Today I’d like to talk about that delightful little companion of field and garden: the shrike. [copyright Rosemary Mosco, 2024, birdandmoon.com] If you know, you know. And if you don’t know… well, let’s talk about shrikes. Shrikes are a group of birds found across the tropics and the northern hemisphere. There are about 30 species, […]
Animals
The blue-ringed octopus! An elegant little creature, native to the southwest Pacific, particularly the waters around Australia. Pretty to look at… but mostly famous for being very, very venomous. The blue-ring’s bite is deadly. A single sharp nip can kill an adult human in minutes. But why? The blue-ring is a modest little creature that […]
There’s been a a certain amount of negativity floating around lately. So, let’s talk about a toxic, venomous freak of nature and the parasite that afflicts it. Biology warning, this gets slightly squicky. Let’s start with the toxic, venomous freak of nature: the Portuguese man-o’-war. If you’ve spent a lot of time in warm ocean […]
John Mitchinson explores why he chooses to raise and then consume man's second best friend
Pauline Hanson, a Queensland based attention-seeking racist bigot has started picking on Robert Irwin, a young boy also from Queensland who lost his famous Father when he was young. Ms Hanson started bullying Mr Irwin by stealing his likeness to... Read More ›
RIPLEY: How do we kill it, Ash? There’s gotta be a way of killing it – how, how do we do it? ASH: You can’t. PARKER: That’s bullshit! ASH: You still don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you? A perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. LAMBERT: You admire it… […]
I was walking with my teenage son in a large shop the other day, and we passed by the children’s section. I saw a duvet cover that so much reminded me of Kretk – or, in English translation, the Little Mole. We were recalling which of the Kretk films that we saw we liked most […]
Within pretty broad limits[1], I’m an advocate of historical ‘presentism’, that is, assessing past events and actions in the same way as those in the present, and considering history in relation to our present concerns. In particular, that implies viewing enslavers, racists and warmongers in the same light, whether they are active today or died […]
“While I was at the funeral for my brother…there were only four people, because of social distancing. I will never forget that," song-writer and actor Will Young tells Byline Times.
When it comes to the ocean, there's much we can't see.