Animal road signs

A few road signs seen in Malaysia depicting animals. It's quite common to see signs for cows on highways, by early 2015 there were so many in Perak on the N-S highway, some were less than 1 km apart. These were on the N-S highway in north Selangor -

 

 

And htese were taken on trunk roads in Perak -

Presumably a cow

Not sure if this is a sheep or goat

Tapir -

And this amusing one in Gopeng. I would guess there is a swiftlet 'hotel'  nearby. -

This is a cute one in Malta

Broken toe

Second day of Chinese New Year 2015 (20 Feb) and I think I broke a toe. I stubbed it on the leg of a fixed chair - I was wearing sandals and the toe hit the metal leg. It was painful but not overly bad. Later when I had quite a long walk back to the car followed by a drive home, it was OK.

It was quite bruised and swollen and hurt a bit when I walked on it that evening. However it was nothing like the time when I broke a bone in my left foot in Feb 2003. That was really painful, incredibly bruised and I ended up having my leg put in plaster.

The next morning it was OK until I started walking, then it was grumbling. The swelling and bruising were worse. I googled it, and was comforted to read on the NHS broken toe website, that -

"A broken toe is a common injury..............., usually caused by dropping a heavy object on the foot or hitting the toe on something. It usually takes four to six weeks to heal, although severe injuries may take longer.
A break or a crack in a bone is also known as a fracture.

 

This advice is about the care of a toe following an injury. If you're not sure whether the toe is broken or just badly sprained, don't worry – in most cases, a painful and swollen toe caused by an injury should be cared for at home, regardless of whether or not it's broken.

How do I know if I’ve broken my toe?

A broken toe will be painful, swollen and red. There may be bruising of the skin around the area and sometimes a collection of blood beneath the toenail. You'll find it difficult to walk and wearing a shoe will be painful.
If the break is severe, the toe may stick out at an angle.
Most broken toes can be cared for at home and medical treatment may not be necessary.

When to see your GP

Check the toe every day and call your GP if:

• the pain gets worse or isn't relieved by ordinary painkillers – your GP may be able to prescribe a stronger painkiller
• the swelling or discolouration doesn’t improve after a few days
• you have a wound near the injured toe, which will need cleansing to prevent infection "

So according to that, I don't need to see a doctor. The website continued with tips for caring for the broken toe at home.
First evening -

 

Next day -

The raptors are coming - Tanjung Tuan

Every Feb-March the skies above Tanjung Tuan are filled with migrating raptors. Tanjung Tuan, aka Cape Rachado (a Portuguese name, meaning Broken Cape) is actually part of the state of Malacca, although glancing at a map you would think it is in Negeri Sembilan. It is located about 20 km south of Port Dickson.

Each year, thousands of raptors fly over this part of the coast on their migration. In Feb - Mar they are going back to their homelands in cold countries. Part of their long route takes them from Sumatra to peninsula Malaysia and the narrowest crossing is over Tanjung Tuan.

I was there in mid Feb 2015 and already there were quite a few birds in the sky and the bird watchers were there with their powerful binoculars and huge lenses.

Tanjung Tuan is part of a recreation forest and at the end of the reserve on a high hill is a lighthouse.

There are long tailed macaques in the Dipterocarp forest and I saw a praying mantis on the road -

See article I wrote in 2009 for Brunei Times.

Pheasant in Brookmill Park, London

My last post was about the parakeets that have settled and are thriving in London. I recently joined a nature walk from Loampit Vale to Blackheath in southeast London and whilst walking through Brookmill Park we saw a female pheasant. Apparently this bird had arrived a few weeks ago and seemed to have settled in the park.

Brookmill Park in Lewisham is a small but attractive park through which the Ravensbourne River flows.

Both upstream and downstream of the park, the river flows over concrete whereas in the park it is in its natural setting

 

There are some nice trees-

London plane

 Surprisingly the pussy willow was already out, it was only mid January. These are the furry catkins -

 

Pussy willow is popular for the Chinese during Chinese New Year which in 2015 is 19 Feb.

Parakeets in London

Green coloured parrots / parakeets are commonly seen in parts of London now. They are not native to the UK, they are an Afro-Asian species. They have only resided in London in significant numbers since the 1990s and are thriving.

The ring-necked, or rose-ringed, parakeet is the UK's most abundant naturalised parrot - it became established in the wild in the 1970s after captive birds escaped or were released. They are easily identified by their bright green colouration and the male of the species has a distinctive red ring around the neck.

They obviously survive the cold winter temperatures and maybe competing with the smaller native birds for food.

See more on RSPB site.

***

UPDATE 2019

In Dec 2019 the media was full of these style headlines "parakeet crime map debunks myths". These are various myths about how the parakeets arrived in the UK as its never been known for sure.
See one of the many articles on BBC page.

Donkeys

A friend in Somerset takes care of two of the beach donkeys during the winter. In the summer these donkeys work on Weston super Mare beach, giving rides to children.

I've always loved donkeys and as a child used to enjoy feeding them with sugar lumps. So I was happy to go and see the two donkeys at my friends farm. They are well looked after, with a large field to graze in and each one has an install stall -