WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Monday, March 12, 2012

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Crypto Squad USA:

From Nick Redfern's "There's Something in the Woods...":

From CFZ Australia:

JON'S JOURNAL: Sunday Part 2 - IT'S EGRET SPOTTING TIME

When I was a boy in Hong Kong, just starting out on my lifetime's path as a naturalist, my favourite birds were the little egrets, which then were extinct back in my homeland. As a boy I could quote you chapter and verse how Victorial ladies wore the plumes of these dainty herons in their hats, and that the pressure of hunting had driven these lovely creatures to extinction in Britain.

Nowadays, however, girls no longer trim their headwear with egret feathers, and they are slowly making a comeback. They started breeding here in 1996, and are spreading rapidly. So rapidly, in fact, that for the first time since I was a boy, I got really close to one. We were just leaving Northam Burrows when Corinna slammed her foot on the brakes, and we shuddered to a halt. "Look" she whispered urgently. Unfortunately it took off before I managed to photograph it on the ground.

Huzzah!

JON'S JOURNAL: Strange and spooky sunday (Part One)

For reasons best known to themselves, possibly not unrelated to the fact that I am as mad as a bagful of cheese, the powers that be have changed my medication. As of this morning I am on an anti-depressant called Venlaflaxine which is making me feel woozy
and slightly nauseous.

Therefore the events of today have been seen through a chemical haze (not for the first time in my life, but for the first time in a long time). This is also the main reason why this blog post is in several parts. It is just too complicated to fight through the wooziness and write anything too complicated with too many pictures.

(Note to Liz - fix my spelling pleeeease)

Today's strangeness was compounded by the fact that most of North Devon was shrouded in a sea mist which gave the landscape a Lovecraftian hue. We met Matty and Emma at a Bird Sale in Northam at 1:00, made friends with a pair of rosellas which were ridiculously cheap and which I yearned to own, but as we have absolutely nowhere to keep them, I was brave enough to be sensible.

Then down to the Burrows, which were so misty it was difficult to see anything. Indeed we saw no birds of any interest apart from some scholarly looking rooks until the end of our time there (see part 2). The ponies were taking advantage of the mist and being even more obstructive than normal, wandering around the middle of the road and holding up the traffic, much to Prudence's chagrin. As I have said before, I believe that she gets all ancestral when she sees any ruminants, and remembers the days when her ancestors were bred for bull-baiting. Not being very bright, she can't tell the difference between a bull and a horse, so she growls and barks anyway.