Trip to Loch Tay and the Scottish Highlands 2003 18 October

My Part in Building the Eden Project, Cornwall back in year 2000

Above: We came to Cornwall to see the Total Eclipse on 11 August 1999 and at the same time investigated the site of where the Eden Project was to be built .  

Back in August 1999 me and Lisa , my girlfriend at the time,  decided to make the slightly brave move from Woking , Surrey UK way down Southwest to Cornwall so I could work on the construction of the Eden Project . 

Interestingly a Christian lady at a church in Devon had months earlier told me she had a word from God and the word was for me. 

This word was simply "Cornwall" . I had dismissed this as simply wishful thinking on her part. Then few weeks later my Dad showed  me a newspaper article about something interesting going on down in Cornwall . Needless to say my ears pricked up after what that woman at the Church had said.

Above : The China Clay pit at Bodelva around the time of the Total Solar Eclipse 

in 1999 I took this photo from the edge of the pit work had just begun on building up the 

levels at the base of the pit before any constuction could begin . 

This new project to be called  Eden project was the dream child of Tim Smit, the same entrepreneurial Dutch man behind renovating the Lost Gardens of Heligan, and also ex record producer for Nolan sisters, Barry Manilow and maybe even Rich Astley. 

Above: Me in the Mediterranean Biome marking out the paths

I phoned up St Austell Job centre to enquire about any job vacancies on the Eden Project (EP from now on ) and was offered a job with Saxtons Deep Drillers as a Telepscopic Forklift Operator ( I had just got a licence earlier in the year not realising it would give me a way into working on Eden. 

The company had arranged some accomodation for me over at the digger yard of well know local character Jack Harvey ( well known for his dislike of Devon and Cornwall Police which he often made very public at the time ) . I will never forget his humerous float in the Truro Parade in which one of his diggers was diplayed on a big low loader Lorry with its bucket going through a mock up of a Police Car !. My accomodation was in the security cottage at the yard . My girlfriend moved down to cornwall a couple of weeks later once we had found larger accomodation . 

Anyway my first few days  at the EP were spent high up on a cliff ledge sitting in a stationary forklift. Here I spent all day  lowering down drilling rods into a small square pit located behind the the future site of the Humid Tropics Biome. We were drilling a deep hole , its a long time ago now and  don't remember the purpose of this hole perhaps for cables or drainage . 

Around me the cliffs were being reinforced by another team of men who drilled horizontal holes deep into the slightly crumbly cliff face. These holes had steel rods inserted and concreted in. The ends of the rods secured a strong wire mesh which covered  the whole surface of the area of cliff . This Mesh was then sprayed with liquid concrete making the  area of cliff much more stable   

Above: My Renault 5 parked in the Mediterranean Biome year 2000

After my drilling job was completed after about a week or two  I was given new jobs collecting water tanks and filling them and taking them to various parts of the EP where the water was used to make the liquid concrete for spraying. One of the delivery sites was high up a steeep track behind the HTB here I panicked and got the forklift jammed against the cliff face . The foreman was furious and sacked me on the spot . To be fair i had already been told off earlier in the day for sipping tea whilst waiting for a tank to fill instead of driving off looking for another job to do.
I remember feeling mortified as I was escorted off site and I was depressed and confused for quite a while.

Thankfully a few months later a got a new job on the EP with a different company McAlpines I think it was , and this offered a great deal of  variety in work .

Above: View from my Telescopic Forklift approx 2000

Above: Me in the Mediterranean Biome marking out the paths

Above a huge mobile crane brought down from upcountry lifts the tower crane 

out of the humid tropics dome. It was lifted through one of the hexagons 

in  the top of the dome  a very precise operation. 

Above: me in my Telescopic forklift behind the link building where 

I mixed cement for the blocklayers in a realtively small cement mixer 

considering it was such a big project .

Above : These are the steel reinforcent cages for the foundations 

of the Humid Tropics Biome

Above: me Lowering drill rods down high up on a ledge 

at the rear of the Humid Tropics Biome 

Living off the land in the wild places and mountains of Andalusia, Spain.

