I came to bird song rather late. As a child, my enthusiasm for birds was almost entirely visual. I would spend hours copying pictures out of bird guides, but knew few other than the obvious, onomatopoeic calls. Over the past decade or so - with a conscious effort, and with considerable direction from my partner, whose ear is much more musical than mine - I’ve managed to tune in to the more common songs you’re likely to hear in Britain. I’m nowhere near able to deconstruct a full dawn chorus, but at least now unfamiliar songs stand out, often a sign that something interesting is around.
Admin, at work and at home
There’s an old joke that an academic career is 50% research, 50% teaching, and 50% admin. From this quart-squeezed-into-a-pint-pot, it is the final third that is typically spat out with most obvious distaste. We got into this for the research; the value of teaching is clear enough; but the admin?!
Six Years a Sunfish
Very little is known about the lifespan and reproductive biology of the ocean sunfish, Mola mola, after which this blog is named. They can live to be at least 20 years old, however, and so one can assume that to dispatch one at six years old is to cut it off in its prime. Yet haul this one on to deck and administer a hefty blow from an oversized fisherman's priest we must. After years of kind support from first Nature Network, and then from scilogs.com, the plug is being pulled.