On the Lookout

It was a lovely morning to do the Bayfield bird walk with G. The kestrel in the photo is nearly always sitting on the overhead wires, a perfect vantage point. The highland cows weren't there, presumably moved for the winter. I've included several Extras as I have quite a few left, including a panorama taken from the seat at the top of the hill outside Natural Surroundings - I must go along with my tripod AND remember to take the panorama in portrait format to make it less of a letterbox. Otherwise a bit of cupboard clearing and tennis watching. 

Day 248 / Day 14 of Lockdown 2 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 529 to 53,274 (revised basis), with 19,609 new cases, 16,271 patients in hospital and 1,420 on ventilation. Good to see new cases coming down in England and hospital admissions reducing, even though total no. in hospital and those on ventilation are still going up (due to the time lag). Total cases globally pass 56m, up 1m in 2 days. SAGE modelling suggests that for 1 day of relaxation of restrictions over xmas, 5 extra days of harsher (lockdown?) restrictions are required. Personally I think it's total madness - the cost in terms of extra lives lost and the economy now and in the future massively outweigh the benefit of a few days of socialising.....and I speak as someone who'll be spending xmas on my own. I heard someone write in this morning to say their wife and daughter have had their xmas leave cancelled as they work in the NHS - surely it's time to put NHS workers first and not add to their terrible, unremitting burden to have a few parties.

Wales is out of its firebreak, but people have been strongly advised not to mix with people from other households indoors.  Mass testing is to start in the hotspot of Merthyr Tydfil. Dido Harding (Head of T&T) and Prof Stephen Powis (Medical Director NHS Eng) are both self isolating as well as the PM, who took part in PMQs virtually today. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine final results show 95% effectiveness in preventing CV and has met the safety criteria for emergency authorisation and they'll submit an application within days. The really excellent news is that it was 94% effective in over 65s who have weaker immune systems, which is amazingly high. It also works for all ethnicities. 2% of people vaccinated reported a headache and 3.7% reported fatigue.  There are increasing reports of COVID-19 patients with diabetes or hypertension having life-threatening neurological complications. People are being encouraged to open their windows this Winter to decrease the risk of catching the virus as letting fresh air in can reduce the infection risk by over 70%. They suggest 15 min at a time regularly during the day or continuous opening by a small amount, plus using kitchen and bathroom extractor fans. (Obviously not a problem living on your own unless you have a visitor / tradesperson in). 1 in 5 London black cabs has been taken off the road since June due to a lack of passengers, and are being stored in rented fields and car parks. Halfords has seen half year profits double due to the boom in cycling.