The mixture of the wet weather we have had here in the UK recently, followed by a period of warm weather has created the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Experts have warned that we could see the insects arriving in large numbers within the next few weeks. As someone who has gets an allergic reaction to insect bites, I am not looking forward to a summer of swollen and itchy arms and legs.

Futher to my post yesterday about putting kitty on a diet, here is a picture of my fat cat Oscar. Oscar unlike most fat cats is a very active cat, he is always jumping around and playing with his friends but he has always been a rather large cat.

Most UK residents know that swans are protected. It appears that new arrivals to country, however, are unaware there is a law protecting them and are catching them for food. Polish and Lithuanian immigrants have been seen dragging the birds away. The remains of swans have also been found along the towpath in Leighton Buzzard.  Luton Angling Club has now come up with a sign which they hope will make it clear that swans are not for eating. Killing a swan is currently subject to a £5,000 fine and six months in jail.

I usually like to do my research before trying out a new restaurant particularly if we are going into London because the extra expense of the train fare makes for a costly evening, so you don’t want to be disappointed by as bad restaurant. That’s why I look for reviews from people that have already been there. At www.trustedplaces.com you can look up a London restaurant and see opinions of people that have visited it recently. You can also leave your own opinions once you have been there. This site, helps take a lot of the guesswork out of finding a good restaurant and I will definitely be adding it to my favourites to use in the future.

If you are owner of a fat cat you might want to put it on a diet. A study carried out by Edinburgh University has shown that one in every 230 cats is now diabetic. Overweight cats are three time more likely to develop the condition that their thinner friends. I think its time to cut down on the kitty treats and invest in a cat treadmill.

I found this interesting article on the BBC’s website that suggests more than a third of motorists are unable to read a basic road map. I gave it a try and managed a rather poor six out of ten. Unfortunately I have no excuse not to know the answers; I used to work for A to Z maps. Doh.

Pest controllers have warned that this summer is likely to bring a plague of mice. Several factors have contributed to the growth of the mouse population including warmer winter and more rubbish being present on the street. Calls about mouse problems rose by 23 per cent last year in London and the South East. I don’t think we need to worry too much, having four cats seems to control the mouse population near our house nicely.

Two cygnets have been shot dead in Telford, by what is believed to have been an airgun. The cygnets were shot in the head and were thought to have been used as target practice. The RSPCA have said that these types of incident are more common during the school summer holiday.

The lifeguards are a bit hairier than usual on Italy’s beaches this summer. Newfoundland and Labrador dogs have been drafted in to help on some of the busiest beaches. The dogs are trained to jump out of helicopters and boats to rescue struggling swimmers and have already saved several lives by towing people to safety.

A team of scientists have found that office printers can cause a health risk. Some printer models emit dangerous levels of toners that can damage lungs in much the same way that cigarette smoke does. They advise people to make sure printers are used in well ventilated areas.

A man in Cornwall managed to win the lottery twice after buying two tickets with the same numbers. He had purchased a ticket but then later brought a second one, forgetting about the first. After cashing in his first ticket for $479,142 he later realised he has another ticket with the same numbers and so had won twice the amount.

Jack Kirby has made a 1965 Ford Mustang out of 5,000 Budweiser cans. How cool is that?

An American man has been unlucky enough to have been struck by lightening twice. He was first struck by lightening 27 years ago when he was driving a tractor trailer. The second strike came exactly 27 years to the day he was first struck. This time he was sheltering from a storm in a shed. The odds of the average American being struck by lightening are 80 to one.

A lady in Devon tried to keep the swallows out of here barn by putting up a bird scaring owl. After two days the swallows had made their nest in the bird scarer. She is now resigned to the fact that the swallows are there to stay.

Two moorhen chicks have been shot at a nature reserve in County Durham. The chicks were shot dead with an air gun at the Wingate Quarry Reserve. It’s thought that the incident might be related to youths drinking in the area.

I am always looking for new recipes to try and found BigOven.com Recipe Community which is an interesting recipe swapping website. You can search over 160,000 recipes by ingredient, occasion or cuisine. One thing I particularly liked about the website is that the recipes include a photo of how the finished recipe should look which is always useful. The website also has software to help you to create grocery lists and meal plans, so if you have special diet then it could be really helpful. You can also upload your own recipes, complete with photograph. As an incentive they have a monthly prize of $100 for the best recipe photo submitted. As someone who regularly posts photos of my cooking on my blog I might give this go to see if I can earn a bit of extra cash.

Researchers studying pandas in China have found that they have expanded their habitat in the bamboo forests of two western provinces. This indicates that the population of pandas could also be expanding which is good news for the species. The last panda census recorded 103 pandas in Baishuijiang, the largest panda reserve in China. There are currently only around 1,590 pandas left in the wild with about another 180 having been bred in captive breeding programs.

This creature was pictured near Hound Tor on Dartmoor. It is not known what the creature is but this picture helps back up the local legend that a hell hound haunts the spot. The story that a pair of spectral dogs known as the Hounds of Hell inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Hound of the Baskervilles. It is most likely that this latest picture is of a wild boar.

I read this interesting article about a project to re-introduce wolves to Yellowstone National Park and the impact the project has had on the parks eco system. The wolves were introduced in 1995 after having been absent from the environment for 70 years. Since their return there has been a regeneration of the parks population of aspen trees which were previously declining. Whilst the wolves do not have a direct impact on the growth of the aspen tree they do affect it indirectly.

The decline in the trees was attributed to the growth of the parks elf population which having no natural predators was getting out of control. The elk were able to wander around the park freely and eat all the young aspen trees. The re-introduction of the wolves has meant that the elk are no longer able to wander so safely for fear of being eaten. The knock on effect is that there are less elk and the young aspen trees are able to grow to maturity. I find it interesting how restoring the natural balance of predator and prey affects the whole eco system of the park.

We went for a walk along the Thames at the weekend to see how high the river was. Whilst we were there we came across this family of swans. They seem to be doing particularly well this year; usually they only have two or three cygnets, but as you can see this year there are four. As you can see from the photo the river has not yet burst its banks but is quite high for this time of year. The picture was taken at Staines.