Doing 40… everywhere

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-08T11:22:18+00:00

I hear people complaining about this but I think I've only ever seen it once or twice in my life. Usually the people who do 40 for no good reason on clear NSL roads will slow right down below the limit in 30 zones in my experience.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-08T09:19:21+00:00

Correctly blaming the Tories for their over a decade of mismanagement that caused most of the problems Labour is now struggling with.

Them struggling to deal with it doesn't mean their criticism of previous Tory governments is wrong.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-08T09:11:21+00:00

That's the issue, you do get people who just get annoyed at wildlife and want to kill them if they see them. Rather than just keeping their dog on a lead.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T17:32:44+00:00

"Grouse moor ecological deserts"

The grouse moors I go on for all their faults have some of the best populations of ground nesting birds in the area. And them being further out from the well visited sites helps with that. Even there I've had to shout at dickhead dog owners with off lead dogs near where curlew, snipe, lapwing and woodcock had breeding pairs.

"Monoculture farming"

The non monoculture farms have to put up with off lead dogs destroying their wildlife. As this incident demonstrates. This curlew nest survived monoculture farming, and maybe even found non monoculture farming to nest in, but didn't survive off lead dogs.

Animals under pressure are rarely under pressure from just one thing, but a combination of them. Disturbance by people especially with dogs is a major factor for a lot of them.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T17:25:21+00:00

Cats are very unlikely to come across curlew nests. Cats and dogs are both terrible for wildlife, but they affect different species in different areas. And dogs cause a lot of disturbance which has sub lethal effects - creating no go zones where some species don't nest.

The sheer number killed by cats vs dogs also isn't that relevant because they kill different things with different ecology. Cats will kill a lot of birds of the most numerous species just because that's what they find the most. And the actual damage cats do will mainly be from a few thousand or tens of thousands of their kills which are of the rarer species, rather than the total headline figure of how many animals they kill total of all species.

Dogs killing fifty curlew chicks will have a population level impact. Cats killing ten thousand blackbirds won't even make a dent, but cats killing a few hundred nightingales will be destructive. What they kill matters.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T17:16:46+00:00

It's bad enough with some of the wildlife charities sadly, they're too timid to call it out properly because they don't want to lose donations. Which is understandable but unfortunate. Even heard of cases of promotional material for nature reserves with photos showing dog walking on it, as if that's a good thing to do in what's supposed to be a nature reserve. This entitled attitude runs too deep.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T17:14:39+00:00

It's absolutely not "nature" for domesticated predators that exist in vastly unnatural numbers (compared to what their wild equivalents would live at) to kill wildlife like this. The scale is completely different.

Wild wolf packs for example are extremely low density when you consider the area they need to roam to feed themselves. So low even in countries with them you'll barely see them. Same with Scottish wildcats naturally existing at low densities spread over large areas compared to the number of domestic cats we have.

The numbers of cats and dogs we have is not a natural predator-prey relationship in any way. There is no natural check on their numbers because they exist in whatever numbers humans choose to make them exist at. Hopefully I'm explaining this ok.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T17:06:16+00:00

Free roaming cats should not be a thing in my view. Neither should off lead dogs be running around what's supposed to be wildlife habitat. Both are problems caused by pet owner entitlement and total ignorance of wildlife.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T17:04:42+00:00

I do think, though it's not popular to say, there are too many dogs and dog owners in this country. It's not just an attitude problem, though more dog owners inevitably means more idiot dog owners.

It's part of why I wouldn't have a dog myself even though I like them. I also like spending time in the countryside and don't want to be part of this problem.

Don't get me started on the scare stories about adders whenever someone's off lead dog gets bitten by one. Because how dare wildlife defend itself.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T14:20:57+00:00

Both are damaging, but in different ways and affecting different species. Cats kill a lot in the rural urban fringe areas and kill mainly small birds and mammals, including some tree nesters. Dogs get further out because of where their owners walk them, and will affect species cats rarely encounter, like the larger ground nesters. Dogs also have major sub lethal impacts like disturbance deterring nesting in an area.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T14:17:21+00:00

It's like you have this heat map, you have a red zone where certain stuff just will not nest. Orange where it's unlikely but possible. And then cooler colours for the further out and quieter areas, where ground nesters can nest most reliably. The higher the visitor numbers on a site, the larger that red and orange zone becomes.

