The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union in further and higher education representing over 120,000 academics and support staff.

UCU is a vertical union representing casualised researchers and teaching staff, "permanent" lecturers and academic related professional services staff. Definitions of all these categories are currently rather ambiguous due to recent changes in fixed term and open-ended contract law. In many universities, casualised academics form the largest category of staff and UCU members.

History
UCU was formed by the merger on 1 June 2006 of two British trade unions: the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE).

During its first year, a set of transitional rules was in place until full operational unity was achieved in June 2007.  During the first year of the new union the existing General Secretaries (Sally Hunt and Paul Mackney) remained in post, managing the union's day-to-day business jointly. Paul Mackney did not stand for General Secretary of UCU owing to ill-health and Sally Hunt was elected general secretary of the union on 9 March 2007, and took office on 1 June 2007.

Sally Hunt was re-elected twice, in 2012 and 2017, but was then forced to resign due to health reasons in February 2019.

Dr Jo Grady was elected to be the next UCU general secretary in May 2019 to take up position on 1 August 2019.

Positions

Privatisation of education
UCU campaigned against private finance initiative transfers and joint ventures, such as those proposed by INTO University Partnerships.

Stopping casualisation
UCU campaigns heavily to reduce academic casualisation, including the use of temporary contracts to employ tutors, lecturers and project researchers.   UCU's view of project research is that research is performed more efficiently by professional and stable career researchers, based in researcher pools and assigned to projects internally as they come up, as in most non-university project-based organisations. As in industry, researchers between projects should be considered "on the bench", paid out of full economic costs from previous grant income, and use their bench time to manage new project bids and fulfill their continued professional development quotas. Hourly paid bank workers on zero-hours contracts have also been represented by UCU, and in universities such as Edinburgh these positions have been replaced by full-time jobs as a result.

Industrial action

2006 HE industrial action

Until the merger, AUT and NATFHE members in higher education were involved in ongoing 'action short of a strike' - including boycotting setting and marking exams, and 'Mark and Park' where members would mark coursework but did not release marks and this action was continued by the UCU. Staff were taking industrial action over issues of pay, and the gap that has grown up over the last 20–30 years between their remuneration and that of other similarly qualified public-sector professionals. Prime Minister Tony Blair promised that a significant percentage of new monies released for universities would be put towards lecturers' pay and this had not happened.

AUT and NATFHE rejected an offer of 12.6% over three years which was made on 8 May and a further offer of 13.12% over three years made on 30 May.

Concerns grew that students would not be able to graduate in 2006. The National Union of Students' leadership supported the staff's action and, although the matter was raised at various meetings, NUS support for staff was never successfully challenged. In response to feedback from a group of students' unions, NUS advised AUT/NATFHE (UCU) that their support for action could not be indefinite and was wholly dependent on seeking a fast resolution. Many students' unions from around the country went further and openly condemned the action taken by the staff unions as holding the students to ransom.

To support the industrial action the new union, on its very first day of existence, organised a 'day of solidarity' by its higher education members. This included a demonstration in London which ended with a lobby at the headquarters of the employers' body, the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA).

Following further talks on 6 June 2006 between UCU and UCEA, sponsored by the TUC and Acas, the UCU agreed to a ballot of its members on the 13.1% offer (with an increase of around 15% for lower paid members of non-academic university staff) over three years, with the important proviso that any monies docked from striking staff would be repaid and that an independent review would consider the mechanisms for future negotiations and the scope of funding available to universities for future pay settlements. The pay increase was phased over the three years, with the final year's figure subject to further increase in line with inflation. The boycott of assessment was suspended on 7 June 2006.

2013 UK higher education strike

UCU members took part in industrial action across the UK on 31 October 2013.

2018 strike for USS

In 2018, members took part in strike action in February and March in a dispute with Universities UK (UUK) over the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). In 2019, members took part in strike action in November and December in another dispute with the UUK over the pension scheme and with the UCEA over pay, workload, equality, and casualisation.

Boycott of Israel
Since 2007, the UCU has been controversially involved in the academic boycotts of Israel and for rejecting the previously accepted definition of "antisemitism". Some Jewish members resigned following claims of an underlying institutional antisemitism.

2007

On 30 May 2007, the congress of the UCU called for the UCU to circulate a boycott request by Palestinian trade unions to all branches for information and discussion, and called on lecturers to "consider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions". Dr John Chalcraft, of the London School of Economics, said: "A boycott will be effective because Israel considers itself part of the West: when Western civil society finally says 'enough is enough', Israelis, not to mention Western governments, will take notice. A non-violent international boycott, like that of South Africa, may well play a historic role in bringing down the Israeli system of apartheid."

