She-devil it went in his mouth."

"Oh that poor lizard." We fist-bumped each other as we saw the guys coming around as Brian was asking what happened now as Paul was now coughing and groaning in disgust.

"What.....happened now?" asked Freddie panting. Paul was gasping like a fish out of water but I did manage to hear.

"Ask—her....." I then heard Deacy sigh heavily and I could just feel him looking behind him towards the tree we were hiding. Roger and I peeked out innocently as Roger said.

"Oh come off it Deacy what did she do? She was by my side the entire time."

Finally we reached Brian's spot. It was a nice open meadow filled with beautiful wildflowers as far as the eye could see. All in various species and colors, there was also some points when the creatures of the forest would peek out like deer, does with their fawns, badgers, foxes and even a couple of hedgehogs.

I definitely got some good pictures of the wildlife as well as the flowers and of course the boys. By nightfall we were all gathered around and I'll admit Brian was right, this was the perfect spot for stargazing. I mean you look up and there's just billions and billions of them.

"Wow Brian, you—were right this is.....gorgeous." said Deacy.

"Told you." Brian spoke up.

"It's so unreal of just how many stars there really are in the sky." Said Freddie.

"I could live here forever if it meant getting to look at this every night." I said in awe.

"I agree with you on that love." Brian said.

"Hey Brian, do you ever wonder what lies beyond our world? I mean as an astrophysics major does it ever occur to you that maybe we're not the only beings in the universe?" I asked him.

"That's always the question love, and that's why astronauts and the people at NASA always work so hard. We've already managed to colonize the moon, who knows what we'll be able to accomplish in the future. And maybe we might discover something far beyond our solar system."

"Cool." I said in awe. "Hey Bri?"

"Hmm?"

"How—how do constellations get named? I mean do the astronomers just look at an image and just say 'oh hey we'll name this the Big Dipper and little dipper' or is it more scientifically?"

"Oh don't get him started (n/n), we'll be here all night." Roger spoke up. Brian scowled at Roger but said.

"Ignore him (y/n), he's just jealous you're not asking questions about dentistry."

"You know I changed my major to biology." Roger pointed out but Brian only chuckled and sat up allowing me to go up to him and actually rest my head on his lap as he spoke.

"Well to answer your question (y/n), it's sometimes varies. It sometimes does deal with the actual formation that the stars make, but that's because their names have dated back to the ancient Greek and Roman days when the first astronomers began mapping the stars. We've just added more onto what was previously said."

"So what did you do for your major?" I asked.

"My current thesis is about the radical velocities in zodiacal dust cloud. I completed it just last year but I'm putting in on hold for publication for a while due to my commitment here."

"Will you ever get it published?" I asked.

"Someday. It'd be ashamed and a waste of my time if I didn't. Hours spent doing research on my thesis and everything for it to not be shared with the field of astrophysics."

"You know science was always my favorite subject, I especially loved it when we got to do the astronomy section."

"Really?"

"It's true. Ever since primary school she's been obsessed with space, planets and the stars." Deacy spoke up.

"Now not to judge on why you picked up photography, but why didn't you try to go for a science degree?"

"Because every boy in my grade always said 'science isn't for girls'. I got teased about it relentlessly. Then one day after coming home with a bloody nose I decided to keep my mouth shut and find something else."

"Well they were obviously jealous that a girl was not only cute but too smart for their feeble little minds." Proclaimed Freddie. I blushed after remembering the baby pictures of me that the boys have seen when they all came to visit me and aunt Lillian on my birthday just a few months ago. Of course Deacy helped out with the embarrassment just to irk me.

"Freddie's right love. I won't tell you to change your dream because you've got a future in photography, but if it doesn't work out then you should try to give science another chance. Clever girl like you, I know you'll get far." Said Brian.

"You mean that?"

"Of course." He playfully poked the tip of my nose which made me laugh as we continued to observe the stars. With the gentle strokes he was giving my head, the sound of the crickets making a beautiful symphony and the beauty of the stars, I soon found myself falling asleep in Brian's lap.

*3rd Person POV*

Brian looked down to see (y/n) asleep in his lap. He smiled softly and softly whispered to the boys.

"Lads, take a look." Freddie awed softly and said.

"She's like a cat when she sleeps."

"I think it is time we head back to the house." Answered Deacy.

"About time." Paul muttered as he stood up. Roger and Deacy glared at Paul. Brian gently picked her up and to help make the trip easier so that she wouldn't wake up, he placed her on Deacy's back and he gripped his cousin's legs while Brian adjusted her arms around her cousin's neck.

Feeling the transition, (y/n) buried her face into her cousin's neck, his long hair gently tickling her face and the five of them headed back to the house.