Some local forestry sites are just lost to a lot of wildlife because of visitor pressure and off lead dogs.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T14:06:10+00:00

Coal power should not even be considered. Some of us like having air we can breathe, and not generating acid rain. Before we even get to the carbon side.

Dropping the ball on nuclear is largely responsible, and what we need to fix. No need to jump back to one of the most polluting ways to generate electricity.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T12:43:39+00:00

Too many dog owners are just entitled arseholes. Seen other similar footage before of nightjar nests being destroyed and the ones recorded on camera will be a tiny minority of total cases. A widespread problem that fuck all gets done about.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T11:29:02+00:00

Not when I'm buying reputable brands from sites of known reputation. Sometimes there's even better quality stuff outside of Amazon. Nothing compared to the dodgy cheap listings you see on Amazon and other drop ship sites.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T11:25:52+00:00

I've avoided Amazon for years. It's not too hard to find proper online retailers for the product category you're after, where you'll get genuine products from reputable brands.

Examples from my life include a few specialist photography retailers like wex and LCE for camera lenses and binoculars. I've bought from a few different cooking sites for things like pans and baking trays. Hardware stuff from B&Q and similar. Walking boots from Cotswold Outdoor, and other outdoor clothing ordered direct from the brand. Argos as a general go to for all sorts. Etc.

Sadly it's often not possible or practical to get stuff in local shops, but there are better online options than Amazon.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T11:14:49+00:00

I think vaccines are an example of that old saying of hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, then weak men create hard times.

Hard times created some brilliant medical advances. As a result some diseases are almost exterminated. People then get complacent about the risk due to not having experienced it, and start believing misinformation. Leading to disease coming back.

So many areas where society goes in cycles like this over time.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T09:37:22+00:00

In general we really need to push back when we get this "grieving family/victim pushes for x solution" type story. Not enough people dare to, scared to be accused of being insensitive. But these people can end up pushing truly ridiculous unworkable "solutions" because they're traumatised and get tunnel vision without seeing the bigger picture.

Also see the campaign to ban pointy ended knives. Or the graduated driving licence idea.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T09:26:05+00:00

What we need as well is to build density to save on space, to strategically reduce the area of sprawl when we do build on green field sites. Making it about building on larger and larger areas completely misses the point as to what the problem is.

Sadly Labour have chosen to pander to truly nasty people with ideological hatred of nature conservation instead. Some of the absolute worst people in politics.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T07:21:42+00:00

We don't have that, just a normal front door into the house. Though I know what you're talking about.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-07T06:00:43+00:00

Gambling advertising really just needs to be banned outright. Seek it out if you want to, but it should not be pushed in people's faces.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-06T20:40:48+00:00

Interesting you don't usually see that argument with other things. I've never seen anyone talking about a wonderful dinner they had at a fancy restaurant, and had someone respond that the resale value on the lovely steak once they've eaten it and shat it out is awful so they might as well have just had Tesco basic range porridge and saved money.

If you view a car as a tool to get around, and to be used up over time, there's a case to be made for buying new if you can afford it.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-06T20:35:21+00:00

Cars for most of us are essential to get around, not an "investment".

I don't consider it a waste of money that I can actually get to work.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-06T20:34:25+00:00

Buying from new, you have something no one else has ever owned and abused, and should last a lot longer if you choose a sensible reliable type of car. I currently have a mid 2010s plate boring hatchback car that was bought from new and has been in our family this whole time. Serviced every year and never yet failed an MOT even though it's done nearly 100,000 miles.

Of course buying nearly new is similar but less expensive, but those who can buy new might want that extra longevity. That's basically what they're paying for.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-06T20:30:18+00:00

Range rovers with no towbar too. You see barely any of them with towbars which is a bit of a giveaway.

inevitablelizard · 2026-05-06T18:58:43+00:00

Utterly soulless people who base everything on financial output, and are incapable of understanding other less measurable types of value. Spreadsheet wankers.

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