Environment news

• Peggy Whitson: Oldest woman in space blasts off to ISS

  17-11-2016 23:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, 56, breaks more records as she heads to the ISS for the third time.
  
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• Countries unite to defy Trump climate threat

  17-11-2016 22:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Delegates from more than 190 countries meeting in Marrakech issue a united call for action on climate change.
  
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• Oil falls as stronger dollar outweighs OPEC deal optimism

  17-11-2016 22:19
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled slightly lower on Thursday, then fell as much as 1 percent in the after-market session as a stronger dollar outweighed expectations of an OPEC deal to limit production. Oil started the day in the positive, with U.S. crude briefly up by as much as $1, on optimism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would reach an agreement to cap production at its meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih
  
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• Huge deposit of untapped oil could be largest ever discovered in US

  17-11-2016 22:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Estimated 20bn barrels of oil found in Texas’s Permian Basin, three times larger than the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota, could be worth as much as $900bnA huge deposit of untapped oil, possibly the largest ever discovered in the US, has been identified by the US Geological Survey (USGS) in west Texas.
  The USGS estimated that 20bn barrels of oil was contained within layers of shale in the Permian Basin, a vast geological formation that stretches across western Texas and an area of New Me
  
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• Trump fears push nations at Morocco talks to declare climate deal an 'urgent duty'

  17-11-2016 21:31
  Fears that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming pushed almost 200 nations at climate talks in Morocco on Thursday to declare the deal an "urgent duty". Trump has called man-made global warming a hoax and has said he will withdraw from the Paris Agreement, which seeks to cut net greenhouse gas emissions to zero this century. "We call for the highest political commitment to combat climate change, as a matter of urgent priority," they s
  
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• Genetic breakthrough: Crops use more sunlight to grow

  17-11-2016 20:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A genetic technique makes plants produce more food from sunlight - a key step in feeding the growing global population, scientists say.
  
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• How to make plants use more sunlight

  17-11-2016 20:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A genetic technique makes plants produce more food from sunlight - a key step in feeding the growing global population, scientists say.
  
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• Oysters are making a comeback in the polluted waters around New York City

  17-11-2016 20:40 via theguardian.com
  
  A coalition of bivalve enthusiasts is trying to revive oyster farming in water that is beset by trash and raw sewageThe oysters in the Hudson River around the Statue of Liberty are some of the plumpest and fastest growing Crassostrea virginica in the whole of New York harbor. Fitting it should be that way, at least in contrast to the East River, between Manhattan and Brooklyn, where untreated effluent is allowed to flow out during storms in what New York authorities describe as a “rain eve
  
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• Thousands of dead fish cover New York canal – video

  17-11-2016 20:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands of dead fish were seen on the surface of the Shinnecock Canal in Southampton, New York, on Monday, after becoming trapped inside overnight. Tom Jones, a marine adviser at Hampton Watercraft, shot drone footage of the bizarre occurrence. It is believed the fish were chased into the canal by larger predatory fish and then became trapped inside when the canal shut early Monday morning. The fish eventually dispersed back into the bay when the canal opened later on Monday Continue reading..
  
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• Peatlands protection seen key to preventing climate change 'tipping point'

  17-11-2016 20:17
  The world's endangered peatlands need better protection or else climate change will spiral out of control, environmentalists said on Thursday at the launch of a global initiative to help prevent their destruction. If they are drained or burned, that carbon is released as greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. This would in turn cause peatlands in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions to also release their carbon, according to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) which is leading the initiative launched at
  
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• Asteroid strike made 'instant Himalayas'

  17-11-2016 20:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs moved rock huge distances as it dug out a crater in what is now the Gulf of Mexico, scientists say.
  
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• Vattenfall sees drop in wind energy prices boosting European demand

  17-11-2016 19:51
  By Robert-Jan Bartunek BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Swedish power utility Vattenfall [VATN.UL] said the falling cost of electricity from offshore wind farms will stimulate demand in Europe for more such farms, the head of the company's wind business said on Thursday. Earlier this month Vattenfall won a 600 megawatt capacity offshore wind farm at Kriegers Flak in the Baltic Sea with a winning bid to produce electricity for a price of 49.9 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). This came four months after Danish
  
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• Europe launches Galileo satellite quartet

  17-11-2016 18:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  With an initial service soon to go live, Europe is extends its Galileo satellite-navigation system by putting up another four spacecraft.
  
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• Ancient corn cob shows how maize conquered the world

  17-11-2016 18:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientific analysis of one of the world's oldest cobs of corn shows how maize became one of our most popular cereals.
  
