New job!

Thanks to the LOVELY EJ I've got my first real (sort of) job in science!

It's only a part time one (hence the 'sort of'), and doesn't really start until January. I am going to be doing wee bit's up until then though, and it's a foot in the door with a relatively large employer locally, and will hopefully lead to much more :)

So what is it? Well it's basically a research job, studying the effects of the new local wind farm on birds. It's the first study in the world to have begun before the wind farm was built, and so will be the first to have definitive results on the subject.

Today I went to have an induction (health and safety stuff) on the site, first day is next Wednesday :D

Going to the dogs...

My flatmate went hunting over the weekend and come home with something - FINALLY!

It was a year old hind, and after hanging up in the garage for a bit it was, well, butchered! The lucky dogs got more food than they could possibly handle (Barking dog in the background is our new neighbour who never shuts up... his owner also has tourettes - like owner like dog so they say!)


However Jake didn't want to share! While he dealt to the rib cage Fenn was given the neck to chew on. (Keeping in mind this was after she's gone through a few hooves)

After about 30 mins she had the biggest food baby I've ever seen!

After about 6 hours she then vomited up 2kg's of not-so-fresh venison... lesson learned for everyone!

The last of Bridget?!

I went to visit Bridget again today, and I think it could be the last time I see her and her chick on the nest.
I say chick as there is only 1 left now... I guess it hasn't been the best year for them, but 1 is better than none!



I'm expecting it to have left the nest by Saturday, but you never know - I'll let you know anyway ;)

Camera on the south coast

Nick and I went down to the south coast to test out my new camera underwater - it wasn't easy without getting wet myself, but I got some good pics in rock-pools, and some interesting video too :)



Cool wee Tripplefin

Half in half out

Anemone


We also saw some crazy hippies dancing to Drum & Bass music coming from their hippy-van. (dirty hippies!) I didn't get the worst of it sorry, but I was trying to be subtle!



FYI - I'm allowed to say that because my mum is a hippy and I have an affinity with them... I just wouldn't dance like that in public, but good on them!

The camera also does well out of the water, this snail would have been about 1.5mm across

What is a Millitant Homosexual?!

well according to Nick Griffin of the BNP, I am!

This is because I think children should be taught (in schools) that some of them will be gay, and that there is nothing wrong with that.

I can't believe that my home country appears to be falling apart so much that people like that man can be elected... He makes our own Nick Smith look like a lovable old man! *shudder*

(Context - BBC's program Question Time, person in the audience asks the politicians if an article should have been published in a paper which (using the death of Boyzone's Stephen Gately) made many homophobic remarks and lead to thousands of angry complaints to the newspaper)


Watch the program from the start here

Bridget update...

I still can't believe just how fast these things are growing!

Unfortunately there are only 2 left now though, and interestingly there is still a missive size difference between them



No sign of the missing two (dead) chicks.. I'm guessing their parents carried them away to dump them somewhere which is kind of sick! It's what they do with the chicks poo to reduce the smell of the nest for predators - you can see the dad eat a packet of poo on his second visit in that video... eww!

Growing fast!

Well Bridget's young are growing REALLY fast! I took this video a few days ago (with my new camera, w000p!) and you can see they seem to have doubled in size in only a few days!!

My Bday present!

If you are a bad person and you didn't realise, it was my birthday yesterday!!

Lots of my friends clubbed together and got me an awesome present - a Panasonic FT1
Apart from being a great general compact camera, this one can also swim with the fish to a depth of up to 3m. Not massive I know, but plenty for snorkeling with, and unlike many similar models from other manufacturers this one takes great pics out of the water too...

Pic of Breaker bay from my run today
And a few macro shots of Magnus, Nick's venus flytrap (no cropping required!)

I haven't tested it's underwater capabilities yet, but it's going to be great I'm sure, and it also shoots HD video which is going to be fun :)

All in all it's going to be perfect for my MONTH LONG HOLIDAY IN THAILAND which is coming up, wOOOOp!

