A preliminary study of the diet of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) on Minorca (Balearic Islands)

S'analitza la dieta de dues parelles d'aufrany de Menorca. D'un total de 132 mostres identificades, el conill va ser la presa més abundant (51,5%). Les diferències trobades entre la dieta d'ambdues parelles semblen dependre de la proximitat als abocadors

Montpellier Snakes (Malpolon monspessulanus) as predators of Audouin's Gull (Larus audouinii) chicks

En aquesta nota es descriuen dos casos de predació de polls de gavina corsa per serp verda a la colònia del delta de l'Ebre. En totes dues ocasions, les serps van matar els polls en presència dels adults, que no van intervenir per intentar expulsar el predador. Tanmateix, aquestes observacions suggereixen que la predació per la serp verda no constitueix una amenaça per a la colònia de gavina corsa al delta de l'Ebre

A Montpellier Snake (Malpolon monspessulanus) preying on an adult Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) at the Ebro Delta

Es descriu la troballa d'una egagròpila que indica la predació de serp verda sobre un adult de bec d'alena a la Punta de la Banya (delta de l'Ebre) durant la primavera de 1994. Aquesta dada, encara que aïllada, confirma la sospita que la serp verda aprofita la gran quantitat d'ocells aquàtics nidificants en aquest indret predant fins i tot sobre adults, fet que també ratifica la presència de serps de mida considerable

¿Como cobran los servicios de PI las bibliotecas de la Red? : resultados de una breve encuesta

Sección: Las bibliotecas cuentanA raíz de un comentario, en el seno del Grupo de Trabajo de Préstamo Interbibliotecario de REBIUN, sobre la diversidad de sistemas de cobro que practicábamos en las bibliotecas del CSIC , creímos útil pasar un pequeño cuestionario por correo electrónico en el que se pedía a las bibliotecas cual era su sistema de cobro de PI más utilizado. Han respondido al mismo 40 bibliotecas con los siguientes resultados.N

The ‘Dys-Appearing’ Body in Doris Lessing’s The Diary of a Good Neighbour and Margaret Forster’s Have the Men Had Enough?

If the old body is usually read as a synonym of fragility and upcoming illness, even though not the case for most elderly citizens, the reality is that the longer we live, the increased probability of being affected by different illnesses cannot be eluded or denied. In Doris Lessing’s The Diary of a Good Neighbour and Margaret Forster’s Have the Men Had Enough? the reader is invited to participate in the day-to-day routines of two aged female protagonists, as well as to empathize with their inner feelings as they go through their last life stage. In fact, their ‘dys-appearing’ bodies, marked by their respective terminal illnesses, force these characters to grow closer to those around them and to accept the help of their families and friends, despite their desire to keep their free will and independence until the very end. The analysis of the two novels within the framework of ageing studies aims to show the contradictions existing between a growing ageing society and the negative cultural connotations of old age in Western society and the need to revise them

Memory Revisited in Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending

An accumulation of years brings with it an accumulation of experiences. The revision of such experiences usually becomes more recurrent after retirement, a transition time from one period of life to another and, as such, a time in which we, human beings, have a tendency to take stock of our lives. This is actually one of the main issues present in Julian Barnes's last novel The Sense of an Ending (2011). When the main protagonist, a retired man quite comfortable and contented with his present life, receives an unexpected inheritance from the mother of a girlfriend from his university years, he is forced to track down a part of his life that he had left at the back of his mind a long time ago. As he explains his story, the protagonist and narrator of the novel raises a number of questions related to the quality and function of memory as one gets into old age. He experiments the unreliability of memory and questions to what extent memory is constructed through the remembered emotions that invaded him over that episode of his life rather than through the events as they actually took place. On the other hand, the act of revisiting and revising that specific episode, brings with it feelings of guilt and remorse as the protagonist realises that his past acts were not as noble as he remembered them to be. However, these acts are part of the past and they cannot be changed; thus, another question that the novel raises is how to account for those actions of which one does not feel proud and, more importantly, how to manage those bad memories as one gets older

Invisible Environments: Old Age and Its Spaces

Despite the progressive ageing of a worldwide population, negative attitudes towards old age have proliferated thanks to cultural constructs and myths that, for decades, have presented old age as a synonym of decay, deterioration and loss. Moreover, even though every human being knows he/she will age and that ageing is a process that cannot be stopped, it always seems distant, far off in the future and, therefore, remains invisible. In this paper, I aim to analyse the invisibility of old age and its spaces through two contemporary novels and their ageing females protagonists .–Maudie Fowler in Doris Lessing.’s The Diary of a Good Neighbour and Erica March in Rose Tremain.’s The Cupboard. Although invisible to the rest of society, these elderly characters succeed in becoming significant in the lives of younger protagonists who, immersed in their active lives, become aware of the need to enlarge our vision of old age. A pesar del progresivo envejecimiento de la población mundial, actitudes negativas hacia la tercera edad han proliferado gracias a construcciones culturales y mitos que, durante décadas, han representado la vejez como sinónimo de deterioro y pérdida. Los seres humananos somos conscientes de que el proceso de envejecimiento es imparable; no obstante, siempre nos parece muy lejano, parte de un futuro que preferimos no visualizar y, en consecuencia, el concepto de vejez permanece invisible. En este artículo, pretendo analizar la vejez como un espacio invisible de nuestra socieadd a través de dos novelas inglesas contemporáneas protagonizadas por dos personajes femeninos bien entrados en la tercera edad .–Madie Fowler en The Diary of a Good Neighbour de Doris Lessing y Erica March en The Cupboard de Rose Tremain. Aunque invisibles para el resto de la sociedad, Maudie y Erica, a sus ochenta y tantos, se convierten en parte esencial y significativa de la vida de dos protagonistas más jóvenes que, inmersos en sus activas vidas, acaban cuestionando el espacio físico y simbólicos que ocupa la vejez en nuestra sociedad