Once they got there, Deacy and Brian helped (y/n) into her bed, Brian helped eased (y/n) into the bed while Deacy covered and tucked her in. The two of them kissed her goodnight and whispered their goodnights to her before heading off to their rooms.

The stress of making an album is straining, so its always nice to find those little spaces in between to find the time to have some fun and keep the peace. Whether it's a nice relaxing swim in the summer heat, having fun with the farm animals, or just stargazing in the cool summer heat.

Luckily with Queen they managed to find the time to do it, especially when their little mini-Deacy was around. Because they hated for her to be bored, so they always made time to pull anything that might interest her just to make her day better. And when she was happy, they were happy.

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vandaliatraveler · 9 months

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I suppose if any wildflower can be said to embody the bounty and energy of summer, it must be black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, or Actaea racemosa). Anyone who has grown up in Central Appalachia will instantly recognize and connect with the towering "fairy candles" of this woods-dwelling perennial in the buttercup family - some might even suggest a spiritual bond exists between the people of the mountains and the plant. This isn't surprising - black cohosh has a long and storied history as a medicinal herb, dating back to the Native American tribes, who used an extract from its root to treat everything from musculoskeletal pain to snake bites, and continuing with the European settlers, who used it to treat the symptoms of menopause. While there is little evidence from clinical trials indicating the plant's efficacy in treating menopausal symptoms, higher quality studies are being urged and may yet prove the plant's value in supporting female reproductive health. Irrespective of its potential contributions to medicine, black cohosh is the living spirit of Appalachia's summer woods, and one of the most spectacular wildflowers of North America.

#appalachia #vandalia #west virginia #wildflowers #flora #summer #favorite summer wildflowers #traditional medicine #herbal medicine #herbal remedies #black cohosh #fairy candles #black bugbane #black snakeroot #snake hill wildlife management area #cheat river canyon

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ends-of-the-wayward-storm · 4 years

Text

Frozen--Book 1--Chances

Chapter 9--“Thanks For Not Letting Me Get Killed”

_________

Summary

Hans is granted a second chance by a criminal known as the Mystery, someone people have only heard rumors about. How and why the Mystery decided to go out of his way to do this was beyond Hans, and frankly it bothered him. But once the Mystery’s plan goes into action, it’s only a matter of time before something bigger begins to develop.

(AO3 version) (Prologue)

_________

After they had eaten from their small food supply, Hans and the Mystery followed another branch of the river down a second path. The Mystery had to admit, he was looking forward to where this would lead. And as long as they didn’t go anywhere near “that path” he was fine.

The river eventually turned away, and the duo came across another shore. This one was covered in a layer of grass, much like the previous one. But unlike the previous one, moss covered spots of the trees. And the water looked dark.

Hans frowned as he studied the area more, but the Mystery was already making for the water. And Hans had no choice but to follow.

In the water, it wasn’t at all murky like he had assumed. And it wasn’t salty, so that was a welcome change.

A small handful of minutes passed before the vegetation changed. Both of them swam to the surface, and they were greeted with a thick forest and a darkened sky. Caution slowly grew within them as they swam out of the pond, and the Mystery was getting a nagging sense of familiarity.

“Do you have any idea where we are?” Hans asked.

The Mystery studied their surroundings before shrugging.

Finding two decently sized sticks, the prince rubbed them together until they were both alight. He then handed one of them to the Mystery before setting off.

They could find anything out here, wherever “here” was. Hans flipped through his memory for anything that could possibly give an identity to their location. The vegetation wasn’t much to go on, and the only wildlife around was crickets. If they were lucky, they might find someone else out here, and maybe that someone would be a native.

A branch cracked above them, forcing them to stop. They scanned the treetops for anything out of the ordinary, but it was becoming too dark to see that far up. The Mystery held his breath as the two of them scanned their surroundings.

A bush rustled to Hans’s left.

A twig snapped to the Mystery’s right.

Then silence.

Hans’s hand drifted to his hilt, and he scanned the area for a figure in the shadows.

Growling crept up behind them, and they slowly turned around. Raising his torch higher, the Mystery picked out steely eyes multiplying by the second.

One of the creatures dared to step closer to the light. A shadowy paw was followed by a leg, and soon the rest of it made it clear what they were up against.

“Run!” Hans urged.

The creatures barked and howled as the duo practically sprinted blindly through the woods. Howling brought Hans’s attention to his left, where more of the creatures were running after them.

One of them lunged for the Mystery, and he swung his torch at it to drive it away. But another tackled him down from behind. A howling screech sounded in his ear, and the weight was suddenly lifted off of him. He looked up at Hans glancing down at him with sword in hand, and the Mystery scrambled to his feet.

Something bright flickered in the corner of his eye, and the Mystery spotted a small fire beginning to spread from his fallen torch. Grabbing fistfuls of dirt, he threw it onto the fire until there was nothing left.

