In a bit of a Days

So far this month (March, if you need reminding), and like any month of the year, there have been umpteen International Days, where some topic is celebrated internationally or even globally. Many of these days are to promote awareness of injustice, prejudice or suffering in an effort to improve the lot of both people and planet. Others are whimsical or just plain fruit-loop.

I was therefore mortified to realise that I had missed Pi Day, on the 14th of March, aka 3.14 in some calendars and hence why it's called Pi Day. As an act of personal penance, I made myself sit down and eat a big pie create a pie chart:

Before that, on the 8th, it was International Women's Day, and it can be no coincidence that this is about the time of year when Oystercatchers are pairing up (or perhaps re-affirming bonds).

[You will, no doubt, be glad to see a bit of wildlife finally creeping into this post, on a blog that is supposed to be about Nature, but, I also hear you ask, what's the relevance to International Women's Day?!]

Well, here's a bit more footage from Houton Bay to help explain:

And as further explanation, as reported in Lucy Cooke's recent book Bitch, a long-term study in the Netherlands has shown that these birds can sometimes nest in threesomes featuring two females and a male, an arrangement which can be either aggressive or harmonious depending upon whether the females are having sex with one another or not. Girl Power!

On the 10th, it was International Bagpipe Day, and on the 11th, World Plumbing Day. I suggest that you wouldn't want to confuse those two, for fear of driving the neighbourhood around the bend with the feverish fingering of your chanter.

The Ides of March (15th) saw both World Consumer Rights Day and World Contact Day, which doesn't seem so well thought through, to my mind. On the one hand, we can all expect less cold calling and hard selling from our fellow inhabitants on Earth, whilst at the same time we are annoying the heck out of the galaxy and wider universe with our cold calling into space (which may actually lead to more than we bargained for).

World Wildlife Day was on the 3rd of March, but you will have to forgive me for thinking the heretical thought that preventing the extinction of other species should be promoted 365 days a year. At the very least.