If this article is to be believed it seems breeding programmes to reintroduce red kites to parts of the UK have met with some success. There are now though to be around 1,800 pairs of red kites in the UK which is encouraging news, particularly as they were almost hunted to extinction in Victorian times. There was thought to be just a handful of breeding pairs remaining by the 1960s, however, a programme to reintroduce the birds was started 20 years ago. This along with the fact that there is more food for the birds due to many local councils collecting rubbish less often appears to have helped their numbers. The birds are mainly scavengers, eating small animals and discarded food so are greatly helped by areas with overflowing wheelie bins and black bin sacks which are easy for them to break into.

According to this article the world’s hottest chilli has been grown in Grantham in Lincolnshire. The chilli measures 1.17 million on the Scoville Scale, the official measure of spicy heat beating the previous winner the Bhut Jolokia from India. The new variety of chilli was grown by accident and is the result of an accidental crossbreed from other varieties in the greenhouse. It is so hot that it comes with a health warning.

I am spending a bit more time baking recently in the interests of using what I have at home rather than spending money on buying snacks. So when I felt like something sweet I decided to make a batch of shortbread biscuits. They were just what I needed to satisfy my sweet tooth and the recipe which came from my Delia book is quite straight forward. The biscuits are great straight from the oven and they never seem to last very long, these were all eaten by the end of the day.

The basic recipe uses 110g butter, 50g caster sugar, 175g of plain flour. All you need to do is cream the butter, add the sugar and sifted flour and mix until it forms a paste. Then roll it out onto a sugared board and cut into the desired shape. Bake on a baking for 30 minutes on 150C/300F and leave to cool on tray. I dust mine with a little caster sugar before eating.

There seems to have been a lot in the news over the last week about the dangers of eating too much red meat. Once again it seems experts have decided it is bad for us and have found it necessary to draw up new guidelines on how much we should be eating. If we believe the latest research too much red meat is likely to cause amongst other things an increased risk of cancer. Under the latest guidelines issued by the Department of Health we are now advised to eat no more than 500g a week or 70g a day. That’s about the equivalent of three rashers of bacon a day or three sausages, one small steak, one quarter pounder and three slices of lamb in a week. I do wonder, however, how much red meat most people do eat. Personally although we do like to eat it, the prices of red meat are now so expensive we are lucky if we buy it once a fortnight. The rest of the time we live on chicken or fish. When I work out how much red meat we would eat in any given meal, I find that having cut portion sizes, once again due to cost concerns, we are well within the recommended limits. Perhaps we are unusual in our eating habits but I would be interested to find out how often the average person actually consumes red meat, maybe it’s not as often as the experts believe.

That’s according to this article which suggests fast food outlets will soon be put under pressure to add the calorie count of a meal to the menu. The voluntary scheme has been proposed by the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and could come into effect as early as September this year. It is hoped that it will change people’s behaviour and encourage them to choose more healthy options. Personally I would still order what I want to eat regardless of how many calories it contains but I can see that it would be helpful for those who are following a calorie controlled diet.

According to this article Tesco have recently launched a new spa service called Your Beauty in two of its stores. The spas will offer treatments such as manicures, eyebrow threading, shampoo and cut and leg waxing with prices being considerably lower than what you would pay on the high street. For example a shampoo and cut costs £15, eyebrow threading £5, eyelash tint £5, leg wax £10 and a manicure £10. Although they currently only offer a limited amount of treatments more are promised in the future and it does seems to get a fairly good write. up. I suppose it makes sense for people with limited time to fit in a quick manicure whilst doing the weekly shop.

I drink rather a lot of wine but was unaware that more than a quarter of alcohol sold in licensed premises is counterfeit alcohol. According to this article fake alcohol is a growing problem with organised gangs making it on an industrial scale. In many cases the alcohol sold is simply a cheaper version of what you think you are purchasing with cheaper wine often being poured into more expensive bottles, however, some also contain dangerous levels of chemicals. One way to avoid getting caught out is to check the label more carefully. In the video that accompanies the article we are shown a bottle of wine which looks very much like the real thing but upon closer inspection it contains several spelling errors. I personally, don’t check the label that carefully as wine is often an impulse buy driven by a special offer, however, I will paying more attention with future purchases.

This is cute, its a kitten that appears to like sitting in a jar. It may look like a tight squeeze but the kitten Ksyusha has a love of small spaces. Am I the only one wondering what happens when she gets bigger and finds herself getting stuck.