Comment posted Nigel Price, Property Manager at Crarae Gardens in the van on the war on midges by newsroom.
This explains a puzzle. Noticed that the swallows were very late arriving this year (blown off course) and fewer than usual (losses in Africa). Thank you.
newsroom also commented
- Can’t answer for the African disaster but, personally, finally learned the difference between Swallows and House Martins a few years ago (tails).
Our swallows seemed to arrive around 6 weeks later than usual this time.
Lynda
Recent comments by newsroom
- Radically new council group changes all the dynamics: party politics dead in Argyll
Oh boy… - Party politics on the way back as more confusion reigns in Argyll and Bute Council
The reading rate is high – but this saga is like being sandbagged by a black pantomine with more false endings than a Z-list thriller. - Iain McCallum: the human bridge between Campbeltown and Heroes Challenge UK
Alan – we’ll try to get a message to the team for you – and will pass on your email to them for dir3ect contact.
The communications side of things is a weak link – not just with wifi and mobile signal problems but with accurate information on ETAs and even destinations.
We spent the afternoon today chasing around unsuccessfully to find them at their stated destination in Campbeltown – confirmed before we set off to drive – when in fact they finished at The Putechan Hotel, which is on the west coast of Kintyre and well short of Campbeltown. Very frustrating.
We did see the team doing the hard stuff though – passing them on the way south. They were cycling in two clusters, impressively easily and very disciplined in the way they were dealing with traffic streams behind them.
You should know that we now understand that they will row tomorrow from Campbeltown to Glenarm and not to Ballycastle; and that it looks as if they will row back not form Newcastle but from Bangor to Portpatrick.
They’ll be delighted to see you mi-channel. Great idea. - Argyll and Bute Council: Where are we now?
The difference is that the new ferry to Campbeltown had an arrival time and actually arrived.
A major part of what we work to do is to support initiatives at all levels that are focused on regeneration and are driven by positive, creative energies that make things happen.
Campbeltown wins hands down over Kilmory any minute of any day on these criteria – and we never spare ourselves travelling and hard work on a cause that has some hope of going somewhere.
And just in case you are implying that this was a jolly – which we never do: I myself drove to Campbeltown – 1 hr 30m – did the work and drove back again immediately. - Argyll and Bute Council: Where are we now?
This amusing spin disguises the fact that there was no political ‘speculation’.
There was formally recorded political realignment and manoeuvering by all councillors – which was done in some urgency before the council meeting, yet appears to have stalled – for some reason and for the time time being at least.
Councillors do not seem to realise that this adds to the alienation of voters rather than assuage concerns.
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In Castleton, outside Lochgilphead, there has been a mysterious absence of midges for weeks now, and likewise at Cairnbaan, apparently – so the question is why none this year in some places that are usually just as afflicted as elsewhere?
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Comparing last year with this is ridiculous. Last year we had a particular severe winter, this year a mild one. The lack of midges last year compared the multitude this year is surely explained by those seasonal variations — last summer was comparably crap to this.
If the coming winter is mild and the following summer mild and wet, we’ll see numbers which will dwarf this. I’m hoping for another cold one. The lack of midges last year was wonderful!
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Oh great, so we have to freeze till we’re blue during the winter or suffer the little bloodsuckers the following summer. Personally, I blame the birds, the swallows to be precise. They have failed to keep to the productivity targets I have set them and I have therefore threatened them with eviction from the free accommodation under my eaves which I have always provided them. Lazy little beggars.
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Maybe they’ve migrated to Castleton and Cairnbaan (though I’m told that bats rather than swallows are the best midge hunters)
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I think you may find that the drop in the swallow population is due to a massive storm in Africa during which thousands of swallows were blown off-course and died!
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This explains a puzzle. Noticed that the swallows were very late arriving this year (blown off course) and fewer than usual (losses in Africa). Thank you.
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Thanks for setting me straight. Poor things, now I feel so churlish for slagging them.
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Are you sure we are talking swallows here and not house martins?
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Can’t answer for the African disaster but, personally, finally learned the difference between Swallows and House Martins a few years ago (tails).
Our swallows seemed to arrive around 6 weeks later than usual this time.
Lynda
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