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Dawn Chorus: The cheetah who’s a Far Side cartoon come to life, plus black poplars, country houses and our Quiz of the Day

Toby Keel Toby Keel

A glorious cheetah has lit up our inbox this week — plus, can you help save the black poplar? And with the dust having settled, what does the budget really mean for country houses?

Animals do the funniest things

They really do, and that was the idea behind the Comedy Wildlife Awards, which were set up a few years ago by professional photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam. It’s gone from strength to strength since then, and we’re very pleased to see that Paul, Tom and their colleague Michelle Wood have nabbed Japanese camera giant Nikon as a sponsor to keep them going.

Anyway — this year’s winners have just been announced, so we’d love to share with tou some of our favourites from among the winners and runners-up for 2024. Overall champion this year was Milko Marchetti for his brilliant picture of a red squirrel seemingly stuck in a tree.

©Milko Marchetti / Nikon Comedy Wildlife

We also absolutely loved Ralph Robinson’s group of penguins looking like a quartet of lads heading out for a night on the town in Croydon.

Here come the boys… ©Ralph Robinson / Nikon Comedy Wildlife

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And who could resist this? Takashi Kubo’s cheeky ‘cigar’-smoking rodent doing a mafia boss impression.

©Takashi Kubo / Nikon Comedy Wildlife

But best of the lot (in our eyes) was Leslie McLeod’s picture, reproduced at the top of the page, of a cheetah apparently playing hide and seek with a suspicious-looking antelope. It’s as close as we can possibly imagine to seeing one of Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons come to life.

Quiz of the Day

1) The logo of which band was inspired by the tongue of the Hindu goddess Kali?

2) If something is ‘vernal’, which season does it relate to?

3) What type of wood are wine barrels most commonly made from?

4) What is 1/5 of 1/2?

5) In human anatomy, the axilla is more commonly known by what name?

Answers at the bottom of the page

How you can help to save the black poplar

There are only around 7,000 black poplar trees left in the country, and only 600 of those are thought to be female. As a a dioecious species — which means male and female catkin flowers are found on separate trees — that’s not good news, and the species is one of the most threatened trees on these shores.

The Countryside Regeneration Trust is hoping to put that right. ‘We have two (a male and a female) at Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset,’ writes the CRT’s Rebecca Dutton, ‘and we have cuttings from the male tree ready to go out to the public to help spread the species. They need to be planted away from Bere Marsh Farm to spread the gene pool.’

If you have a black poplar and can help, the CRT want to hear from you — you can find out more at their website.

One of Britain’s rarest native trees: the black poplar, This example is in Suffolk (Photo by: Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

What the budget really means for country houses

Will the ‘projected traumas of the budget be over-hyped? Or is the country house in trouble because of ‘lack of government understanding about how rural economies work’?

We had no idea of the answer to either of those questions. But luckily we do have the contact details of the brilliant architecture and property journalist Lucy Denton. She wrote this superb explanation of what the budget means for country houses.

That’s it — we’ll be back on Monday

Quiz answers

1) The Rolling Stones

2) Spring

3) Oak

4) 1/10

5) Armpit