Wildcats will be reintroduced back into the wild in an effort to save the species. There are currently thought be only a few hundred wildcats left in the wild in Scotland but some experts predict these remaining cats could die out within a decade.  This project which is led by the Aspinal Foundation will start by boosting numbers in thinly populated areas of Scotland and if successful will go on to reintroduce the cats to areas from which they have disappeared. It is hoped that eventually wildcats will be introduced to areas of England and Wales where they have not been found since the 18th century

I read this article today that suggests that expensive wine really does taste better. The article looks at new research which shows higher prices make people enjoy the product more. The research is based upon a study done on 20 subjects who were told they would be sampling a range of different Cabernet Sauvignons. The different wines were identified by price but some of the glasses were the same wine labelled with two different prices. One wine was labelled as costing £2.50 and £22.50 and the other was labelled as costing £5 and £45. The subjects were asked to report on how much they liked the wines with researchers looking at changes in their brain activity during the exercise. The results of the research were that the cortex became more activated by the expensive wines as opposed to their cheaper alternatives. The same test was later carried out without putting price tags on the glasses of wine. This second test had no reported differences between the wines.

I have been watching Hugh’s Chicken Run on Channel 4 with interest. The programme follows celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as he tries to educate the people in Axminster about the poor treatment of cheap chickens. He particularly highlights special offers that give you two chickens for five pounds, effectively a £2.50 chicken and shows how these chickens are raised and slaughtered within a 30 day period. Personally before I watched the programme I already brought free range chicken, mainly because I find it has more flavour to it. I was however, interested to see that many people shown on the programme did not know where their chickens came from and how they were reared. Judging by the shelves at my local supermarket many people have watched the programme and have been affected by it. The section with two chickens for £5 was completely full of chicken when I visited the store today. In contrast there were no organic or free range chickens to be found at all, the shelf was empty. I also noticed that people buying chicken were carefully reading the labels and in many cases putting the cheap chicken back and walking away without buying it. It’s interesting that a television programme has so much influence. I do wonder, however, whether these new converts to free range chicken will still be buying it six months later.

I got a new phone for Christmas a MDA Vario III on a contract with T-Mobile and have been learning how to use it. It has lots of cool features such as mobile versions Outlook, Internet Explorer, Word and Excel as well as a tilting qwerty keyboard. It also has Bluetooth and a 3 mega pixel camera. So far I have found the phone very easy to use and it’s great to be able to see all of my email whilst I’m away from my computer. It certainly makes it a lot easier to keep track of everything and I can use time that would usually be wasted to catch up on a bit of work. Another advantage is that as a new customer and having my phone on a web and walk contract I now get free access to over 1,200 WiFi hotspots, that’s according to this article.

It is now four years ago today since my cat Merlin died and despite the time that has elapsed, I still miss him. Merlin’s death was particularly traumatic because he was only nine months old when he died. It happened at about five a clock in the evening when I heard the sound of a cat coming through the cat flap. This was not unusual, nor was the crying sound Merlin made as he laid on the floor. What was unusual was the fact that he didn’t run towards me and jump on my lap as he usually would. Initially I assumed that Merlin had been playing with bees again and had got himself stung which was a common occurrence.

On picking him up to look for the bee sting, however, there was no sign of one. I set Merlin back on the floor and it was then that I realised he couldn’t stand up. Merlin’s back legs and lower body simply lay limply on the floor. In a panic I ran outside to start the car whilst Rory phoned around looking for an emergency vet. There was no response at all from my car so Rory phoned our friend Owen who immediately set out to come and get us, so we could rush Merlin to the vet. Despite our best efforts Merlin got weaker and weaker on the short drive to the vets surgery and when we arrived he died.

Coming back without Merlin was a shock; although his injuries were severe I had assumed everything would be fine as long as we could get him to the vet quickly. We still don’t know what happened but it is most likely that Merlin had been hit by a car and managed to crawl home. Later we made the heart breaking discovery that there were claw marks all around the path outside the house and on the gate where Merlin had dragged himself home to where he felt safe and where he knew he would find help. I still wonder whether we could have done any more to help him although I’m fairly sure his injuries were too severe, but I can’t help feeling guilty that he died in such pain and I could do nothing.

As most pet owners know losing a much loved pet is like losing a member of the family and this was very much the case with Merlin. Not only did I have to deal with my huge sense of loss but Merlin’s sister Willow spent every day looking for him and crying. It was for Willow mainly that I took on two rescue cats Norman and Ornery (now called Oliver and Oscar). For me taking on those two cats made Merlin’s death more bearable because they so were so badly in need of a loving home. Willow accepted the new cats into her home and they are now one big happy family.

Merlin was such a distinctive personality. He had a very affectionate nature but was also fiercely independent. He was extremely naughty and would swat you with his paw whenever you walked past him. Above all Merlin was full of life and that is how I like to remember him.

Several of the UK’s supermarkets have announced they will phase out the sale of battery eggs. The decision has come because of consumer concerns over the impact of cheap food on animal welfare. Sainsbury, Morrisons and the Co-op will phase out the sale of eggs from battery hens. Marks and Spencer and Waitrose have already stopped selling eggs from battery hens. Sainsbury expect to end the sale of eggs from battery hens by next year. The Co-op has similar plans and Morrisons will phase them out by 2010. Tesco are reducing the shelf space for eggs from caged hens but have not yet announced a ban. Personally I always buy free range because they tend to taste better.

There seems to be hundreds of websites offering online bingo and all claiming to offer something different. With all this choice it can be a little confusing knowing which ones offer the best games. That’s where websites such as BingoPort are useful. BingoPort was created by Scott Logan and Roo Wright who have over 15 years experience in the gaming industry between them.

Their idea is that the website functions as a resource for UK bingo players by allowing them to see where to find all the best bingo action. They monitor bingo games in action allowing you to see where the best jackpots are, how many players are using each bingo website and what the current pot size is. They then rank the bingo websites based on all of these factors.

The website also includes a forum where users can talk about their experiences of websites they have used, how much they won or lost and generally how they rate the whole experience. If you want to play by don’t want to spend any money the BingoPort also offers a free bingo game. The free game allows you to chat online with other users so you can meet people within the online bingo community. It is available 24 hours a day and simply requires you to sign up to play the game. BingoPort certainly seems like a useful resource for all bingo players whether you are an experienced player or a first time user.

I have long been dubious about the use of fluoride in the drinking water as it has many potential side effects. One that I have experienced first hand due to having too many fluoride supplements as a child is permanently discoloured and mottled teeth. However, it has also been suggested that fluoride is also responsible for other complaints such as irritable bowel syndrome (from which I also suffer). This article suggests that overuse of fluoride can raise the risk of disorders affecting the teeth, bones, brain and the thyroid gland. The report published in 2006 recommends that the federal government lowers the current limit for fluoride in drinking water because of the potential risk to health. I’m not entirely convinced that there are any real benefits to adding fluoride to drinking water but I do think that if there are potential health risks associated with it, then it should not be added.

I read this article about a cat that survived two months in a shed by licking the condensation off the windows. The cat had become trapped in the shed after she followed her owner inside. The shed was then locked up for the winter with the cat inside. Whilst it is fairly amazing that the cat survived I find it a little strange that the cats owners didn’t think to check the shed for her. When one of my cats goes missing the first thing I do is retrace my steps to see whether they have followed me and become trapped when I have shut a door.