It seems like eons ago that the WHO declared an imminent pandemic of the A(H1N1) derivative of influenza. The world’s media hit the big red PANIC button. We were all convinced that global human overpopulation was about to be solved by the killer flu strain as it rampaged across the planet. Swine flu coverage was everywhere: on the telly, on the radio, in the papers… and saturating that undisputed barometer of contemporary human interest: Twitter!
That was back in April. Then, as quickly as it had flared up, the radio and television coverage waned, stories about the "Swine Flu" pandemic were relegated to the inner pages, and Twitterers started to tweet about more pressing concerns like the colour of Stephen Fry‘s socks or Britney‘s dog’s favourite ice-cream. Swine flue didn’t just fall off the media radar, it plummeted out of the public consciousness.
The trouble is nobody bothered to mentioned that fact to the virus, which continued its microbial business of infecting anyone and everyone it came into contact with.
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Shot from the car window in Union Hall. This fellow was feeding in the lagoon.
For such big birds (up to 1 metre in height with a wingspan pushing 2 metres) they’re incredibly nervous and skittish.
As I stopped and lowered the car window this one moved quickly away, and then took flight. This image is cropped from the full frame (handy having 12MP to play with).
The shot I’m really after is a perfect reflection of a hunting heron in glass-calm water… but it’s proving a tricky endeavour. In the meantime I quite like this shot.
Sometimes, even in this hyper-connected age of instant communication and networked everything, the world outside my little bubble passes me by. It happened again over the last few weeks.
Busy rising to the daily challenges of the working parent, I somehow managed to miss the speculation, commentary and excitement on the “An Bord Snip Nua” report and the recommended public spending cuts it contained.
It might have something to do with the ludicrous name. No matter the gravity of the Special Advisory Group’s proposals, calling an advisory body on spending cuts “Bord Snip” makes it very hard to take it seriously.
But there’s no doubt the cuts the group advocate are deadly serious. One of the recommendations that’s causing particular consternation among parents is the proposal to universally cut child benefit. The An Bord Snip report says: “Further savings of €513m should be achieved by effecting a 20% reduction in the Child Benefit payments.”
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Just received this great offer from Pixmania, and thought it was well worth sharing here… €159 for 2TB of Iomega storage is not to be sniffed at.
My 500GB WD MyBook hard drive (also bought from Pixmania) is filling up fast since I got my Nikon D90 in May… so it won’t be long before I need to invest in a bigger drive myself.
Meanwhile, if you’re in the market for a bigger hard disk to store all your photos, videos and those all important system back-ups then check out the range of hard drives on offer at pixmania. The prices are the best around, and I’ve been very happy with the service when I’ve bought from them in the past.
Because this week’s column about working from home with children, was career related, I’ve posted it over on the new Career Moves blog, where you’ll find lots of other great career, jobs and recruitment related content from the Evening Echo Career Moves section and also stuff written exclusively for the blog.
Check it out, share it with your friends, and don’t forget to let me know what you think via the comments 
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Toyota Ireland’s latest publicity campaign for their new micro saloon, the IQ is going to include handing out four of the teeny-tiny four-seaters to bloggers / twitter users. The lucky individuals will get to use the car for six months in exchange for blogging / tweeting about their experiences with the vehicle.
The promotion was announced by @toyotaireland on Twitter:
4 Irish bloggers wanted to give happy homes to 4 Toyota iQ’s for 2009 check out http://bit.ly/YV9gT
Predictably they’ve been inundated:
In under 12 hrs of launching our IQ promo we’ve had excess of 100 applicants, 13% incr in daily traf to toyota.ie & 30 new fols. ds twit wk?
If you’ve got a blog and a Twitter account, are over 21 and you live in Ireland you can apply for the 6 month Toyota IQ test drive – but hurry – applications close on Friday! You can check out the full terms and conditions here.
It’s a great idea… one that’s already generating a lot of social media buzz… and provided Toyota handles it properly, and leaves the individuals to write openly and honestly about their experience of the IQ, it could be a real winner for them.
Who knows… if this works out for Toyota it could make a wonderful case study for next year’s follow-up to “Understanding Digital Marketing”.
Basking sharks are the second biggest fish in the sea, and these massive sharks have been recorded in record numbers off Britain and Ireland this summer. With the live stranding of a 20 ft Basking Shark on a New York beach earlier today, they’re in the news again – so here’s a bit of info about these incredible animals:
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The basking shark is the biggest fish found in Irish waters, and the second largest fish on earth after its Indo-Pacific cousin, the whale shark. Although it belongs to the same family as the notorious great white, and has more teeth than any other shark, the basking shark is actually a gentle giant. It’s a filter feeder, and exists on tiny creatures that it sifts out of the plankton (a rich soup of tiny plants and animals that live in the surface layers of the ocean) through specially adapted gill slits.
Basking sharks can be found in temperate seas throughout the world with an average temperature range of 8º-14º C. They have been recorded in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans and can be seen off the Irish coast during the summer months. They are huge fish, with specimens reaching lengths of up to 12 metres (39 feet) and weighing up to 7 tonnes.
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It’s a weekly ritual that never seems to get any easier…
The girls tackling the sticky dilemma of picking sweets
If you’re on Facebook, check out my new page on Ireland’s Wildlife – and pass it on to all your friends. The page, and the twitter account on @wildireland, are the first steps in building an online community of wildlife enthusiasts in Ireland.
As time (and budget) allows I’m also working on an Ireland’s Wildlife website, sort of an online “hub” for all things wild in Ireland – a jumping off point, if you like, for Irish wildlife information, resources, links and discussion.
Wanted: wildlife content!
Core to the site will be the 200 or so species profiles I’ve written for the back page of Ireland’s Own over the years. I’m also on the look-out for potential regular contributors to the new site – so if you have relevant interests or expertise in any aspect of Irish wildlife and would like to volunteer your services / allow use of your content then please leave a note in the comments below, or drop me a line.
You can stay tuned here for updates by subscribing to the RSS Feed, become a fan of Ireland’s Wildlife on Facebook and/or follow Ireland’s Wildlife on Twitter.
View from our hall window the other evening… amazing light and a fabulous brooding sky. It’s a “grab shot”… but one that captures the unpredictability of the West Cork summer.
my latest tweets! 
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