The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), established by British academics in 2004 to promote academic boycotts of Israel and to support Palestinian universities, did much of its work within the UCU.

In September 2007, delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference voted to condemn the UCU's "perverse" decision, and called for UCU members to reject the proposal and continue to engage in "the fullest possible dialogue" with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts.

2009
There was a great deal of discussion concerning the links between the calls for boycott and a growth of antisemitism in the UK, and on British campuses in particular in 2009. While organisations such as Engage or Scholars for Peace in the Middle East argue that widespread antisemitism is at the root of the problem, some academics dispute this and say that it is a self-defeating argument. This was particularly the position taken by a representative of Israel's universities in the UK, Professor David Newman who, while countering the attempts at academic boycott, did not see all such activity as being inherently antisemitic. Newman, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Israel's Ben-Gurion University, focused his activities on strengthening scientific and academic links between Israel and the UK, and was influential in creating the BIRAX research and scientific cooperation agreement between the two countries – an agreement which was promoted by successive British Ambassadors to Israel, Tom Philips and Matthew Gould, and which has been funded, among others by the Pears Foundation in London.

Professor Neve Gordon, a professor of Political Science at Ben-Gurion University, published a column in the Los Angeles Times in the summer of 2009, supporting boycott activity against Israel for as long as the country continued with its policy of occupation. This led to demands for his dismissal by many of the university supporters and donors in the United States, and resulted in a lively debate about the limitations of academic freedom among Israeli academics.

In 2009, the UCU passed a resolution to boycott Israeli academics and academic institutions. However, the vote was immediately declared invalid as UCU attorneys repeated previous warnings that such a boycott would likely trigger legal action against UCU. The UCU also rejected a resolution urging them to examine the trend of "resignations of UCU members apparently in connection with perceptions of institutional antisemitism". Tom Hickey, from the University of Brighton, put forward one of two motions calling for lecturers to "reflect on the moral and political appropriateness of collaboration with Israeli educational institutions".

Camilla Bassi, from Sheffield Hallam University, opposed the boycott, stating that it would "not help anyone" and would be "part of an anti-Jewish movement." Jeremy Newmark of the Jewish Leadership Council and joint head of Stop the Boycott, sharply criticised the boycott proposal, stating that: "Whether you are a trade unionist wanting a powerful union or whether you are a long-standing campaigner for peace, it is clear that the UCU has taken leave of its senses."

Later that year, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology rejected the academic boycott of Israel, stating that being able to cooperate with Israeli academics, and hearing their views on the conflict, is critical for studying of the causes of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and how it can be resolved.

2010
At the 2010 conference, UCU members voted to support the BDS campaign against Israel and sever ties with the Histadrut (Israel's organisation of trade unions). Tom Hickey, from the University of Brighton, who introduced the motion, stated that the Histadrut had supported "the Israeli assault on civilians in Gaza" in January 2009, and "did not deserve the name of a trade union organization". An amendment to this motion, which sought to "form a committee which represents all views within UCU to review relations with the Histadrut" and report back in a year, was defeated. The UCU's boycott motion invoked a "call from the Palestinian Boycott National Committee" for "an isolation of Israel while it continues to act in breach of international law" and calls to "campaign actively" against Israel's trade agreement with the European Union.

2011

At the 2011 conference, the UCU voted to adopt an academic and cultural boycott of Israel and to disassociate the UCU from the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC)'s discussion paper on a working definition of antisemitism.

The union's abrogation was sharply criticised by leaders of Jewish organisations in the UK and Israel, including Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (the Board); Paul Usiskin, chairman of Peace Now UK; Oliver Worth, chairman of the World Union of Jewish Students; Dan Sheldon, Union of Jewish Students; and Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, who said: "After this weekend's events, I believe the UCU is institutionally racist."