Hans thrust his torch toward a creature and sliced at another, making it dissipate into the air. The creatures felt solid, and yet they appeared as though they were mere phantoms. These had to have been conjured by magic. And if that was true, then their conjurer was most likely dangerous.

One of the creatures tugged on the Mystery’s cloak, and he immediately kicked it away. Another accompanied by a third forced him back toward the trees. Cracking his whip, he broke through the scuffle only for claws to tear across his leg. A cry was bit short, bringing Hans’s attention to the Mystery briefly.

A set of teeth bit into Hans’s torch arm, and he slammed the pommel of his sword onto the creature’s head until it released. Another tackled him to the ground, and he held its jaws back with his sword. Something warm was very close to his leg, and it was nicking him. He spotted the orange glow of fire and moved his leg as best as he could, but a set of teeth nearly nipping his nose forced him to stare right into the creature’s eyes.

The creature cried out as a whip wrapped around its torso and yanked it off of Hans. The prince’s next immediate instinct was to get as far away from the small fire as possible. He expected to feel a searing pain in his calf, so much so that he almost did feel it. But instead his boot was just scorched, and all he felt was an oddly comfortable warmth.

No time to think about that, Hans thought.

He threw dirt onto the fire until it was out, and he grabbed his sword to swing at the first bark he heard. Now that they were in complete darkness, it was hard to see. Not to mention he couldn’t even see the Mystery since his clothes were so dark.

If they were going to survive this, they needed to work together.

“Head for the middle!” Hans ordered.

The Mystery warded off another creature and darted for the spot only to be cut off. Claws raked across his whip arm, making him drop his weapon. Grimacing, he fished for his knife and brandished it toward the creatures. Hans picked out the Mystery’s silhouette as well as the eyes of the beasts and expertly slashed at the creatures.

Blindly the Mystery felt the ground for his whip. His hand brushed up against the handle (or at least he hoped it was the handle and not a snake), and he snatched it up before stashing his knife away.

A hand grabbed his wrist and yanked him out of range of a set of jaws. Reflexively he jerked his wrist free.

“We’re outnumbered. We can’t fight them all!” Hans pointed out.

Oh. That hand was him, the Mystery thought.

Stabbing a creature coming close to Hans, the Mystery grabbed Hans’s wrist to pull him along. The redhead then yanked his own wrist free and shot the Mystery a curt look.

“There has to be somewhere we can lose them,” Hans said.

The Mystery growled. They were running blind! How could they see anything?!

He risked lashing his whip out at one of the creatures that was close to him. They would probably die out here. But then again, he’s survived for this long. Maybe he could keep going.

Hans once again grasped the Mystery’s wrist and jerked him to the side. They dropped to the ground and pressed themselves up against what felt like a boulder. His grip still remained as the creatures ran past them. But none of them dared to move.

That was too easy. There was no way they would just keep going, the Mystery thought.

They waited in silence for what felt like ages. Nothing of those creatures was heard, not even their scuffling.

Finally, the duo breathed a sigh of relief, and Hans released his hold on the Mystery.

“We should be safe for now,” Hans said lowly.

The Mystery peeked around the boulder for a few moments before slowly standing up. Hans followed suit, and the duo carefully walked backwards only to tumble down a hill. Hans slammed into a tree, and the Mystery kept going for a few moments before coming to a stop.

Groaning, the Mystery picked himself up and dusted himself, wincing at the slashes on his right hand opening further. Yeah that’s enough action for today.

_________

Hans blew on the newborn flames until they grew, and he sat back against the wall of the small cave they had found. He watched the Mystery secure his cravat around his right arm as best as he could, the magenta a stark contrast against the navy blue of the thief’s clothes.

Hans removed his jacket and carefully rolled up the sleeve to his shirt. He couldn’t help wincing at the bite marks. They were so red, and frankly he didn’t want to burn the disgusting image into his mind.

Pulling out a handkerchief, Hans was about to begin wrapping when movement brought his attention to the Mystery coming to closer. The thief held a hand out, and Hans’s immediate response was to deny his help. He could handle himself. He always did.

But when he made eye contact, there was a genuine look to the Mystery’s eyes that he didn’t recall ever seeing before.

Hans handed the handkerchief to the Mystery, and the thief carefully went to work.

“. . . Thanks for . . . not letting me get killed.”

The prince looked to the Mystery. A feminine voice. “. . . You’re welcome.”

Silence again.

“I should thank you for helping me also.”

“You’re welcome.” The Mystery secured the handkerchief. “You got everything else?”

“Yes. Thank you.” Hans ripped off a piece of his tailcoat. “I wasn’t expecting you to speak.”

“Surprised?”

“Somewhat.” He handed the Mystery another handkerchief, to which the latter glanced to before taking it for her leg.

