tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post2298916366468364821..comments2024-03-29T01:41:15.713+00:00Comments on Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park birds: Ralph Hancockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-60388454743091224222016-12-09T19:01:05.147+00:002016-12-09T19:01:05.147+00:00I don't think the gull would have made the per...I don't think the gull would have made the periscope much more noticeable. There are lots of gulls and not many periscopes.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-82877579462444022082016-12-09T07:56:21.692+00:002016-12-09T07:56:21.692+00:00That gull/ball photo is wonderful. It looks so ple...That gull/ball photo is wonderful. It looks so pleased with itself.Dom Gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-60392521070054267352016-12-09T07:50:27.807+00:002016-12-09T07:50:27.807+00:00Was the intention to obscure the periscope's v...Was the intention to obscure the periscope's view or to highlight the sub's position?<br /><br />Sadly Drax's modern day descendant is more inclined to shoot first and make observations later. He disgraced himself in the recent parliamentary hen harrier debate.<br /><br />Hurrah for messenger pigeons, but what a terrible cost the coastal peregrine population paid to ensure their safe passage.Dom Gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-36461209995496553762016-12-08T20:43:23.220+00:002016-12-08T20:43:23.220+00:00It wouldn't have worked. The submarine would b...It wouldn't have worked. The submarine would be moving forward, and most of the time the periscope would be facing forward. Gulls, like most birds, always stand facing the wind to avoid their feathers getting disordered, so a gull on the periscope would have its head above the lens.<br /><br />A periscope can be rotated of course but, if it were, the motion would disturb the gull and it would fly off.<br /><br />Admiral Duff should have sought the advice of Admiral the Honourable Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL, who lived near Poole and would have had plenty of time to observe the behaviour of gulls, and would have pointed out that it was a duff idea.<br /><br />But hurrah for Cher Ami.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-29194774923543156272016-12-08T20:32:38.483+00:002016-12-08T20:32:38.483+00:00A tasty morsel of Lucretius -- thanks. Apparently ...A tasty morsel of Lucretius -- thanks. Apparently the verb 'gull', meaning to cheat, has nothing to do with the word for the bird, and is an obsolete term for 'to swallow' -- cf. French <i>gueule</i>, throat.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-27301934733465853952016-12-08T17:09:06.028+00:002016-12-08T17:09:06.028+00:00Wonderful. Those gulls should join the ranks of ot...Wonderful. Those gulls should join the ranks of other avian war heroes such as Cher Ami, the heroic pigeon that saved the lives of a whole infantry devision during WWI.Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-12072606469768870342016-12-08T17:05:30.414+00:002016-12-08T17:05:30.414+00:00"To gull" is related to "gullible&q..."To gull" is related to "gullible", right?Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-75125534025665308072016-12-08T13:59:41.379+00:002016-12-08T13:59:41.379+00:00A couple of quotes about the Royal Navy, U-boats a...A couple of quotes about the Royal Navy, U-boats and gulls:<br /><br />" Inglefield’s other brain child was to<br />attempt to train seagulls to defecate on periscopes, and for a short while a remote<br />corner of Poole harbour in Dorset was littered with dummy periscopes and hopefully<br />incontinent seagulls."<br /><br />"The Admiralty and the BIR had received suggestions to train gulls to detect<br />periscopes in 1915 but the matter was not taken further until raised again and referred<br />to Rear Admiral A.L. Duff, Director of the Anti-Submarine Division, in late 1916. It<br />was proposed that merchant ships should tow a dummy periscope ‘from which at<br />intervals food would be discharged like sausage-meat from a machine’ to teach the<br />birds to associate periscopes near ships with food, leading them to swoop on the<br />periscopes of real submarines."<br /><br />(Both quotes are taken from <a href="http://www.ijnhonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/article_wilson.pdf" rel="nofollow"> this pdf.</a> )<br /><br /> Justyna C.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-13628699368421371512016-12-08T11:52:23.759+00:002016-12-08T11:52:23.759+00:00Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret ...Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret <br />in terris oppressa gravi sub religione...<br /><br />– but there is the verb "to gull"; so there are bird confidence-tricksters, perhaps? harryghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04184350321693687780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-64348656792593785022016-12-08T01:50:51.698+00:002016-12-08T01:50:51.698+00:00Especially as they are unimpeded by lawyers, polit...Especially as they are unimpeded by lawyers, politicians and priests.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-58187858301646382432016-12-07T23:01:50.355+00:002016-12-07T23:01:50.355+00:00I don't think it will be long before someone p...I don't think it will be long before someone picks up on how intelligent, fascinating and human-like Gulls are. I don't know of any famous book devoted to them, but they sure deserve to have one.<br /><br />If trees have been found to care for their own and to share information and pool resources (I learned about what they call the Wood Wide Web the other day and couldn't pick my jaw off the floor, http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-secrets-of-the-wood-wide-web), what will Gulls be capable of?Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-45156805480593552332016-12-07T21:55:45.742+00:002016-12-07T21:55:45.742+00:00I think it really was. It was bouncing about.I think it really was. It was bouncing about.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-90666710188146993242016-12-07T21:53:18.191+00:002016-12-07T21:53:18.191+00:00The young Gull looks so happy!The young Gull looks so happy!Ian Younghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07805150608243315063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-19414881382921011802016-12-07T21:01:05.859+00:002016-12-07T21:01:05.859+00:00It picked it up and dropped it and rolled it aroun...It picked it up and dropped it and rolled it around on the shore, and then rolled it into the water and did more picking up and dropping. It could only just get its beak around the tennis ball, and also tried to pick up the ball by its few remaining bits of fluff.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-16516641885115636942016-12-07T20:54:12.532+00:002016-12-07T20:54:12.532+00:00Tiny little Coal Tit believing himself to be an ea...Tiny little Coal Tit believing himself to be an eagle. There is something so endearing about that picture.<br /><br />What did the Gull do with the tennis ball? Any recognizable pattern to the game? Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.com