h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Canada Geese are also a bloody nuisance that descend on my parks every Spring and eat, trample, sit on, and befoul (take that either way) everything in sight.

But it's bloody impressive to hear and see a flock of them flying over head!

That's just how I like to see them.

I exchanged e-mail with a fellow at the University of Alabama (I think) some time ago, regarding control measures. He said in his vicinity, it's enough for him to shout and wave to drive them away from sensitive areas. That seems to be generally true of everywhere that they are fairly recent arrivals. The trouble is, they are evolving (behaviourly) at warp speed. They are inventing a relationship for themselves with the human environment... like starlings, pigeons, sparrows, or rats. The problem with geese is that they weigh 20 Ibs. and produce feces equivalent to a moderate sized dog (only constantly).

I'd hate to give you the impression that I am a goose-hater. I'm not. But they really are a problem here.

I didn't think you were a goose hater and I fully understand how something that in small quantities can be regarded as beautiful can be a pest when they get out of control. Don't think I'm an animal rights activist. I don't support cruelty to animals in any shape or form but you should have seen the damage caused by the mink that were released by activists in the New Forest last year. Those activists were responsible for the deaths of thousands of farm animals and forest creatures and completely altered the ecology of one of the most beautiful areas of Britain!

How awful!

It just goes to show what a fantastically complex issue ecology is. It doesn't take much to upset nature's balance; but it takes a hell of a lot of sorting once it is.

There is a family of American Mink living in a loose stone breakwall where I work.

The thing is that they are native to your continent so the ecology can withstand their existence but mink are not natural to this country. I wonder just how much of a mess we have really made over the centuries by importing animals? Have you read Last Chance To See by Douglas Adams - Jolly good read Biggles!

Mr The=Gardener, where have you gone? I'm missing discussing ecology as it's the only sensible conversation I have on this site!

Hi Ginger. I'm back.

The American mink is a different species. It's smaller than the European mink. It's a fairly big weasel that eats fish and amphibians (mostly).

The most famous ecological foul-ups are, I suppose Rabbits and Cane Toads in Australia (the Simpsons version not withstanding).

Our celebrated imports are Starlings, Sparrows, Dandelions, and Carp. All of which exist in such stupendous numbers that it is almost impossible not to believe they have been here forever. The first Carp in North America were placed under armed guard in Washinton. Now they menace virtually every freshwater fishery on the continent.

the most news worthy ecological oopsy is the problem caused by the release of exotic pets in the US south, particularly Florida.

We get the same problem on a small scale here but it's cold so they don't last long! In that book DNA explains about New Zealand which rose out of the sea rather than splitting from the mainland. It was only inhabited by birds because they were the only things that could reach it. Then Man arrived and brought the usual predators and some of the birds had evolved to be flightless and were destroyed. I think I found it the most poignant part of the book!

Mmmmm... sorry. I have read 'Last Chance To See'. My favourite bit was the part about the dolphins in the Yagtze. It was really easy to empathize with the poor things.

I think the reason New Zealands situaton is so poignant is that it is such a recent ecological catastrophe. It's easy to picture the unsullied natural paradise being overrun by man's attendant pests.

In April my wife and I were lucky enough to see DNA in Pittsburgh (Carnegie-Melon U.). He was supposed to talk about "Life in a Virtual World"; but instead treated us to a smorgasbord of funny anecdotes and some readings from Last Chance To See, which he described as his favourite book. As a grand finale, he did a reading from Hitchhikers' Guide featuring a beautifully rendered Marvin voice. I think he would have gone on all night.

Someone posted some photographs on the DNA web site taken during the talk.

Are you in the photos? I saw him do a talk on last chance about 5 years ago in Cheltenham and it was brilliant!

No, I'm not in the photos.

What impressed me, more than the wit and humour (naturally, you expect that), was the generosity. I posted something to that effect on the DNA Talks Forum.

Books where the author is driven to write about the subject out of interest rather than money are always better. I find the same kind of enthusiasm in some of Bill Bryson's books like Notes from a Small Island which really shows how much he loves the UK. If you contrast that to some of his other books you can see he is just fufilling a contract with the publishers to write a book!

I don't know Bill Bryson. What kind of thing is he noted for?

With 'Last Chance to See', DNA said he initially took on the project more or less for it's adventure value (if I understood him correctly); but became increasingly passionate as the different episodes unfolded. No one, who heard him speak on the subject, could doubt that his interest in conservation is genuine and deep rooted now though.

Bill bryson writes books that are usually classed as travel but they are more than that really. They are more about the social side, the attitudes of countries etc. He's american but lived here for years and when he was returing to America he did a final tour of Britain and wrote about it. As as ex-pat you would probably like small island but some of his other books about europe and america were not as good.

I'll have to look him up. My wife works at the public library. I'll ask her to see if they have anything by him.

As a teenager, I poured through Edgar Allan Poe; part of a typical teenage fascination with the macabre. I particularly enjoyed the beautiful little travel sketches he wrote. There are quite a few of them, describing fanciful valleys and such, discovered by accident.

I've not thought about them for a long time. Perhaps I'll dig out my Poe.

(Erase mental image of outhouse).

I could never quite get with it on the POE front. I'm not sure why. May have had something to do with being made to read him - that always switches me off!

It's a real tragedy the way a lousy teacher can rob a kid of the ability to see beauty in a thing.

I still can't read Thomas Hardy but we had good teachers who really taught me to enjoy Shakespear!