“Once we get back we’ll use the gauze. Then you can have this thing back.” The Mystery held up the arm bearing the cravat.

“Of course.”

The two settled into silence, and the Mystery picked at the berries they had managed to find.

“Do you have a name?”

The Mystery thought about it. “. . . Courtney. And I’m not lying.”

“Your parents?”

“Next question.” Her tone was harsh, and a frown tugged at Hans’s lips.

“Do you have siblings?”

“No.”

He debated on asking for her age, but that would’ve been rude. Even though he considered her rude at times.

“Anything else?”

Hans mused for a few moments. “. . . I would like that second chance.”

“It’s not going to be easy.”

“I know.”

“Good. Now get some sleep. I’m taking first watch.”

“I think I should be the one taking first watch.”

“I’ll wake you when it’s your shift. Now go to sleep.”

The two stared each other down for a few moments before Hans ultimately sighed and made himself comfortable.

_________

(Prologue) (Next chapter) (Previous chapter)

#And the Mystery finally speaks!#Maybe they might begin to tolerate each other more. . . .#And maybe you might be able to guess where Hans and Courtney are.#You'll know for sure where they are in the next chapter. ;)#Frozen #Hans #Hans Westergaard #The Mystery #Courtney #Frozen OCs #Frozen--Book 1--Chances

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jayjay879 · 5 years

Text

What’s up with the way The Royal Heir portrays Texas?

I’ve been on hiatus for work and just caught up through Chapter 10. I grew up in a small town here and have lived all over the state — in some of the biggest cities and in rural areas. @playchoices has gotten most of it wrong... (This little calf though is so damn cute!)

Keep in mind that Texas has over 65 cities with at least 50,000 people in them. There are plenty of rural towns, but they’re usually in between those cities and/or around one of the big 4 metro areas (DFW, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.) Texans do work hard and have jobs in almost every industry — yes, there’s ranching and agriculture, but also oil, tech, healthcare, retail, etc.

We also like to kick back and relax at festivals, breweries, wineries, biergartens, the coast, one of the rivers or lakes, football / basketball / baseball / soccer / hockey games, races, amusement parks, water parks, museums, zoos, aquariums, city parks and state parks, the hill country, etc. We like all types of food and celebrations from all different cultures because we’re people from all different types of backgrounds. (Did you know there’s more Asians in Texas than there are people in Delaware?) Don’t let a select few public figures fool you on what it’s like here. And even in smaller areas, we use more modern tech than people give us credit for.

Don’t get me wrong: our state has plenty of things wrong with it. The bad things that make headlines are generally not something we’re proud of or really agree with (especially the younger generations.) But a majority of the 29ish million people here are good-hearted and treat each other like neighbors.

But going back to the story, if we’re talking about strictly rural areas, here’s the big misconceptions I’ve seen:

- There really aren’t that many fairs in small towns or big cities. They don't serve a purpose for cattle. Small towns have stockyards that have bidding every few weeks. Texas has way more festivals and what we call picnics (they’re more like carnivals) — even in towns with less than 1,000 people. At these events, you see more BBQ cook offs, car shows, dancing, and games.

- We have the State Fair in Dallas (https://bigtex.com/) and some rodeos throughout the year. They have some events like a stockyard, bull riding, and mutton busting (where kids ride sheep.) But many people watch those events as a precursor to the concerts (https://www.sarodeo.com/.)

- The biggest ranches in Texas — that can drive a substantial profit from ranching — are hundreds of thousands of acres and are run like (or managed by) corporations. Many of the ranches the size of the Walker Ranch are run as side jobs because cattle are expensive to raise and can’t be relied on for consistent income. Our family had seven one hundred-acre plots of land when I was growing up that was shared with my extended family. The work was few and far between — mostly helping build or mend fences which was a pain in the Texas heat. Many of the people who made a living in ranching took care of other people’s cattle because there wasn’t much to do on their own land, or people just loaned out their land to others who needed a place to put their cattle in order to keep their agriculture or livestock exemption for their land until they need to use it again. Otherwise, it takes years to get the ag exemption back.

- The reason the Walkers aren’t doing well financially is probably because of their outdated ranching practices (think several decades outdated.) We use ranch trucks or 4-wheelers when dealing with cattle in the pasture. The trucks are even registered differently with the state (you’ll usually see “Farm Truck” on the license plate.) It makes it easier to bring tools out with you and to keep the cattle rounded up if we need for them to be. When it’s time to sell cattle, we use trailers.

- Horses are even more expensive to maintain and need a lot of care, so they’re used more for recreational horseback riding. And most people that use them for that pay to have them held at a stable or equestrian center, cared for by the people that run those facilities, and end up riding or training their horses there. The ones that keep them and care for them on their own land really don’t use them for cattle — much less to herd cattle to a stockyard. It would exhaust the horses, block off entire roads, and take way too much time compared to driving.

