Pee of newt and poo of bat – bat identification from droppings and DNA

Droppings, faeces, dung, poo – call it what you will these are a mainstay in the ecologists fieldcraft for id’ing species, and bats are no different.

Finding bat droppings within barns and lofts, at bat access points and under cracks and holes in trees is a good initial indicator of bat presence at a site. Knowing they are bat droppings is relatively easy, as although they look very similar to mouse droppings, when crushed they easily break down to a fine powder, made of insect carapaces.

You can sometimes determine the species or group of bat species present, purely from their droppings. Until recently this has been fairly tough, relying predominantly on how the droppings look….their colour, size, shape and texture.

Pipistrelle droppings are usually very small and regularly oval shaped, but by eye you can’t tell the difference in droppings between the three different species. Brown long-eared bat droppings are usually longer and twisted, but can often break up at the twists to look like smaller droppings. Serotine droppings are usually ‘bullet’ shaped.

However, there can be substantial differences between droppings from individual bats of the same species, with the diet playing the greatest role.

Brave souls have endeavoured to determine bat species by dissecting bat droppings using a microscope, and using the insect fragments that remain to determine what the -read more

Billions of 'super-fleas' with massive penises are expected to invade homes across Cornwall and beyond this autumn.

The new breed of so called super-fleas, which are far bigger than 'normal' fleas, are expected to come out of hibernation early this year.

The flea has a penis which is two-and-a-half times the length of its body - the largest genitalia relative to size of any bug on earth.

Conditions for flea breeding have been perfect with a mild summer and the right amount of rain and damp weather.

The new flea breed is believed to have come from Europe over the past few years.read more

Massive crater under small Scottish town could be the crash site of the first meteorite to hit the British Isles

The exact landing site of the first meteorite to hit the British Isles has been a mystery for years.

Now a scientist claims to have discovered its exact location.

Palaeontologist Dr Mike Simms believes he has found the 25 mile-wide impact crater under the small town of Lairg in northern Scotland.For years scientists have been studying green rock fragments found sandwiched between 1.2 billion-year-old sandstone near Ullapool, 30 miles to the west of Lairg.

For decades this layer was thought to be a volcanic mudflow until, in 2008, geologists from Oxford and Aberdeen proved that it had actually been formed by a giant meteorite impact.read more

black toenail.

no not a character from some old comedy film but part of my body i hate .years ago i managed to drop a pallet of a heavy weight on my foot and since then i toe has looked like this .

something odd in my neighbourhood .

they say you are never too far from the weird and wonderful in the world and i discover one this phenomenon the other day whilst walking my jack russell-mitzi -around my local estate.whilst walking along glebe meadows ,holsworthy,devon i spotted a duck standing by the gate and a cat sitting beside it i managed too talk to the owner who told me the duck was a 10 month year old indian runner duck who was quite tame as liked sitting by the fire and escorting the postman to the gate.

Arsène Wenger,-20 years at arsenal football club

wiki link  OBE (French pronunciation: ​[aʁsɛn vɛŋ(ɡ)ɛʁ]; born 22 October 1949), is a French football manager and formerplayer. He has been the manager of Arsenal since 1996, where he has since become the club's longest-serving manager and most successful in terms of major titles won. Football pundits give Wenger credit for his contribution to the revolutionising of football in England in the late 1990s through the introduction of changes in the training and diet of players.

Wenger was born in Strasbourg and raised in Duttlenheim. He was introduced to football by his father, the manager of the local village team. After a modest playing career, in which he made appearances for several amateur clubs, Wenger obtained a manager's diploma in 1981. Following an unsuccessful period at Nancy which culminated in his dismissal in 1987, Wenger joinedAS Monaco; the club won the league championship in 1988. In 1991, Wenger guided Monaco to victory in the Coupe de France, but their failure to regain the league title in later seasons led to his departure from the club by mutual consent in 1994. He briefly coached Japanese J.League side Nagoya Grampus Eight, which won the Emperor's Cup and Japanese Super Cup during his stint.

In 1996, Wenger was named manager of Arsenal and two years later the club completed a league and FA Cup double. The club won another league and cup double in 2002 and retained the FA Cup a year later. In 2004, Wenger managed Arsenal to anundefeated league season, a feat last accomplished by Preston North End, 115 years previously. Arsenal later eclipsed Nottingham Forest's record of 42 league matches unbeaten and went seven more matches before losing in October 2004. The club made their first appearance in a Champions League final in 2006, though they lost to Barcelona. After a period of nine years without a trophy, which coincided with the club relocating to the Emirates Stadium, Wenger guided Arsenal to further FA Cup success in 2014 and2015. Alongside George Ramsay, he is the most successful manager in the competition's history with six titles.

The nickname "Le Professeur" (French; "The Professor") is used by fans and the British media to reflect Wenger's studious demeanour. His approach to the game emphasises an attacking mentality, with the aim that football ought to be entertaining on the pitch. Wenger's Arsenal teams have been criticised for their indiscipline; his players received 100 red cards between September 1996 and February 2014, though the team has won awards for sporting fair play. At Monaco, Wenger earned a reputation for spotting young talent, and he has remained focused on developing a youth system.wiki link

Work is underway to fight 'killer' Asian hornets before they arrive in UK for first time

Killer hornets have been spotted in the UK for the first time ever and are feared to be breeding successfully, according to experts.

The Asian hornet - which poses a severe risk to the world's bee population - was discovered in Gloucestershire.

Smaller than the UK's native hornet, this particular species grows up to 2.5cm and poses no greater risk to human health than than common “yellowjacket” wasps.

However, they do pose a risk to honey bees.

According to experts, the Asian hornet waits outside bee hives before biting the honey bee's head off.read more