www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I didn't realise that dogs could read signs!

Hi Guy,
I have always wondered how they manage to keep the country looking so wonderful. Serious question: Does the sign mean that dogs are not allowed to "produce" at all there??? Surely that procludes people from walking dogs in the area.. or are all dogs house-trained beforehand. How is it policed?

Trev

padfield wrote:This just doesn't happen in Switzerland. It's not allowed. Guy

..and no doubt if someone ignored this helpful information sign, someone would also report them and they would be prosecuted. (Having been up in the mountains in Switzerland I know that, even seemingly out in the sticks, someone will know where you have been and what you have been doing!)
There seems little enthusiasm in the UK to employ the laws as they exist to stop this sort of thing; nor do local authorities with powers to make their own legislation seem to think it is important!
I totally agree with the sentiments expressed; in these cases I feel sorry for the dog having such an obviously ignorant and unsuitable human being as an owner

I don't actually know what that sign means, Trev! I photographed it because I found it quite amusing - the position of the dog was rather accurate.

Doggy bags are freely available in all towns - I tend to grab a dozen or so when I go past a dispenser and stash them in my pockets for those embarassing moments. Bins are also quite freely available and frequently emptied, so there is no big deal collecting and binning. The same is true for all popular tourist and walking destinations - passes, peaks, mountain walks &c. It is less well organised in rural grazing areas, such as my home village. There are frequent signs pointing out that dog mess risks the health of cattle, and I do make a particular point of collecting it from hay meadows or alpages. But those bagfuls I have to take home and dispose of later, as there are no bins near the meadows.

The real difference between Switzerland and England is quite simply the density of people (and hence, dogs). There is masses and masses and masses of countryside here. You can set off across the hills butterflying and not meet anyone. Nature exists in its own right, not in minuscule nature reserves with twitchers, Saga louts, dog-walkers, Sunday drivers, lovers and junkies all competing for their bit of wilderness. Most of the time my dog does her business when and where it suits her and I know it will have been reabsorbed into the nutrient cycle before any outraged passer-by gets a chance to say, 'Oh my God! A dog poo! How shocking!'

Guy

Oh - and in response to Nick B's comment, which crossed mine, yes, action is taken if people ignore laws. This is on the whole a law-governed society.

I got an insight into the mind of the “dog-poo-bag” mentality today at Sharpenhoe.

I spoke to a pleasant enough woman (with dog) and pointed to a bag of sh*t hanging from a tree. She agreed that it was disgusting. She always collected her dog mess; indeed, she was swinging a transparent bag of the stuff in her hand. Her main – it seemed her only concern – was for children’s health. So she always bagged it but admitted that sometimes she hung the bag on a fence/branch for collection on the return part of her walk. I pointed out that this was still pretty disgusting, as was the habit of carrying the bag openly for all to see. I suggested that she should put in a rucksack or some opaque carrier. “Oh no” she replied. “I don’t want to carry all that kit around when I go dog-walking”.

I had made my views perfectly plain, but I doubt it had any impact. If this is a typical attitude, dog-walkers just don’t seem to understand that other people simply don’t want to see dog sh*t either on the ground or in transparent bags. Would human sh*t on display in the same manner be acceptable? I somehow doubt it.

Jack

jackharr wrote:... Would human sh*t on display in the same manner be acceptable? I somehow doubt it.

Jack

Sorry Jack! Try India !

Packing for camping trip to Exmoor I caught up with this:

Rogerdodge wrote:Not for the squeemish!!!
Right - beat this..................
3 days on Exmoor - 8 Tics,
7 Horsefly bites,
...paralised my ring finger, and is still swollen 2 days later!
....Roger

Let me see:
Tic remover; tweezers; anti-histamine tablets and cream; anti-septic cream; bandages; insect repellent; tic repellent.....

..and that's just for Roger (UKB Tic Champion ) whom I hope to meet up with down there
N

Anyone who ventures to look for insects in the vacinity of the main car park at Martin Down will notice that the dogs around there have learned to use toilet roll...

Felix observed:

Anyone who ventures to look for insects in the vacinity of the main car park at Martin Down will notice that the dogs around there have learned to use toilet roll...

Are you quite sure that dogs are responsible?

I am reminded of an occasion a year or two back when I exercised uncharacteristic diplomacy. In the car park at Bison Hill, Bedfordshire, an elderly couple (total age 150+) were leaning against their car. Unnoticed (I presume) by the octogenarian man was a condom right by his feet. I was sorely tempted to suggest that they really ought to take it home instead of leaving it lying about

Jack

Even worse for joggers!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/8156734.stm

Mind you, the aggressive Terns on the Farne Islands can be extremely painful. You certainly need to wear a hat, or as some do, carry a pole with a flag at the top – the birds attack that instead.

Had a new one on Thursday at Holme NNR. I was turning hither and thither trying to watch where a pristine Common Blue would settle. Some ramblers appeared and gave me a quizzical look. I explained and pointed out my still-mobile target. “Thank goodness you explained that. We thought you were having a pee!”