- The people who were helping the Walkers who then bailed usually wouldn’t be seen often in small towns here. Reputation is everything, so if word gets out that you can’t be relied on, you probably won’t be hired elsewhere. Plus, many that help on the land are part of the family or good family friends that have known you for years. If a ranch can’t competitively pay the people, the ranch owners usually talk to them in advance as a way to say “We know you have to provide for your family,” and “We understand / no hard feelings if you can’t.” It’s also usually also temporary. The reputation thing goes both ways, so ideally those owners do (at least from what I’ve seen) treat their people well.

- People don’t really camp on their land in Texas. They go to state parks because we don’t have many forests (outside of said state parks.) Most rural areas have pastures and most people who own land like that have camp houses (which are like bigger cabins for hunting season.)

- Bears aren’t what cause issues here. We do have some black bears, but they’re rarely seen — they don’t really approach people. Hogs are more dangerous. They can be up to three feet tall and 400 pounds (https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/). They’re what parents warn their kids about if they’re in the country at night. They can mess you up if they charge at you and can total a car. A toll road put in from Austin to San Antonio — which was built without true knowledge of the area — didn’t account for barriers to keep hogs off the road. It’s led to crazy accidents in the area like this one: https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/update-hogs-on-sh-130-cause-18-wheeler-rollover-crash-thursday/. Other things that people have to watch out for when they’re in the country on foot are wild cats — like mountain lions or bobcats (http://texasnativecats.org/cats-of-texas/) and snakes. I may be missing some of the wildlife though...

- Did they mention a salmon from their fishing trip? I may have misread that, but I thought it said Liam threw one for the bear to chase. We don’t have salmon here: https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/aquaticspecies/inland.phtml. Liam must have picked one up from H-E-B. We also fish more at the coast or lakes than rivers. We use rivers for tubing: https://www.wideopencountry.com/tubing-in-texas/

- It was thoughtful for Maxwell to give his brother a motorbike, but the tires would likely not survive offroad terrain in Texas between soft ground due (like clay and expansive soil) in the Eastern part of the state, rocks in the Western part of the state, and thorns in underbrush (like huisache) that will mess up tires. That’s why we use 4-wheelers and trucks for offroading — their tires can handle more. We still use motorbikes and dirt bikes, but usually on roads or dirt courses.

- Cowboy hats really aren’t always great for working outside. It’s too damn hot here. We always did baseball caps because they breathe better and the sweat doesn’t get trapped. Most people where cowboy hats to special events — whether they’re from smaller towns or from the city and don’t really work outside. Smaller town people use them for things like weddings and town festivals, wearing a nicer button down and slacks or nice jeans. Both small town people and city people use them for festivals with a sleeveless top or loose button down and shorts. Both usually wear boots too for those occasions.

- Maxwell is going to die if he wears that that puffy jacket — the heat index can get high during the day here. Liam’s outfit looks more like what accordion players wear to festivals. Drake’s looks more on par, but he could use some color. Blue and red plaid — like our state flag — are much more common. Bertrand looks like an old time oil tycoon. Riley’s hat looks like it’s going to slip off the back of her head because it’s so big. Hana’s looks the most on point, but most people don’t bear their mid drift unless they’re at a festival. It’ll leave you with some major sun burns and weird tan lines. Plus loose shirts stay cooler in the heat, keep mosquitoes at bay, and block direct sun.

I really want to finish this game out, but I think I was expecting more of a royal take on the royal heir storyline. Plus these weird takes on what they think life is like in Texas...

#the royal heir #the royal romance #choices: stories you play #choices trr #king liam #hana lee #drake walker #maxwell beaumont #bertrand beaumont #savannah walker #the royal heir texas

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loretranscripts · 5 years

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Lore Episode 7: In the Woods (Transcript) - 1st June 2015

tw: ghosts, suicide, racism (colonial era violence towards Native Americans)

Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice!

Nothing can be as isolating or confining as the woods. They seem to cut us off from the rest of the world, leaving us alone, balanced on the edge of being lost. Even in these fairly modern times, the woods seem to exist as a reminder that so much of the world is outside of our control. Sure, we could stay on the path, but those narrow routes between the trees only give us the illusion of control, like a trail of breadcrumbs. They’re fragile and fleeting, and somewhere in the back of our minds we understand that if we were to leave the trail, we would be stepping into the unknown. The woods hide things from us. For centuries, criminals have used the dark cloak of the forest to conceal everything from bootlegging and poaching to drug use and murder. They hide wildlife from us and instil just enough doubt and mystery that we end up believing anything could be living out there. Anything. Some areas, though, are darker than others. In some places the woods are more than just a gathering of trees and undergrowth. There are locations in our world that are consistently avoided, plagued by rumour, and dense with fear. To step into one of these places is to abandon all safety, all reason, and all hope. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