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• Oil rises on optimism over OPEC deal; stronger dollar caps gains

  17-11-2016 18:02
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday, with U.S. crude briefly rising as much as $1 a barrel, as expectations of an OPEC deal to limit production outweighed oversupply concerns, but a rallying dollar capped gains. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said he was optimistic the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would formalise a preliminary oil output deal reached in Algeria in September. Falih said he believed the market was on its way to becoming balance
  
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• UK ratifies Paris climate agreement

  17-11-2016 17:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Foreign minister, Boris Johnson, signs global pact to cut carbon emissions in LondonThe UK has become the 111th country to ratify the Paris climate agreement, which aims to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change by cutting carbon emissions.The foreign minister, Boris Johnson, who has flirted with climate scepticism, signed the pact in London on Thursday after a parliamentary deadline passed on Wednesday night, with no objections raised. Continue reading...
  
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• Britain seeks to curb pollution by small-scale power plants

  17-11-2016 17:17
  Britain plans to curb health damaging air pollution with emissions standards for small-scale power plants used to generate back-up electricity at short notice and to stem the rising use of diesel generators. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) suggests plants producing 1-50 megawatts (MW) of electricity should be subject to new rules to cut emissions of harmful pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide. "The combined impact of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and Particulate Matter (P
  
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• EU states agree visa-free travel for Ukraine, but not yet

  17-11-2016 16:57
  By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union states agreed on Thursday to waive visas for Ukrainians on short visits, but only after the bloc beefs up a mechanism to suspend visa-free agreements in an emergency. Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, has fostered closer ties with the EU since Moscow annexed its Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and started backing rebels fighting Kiev's troops in the east of the country. Many difficulties to progress remain, not least Ukraine's slug
  
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• Challenges to Heathrow runway and HS2 to be hit by law lifting cap on legal costs

  17-11-2016 16:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Government changes to rules on claimants’ costs could make it harder for anyone to challenge public projects, warn campaigners, lawyers and politiciansEnvironmental legal challenges face being hit by the “chilling effect” of new government rules that remove a cap on claimants’ costs, according to campaigners, lawyers and politicians.They warn that the changes could deter organisations and individuals challenging projects such as fracking wells, HS2 and the Heathrow third
  
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• What's air pollution like where you are? Share your experiences

  17-11-2016 16:21 via theguardian.com
  
  We’d like to find out about air pollution around the world. How does it affect your daily life? Share your views and experiences Air pollution has risen by 8% in in five years with fast-growing cities in the developing world worst affected, according to the WHO. We want to explore its impact on the daily lives of people around the world. If you live in a city that is affected by toxic air or you work in air quality control, we’d like to hear from you.Two weeks ago, India’s capi
  
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• Penguin chicks, polar bears and icebergs – pictures from the Poles

  17-11-2016 15:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Award-winning wildlife photographer, Sue Flood, is one of the world’s only women to specialise in polar photography. Her images capture wildlife, people and landscapes in the Arctic and Antarctica
  • Cold Places: Pictures from the Poles exhibition opens in Chester on 19 NovemberContinue reading...
  
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• SpaceX aims to launch internet from space

  17-11-2016 14:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Private rocket firm SpaceX applies for US government approval for a large network of internet satellites.
  
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• 'Roundest known space object' identified

  17-11-2016 14:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronomers claim to have discovered the roundest object ever measured in nature.
  
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• Bulgarian ex-energy minister charged over nuclear project

  17-11-2016 14:37
  Bulgarian prosecutors charged former economy and energy minister Rumen Ovcharov on Thursday with mismanagement that led to state losses of more than 190 million euros ($200 million) related to a cancelled nuclear power project with Russia's Atomstroyexport. Bulgaria cancelled the 10-billion-euro Belene project on the Danube River in 2012 after failing to find foreign investors and under pressure from Brussels and Washington to limit its energy dependence on Russia. An arbitration court has ruled
  
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• Lift-off for Galileo satellite quartet

  17-11-2016 14:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  With an initial service soon to go live, Europe is extending its Galileo satellite-navigation system by putting up another four spacecraft.
  
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• Don’t cry over spilt milk, make loo roll out of it

  17-11-2016 14:18 via theguardian.com
  
  German manufacturer Qmilk is making use of Germany’s two million tonnes of waste milk by turning some of it into toilet rollA premium-priced toilet roll made from waste milk will be hitting Italian supermarket shelves amid the Christmas paraphernalia this winter. Carezza di Latte – which translates as “milk caress” – is a collaboration between German fabric innovators Qmilk and Italian company Lucart, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of paper and tissue p
  
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• Trump's other wall: is his Irish resort a sign he believes in climate change?