I usually do show people what I am doing – it’s easier and always meets with a positive response. A couple of walkers at Holme stopped as clearly I was intent on photographing something on the path. “What are you photographing”? “That” I said rather naughtily being deliberatively uninformative on this occasion. “I can’t see anything”. I continued teasing. “There!” as I showed them the most perfectly camouflaged Grayling. “Well, we would never have noticed that. Thanks for showing us”

Jack

Ah well - reluctantly I claim the Exmoor tic championship on UKB (sorry Roger; this is one accolade I wished you'd kept! But don't worry, you still have the Horsefly bite record. How we suffer for our art ).
After thinking I'd got away with it, it turned out that I must have brushed a fern populated by some microscopic tics, just waiting for their chance to jump on something and dig-in...and that something was my neck
Anyway I'm into double figures now and I've stopped counting now cos it's getting boring and rather tiresome (and sore); I did visit the doctor - who blew whatever cred he may have built up by declaring that he'd never seen tics like that before and "I'd got rid of them all" (I certainly hadn't!) .
That he'd never actually had them himself also did not help; but his parting words were the clincher:
"...my wife got tic fever in Africa"....
"really?"...
"...yes; she was lucky, there's a 40% morbidity rate"...
.."what's the incubation period?"...
..."about 7 to 10 days; why, when did you get the tics?"
...."A week or so ago..."...
"Ah, about now then!"

Nick
You have the crown - wear it with pride!
I have never heard of such a cluster attack. They must be learning new tactics

Seriously though, that sounds awful. If any of the bites get to look like a "Bullseye", or concentric red and pale rings - go to the doctor again as it is a symptom of Lymes disease. It does happen on Exmoor, but is very rare. Confusingly the other symptoms are very like Swine Flu.

Cheers

You poor thing Nick. Itch, don't they
I was worried about getting tic borne Encephalitis when I went to Hungary. It's rife there and I was the ONLY ONE to pick up any tics.
If you get at all worried, go back to the doctor, and he can at least give you some steroid cream to take the itching and swelling down.
It sounds to me like you picked up a batch of newly hatched eggs, as they are nearly invisible to the human eye. Keep checking.

Denise

Denise wrote: It sounds to me like you picked up a batch of newly hatched eggs....
Denise

Thanks for all the sympathy; the doctor obviously had fixed in his mind a large, fully grown tic, not an embedded microscopic hatchling, otherwise he might have understood a little more and checked more thoroughly. To be fair we went through the symptoms of the various nasty things you can catch, like the bulls-eye around the wound, etc, so he wasn't that bad!
It is not so much the itching; rather the soreness from my, less-than, surgical removal of the little B*stards!
But, on balance, it was worth it - if nothing more than to walk down to the coast, where the river disappears into the pebbles before reaching the sea and back into the butterfly meadows with up to 15 or so species present. The stars, despite me not having seen HBF before, were definitely the Silver Washed who were abundant there and present in a lot of other places along that coast too. Also seeing a pair of Peregrines, with two young, in Woody Bay, and watching a seagull dive for its life as an adult narrowly missed making it lunch - a fantastic experience.
However, next time I will be better prepared and armed....protective tight weave clothing and some sort of coal-tar cream might be more effective. I may also think a little more about pushing through the bracken...but if there is a shot at the end of it...
N
Difficult for an old bore like me, Roger, to avoid having swine flu ...

Nick, the itching comes later when the soreness subsides. I have a bite from around six weeks ago that has left a small lump that still itches occasionally. I recommend O'Tom tick hooks to get them out cleanly. For about a fiver, you get a pair, one for the nymphs and one for the adults.

A joke: What's pink with red wheels?
Ans: Roger Harding.
(you have to say it so it makes sense)

I look forward to the itching
N

I get so incredibly angry seeing dog sh*t lying about on my butterfly adventures. I think my anger rises when the new season starts and I forget how incredibly thoughtless, ignorant, lazy and disrespectful some dog owners are. I feel like I need to take action when I get like this. I have 2 ideas floating about in my head and wondered what you thought.

1. Buying some chalk spray paint and spray that which I see. It might make people think that council people are out monitoring. At the very least it will stop me and others walking in it.

2. Put some strongly worded laminated signs up at the entrance to places.

Any dog fouling which is not scooped up is disgraceful human behaviour. However, that which mystifies me the most is when there is a path 8 foot wide and huge verges with long grass either side...and there is a pile of dog logs in the middle of that path. Grrrrr !

Honestly dog poo is the epitome of selfishness.

Especially in conversation sites where grazing cattle are essential to the survival of the butterfly species *cough cough* Rodborough *cough cough*.

I absolutely ADORE dogs but my partner hates them. Dog people seem to assume that all others are dog lovers, and that we're happy that their tiny terrors seem to be after us. I almost had a small sausage dog chase me down while I had my camera gear running, and if it weren't for the owner's cries of a wasted 70's youth; "Disco, DISCO COME BACK", he might've wrecked the kind of havoc only a small sausage dog can.

Let's hope disco remains as unpopular as it should be.

Encountering 3 or 4 new piles of dog excrement near to the gate of my local woodland which attracts the most fouling, I reached my breaking point. I have sourced (but not bought) some temporary yellow paint which has a lifespan of 2-3 months (less if it rains a lot). Then I wrote to Woodland Trust and asked permission to spray the dog excrement that I see. If they grant permission, I am in a no lose situation. One or more of the following will apply:

- The contemptible people who don't pick it up may think that monitoring is taking place and start to behave in a civilised and respectful way.
- I and other walkers will see it and won't tread in it.
- I will feel a little bit better that I have done something about it.

Life in 2022 is such that Woodland Trust might reply with a reason why it is better to have the dog excrement rather than paint sprayed dog excrement. It might be a good reason, it might not, but I am expecting not to be given permission.

Totally agree Otep. My dog generally accompanies ne on my forays but I make sure he 'goes' before we set off. Don't get me going about turds in the middle of tracks and poo bags in trees!!!

Having said that I have had some decent photo opportunities, including His Imperial Majesty, thanks to dog bombs.