Between the three Massachusetts towns of Abington, Rehoboth and Freetown exists a triangular slice of land that has become home to hundreds of reports of unexplainable phenomenon. It’s known as the Bridgewater Triangle, though some call it the black triangle, or the devil’s triangle. It might not be swallowing up fighter jets and colonial era ships like the Bermuda Triangle to the south, but its history is just as storied and mysterious. One of the areas within the triangle is the Hockomock Swamp. It’s a 17,000-acre wetland near Bridgewater, Massachusetts. In the 1600s it was inhabited by the Wampanoag tribe of Native Americans, and the fort they built inside it became a strategic location for them during King Philip’s war in 1674. One legend tells how during those times of upheaval and invasion by the colonies, a powerful artefact was lost in the swamp. Now, I can’t find anything beyond a small Wikipedia entry to confirm this, but the story tells of how an object known as the Wampum belt was lost during the war, and that as a result, the swamp became a home to restless spirits. Ever since, the swamp has been a source of a nearly endless supply of unexplainable sightings. One of the most dramatic and best documented reports was made by a local police officer, Sargent Thomas Downey. On a summer night in 1971, Downey was driving home towards the town of Easton, near a place known as Bird Hill, that sits at the edge of the swamp. As he approached the hill, he caught sight of an enormous, winged creature. Downey claims it was over 6ft tall and had a wingspan of almost 12ft. After reporting the sighting to the Easton police, he quickly earned the nickname of “The Bird Man”. I don’t know about you, but it seems odd that a police officer would risk his reputation on such an unusual claim if it was just a joke. Officer Downey clearly saw something that night – just what that thing was, though, is open to debate.

Decades earlier, in 1939, the Civilian Conservation Corps were working on the edge of the swamp, near King Philip’s Street. While there, workers claim to have seen a huge snake, as large around and as black as a stovepipe. According to the report, the snake coiled for a moment, raised its head, and then vanished into the swamp. And what wooded area would be complete without Bigfoot sightings? Although a tall, hairy creature has been sighted dozens of times over the years in various parts of the Bridgewater Triangle, the most common experiences have been near the swamp. In 1983, John Baker, a local fur trapper, had a similar experience. He was on his canoe in the swamp when he heard a splash. He turned to see, and I quote, “a hairy beast slog into the river, and pass within a few yards of his boat”. In 1978, a local man, Joe DeAndrade, was standing on the shore of a pond known as Clay Banks. He claimed that he turned and saw what he described as “a creature that was all brown and hairy, like an apish man-thing”. Oddly enough, I went to high school with a guy who fits that description. But there’s been more than just weird animal sightings in the swamp. As far back as the late 19th century, locals have reported seeing unusual lights. One report was made by two undertakers who were travelling past the swamp on Halloween night in 1908. They claim to have seen a light that hovered in the sky for almost an hour. Whether the reports of creatures and lights are true or not, it might be worth mentioning that the Wampanoag word hockomock literally means “the place where the spirits dwell”.

Another hotspot, in the south-eastern corner of the triangle, is the Freetown State Forest. If all the stories are to be believed, it’s the quintessential haunted forest. Deep inside the park is a cliff, known as the Assonet Ledge, that overlooks an old quarry. There have been reports of hauntings near the ledge, of visions and ghostly figures. Some stories tell [of how] a woman in white lingers near the precipice. Others claim to have heard voices while visiting there. The most common report is of mysterious lights. Some researchers think they know exactly where those lights come from, too. They’re the tools of a creature known as the “Pukwudgie”. In ancient Wampanoag folklore, the Pukwudgie is a small, forest-dwelling creature, something like a troll or a goblin, that lives in the wooded areas around the swamp. Aside from having one of the most entertaining names to say out loud, they are sawid to be small, hairy people, roughly 3ft tall, who hide in the woods and cause trouble to people who discover them. What kind of trouble? Well, Wampanoag folklore tells of how the Pukwudgies use lights to lure travellers into the woods, where they would kill them. These lights, according to legend, are known as the “tei pai wankas”, the North American version of the English will-o’-the-wisp, sometimes referred to as ghost lights. The pukwudgies use the lights as bait, luring people to their death. Rather than attacking hikers outright, apparently these creatures prefer to let the land itself kill their victims. Coincidentally, one of the most common experiences reported by visitors to the ledge is an overwhelming urge to jump. Normal, healthy people have felt nearly suicidal standing atop the ledge. Many of them claim, upon approaching the edge of the cliff, they felt an almost uncontrollable desire to jump off into the dark, rocky water, over 100ft below.