  17-11-2016 14:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Before he set sights on Mexico, Donald Trump had his eyes on a wall to protect his luxury golf resort. Does it suggest he recognizes effects of global warming?On election night in Tubridy’s bar, one of few buildings in the village of Doonbeg, Ireland, that was still open at midnight, pints of Guinness were being poured with “Trump” written on top in creamy froth. A few local men huddled around the bar discussing their man’s chances. “If he wins, we’ll get that
  
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• Ugly fruits and vegetables: why you have to learn to love them

  17-11-2016 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A cohort of US delivery services want to change the way we view, cook and eat ‘imperfect’ produce that grocery stores regularly banishKing-sized kiwis, curvy squash and smaller-than-usual apples and limes. That was the “ugly” produce count in boxes of fruits and vegetables Deborah Levine recently received at her home in the San Francisco Bay Area. While most of the produce she gets in her biweekly deliveries is “very normal”, she recalls one particular veggie.
  
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• UK poised to ratify Paris Agreement at COP22

  17-11-2016 13:50
  
  Climate Minister Nick Hurd is expected to confirm today (17 November) that the UK has officially ratified the Paris Agreement, joining more than 100 nations that have now approved the historic climate deal.
  
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• It's official: The UK has ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change

  17-11-2016 13:50
  
  BREAKING: Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson has today (17 November) put pen to paper and officially ratified the Paris Agreement on behalf of the UK, joining more than 100 nations that have now approved the historic climate deal.
  
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• UK signs up for Paris climate agreement

  17-11-2016 13:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK government has signed a document ratifying the world's first comprehensive agreement on tackling climate change.
  
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• Morocco lights the way for Africa on renewable energy

  17-11-2016 13:34 via theguardian.com
  
  COP22 host leads by example in the fight against climate change with 52% green energy target by 2020 and Africa’s first city cycle hire schemeAs the host of this year’s COP22 climate change conference in Marrakech, Morocco has been keen to demonstrate its green credentials and make this COP the “African COP”.In the past year, Morocco has banned the use of plastic bags, launched new plans for extending the urban tram networks in Casablanca and Rabat, started the process of
  
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• 'We have been almost buried': the Sudanese villages being swallowed by sand

  17-11-2016 13:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate change and deforestation mean people who once lived among trees now go to bed not knowing if their homes will be lost to the desert by morning. Villagers are learning how to adapt and stop the sand Standing next to a thin belt of rattling trees that represents the only line of green in vast stretches of orange desert, 70-year-old Hamud El-Nour Hamdallah recalls a time when this area in Sudan’s River Nile state was dense forest. If you had not found Goz El Halg village by nightfall,
  
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• Danes identify Aalborg bishop's 300-year-old poo

  17-11-2016 13:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A lump of faeces stored in the back of a Danish museum is traced back to a 17th-Century bishop.
  
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• Oil prices rise on Saudi optimism over OPEC deal

  17-11-2016 12:36
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday as expectations of an OPEC deal to limit production outweighed growing evidence of global oversupply and rising inventories, particularly in the United States. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Thursday he was optimistic OPEC would formalise a preliminary oil output deal reached in Algeria in September. U.S. crude inventories rose by 5.3 million barrels in the week to Nov. 11, well above forecasts of an increase of
  
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• US submits long-term climate strategy to United Nations

  17-11-2016 12:34
  
  The US has presented a long-term strategy for ambitious emissions reductions in the face of domestic political uncertainty, after Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a rousing speech to delegates in Marrakesh to assert that US climate commitments will not be reversed.
  
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• Trump begins filling environmental posts with clowns | John Abraham

  17-11-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Trump’s plans to roll back environmental protections seem worse than many feared
  Come on, you can admit it. I admit it. I admit that after Trump’s election victory, I secretly hoped and even though that his rhetoric was worse than its bite. He only said those crazy things during the campaign to get elected. He wouldn’t really follow through on his plans to completely gut the US commitment to keeping the Earth habitable. Oh how naive we were. Trump’s planned staff to fill
  
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• Prince William warns poachers are outrunning efforts to stop wildlife trade

  17-11-2016 11:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Animals are still being killed in horrifying numbers despite global efforts to stop the poaching crisis, says prince at Hanoi summitPoachers killing Africa’s rhinos and elephants are still one step ahead of efforts to stop the multibillion wildlife trade, Prince William has warned.Traffickers have become more sophisticated and increasingly brutal, and animals are dying in “horrifying numbers”, the Duke of Cambridge told an international wildlife summit in Hanoi, Vietnam on Thur
  
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• 200 companies now committed to science-based targets

  17-11-2016 11:43
  
  An initiative that calls on companies to cut their carbon footprints in line with scientific studies geared towards a two degrees global warming limit is "far exceeding" it's timeline, with 200 companies now signed up to the scheme - just 18 months after its inception.
  
