To Ham

Felt a bit bored. Took a walk to Ham and Ham Spray.

Again, walked up through the estates of Little Bedwyn, with the ‘beware u will be shot’ signs, on to somewhere called ‘Prospero’ estates, again with little ‘u will be shot’ signs, but better hidden.

Saw lots of little birds and beasties along the way, including a weasel and about 5 hares.

Savernake forest

The woods are near Savernake forest which is owned by the Earl of Cardigan and is some 4.500 acres. I visited Savernake forest on Sunday, it’s possible to drive through from to Marlborough almost.

A short-cut except that the road is not made up. Continue reading “To Ham”

World Press Freedom Index

May 3rd marks the global survey on press freedom, something that I picked up on a couple of years ago.

They’ve produced this rather nice map.

Press Freedom Map
Press Freedom Map – 2016

Here’s the map as it stands last year.

You can read more about press freedom on their website.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]Global press freedom declined to its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 amid unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies and new moves by authoritarian states to control the media, including beyond their borders.[/su_pullquote]

Censorship is another indicator of declining press freedom, and governments and other actors are finding new ways to promote repression, many of which compromise the necessity of an open internet. The CPJ analyzes countries to determine their status using a series of benchmarks, including:

  • the absence of privately owned or independent media,
  • blocking of websites,
  • restrictions on electronic recording and dissemination,
  • license requirements to conduct journalism,
  • restrictions on journalists’ movements,
  • monitoring of journalists by authorities,
  • jamming of foreign broadcasts, and
  • blocking of foreign correspondents.

The resulting list of the 10 Most Censored Countries includes Eritrea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Iran, China, Myanmar, and Cuba.

 

Oak Hill – Dun Aqueduct

Just at the other side of the canal, the River Dun winds it’s way through the valley, separating the canal from the railway.

I dropped some fish in there the other day.

It’s a chalk/gravel stream with a small indigenous population of brown trout.

River Dun
River Dun

You can see, it’s quite deep and it’s registered as one of the UK’s gravel streams of which there are 210 chalk world, and 160 of those are in England. Continue reading “Oak Hill – Dun Aqueduct”

Oak Hill

A couple of pictures from ‘oak hill’.

It’s got a much nicer vibe than Little Bedwyn.

The pound hasn’t emptied out. There seems to be a lagoon outside my window and a view down to the River Dunn, which I went down to today.

I’m going to take some pictures next time I venture down there, it seems rather pretty.

Like John Everett’s Ophelia.

I’ll take some pictures next time I’m down there.

BBC fake weather reports

I know.

It’s not a new thing.

Am confined to my quarters today.

The forecast is bad, but the weather has only shown spots of rain.

I took the pictures between the downpours.