One story in particular bares retelling. Bill Russo was a welder from Raynham. He worked long hours, and for the six years prior to his retirement, he worked the late shift, from 3pm until midnight. By the time he got home from work each night, Bill’s dog Samantha was in desperate need of a walk, and so before bed, Bill would take her out and let her get some exercise. They kept this habit up each and every night, no matter the season or the weather. On a night in 1995, Bill took Samantha out for their usual walk. Their typical route was to stay on the sidewalks and head toward the centre of town, but on this night, they made a change. Bill decided, on a whim, to cut through his own backyard and head along a trail through the woods that ran alongside the swamp. Not a choice I would have made, mind you, even with a German shepherd and rottweiler mix as my companion. About half a mile into their walk, at a place where the path was crossed by a road, Samantha began acting odd. She was tugging at the leash and trembling, and kept glancing back at Bill with worried eyes. Bill pulled at the leash to lead her home, but the dog wouldn’t budge, she just whined and quivered where she stood. After a moment, Bill began to hear the sound that had frightened his dog. It was a thin, high-pitched voice, faint at first but growing louder as it continued, and even though Bill couldn’t understand what the voice was saying, it kept repeating the same sounds. “Ee wahn chu” it seemed to say, “ee wahn chu”. It was midnight, in the woods, so of course Bill couldn’t see anything, but he tried – he scanned the trees and bushes for whatever could be making the sounds. There was even a street light nearby, casting a small circle of pale light on the pavement, but he didn’t see anything. And then suddenly something stepped into the light.

According to Bill, it was perhaps 4ft tall, covered in hair, walked on two legs like a human, and looked to weigh no more than 100lb. It was naked and potbellied, and looked nothing like anything Bill had ever seen before in the swamp. And as it stepped out of the trees and into the light, it continued to speak to him. “Ee wahn chu” it said again. “Keer, keer”. Bill and Samantha stood frozen to the ground, paralysed with fear, and as the dog continued to whine and shiver, the creature lifted its arms and beckoned them to follow. “Ee wahn chu” it said again, motioning to them, “keer”. Bill claimed that he tried asking the creature a few questions, but it only replied with the same nonsense it had already said. Not knowing what else to do, Bill managed to tug Samantha after him, and they both turned and headed home. They didn’t look back.

It’s not the trees that make the woods a frightening place, it’s what the trees conceal. There’s no telling what creatures hide behind the green leaves and thick branches of the forest landscape. Cryptozoologists, ghost hunters and believers in the supernatural are often seen as abnormal. They believe in things that can’t possibly be real. But when we step into the woods, when we surround ourselves with the dark embrace of the unknown, somehow the impossible begins to seem more likely. Maybe we want to believe. Maybe that feeling we get in the pit of our stomachs when we step into a strange, wooded area, is a cry for answers. There has to be something more out there, right? Maybe that’s all we want to know, but we’re simply too afraid of the answers. Bill Russo experienced that same fear on that night in 1995. He and Samantha managed to find their way home, but he was beyond shaken up. Even though it was 1 o’clock in the morning, he went into the kitchen and brewed himself a pot of coffee. There was no way he was going to let himself sleep that night. Cup after cup, hour after hour, Bill relived the experience over and over again, playing back everything he heard and saw. He experienced doubt, and fear, and regret. He wondered if maybe he should have tried harder to speak with the creature. Perhaps he should have approached it, if Samantha would have allowed him to, that is. But the question that plagued him for most of that night was more difficult. What was the creature saying to him? Bill wrestled with his memory of those sounds all through the night. “Ee wahn chu”, it said, and then “Keer”. Before sunrise, Bill was almost positive that he had his answer. It wasn’t another language the creature was speaking after all. It had been trying its best to use English – and the words it kept repeating? “We want you”, it had been saying, “come here”.

Lore is a biweekly podcast and was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke. You can find out more about this episode, including background music, at lorepodcast.com, and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook @lorepodcast. This episode of Lore was made possible by you, our amazing listeners. [Sponsor break here]. To find out how you can support Lore, visit lorepodcast.com/support. You’ll find links to help you leave a review on Itunes, support Lore on Patreon for some awesome rewards, and find a list of my supernatural thrillers, available in both paperback and ebook format. I couldn’t do this show without any of you, and I’m thankful to each and every one of you for that. Thanks for listening.