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• Big chill - early winter stokes North Asian appetite for oil, coal, gas

  17-11-2016 10:29
  Power plants across North Asia are running at full tilt as the region braces for the early onset of winter, underpinning prices for the coal, gas and oil they need to churn out electricity. Commodity market analysts blame the La Nina weather pattern for the chill, with temperatures in Seoul and Beijing forecast to drop below levels typical for the time of year until year-end, while many parts of Japan have also been hit by colder conditions than usual. La Nina, which tends to occur unpredictably
  
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• Premier Oil agrees new lending terms in exchange for say in projects

  17-11-2016 10:05
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Premier Oil has pushed back its refinancing deal to the first quarter of 2017 but said lenders had largely agreed to new terms, including extending debt repayment dates in exchange for some control over which projects the company can invest in. The London-listed firm, which has been struggling with a large debt pile in the face of weak oil prices, said it was continuing refinancing talks with lenders who last week proposed to extend debt repayment dates to 20
  
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• Climate change a Chinese hoax? Beijing gives Donald Trump a lesson in history

  17-11-2016 09:34 via theguardian.com
  
  China points out to global warming denier and president-elect that Republicans under Reagan and Bush actually put global warming on international agendaChina has rejected Donald Trump’s claims that climate change is a Chinese hoax, urging the US president-elect to take a “smart decision” over his country’s commitment to the fight against global warming.
  Trump, who is the first self-declared climate change denier to lead one of the world’s top emitters, has dismissed
  
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• Alaska Airlines flies first commercial jet powered by forest biomass

  17-11-2016 09:15
  
  Alaska Airline passengers have taken to the skies in a "world-first" commercial flight running on sustainable alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals from the Pacific Northwest.
  
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• Leaked EU energy package subsidises fossil fuels, undermines renewables

  17-11-2016 09:00
  
  The EU claims to be promoting an ambitious agenda at the Marrakesh climate conference, but its latest piece of energy legislation could subsidise new coal capacity and undermine market access for renewables.
  
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• Farmers able to clear land more easily as new laws pass in NSW

  17-11-2016 08:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservation groups warn watered down native vegetation rules threaten wildlife and will increase greenhouse gas emissionsThe New South Wales government’s controversial biodiversity laws have passed their final hurdle in parliament, with farmers winning greater power to clear their land from next year.
  The changes, which the government says were developed through a “rigorous, transparent, scientific and evidence-based process”, allow farmers more freedom to clear land without h
  
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• Treasury failing to take long-term environmental costs into account, MPs say

  17-11-2016 08:00
  
  The Treasury has been lambasted by MPs for failing to adequately factor in long-term sustainability risks into its decisions, with the carbon capture and storage (CCS) and zero-carbon homes policies specifically cited as detrimental to both the economy and investor confidence.
  
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• Five cycling tests for Sadiq Khan | Andrew Gilligan

  17-11-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Will the new mayor uphold his election pledges and prove he is serious about improving cycling in the capital?Over the next few years, the future of cycling in Britain may depend on what happens in London, the place that has done more than any other to build segregated bike lanes. Only six months after they opened, the new tracks have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams – the Embankment one carries an astonishing 3,000 people an hour in the peaks, according to Transport for London’s
  
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• AP Analysis: How well will Antarctic marine reserve work?

  17-11-2016 07:40
  
  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Last month 24 nations and the European Union agreed to create the world's largest marine reserve near Antarctica. The reserve in the Ross Sea is about twice the size of Texas, although will account for only a tiny fraction of the world's total ocean area. Studies indicate other marine reserves have had mixed results in protecting fish, although the Antarctic reserve has several factors in its favor.
  
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• British farmland bird bounces back from brink of extinction

  17-11-2016 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservation programme sees numbers of the endangered cirl bunting reach 1,078 pairs - up from just 118 in 1989One of Britain’s most threatened farmland birds has reached a major milestone in its recovery from the brink of extinction, figures show.A nationwide survey by the RSPB shows the UK population of the cirl bunting - a small, finch-like bird - has reached 1,078 pairs after numbering just 118 in 1989.Continue reading...
  
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• Black grouse wander on the fell

  17-11-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Chapel Fell, Weardale The male’s black and white plumage is striking, but at close range a greyhen is captivatingly beautifulEvery autumn, for the past four years, I’ve seen black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) here. Always single birds, most likely wanderers from the lek at Langdon Beck in Teesdale, just a few miles south.This morning there were six – four males and two females, in a sheltered hollow in rough pasture, halfway down the fellside. In the distance they could have been mis
  
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