The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) wrote to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to express its concern, while a letter of protest was sent to UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt from Mick Davis (chair of trustees of the JLC), Gerald M. Ronson (trustee of the JLC and chairman of the Community Security Trust (CST)), Vivian Wineman (president of the Board and chair of the Council of Membership of the JLC) and Sir Trevor Chinn CVO (vice-president of the JLC). Wineman, also wrote to university vice chancellors asking them to consider whether maintaining a normal relationship with UCU was compatible with their requirement to "eliminate discrimination and foster good relations" with minorities. Representatives of the JLC, the Board and the Community Security Trust appealed to government ministers David Willetts and Eric Pickles to support a formal EHRC investigation into the decision, and Ariel Hessayon, a lecturer at Goldsmiths University, resigned from the UCU in protest at the union's disassociation from the EU's discussion paper. Sally Hunt responded that the UCU remained opposed to antisemitism and asked for a meeting with Jewish leaders to help write an "acceptable" definition of anti-Jewish prejudice.

In 2011, Jewish UCU member and chair of the Academic Friends of Israel, Ronnie Fraser, sued the union for breach of the Equality Act 2010 with the Employment Tribunal. In March 2013, the complaint was rejected in its entirety with the judgement describing it as "an impermissible attempt to achieve a political end by litigious means."

2013
In May 2013, Stephen Hawking joined the academic boycott of Israel by reversing his decision to participate in the Jerusalem-based Israeli Presidential Conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres. Hawking approved a published statement from the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine that described his decision as independent, "based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there". Noam Chomsky and Malcolm Levitt were among a group of 20 academics who lobbied Hawking to undertake the boycott, based upon a belief that a boycott is the proper method for a scientist to respond to the "explicit policy" of "systemic discrimination" against the non-Jewish and Palestinian population.

Consultation and use of online surveys
The union has been criticised for its use of online consultations when helping to determine policy.  Such a survey was used for the general secretary's proposal to Congress in 2012 that the size of the National Executive Committee be reduced from 70 members to a maximum of 40, to save money on expenses. Such consultations were challenged at Congress on the grounds that they 'encourage people to vote without hearing the debates first'.

Sub-groups

UCU Left caucus
UCU Left is a group of left-wing activists within the union which calls for democratic accountability of union officials. It supports strikes, demonstrations and other actions in support of pay, jobs and pensions. UCU Left opposes "all forms of racism, sexism, oppression and imperialism."

UCU Independent Broad Left
UCU Independent Broad Left is "a group open to all like-minded UCU members who agree to work together to unite the Union around a progressive trade union and equality agenda."

Anti-casualisation network
UCU Anti-casualisation network is a group of activists within the union who are focused on reducing casualisation. Its voice has increased in recent years, including calls to national UCU to strike over casualisation issues instead of, or as well as, over pay.

General Secretary elections
UCU holds elections for general secretary every five years, using the Alternative Vote system. Upon formation of the union, there was a one-year transitional period (2006—07) in which the post of general secretary was jointly held by the general secretaries of the predecessor institutions: Sally Hunt from AUT and Paul Mackney from NATFHE.

2007 general secretary election
An election for general secretary was held in 2007. There were three candidates:
 Sally Hunt (UCU joint general secretary)
 Peter Jones (Deeside College)
 Roger Kline (UCU head of equality and employment rights)

The results were as follows:

There were a total of 16,250 valid papers and 465 invalid papers, making a total of 16,715. This was out of an electorate of 116,512, representing a turnout of 14.3%.

2012 general secretary election

As Sally Hunt's first five-year term as elected general secretary of UCU had come to an end, an election was held in 2012. There were two candidates:
 Mark Campbell (London Metropolitan University)
 Sally Hunt (UCU general secretary)

The results were as follows:

There were a total of 14,717 valid papers and 328 invalid papers, making a total of 15,045. This was out of an electorate of 117,918, representing a turnout of 12.8%.

2017 general secretary election

As Sally Hunt's second five-year term as elected general secretary of UCU had come to an end, an election was held in 2017. There were two candidates:
 Sally Hunt (UCU general secretary)
 Jo McNeill (University of Liverpool)

The results were as follows:

There were a total of 13,724 valid papers and 156 invalid papers, making a total of 13,880. This was out of an electorate of 101,497, representing a turnout of 13.7%.

2019 general secretary election

A general secretary election was held in 2019, triggered by the resignation of Sally Hunt. There were three candidates:
 Jo Grady (University of Sheffield)
 Jo McNeill (University of Liverpool)
 Matt Waddup (UCU head of policy and campaigns)

The results were as follows:

There were a total of 23,738 valid papers and 43 invalid papers, making a total of 23,681. This was out of an electorate of 115,311, representing a turnout of 20.5%.

2024 general secretary election

As Jo Grady's five-year term as general secretary will be coming to an end, an election will be held in 2024.