#lore podcast #podcasts #aaron mahnke #bridgewater triangle #pukwudgie #assonet ledge #massachusetts #cryptozoology #folklore #transcripts #7

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janus-borne · 3 years

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Snake Hill: Tree by Shahid Durrani Tree in autumnal bloom, glowing in the morning sunshine and fog from Cheat Lake. Snake Hill, West Virginia (Oct 31, 2020)

#Snake #Hill #WMA #Wildlife #Management #Area #West #Virginia #fall #autumn #tree #foliage #fog #mist #snake hill #west virginia

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summervanlife · 5 years

Text

28 June

Oh my goodness!! What a stench!! Snatched from beautiful slumber by the worst odour known to man, a cross between raw sewerage and rotten eggs. The wind had changed direction and was now blowing easterly. The rotting and stewed seaweed on the beach next to us was now having its sweet aroma caress our nostrils. We couldn't stand it, and between us, we know about dealing with a stink! The van was converted super quick and we drove along the track to seek salvation in the church car park. Muesli, coffee and toilets - perfect! While we were there a picnic lunch was made so that we could enjoy a day on the bikes. Our destination was Loch Sgioport on the east coast it was a fairly short drive to a parking spot where the bikes were given a quick service (there is some damaged being sustained from the constant rubbing of frames against each other on the rack). Cian's gears needed a bit of attention as well. The route started on a good smooth road, with mountains in the background and small lochs with islands in the foreground; it was hot too. Really hot, we got up to 32 degrees! A car passed us, but then we noticed it had come to a halt up ahead, there were people and animals in the road. As we got closer we realised that 4 friendly wild ponies were being stubborn and refusing to move for the car. Eventually, it squeezed past and left us to get to know the animals. Earlier in the day Nia had instigated a wildlife photo competition. Needless to say the ponies got our full attention. Perhaps the most photographed ponies in the entire Outer Hebrides. The route continued, but became rougher terrain. Then the panorama opened up to a stunning loch and tall island with steep cliffs. Jay spotted an old decaying jetty and a particular section which had been set as a treasure hunt clue by The Petches. In celebration Jay began showing off but not letting on what he had seen. The others looked around guessing and started calling out their sightings; "Arctic tern?", it was there but nope; "Heron?", good but not right; "Dolphins", wait... What? Sure enough there were three dolphins circling in a very relaxed way below us. We decided it was lunch time. The dolphins stayed throughout. Clare declared that she quite liked have dolphins round for lunch. Nia eventually spotted the wire rope on the jetty which was our treasure hunt find. We cycled down to the waters edge and watched the old rotting beams and uprights gently swaying in the water. It was lovely at the jetty. We spent a while taking photos and enjoyed the breeze as it picked up, although the chop on the water made it tricky for us to keeps eyes on the dolphins. The heron flew away and it was time for us to get moving. We found an off road path which looked as if it might offer some good mountain biking, so we took it. The single track path was good with some nice downhill sections and reasonable uphills. After about 4km it became too boggy, we retraced our route. Jay forgot about the third stone drainage culvert, reacted too late and popped his tyre! It deflated instantly. Tools out, repair patch on, pump - second split! Too big for a repair. Out with the old tube, in with the new. Whilst Jay was pre-occupied, the girls were gold hunting in a stream bed beyond a footbridge (we think it was just Fools Gold - but we might have left a fortune up in the hills!) Cian got bored of the repairs and careered downhill towards the footbridge; he forgot there was a step onto the bridge. Colliding with it and uncontrollably snaking across the bridge, he came to a sudden stop as the front wheel hit an upright. It would have been better comedy if he and his bike had ended up in the drink, but luckily for him, he managed to stay on the bridge nursing his damage. Haig boys need to up their biking game! Back in the saddles we got ourselves to the van, albeit after another encounter with the ponies, who, this time, scammed an apple from Clare. Our biggest success is our claim to have spotted a Golden Eagle. There is a level of scepticism in the camp but we are going with a majority vote! All of us needed to quench our thirst as we began to load the van. Jay legs were salmon pink with sunburn and all of us had horse fly bites but it had been a cool day. We hadn't decided on a bedroom for the night but knew we really should be pressing on northwards. Our map looked as if one of the roads heading west extended beyond any housing areas - always a good sign. Without any 3G signal we took our chances. On the way there, we stopped of at 'Our Lady of the Isles' a huge 9m tall granite statue of a lady holding a child. The statue was good, but the expansive scenery downhill from it was better. The road we wanted was a little based on guess work. However, we arrived at a church entrance, driveway and building similar to the one earlier in the day. Hoping for toilets we drove in. Nothing. Clare was considering returning to Christianity had there been facilities available. Our road did produce the goods. We had a few daunting moments as we drove down the shoreline and the smell of this morning returned (note: Cian says that the smell of his own feet sometimes makes him cringe and even he was beginning to feel ill) however the smell dissipated as we move further down. The smell gave way to an idyllic beach, football stadium, dining room, toilet & kitchen. It was next to a military firing range by the sign assured us that it was not currently being used. The bedroom was prepared by Clare while Jay, Nia and Cian made some sewing repairs. After dinner, a game of football on the beach. Again, we were alone. Then to the van for teeth brushing and Eragon.

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