Is it just me or does that not make any sense at all??
Cheers
Mark
Mark, Ireland in general, and Norn Iron in particular, does not have a) snakes and b) moles. OK so far?
Rumour, perpetrated by "De Clergy", has it that St. Patrick drove them out. The snakes I mean. It is unrecorded what - if any - scunner he took to moles. As he was originally a pig herder on the slopes of Slemish in Co. Antrim, maybe they out-competed his herd and he decided to get rid of them?
Biologically speaking, as the last Ice Age retreated, no land bridge was available to these two species groups to reinfiltrate Irish soil, whereas there certainly was for mainland Britain: Doggerland. Keeping up?
My Ulsterwoman visitor had never been to rural mainland Britain and she found the copious spoil sites of
Talpa europaea in these here parts a complete novelty and commented shrilly and on multiple occasions....there! Did that do it?
I have a typical Biologist's sense of humour and sometimes what we expect as conversational knowledge is in fact arcane to non-practitioners. Apologies. Hope the above DOES make sense.
Sam
A pragmatist inside a perpetual optimist, heavily influenced by an experienced cynic, wrapped around by an aging relic.