What we know about the Fundraising Preference Service... so far

Q Will all charities be blocked from sending fundraising communications to people on the FPS?

This is still undecided. George Kidd, chair of the working group deciding on the implementation of the FPS, indicated in February that he was not keen on having a model in which people could simply block communications from specific charities they disliked, saying he could not see how such a system would work. But at Third Sector's Fundraising Week conference in April, Stephen Dunmore, interim chief executive of the new Fundraising Regulator, said this was being considered. The regulator will be the body that manages the FPS, although Kidd has said the delivery will probably be taken care of by an external agency with expertise in data security.

Q What about existing supporters who sign up?read more

Large blue butterfly thriving after reintroduction

A rare butterfly once declared extinct in the UK is now being seen in record numbers after being reintroduced.

Conservationists said there was a population of more than 10,000 large blue butterflies on reserves in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

The last large blue butterfly colony was on Dartmoor in Devon and it was declared extinct in 1979.

The population in the UK is now believed to be largest concentration of the species anywhere in the world.

The butterfly, with a wingspan of more than two inches, was brought back from the dead with the reintroduction of stock from Sweden in 1984 and has thrived since then.

The key to the success of the programme was an understanding of the butterfly's bizarre life-cycle which is similar to that of the cuckoo.

The caterpillar tricks red ants into believing it is one of their own grubs and is carried underground.

It feeds on the larvae around it until it emerges 10 months later to live for just a few weeks as a butterfly.

Conservationists said the story of the large blue showed that the decline of globally threatened species could be reversed

european cave bear

a new research has found that the european cave bear became extinct due to vegan diet. wiki link

Smoking cannabis makes you lazy, study suggests

Smoking cannabis could make you lazy, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia gave the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main brain-affecting ingredient in cannabis, to laboratory rats.

They found this made them less willing to carry out a complex task for a large reward, with most opting for an easier one despite a smaller prize.read more

boars disorder in gloucestershire villages.

if you live linterford or yorkly village you may come across wild boars smashing into fences in search of food and ransacking wheelie bins .over a 1,000 wild boar roar the forest of dean in gloucestershire

Rare skeleton of a dodo is up for auction

A RARE skeleton of the extinct dodo is going under the hammer later this year.

It is the first to come up for auction for nearly 100 years and is already attracting widespread interest.

Summers Place Auctions in Stane Street, Billingshurst, believe the composite skeleton, which is 95 per cent complete, will be sold for a six figure sum.

It is rarer than the diplodocus dinosaur skeleton that was sold at the auction house earlier this year for £400,000.

Only one dodo skeleton exists that is made up from the bones of a single bird and the others, about a dozen, are composites made up from bones that belonged to several individuals.

Summers Place natural history curator Errol Fuller said: “Dodo skeletons are extremely rare.

“Most museums had acquired their dodos many years ago and no relatively complete skeleton has been put together since the early 20th century.

“This is an amazingly rare opportunity for the acquisition of one of the great icons of extinction.”

Bristol pirate Blackbeard's real name was NOT Edward Teach, American historian confirms

He is the world's most famous pirate, Bristol's finest and still notorious after 300 years, but now a definitive history of Blackbeard has claimed that the city has got it wrong.

Blackbeard's real name was Edward Thatch, not Edward Teach.

And not only has Bristol got the name of its most famous sons wrong all this time, but the city has misjudged the man – far from being a brutal and violent pirate, research now claims there is no evidence he ever killed or hurt anyone – apart from in the final battle where he himself died.

One of the world's leading historians, writers and researchers on the golden age of piracy – the seven or so years from 1712 when the Caribbean was effectively ruled by anarchic pirate fleets – Colin Woodard has written books on the subject and been the historical advisor on many a TV series and film.

But after visiting Bristol himself to research Blackbeard for a book called Republic of Pirates, he has broken the news that all the guidebooks, plaques, posters, notices on pubs and history books have been getting his name wrong all this time.

Blackbeard was from Bristol but was called Edward Thatch, and Mr Woodard said he found the first time a newspaper report - published in the Boston News-Letter - about the antics of the pirate got his name wrong, but it stuck.

"Of his life before, we still know very little," admitted Mr Woodard. "He went by Edward Thatch – not 'Teach' as many historians have said, apparently repeating an error made by the Boston News-Letter.read more