Reining in those deer
QUESTION Do some countries paint their wildlife with reflective paint to prevent traffic accidents?
AROUND 300,000 reindeer wander freely in the wilds of Lapland, sometimes described as the last wilderness in Europe. Every year, about 4,000 lose their lives on Finnish roads in car accidents, causing around €15 million of damage.
Most collisions occur in November and December when roads are icy and it gets dark earlier. July and August are also bad, as mosquitos keep deer on the move.
Various attempts have been made to prevent this. Reflectors and reflective tape had proven unsuccessful as reindeer chewed them off, and signs warning drivers of roaming reindeer were stolen by tourists as souvenirs.
In 2014, the Finnish Reindeer Herders Association tested painting antlers with reflective paint. Unfortunately, the harsh Arctic conditions meant even this experiment has largely failed.
A new tactic is an interactive reindeer warning app. Drivers can tap their phone screens to register reindeer they see and get warnings if they are approaching an area where reindeers have been spotted.
Domesticated reindeer have been kept as livestock in northern Scandinavia and Russia for thousands of years, perhaps since the Bronze Age.
In Finland, Sweden and Norway, the indigenous Saami people make up a majority of reindeer herders. The animals are prized for their meat, fur and milk. Hugh Ritchie, Douglas, Isle of Man.
QUESTION What is known of the London Flower Lovers’ League, which gave certificates to schoolchildren for growing a daffodil bulb?
OPERATION Manna and Operation Chowhound were humanitarian food drops, carried out to relieve a famine in the German-occupied Netherlands, undertaken by Allied bomber crews during the final days of World War II in Europe.
Dutch people had been reduced to eating tulip bulbs and sugar beets. Daffodil bulbs were, however, toxic and, by the end of hostilities, the Netherlands had a large surplus of them. So, in October 1947, 350,000 King Alfred daffodil bulbs were sent to London by Bulb Committee of Holland chairman Bram Waarmer.
They were sent to the London County Council, which distributed them to London secondary schools, under the direction of Alice K. Street, chairman of the London Flower Lovers’ League.
I attended Mount Pleasant Secondary School, Hackney, East London, where in October 1947 we were all given two bulbs and told to bring them back in spring. I won the competition for my school. My flower was then collected and taken to County Hall, where judges decided which were the 100 best daffs.
The top prize was a trip to the Netherlands in the bulb-blooming season in the spring of 1948.
I received a card that said ‘Highly Commended’ and also a certificate inscribed with ‘Award of Merit presented to Dennis Galvin’ (in beautiful calligraphy), but alas no Dutch trip for me!
Later research revealed that the Catford Secondary School for Girls won the Silver Rose Bowl in March 1948.
Dennis Galvin, London E4.
FOUNDED in 1945, the London Flower Lovers’ League held its first competition for growing daffodil bulbs in 1948 following a gift of bulbs from the Netherlands. The League’s founder was Mrs Alice Street, who became the first chairman and headed the league for the next 17 years.
In 1967, the League became a registered charity, and in 1974 the name was changed to the London Children’s Flower Society.
HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was the Society’s patron until 2002.
From 2004, the Countess of Wessex took on the role. The Society aims to give young children, particularly those living in cities, the opportunity to take an interest in horticulture.
It supports around 200 schools, encouraging 40,000 children to take part in spring and summer competitions.
The process today is much as it was in 1948. Each child is given simple instructions on how to grow the plants and they take them home to nurture.
When their plants are in bloom they are returned to school, where volunteer judges attend and award certificates to each child.
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