Living off the land in the wild places and mountains of Andalusia

Started  14 January 2020

Living off the land in the wild places and mountains of Andalusia is quite easy, especially if you know the best places to go . Personally I would say for me the very best places are in the forests and pine woods alongside  the many large reservoirs in this part of Spain . Failing that find woodlands next to rivers .

Fishing:

If you are a reasonable fisherman and forager then you should have more than enough food to keep you well fed at least most of the year , only in the very cold spells you might find catching fish a little more difficult.

At night I am able to catch many decent size Bleak (Alburno in Spanish) in my favorite  reservoir just using a small child's fishing net like the ones you use for shrimping in rock-pools . I collected waste bread  from the bins outside a restaurant ( the waste bread edible in itself  or some of it ). Then at night the bleak congregate in great shoals near the dam of this lake. Throwing in small chunks of bread bring the shoals of bleak right up to the bank , they feel safe at night , and i was able to scoop up decent sardine size bleak with the net and using  a head torch. The light from the torch doesnt put them off coming close to the bank. I think i could probably scoop up the bleak using an improvised framework "net" of thin interwoven twigs if i didn't have a net .

If you have fishing  equipment , rod and reel you really are laughing as using bread as hookbait you can catch, as i do , Bleak, Carp and Barbel which are plentiful in the lakes and rivers of andalucia  , if you have lures then there are Largemouth Bass , Pumpkinseed sunfish / Percasol (in Spanish) (use  small lures eg artificial maggots for sunfish ) ,Pike and in colder upland rivers there are  trout.

Also in the lakes are Signal Crayfish and i designed a simple crayfish trap using a carrierbag suspended on fishing line kept open with twigs . The open bag is baited with a dead fish and a stone to make the trap sink  .

I can go into more on all the methods for fishing and crayfishing later.

Hunting

I am not experienced in hunting having never killed a single bird or mammal for food ..yet. But I have observed that  the woods and countryside have a good amount of reliable species of common warm blooded animals  . I think it guaranteed that a licence is needed to hunt in Spain and its probably a lot easier to obtain if you are native Spanish  . Common prey items i have observed are Wood pigeons, Red LeggedPartridges , Common species of Duck and Geese, Rabbits , Squirrels, Rodents,  Deer and Wild Boar. 
Ibex are protected and therefore illegal to hunt. Other species to hunt should be avoided as they are likely to be protected . Various common  species of songbirds might be considered to hunt  in a life and death survival situation but should be avoided otherwise as they would be likely protected and it would be frowned upon by many  im sure even if the species were not protected.  As well as hunting with guns and bows there are many types of traps that can be made from materials around ... eg snares made from tree roots, deadfall traps using flat heavy rocks.

Eating Insects and other Invertebrates

As i have wandered  through the forest in all times of the year ,even in the mid winter insects can be found . For example In December  I have seen grasshoppers in the sunny glades of the Pine forests of Ardales Park , basking in the winter sun. Sunshine  is a regular occurence in Andalucia even in mid winter.   

Most species of insects are edible and its virtually impossible to starve if insects are about . Last year in Gloucestershire UK I tried woodlice for the first time ( woodlice are actually crustaceans not insects ) . They were very tasty and tasted of prawns just as i had previously read  online!

Foraging 

The woodlands, waterways , hedgerows ,surrounding orchards and fields are full of edible plants, fruits seeds and fungi. I am only a relative beginner in this areariousmrer a

FRESHWATER FISH OF NORTH AMERICA

This is the first section of a comprehensive list I am doing of all the freshwater fish of North America.

