71–80 of 105 posts
I am frustrated by this article. 1. Why focus on Swifts as opposed to any other species in decline? They state that they are "iconic", so maybe that's the answer? Are they more "iconic" than any other specifies in Scotland? 2. Why are these bricks the best solution? Why not take that money that would be spent on bricks and instead preserve land, or just build them dedicated houses elsewhere? 3. Why does this need to…
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Do they not have mice and rats there? This looks like a place those creatures would nest long before a bird got to it.
I live close to the most populous city in Scotland (Glasgow), and even only 6mile (10km) out of the city there is extensive greenery. Rats and mice are very uncommon here. They are rarely seen in the city, and I live close to very large fields and open countryside. 1. These bricks are normally installed close to the roof, under the guttering. 2. If anything, the main rodent of concern would be squirrels...but they wi…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it would be fun for wildlife to have their own barrister to bring lawsuits against people like you for destroying what was otherwise their native grounds before us meat viruses spread wanton destruction everywhere. The fact is you can't leave 'existing' alone, there is none. In countries like the UK the place has been completely and totally terraformed by people.
> us meat viruses I wonder what brings about this sort of reverse-chauvinist viewpoint? Humans are "nature" too, and we have just as much of a right to planet we live on. > The fact is you can't leave 'existing' alone, there is none. What does this even mean?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a house, not a wall. And it's not being built by a robot. Adding the brick is inconsequential. Go to any building site and ask a bricklayer if adding a single custom brick to the construction will stop them building the house and he'll laugh in your face.
You're missing GP's point. The objection is not to the inclusion of swift bricks in new houses but the belief that it is sufficient to stabilize/restore the population, because relatively few new houses are being constructed.
I have an old 80 foot chimney from a coal furnace. I maintain it simple for the annual chimney swifts. They come in mid April and leave in August. Apparently only 2 raise a family in it but it ends up with 100s at its peak occupancy. It’s getting re-pointed this year and I will have 2 hi-def cameras installed at the top to capture the activity. Might end up being my first AI project.
We have a lot of swallows (mostly barn and green) on our rural property. Wife is currently battling a pair that wants to build a nest above the back door. Anyway... In the evenings and mornings there might be one dozen or more contstantly flying around between our trees eating insects. Somewhat mesmerizing to watch. Gemini says a single swallow eats about 850 insects per day. Pretty sure that includes a high percenta…
"But that's crazy", everyone said, "that'll be a breeding ground for more mosquitoes, that's where they'll all go!"
And you know what, they were right. It was hoaching with mozzies, who laid their eggs in the water, which then hatched into mosquito larvae.
Which were then promptly eaten by all the carp he'd stocked it with.
Year on year the circle of "not many mosquitoes any more" around his farm has expanded by about quarter of a mile.
I have an old 80 foot chimney from a coal furnace. I maintain it simple for the annual chimney swifts. They come in mid April and leave in August. Apparently only 2 raise a family in it but it ends up with 100s at its peak occupancy. It’s getting re-pointed this year and I will have 2 hi-def cameras installed at the top to capture the activity. Might end up being my first AI project.
> Julia Moulder, development director at Catalyst and chair of the G15 development committee, said: ‘If you can’t source the brick and you change it you need to go back through the planning process, and that is something that’s started happening. I think it is going to start to knock on through into delays.’
> Ian Tallentire, development director at Home Group, said he has had three or four recent instances where a brick has been changed, necessitating new planning conditions.
> ‘I have had project managers on the phone saying we need to keep going, and then you just have to make the call. If the bricks are very similar I am sometimes happy to take the risk and then go back and sort the planning permission out,’ he said.
As with most well-meaning legislation on building in Anglophone countries, these schemes are all highly-popular, cause death by a thousand cuts, and then people who like them afterwards go on to complain about how 'corporations' or 'immigrants' or 'Airbnb' or some other bogeyman is responsible for "The Housing Crisis" and so on. Before you know it, you will be lobbying your government to declare a Housing Emergency[1] and asking for them to add more requirements to building housing to ensure that sufficient housing is built; and they will gladly acquiesce to the will of the people which, while strong, can nonetheless not fight physics or economics.
0: https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/brick-shortage-delay-th...
1: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committee...
I am frustrated by this article. 1. Why focus on Swifts as opposed to any other species in decline? They state that they are "iconic", so maybe that's the answer? Are they more "iconic" than any other specifies in Scotland? 2. Why are these bricks the best solution? Why not take that money that would be spent on bricks and instead preserve land, or just build them dedicated houses elsewhere? 3. Why does this need to…
A few token swift bricks at sometime in the future, at someone else's expense, is so much easier than preserving land, or building habitat. As an added bonus, the extra regulation makes building new houses more complicated/tedious, and older, swift-free houses more valuable and illegal to build more of, so that's a win for everyone.
Building construction in the UK is not the fastest most-frequent thing to start with. And planning constraints can be quite strict[0]. > Julia Moulder, development director at Catalyst and chair of the G15 development committee, said: ‘If you can’t source the brick and you change it you need to go back through the planning process, and that is something that’s started happening. I think it is going to start to knock…