WEE BITS...(CONT.)  

 ...THE BEAVERS ARE BACK (now!)

Since this article was written, Beavers have been reintroduced in Knapdale; three separate families havve been released. There are ongoing arguments as to whether this is a good thing or not; some argue it will benefit the environment; others are vociferous in their condemnation of the idea, claiming that Beavers will change completely the ecology of their environment.  The RZSS and SWT - instigators of the trial - said (a quote from the RZSS Edinburgh Zoo website)...

..."The purpose of the trial is to show that the reintroduction of beavers in Scotland is feasible and beneficial to nature conservation.

It can also assess the ecology of the beaver in the current Scottish environment and assess the effects of beaver activities on the environment, including a range of land uses (primarily forestry and freshwater lochs) – and to compare these with the intensive research and management in mainland Europe."

So watch this space - or these spaces, as only time will tell how this will turn out.

...THE BEAVERS ARE BACK (SOON)...   

 ... a joint application submitted by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) for reintroduction of the European Beaver to the Knapdale Forest in Mid-Argyll, has been approved by Scottish Government.

If the trial is successful then the European Beaver will be the first mammal to be reintroduced to the UK. The trial will be for a five-year period in total and will see 15-20 beavers introduced and monitored in Knapdale. It is hoped that the beavers will be introduced in spring 2009.

Beavers bring many benefits to other native species and habitats and have already been successfully reintroduced in 24 other European countries. This means that beavers will come home to Scotland next spring - after an absence of more than 450 years, when they were hunted to extinction for food and their insulating pelt.

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Boghall Butcher wins World Pie Championship...

Paul Boyle, of Boghall Butchers, West Lothian, has for the second time won the title - "World Scotch Pie Champion".

This so impressed local councillor Willie Boyle (no relation to Paul) that he waxed lyrical, and wrote a wee poem called  'The Boghall Pie'

(Unfortunately, copyright laws mean that we can not print this; however we have read it, and can assure you that it is one of which William McGonagall would have been proud.)

***

...AE is a tiny village eight miles north of Dumfries, Galloway. It was founded in 1947 to house forestry workers, and has the shortest name of any village or town in Britain

It's also the only place name in Britain without a consonant...

***

...the idea for the poem "To a mouse" came to Rabbie Burns when he was ploughing a field in 1785, and the plough turned up the nest of a field-mouse, or harvest mouse. The beastie was trying to escape when one of the farm servants - one John Blane- went to smite it with the plough-spade. Burns stopped him from killing the wee thing and reportedly "fell into a pensive mood, in which he composed the piece just as it stands".

The full title of the piece is " To a Mouse, on turning her up in her nest with the plough, November 1785"...

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