Officers

According to its rules, UCU has five UK officers: the Vice-President, the President-elect, the President, the Immediate Past President, and the Honorary Treasurer.

UCU has an annual election in which the successful candidate serves a year as Vice-President, a year as President-elect, a year as President and a year as Immediate Past President. In alternate years, this election is restricted to candidates from the Further Education sector, and candidates from the Higher Education sector. An Honorary Treasurer is elected for a two-year term every other year (with no restriction on sector).

In the first year of UCU's existence, the two presidents of the predecessor unions served as co-president.

John McCormack died on 13th December 2013; in response to the vacancy thus created, Elizabeth Lawrence assumed the post of President-Elect early and held the post of President for two years.

At the end of Vicky Knight's 2018—19 presidential term, she resigned to take up a job at Unison; the post of Immediate Past President was thus empty in 2019—20.

Nita Sanghera died on 16th January 2020;
    in response to the vacancy thus created, Vicky Blake assumed the post of President-Elect early and held the post of President for two years. In addition, Victoria Showunmi was co-opted to perform some of the functions of a Vice-President, including acting as interim vice-chair of HEC.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

2006 establishments in the United Kingdom
Higher education organisations based in the United Kingdom
Teacher associations based in the United Kingdom
Tertiary education trade unions
Trade unions in the United Kingdom
Trade unions established in 2006
Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden
Trade unions based in London
Trade unions affiliated with the Trades Union Congress

University and College Union


Letters patent (always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, or government. They are generally used in granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation.  Letters patent can be used for the creation of corporations or government offices. They may be used for the granting of city status or a coat of arms. Letters patent are issued for the appointment of representatives of the Crown, such as Governors and Governors-General of Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom they are also issued for the creation of peers of the realm. A particular form of letters patent has evolved into the modern patent (referred to as a utility patent or design patent in United States patent law). This grants exclusive rights of an invention (or a design in the case of a design patent). In this case it is essential that the written grant should be in the form of a public document so other inventors can consult it to avoid infringement. It is also important to understand how to "practice" the invention or put it into practical use.

The opposite of letters patent are letters close. These are personal in nature and sealed so that only the recipient can read their contents. Letters patent are comparable to other kinds of open letters in that their audience is wide.

References

Legal terms
Law

Letters patent


Überplay Entertainment was a board game publishing company located in St. George, Utah, and was founded by Jeremy Young and Matt Molen in 2003.    As of April 2008, it had ceased operations. The company held three separate brands: Überplay provided family-oriented "Euro-style" board games; Inspiration Games developed games aimed at religious markets; Überplay Digital targeted PC based gaming.

Überplay-published games include: Ra, Motley Fool's Buy Low - Sell High, Alhambra, Metro, Hoity Toity, and Hansa. In 2004, New England won the Traditional Game of the Year by Games Magazine.

Under the Inspiration Games imprint, Überplay's published religious-based games, including The Settlers of Zarahemla (similar to The Settlers of Catan) and The Ark of the Covenant (similar to Carcassonne).

References

External links

Board game publishing companies
Companies based in Utah
St. George, Utah
2003 establishments in Utah

Überplay


The Wyatt family included several of the major English architects during the 18th and 19th centuries, and a significant 18th century inventor, John Wyatt (1700–1766), the eldest son of John Wyatt (1675–1742).

The family
This is a summary tree to show the linkages. It is an extract from the tree by Robinson.

Benjamin Wyatt
Benjamin (1709–1772), of Blackbrook, Staffordshire, sixth of the eight sons of John Wyatt, married Mary Wright and had seven sons and three daughters.

William Wyatt

William (1734–1780), eldest son of Benjamin's ten children; married his cousin, Sarah, daughter of his father Benjamin's elder brother, William. He had four sons: Charles, Henry, Robert Harvey, and Samuel. Robert Harvey Wyatt was great-great grandfather of the politician Woodrow Wyatt.

Samuel Wyatt
Samuel Wyatt (1737–1807), third son of Benjamin.

Joseph Wyatt

Joseph Wyatt (1739–1785), fourth son of Benjamin. He married his cousin, Myrtilla, daughter of William Wyatt (1702–1772).

Benjamin Wyatt II

Benjamin Wyatt (1744–1818), fifth son of Benjamin. He married Sarah, daughter and co-heiress of William Forde, and had seven sons and six daughters. His sixth son, James Wyatt, lived at Bryn Gwynant, Caernarvonshire, and was head of that branch of the family of Wyatt, later of Hurst Barton Manor, Somerset.