Thank you so much to Chris & Nick, Matt & Di, Nate & Reilley, Nev, Cookie, Navin & Sophie & Nick H.

Time for a fish update!

So the pulchers are growing fast.. but still no babies there yet... they're looking good though!



The julies young are growing up fast though!










Proud father with one of his biggest



there are a good dozen all over the place now, the tank has become pretty busy and it's great to just sit back and watch :)



Thanks Nick for the pics!

They've hatched!

So here they are...



I'm pretty sure they hatched yesterday morning, but they can't be more than 36 hours old anyway. All 4 are alive so far but I'm expecting they won't all make it though, it's pretty standard for at least one to not get enough food.

Another animal I saw struggling to survive yesterday was this Stick Insect that had clung to a customers car all the way to the garden centre... I have no idea how long it had been there but it must have been an interesting ride for it! Needless to say I put it into a tree

thesis distraction

Very cool video, I wish I was this talented!

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Bridget update!

So I've done a bit of research, and after 2 weeks of incubation Bridget's eggs will hatch, then they'll fledge after only 16ish days! That means this was her last week on the nest, and come next week she's going to have to spend all of her time trying to feed hungry chicks...

So here she is relaxing while she can


I don't blame her for sitting tight though, the day was pretty crappy for the most part, lots of wind and rain and it was only 7 deg C when I go there in the morning!

My first grey hair

Today, 11/10/09 will always be remembered as the day that my first grey hair was discovered...

I didn't even reach 26!!! NOOOOOO!!!

Thanks Nick for pointing it, and it's friend out to me. Ignorance is bliss, but I wasn't given that option :P

Nah it's ok, I don't mind, I find it all quite interesting really!

Tui's at work

We've just had a break in the weather and the tui's are loving it!

The boys the boys!

... a line from Romeo & Juliet... if you don't get it that's ok but don't judge me!

I had the boys up again for a few days, as usual we did lots of stuff, this time it included me introducing them to many new foods that I love!

Firstly we had Waffles for breakfast... that went well!


The also had satay for the first time - such sheltered children!

(tank in Courtney Central by my favorite purveyor of satay goodness)
Oh, and Burger Fuel too!

Then another not-to-healthy addiction, Flight Control on the iphone!

FYI, Pam's now sell 4l containers of Icecream! WOW that would have lasted me 2 days when I was at H&J's... I was a fatty :P
The weather was pretty crappy most of the time, but the clouds parted and we went to play some crazy golf...

Then the wind died down and we went for a walk up at Kaitoke, lots of native clematis flowering at this time of year :D

We went and saw the F1 cars at Te Papa

This steering wheel has lots of buttons... I don't think I could handle it!
















Last day on the south coast before their flight home, they get bigger every time, it's getting scary and I feel so old :S

Why don't you get in the pen dickhead?!

Funny and very kiwi!



more here

Bridget

This is our display of "4 for $10" grasses at work, what a bargain :P


I was helping out a customer here yesterday when I noticed something on the middle shelf...



To start with I didn't think it was real...

But it is! I've named her Bridget...

She is, of course, a female Black Bird who's decided that our stand of grasses is a great place to have hey young... I'm not sure if it was the wisest idea but at least I'll be able to watch them grow up!




I covered the front of the stand in some shade cloth, and will keep an eye on her over the next few weeks. They should have fledged the nest within about 6 weeks (so says a customer of mine who is a vet) so I'll post an update every week to show how she's going!
If you want to come and visit her yourself, this is where you'll find her!

A nice day for a run

I've just gone back from a good run, which I needed after eating way too much Mussaka last night! (First time I made it and it was bloody awesome!)

ooooo pretty flowers!

As I was running in between the golf course and the airport I saw this wee duckling on the road! He couldn't get back off the road because the curb was too big, and his mother was stuck in the golf course with his siblings as she couldn't fit through the fence... There was traffic going past, and I decided it was more than worth taking the time to give him a hug and pop him back through the fence :)


Back with his mum (that's him on the right). It was nice to be in the right place at the right time!