Since early childhood when I lived in the Lake District of England in an old farmhouse, I have been afraid of bats.  Well not exactly afraid, but they are a species of mammal whose company I can happily do without. In Britain bats are now a protected species. If anyone in Britain harms them it can result in a hefty fine or even a prison sentence, but repulsive as they are to me it has to be admitted that they are garden friendly. They devour hundreds of thousands of insects, many of them garden pests.  In Britain bats are a spring and summer phenomenon.  In Guyana you have them year round.   Probably the commonest bats on the coastal strip are the fruit bats, although there are certainly insect-eating bats as well. They probably shift tons of insects.  It would be very interesting to learn just how many species of bats there are throughout Guyana.

I know that many people start their day off with a cup of coffee.  My particular morning drink however is tea, and I am hooked on it, getting through more than a dozen cups a day. I am sure that it does me no good at all, but I take some comfort from the Chinese. The Chinese have developed herbal remedies for all sorts of ailments over thousands of years.  Some of them …..