It is taking a long time to compile this list and put in links and if you want the whole list It will cost £10 just contact me on rowlandscapes71@hotmail.com or my facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/will.rowland.186

Acantharchus pomotis  - Mud Sunfish - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_sunfish

Acanthogobius flavimanus

Acara , Black

Achiridae

Acipenser brevirostrum - Shortnose Sturgeon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortnose_sturgeon

Acipenser fulvescens

Acipenser medirostrus

Acipenser oxyrinchus

Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi

Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus

Acipenser transmontanus

Acipenseridae - Sturgeons 

Acrocheilus alutaceus. Chisel mouth https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiselmouth

Agonostomus monticola

Agosia chrysogaster

Alewife

Alosa aestivalis - Blueback Herring -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueback_herring

Alosa alabamae

Alosa chrysochloris

Alosa mediocris

Alosa pseudoharengus

Alosa sapidissima

Amatitlania nigrofasciata - Convict Cichlid https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_cichlid

Ambloplites ariommus -Shadow Bass-  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_bass

Ambloplites cavifrons

Ambloplites constellatus

Ambloplites rupestrus

Amblyopsidae

Amblyopsis spelaea - Northern Cavefish- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_cavefish

Ameiurus brunneus - Snail Bullhead - - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameiurus

Ameiurus catus

Ameiurus melas

Ameiurus natalis

Ameiurus nebulosus

Ameiurus platycephalus

Ameiurus serracanthus

Amia calva - Bowfin - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wikiBowfin

Amiidae

Ammocrypta beanii - Naked Sand Darter - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_sand_darter

Ammocrypta bifascia

Ammocrypta clara

Ammocrypta meridiana

Ammocrypta pellucida

Ammocrypta vivax

Amphilophus citrinellus - Midas Cichlid https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphilophus_citrinellus

Anchoa mitchilli -Bay Anchovy Https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoa_mitchilli

Anchovy, Bay

Anguilla rostrata

Anguillidae

Alpeltes quadracus

Aphredoderidae

Aphredoderus sayanus

Aphredoderus sayanus gibbosus

Aphredoderus sayanus sayanus

Aplodinotus grunniens

Archoplites interruptus

pg2

Astronotus ocellatus

Astyanax mexicanus

Atherinopsidae

Atractosteus spatula

Awaous banana

Bass

Alabama bass

Butterfly Peacock Bass

Florida Bass

Guadalupe Bass

Largemouth Bass

Northern Largemouth Bass

Ozark Bass

Redeye Bass

Roanoke Bass

Rock Bass

Shadow Bass

Shoal Bass

Smallmouth Bass

Spotted Bass

Striped Bass

Suwanee Bass

White Bass

Yellow Bass

Belonesox belizanus

Belonesox belizanus belizanus

Belonesox belizanus maxillosus

Belonidae

Bitterling

Blackfish, Alaska

Blackfish, Sacramento

Blindcat, Toothless

Blindcat, Widemouth

Bloater

Bluegill

Bonytail

Bowfin

Buffalo, Bigmouth

Buffalo, Black

Buffalo, Smallmouth

Bullhead, Black

Bullhead, Brown

Bullhead, Flat

Bullhead, Snail

Bullhead, Spotted

Bullhead, Yellow

Burbot

Callichthyidae

Campostoma anomalum - Central Stoneroller -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_stoneroller

Campostoma anomalum anomalum

Campostoma anomalum michauxi

Campostoma anomalum pullum

Campostoma oligolepus

Campostoma ornatum

Campostoma pauciradii

Campostoma spadiceum

Carassius auratus

Carp, Bighead

Carp, Black

Carp, Common

Carp, Grass

Carp, Silver

Carpiodes carpio

Carpiodes cyprinus

Carpiodes velifer

Carpsucker, Highfin

Carpsucker , River

Where did your love go .. my new song 7 Jan 2020 DSCN9996

Rivers in the Desert i wrote 15 plus years ago .. first synth rendition ...

me n Rennie Malaga Airport Dec 2019 DSCN9569

This vid was in December 2019 . Over the past nine years I've been staying frequently at Malaga airport and have met many new friends there. Some stay regularly at the airport others are passing through and im also friendly with some of the staff. Here in vid  is Rene who Iv known two years and Alex who only met for two weeks .