James Wyatt
James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style. Sixth son of Benjamin (1709–1772).

Charles Wyatt
Charles Wyatt (1758–1813) was an architect who worked in India; eldest son of William Wyatt (1734–1780) and a nephew of James Wyatt.

Jeffry Wyattville
Sir Jeffry Wyattville (1766–1840) was an architect and garden designer. Son of Joseph Wyatt.

Benjamin Dean Wyatt
Benjamin Dean Wyatt (1775–1852) was an architect. He was the eldest son and pupil of the architect James Wyatt.

Matthew Cotes Wyatt

Matthew Cotes Wyatt (1777–1862), second son of James Wyatt; a painter and sculptor.

Lewis Wyatt
Lewis Wyatt (1777–1853) was an English architect, son of Benjamin Wyatt II and a nephew of James Wyatt.

Philip William Wyatt
Philip William Wyatt (?–1835) was an English architect, the youngest son of the architect James Wyatt nephew of Samuel Wyatt, cousin to Sir Jeffry Wyattville.

Matthew Digby Wyatt
Sir (Matthew) Digby Wyatt (28 July 1820 – 21 May 1877) was an architect and art historian who became Secretary of the Great Exhibition, Surveyor of the East India Company and the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge.

Thomas Henry Wyatt
Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880), a noted architect.

Sir Matthew Wyatt

Sir Matthew Wyatt (1805–1886), architect and son of Matthew Cotes Wyatt. He built and designed Victoria Square, London (1838–40), created houses in Stanhope Terrace, Westbourne and Bathurst Streets, and developed land bounded by Connaught, Southwick, and Hyde Park Streets and Hyde Park Square. He was also involved in the redevelopment of 50 Grosvenor Square (1849).

References

English architects
English families
Burials at Highgate Cemetery

Wyatt family


The Battle of Brześć Litewski (also known as the Siege of Brześć, Battle of Brest-Litovsk or simply Battle of Brześć) was a World War II battle involving German and Polish forces that took place between 14 and 17 September 1939, near the town of Brześć Litewski (now Brest, Belarus). After three days of heavy fights for the stronghold in the town of Brześć, the Germans captured the fortress and the Poles withdrew.

History

Before the battle
Initially, the Polish forces did not plan to defend the old fortress of Brześć. The town was located deep behind the Polish lines and was seen as a supply depot and organisation centre rather than a front-line fort. However, after the Battles of Mława and Wizna the German XIX Panzer Corps under General Heinz Guderian broke through Polish lines and sped southward with the aim of flanking Warsaw from the East and cutting Poland in two.

According to the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939, the region of Brześć was assigned to the Soviet "sphere of influence". However, the Soviets did not begin their invasion of Poland yet, and had the rapidly advancing German corps stopped, it would give Poles time to regroup and prepare. Already on 8 September the German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, notified the Soviet government that the German forces would have to violate the Soviet "sphere".

The ancient fortress of Brześć is at the confluence of Muchawiec and Bug Rivers. Occupying the site of a medieval castle, it was strengthened and reconstructed in Napoleonic times and then again in 1847. Heavily damaged during World War I, the fortress was turned into a matériel depot and its central part into a prison. Although largely obsolete by contemporary standards, the fortress occupied a strategic position in the Polish lines and its defence could prevent German forces from crossing Polesia into Lesser Poland and Galicia to the south.

The aim of the German XIX Corps was to seize the fortress in order to prevent elements of a divided Independent Operational Group Narew under General Młot-Fijałkowski from retreating southwards and joining the rest of the Polish forces. The German forces consisted of an entire armoured corps: the 3rd Panzer, 2nd Motorised and 20th Motorised Divisions.

At the end of the summer the fortress was housing the march battalions of 82nd and 35th infantry regiments and elements of various smaller units. Moreover, a large number of newly mobilised reservists started to arrive at the fortress, awaiting forward deployment to their units. From these units General Konstanty Plisowski organized a force of roughly three infantry battalions, aided by an engineering battalion, several batteries of artillery and two companies of old FT-17 tanks used for training, Nos. 112 and 113.

Opposing forces
The city of Brześć was defended by a small improvised force under General Plisowski. The Polish forces consisted of three infantry battalions, one engineering battalion, some artillery and were assisted by two armoured trains (designated PP55 and PP53) commanded by Captains Mieczysław Malinowski and Andrzej Podgórski.

