What is wrong with this photograph?

1
It shows the children's faces, thus making them identifiable. Such photos should only be taken showing the children from the back, or at least with their faces not visible.
2
The adult** is touching two of the children. No adult should touch children under any circumstances.
3
The adult is alone with the children. There must always be at least two adults when children are being accompanied.

These are not my rules; these are published rules for the guidance of Local Education Authorities and similar.
My friend Ruth is the head of a primary school. She cannot take a child in her car unless a second adult is present.
My friend Amy Bell is a primary school teacher, who loves to organise outdoor wildlife events for her classes. But transport is now a problem because parents are not allowed to give lifts to other than their own children.

Have we gone crazy, or what? We have created a society where mistrust and suspicion are the key virtues, where we all now have an unhealthy mindset, where normal relationships have been poisoned by those in authority who see sin in everything. A recent TV programme tested this by putting a child on its own in a shopping mall and then filmed the reactions of adult passers-by. The child was clearly distressed, but NOBODY offered to help it. Until finally some old scrote - and it would have been me if I had been there - went up to the child, took its hand and led it into a nearby store, from where they could make a phonecall for help.

I love children. If I think a child is hurt or in distress, I will go to its aid. I am telling you this so you can start planning your prison visits to me when I end up in the chokey for being a Dirty Old Man. Damn them all.

Envoi: I am very strict with myself these days: I only allow myself to be a Grumpy Old Man once a week.

**He is in fact a retired actor called Norman Wisdom, who has done wonderful things to help children in need. Bless him, surely a place has been reserved for him in Heaven.

Compare and contrast

I pinched this photo of an American Robin's nest and eggs off the net. To my eye, those look like Song Thrush's eggs (no speckling) in a Blackbird's nest (no mud lining).

American taking a bath

Meanwhile, in San Diego, my friend V is enjoying uninterrupted views of an American Robin making use of the birdbath in her garden (Thanks for the pix, V)
Apart from its coloration, it could be a Blackbird, but that's because it's a member of the same genus (Turdus spp). Its scientific name is Turdus migratorius.
Given its coloration, it's not surprising that early European settlers called it a "Robin", after our European Robin, which is in a different genus (Erithacus rubecula).
Not many people in Huntingdon know that.

A day of projects

A day of projects. At 7 a m, I was already out on Haddenham Fen, shivering, to share in a BBC radio and TV coverage of an unusual event. Most farmers uncover "bog oaks" when they plough their land, maybe one or two per acre. But local farmer John Derby must have been stunned when an acre of his land yielded up twenty or more bog oaks, and some big ones at that.
In the afternoon, I was at Worlington Parish Church, just inside the Suffolk border, to help with the installation of Swift nest boxes in the church belfry.
Tomorrow, I shall be making a couple of indoor Barn Owl boxes, using some amazing ex-military chests that a local farmer gave me.
All this activity is good for me. It diverts me from my baser instincts, eg, vandalising telephone kiosks, scrawling graffiti on walls and molesting dwarves on their birthdays. Yes, a man should have a hobby, specially if he's an Old Scrote.

Fen Sunsets

The fens are flat, flat, flat. They say that from some vantage points you can see the curvature of the earth when you look across the fens (7 miles to the horizon if you are 5'6"). One of the consolations for the lack of hills, mountains, forests, etc, is that we have spectacular sunsets. Here are two shots I took of the sunset on 23 February as I looked out of my kitchen window. starting pale and ending INTENSE. PS Happy Birthday, Angit!

LEO

On Wednesday, thanks to David H, who found them, we were able to scope two roosting Long-eared Owls, but my goodness, they were difficult to see, even from as close as thirty yards. That cryptic plumage is so effective. At one point, I commented "I've had better views", to which DH immediately responded "F.... off, Allsop, go and find your own!". Like Sid Perelman, I immediately yielded to that soft impeachment!
Maybe I will f.... off and find my own tomorrow.
Maybe.

February 2009, when the snow came

I finally uploaded (or is it downloaded?) the photos in my digital camera to my computer and have posted them to an album in Facebook. You can also access the album here (I hope) :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79189&id=720066699&l=47124
And now, if you will excuse me, I am going out to search for roosting Long-eared Owls. Wish me luck.