The German forces consisted of the entire XIX Panzer Corps under General Heinz Guderian.

Battle
On 14 September 77 German tanks of the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Panzer Regiment, part of 10th Panzer Division, reached the area of Brześć and attempted to capture the fortress on the run. The probe attack was repelled by Polish infantry and the 113th company of light tanks, consisting of 12 obsolete Renault FT tanks. All the Polish tanks were destroyed, but the German forces were forced to retreat towards their initial positions. Polish armoured train number 53 (PP53), which made a reconnaissance advance to Wysokie Litewskie, was attacked by a scout patrol from the 10th Panzer Division. The crew from the train opened fire with artillery. Several other skirmishes were fought, but were largely inconclusive.

Later that day the German artillery arrived and started bombardment of both the fortress and the town. Heavy street fighting ensued. At dawn approximately half of the town was in German hands, the other half being defended by Polish infantry. Polish anti-tank weapons, artillery and AA guns were very scarce and were unable provide enough support for the infantry. The following day Polish defenders withdrew from the town, but heavy casualties on both sides prevented the German units from continuing the attacks on the fortress. Instead, it was constantly shelled with artillery and bombed by the Luftwaffe.

When reports told Polish General Plisowski that scout elements from the 3rd Panzer Division were seen near the railway station at Żabinka, north of Kobryń, he sent PP55 to prevent his forces from being cut off. A platoon of five scout tanks left the train near Żabinka and attacked German armoured cars near a bridge on Muchawiec River. After three tanks were lost, the other two withdrew. A further attack by an assault platoon from the train failed. After a combined attack of the assault platoon and PP55 artillery, the Germans left the area of the Muchawiec bridge. When they returned, PP55 attacked another battle group of the 3rd Panzer Division (consisting of scout elements and the 5th Tank Regiment, supported by the 6th Battery of the 75th light artillery Regiment). After destroying a few armoured cars, the train withdrew towards Brześć and the train station was left in German hands.

The main assault finally started in the early morning of 16 September. The defenders had plenty of small arms ammunition and light arms thanks to the munitions depot in the fortress, but had almost no anti-tank weapons and insufficient artillery cover.

Although the German infantry was repelled and the assault of German tanks was stopped by two FT tanks sealing the northern gate of the fortress, by nightfall it became apparent that the German pressure made the situation very grave. Despite heavy losses, the German 20th Motorized Division and 10th Armoured Division captured the northern part of the citadel. Meanwhile, the combined 3rd Armoured Division and 2nd Armoured Division comprising the XXIInd Armoured Corps entered the area. The Poles were unable to resupply and the casualties rose to almost 40%.

At dawn General Plisowski ordered part of the Polish forces to retreat from the easternmost fortifications and regroup to the other side of the river and southwards. The evacuation was completed by early morning, 17 September when the last unit crossing the bridge blew it up to hinder the Germans. An hour later elements of the German 76th infantry regiment entered the fortress – almost unopposed.

Aftermath

On 17 September 1939 the Red Army crossed the Polish border and started its quick advance westwards. The Soviet 29th tank brigade under Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein reached the area of Brześć later that day and took over the fortress from the Wehrmacht. During that event a joint German-Soviet parade was held in the town, after which the German forces left the area, crossed the Bug River and started their pursuit of the fleeing forces of general Plisowski.

Some  to the east the Polish improvised "Kobryń" Infantry Division under Colonel Epler was ordered to retreat in tandem with Plisowski. After the Battle of Kobryń the division evaded encirclement and joined the forces of General Plisowski. The Polish forces were soon joined by the Podlaska Cavalry Brigade and together started to make their way towards Lwów and the Romanian Bridgehead. Under command of General Franciszek Kleeberg they formed the bulwark of the remaining Polish Army, fighting effectively against both the Wehrmacht and Red Army until the Battle of Kock, that ended on 6 October 1939.

The Brest Fortress was handed over to the Soviets in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.  It was besieged and captured again by the Wehrmacht in the beginning of Operation Barbarossa conducted against Soviet Union in 1941.

See also

 List of World War II military equipment of Poland
 List of German military equipment of World War II

References

External links

Brzesc Litewski
History of Brest, Belarus
Brzesc Litewski
Brzesc Litewski
Polesie Voivodeship
September 1939 events
Western Belorussia (1918–1939)
1939 in Belarus

Battle of Brześć Litewski


Corvus is a widely distributed genus of birds ranging from medium-sized to large-sized in the family Corvidae. It includes species commonly known as crows, ravens, and rooks. The species commonly encountered in Europe are the carrion crow, hooded crow, common raven, and rook; those discovered later were named "crow" or "raven" chiefly on the basis of their size, crows generally being smaller. The genus name is Latin for "raven".

The 46 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents except South America, and several islands. The Corvus genus makes up a third of the species in the family Corvidae. The members appear to have evolved in Asia from the corvid stock, which had evolved in Australia. The collective name for a group of crows is a "flock" or a "murder".

Recent research has found some crow species capable of not only tool use, but also tool construction. Crows are now considered to be among the world's most intelligent animals with an encephalization quotient equal to that of many non-human primates.

Description

Medium-large species are ascribed to the genus, ranging from  of some small Mexican species to  of the large common raven and thick-billed raven, which together with the lyrebird represent the larger passerines.

These are birds with a robust and slender appearance, equipped with a small, rounded head with a strong, conical beak, elongated and pointed, with a slightly curved end towards the bottom; the legs are strong and the tail is short and wedge-shaped.

The coloration of the livery is dominated by shades of black, with some species having plumage with metallic iridescence and others that have white or gray areas on the neck or torso. Australian species have light eyes, while generally the irises of other  species are dark.

Sexual dimorphism is limited.

Evolutionary history and systematics

The members of the genus Corvus are believed to have evolved in Central Asia and radiated out from there into North America, Africa, Europe, and Australia. The center of diversity of Corvus is within Melanesia, Wallacea, and the island of New Guinea and surrounding islands, with numerous species endemic to islands in the area; other areas with a large number of crow species include South and Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Australia. A high density of endemics is also present in Mexico and the Caribbean.

The diversification of Corvus corresponded with a quick geographic expansion. The radiation of the genus resulted in rapid expansion of morphological diversity and fast speciation rates, especially around the beginning of the genus' radiation around 10 million years ago.

The genus was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. The name is derived from the Latin corvus meaning "raven". The type species is the common raven (Corvus corax); others named by Linnaeus in the same work include the carrion crow (C. corone), hooded crow (C. cornix), rook (C. frugilegus), and two species which have since been moved to other genera, the western jackdaw (now Coloeus monedula) and the Eurasian magpie (now Pica pica). At least 42 extant species are now considered to be members of Corvus, and at least 14 extinct species have been described.

The fossil record of crows is rather dense in Europe, but the relationships among most prehistoric species are not clear. Corvids are found in major cities across the world, and a major increase in the number of crows in urban settings has occurred since the 1900s. Historical records suggest that the population of American crows found in North America has been growing steadily since the introduction of European colonization, and spread east to west with the opening of the frontier. Crows were uncommon in the Pacific Northwest in the 1900s, except in riparian habitats. Populations in the west increased substantially from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. Crows and ravens spread along with agriculture and urbanization into the western part of North America.

Species

Behavior

Communal roosting
Crows gather in large communal roosts numbering between 200 and tens of thousands of individuals during nonbreeding months, particularly in the winter. These gatherings tend to happen near large food sources such as garbage dumps and shopping centers.

Play
Countless incidents are recorded of corvids at play. Many behaviourists see play as an essential quality in intelligent animals.

Calls

Crows and the other members of the genus make a wide variety of calls or vocalizations. Crows have also been observed to respond to calls of other species; presumably, this behavior is learned because it varies regionally. Crows' vocalizations are complex and poorly understood. Some of the many vocalizations that crows make are a "koww", usually echoed back and forth between birds, a series of "kowws" in discrete units, a long caw followed by a series of short caws (usually made when a bird takes off from a perch), an echo-like "eh-aw" sound, and more. These vocalizations vary by species, and within each species they vary regionally. In many species, the pattern and number of the numerous vocalizations have been observed to change in response to events in the surroundings (e.g. arrival or departure of crows).

Foraging

Along with other birds, ravens have been known to associate with other animals such as coyotes and wolves. These associations are linked to feeding and hunting. Ravens use their calls to notify these animals when an injured prey is near. This interaction is most noticeable in winter where ravens are associated with wolf packs nearly 100% of the time. As a result of this connection, studies have been conducted on the reaction of prey animals to the call of the raven. In areas where ravens associate with predators, prey animals are more likely to avoid predation by leaving after hearing the call. They are also capable of distinguishing between coyotes and wolves and have shown a preference for wolves. This may be due to the fact that wolves kill larger prey. When hunting, ravens can locate injured animals, like elk, and can call out to wolves to kill them. At times, ravens associate with wolves even when there is no carcass and can even be seen forming relationships with them. This includes playing with cubs by using sticks, picking at their tails, or flying around them.

Ravens have been mostly seen among travelling wolf packs rather than resting wolves, possibly due to the increased likelihood of food. They are also known to trust wolves in the pack they follow, when encountering a carcass killed by animals other than wolves, they are more apprehensive to eat from it. This symbiotic relationship between ravens and wolves is shown to be mutualistic, ravens help wolves find prey and when the wolves kill them the ravens can eat too. However, this relationship is not without its faults. Ravens may at times eat more of the prey than the wolf does. This problem has also been linked to wolf pack size, with some researchers suggesting that one of the reasons wolves hunt in larger packs is so that ravens (and other scavengers) get less of the food. Along with contention in wolves, ravens can also bother each other. By feeding off of the same carcass it is possible that some ravens will steal from their conspecifics. This behaviour is related to the ravens' ability to make quick decisions about eating the food then or storing it for later, and to their dominance and fighting ability.

Intelligence
As a group, crows show remarkable examples of intelligence. Natural history books from the 18th century recount an often-repeated, but unproven anecdote of "counting crows"—specifically a crow whose ability to count to five (or four in some versions) is established through a logic trap set by a farmer. Crows and ravens often score very highly on intelligence tests. Certain species top the avian IQ scale. Wild hooded crows in Israel have learned to use bread crumbs for bait-fishing. Crows engage in a kind of midair jousting, or air "chicken" to establish pecking order. They have been found to engage in activities such as sports, tool use, the ability to hide and store food across seasons, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use individual experience in predicting the behavior of proximal conspecifics.

One species, the New Caledonian crow, has also been intensively studied recently because of its ability to manufacture and use tools in the day-to-day search for food. On 5 October 2007, researchers from the University of Oxford presented data acquired by mounting tiny video cameras on the tails of New Caledonian crows. They pluck, smooth, and bend twigs and grass stems to procure a variety of foodstuffs. Crows in Queensland have learned how to eat the toxic cane toad by flipping the cane toad on its back and violently stabbing the throat where the skin is thinner, allowing the crow to access the nontoxic innards; their long beaks ensure that all of the innards can be removed.

The western jackdaw and the Eurasian magpie have been found to have a nidopallium about the same relative size as the functionally equivalent neocortex in chimpanzees and humans, and significantly larger than is found in the gibbons.

Crows have demonstrated the ability to distinguish individual humans by recognizing facial features. Evidence also suggests they are one of the few nonhuman animals, along with insects like bees or ants, capable of displacement (communication about things that are not immediately present, spatially or temporally).

In Japan, crows have demonstrated the ability to learn how to use public drinking fountains for both water and bathing purposes. In the Gumyoji Park of Yokohama, crows have shown the ability to both activate public drinking fountains and adjust the water flow to appropriate levels for either bathing or drinking.

In the past, many studies were conducted on how ravens and corvids in general learn. Some have concluded that the brains of ravens and crows compare in relative size to great apes. The encephalization quotient (EQ) helps to expose the similarities between a great ape brain and a crow/raven brain. This includes cognitive ability. Though the brains differ significantly between mammals and birds, larger forebrains are seen in corvids compared to other birds (except some parrots), especially in areas associated with social learning, planning, decision making in humans and complex cognition in apes. Along with tool use, ravens can recognize themselves in a mirror. This complex cognition can also be extended to socio-cognitive abilities. Studies have been conducted regarding the development and evolution of social abilities in ravens. These results help to show how ravens prefer to form stable relationships with siblings and close social partners as opposed to strangers. The development in social abilities is essential for raven survival, including identifying whether something poses a threat and how ravens alert others nearby of an incoming threat.

Diet

Crows are omnivorous, and their diets are very diverse. They eat almost any food, including other birds, fruits, nuts, mollusks, earthworms, seeds, frogs, eggs, nestlings, mice, and carrion. The origin of placing scarecrows in grain fields resulted from the crow's incessant damaging and scavenging, although crows assist farmers by eating insects otherwise attracted to their crops.

Reproduction

Crows reach sexual maturity around the age of three years for females and five years for males. Clutch size is around three to nine eggs, and the nesting period lasts between 20 and 40 days. Crows often mate for life, and young from previous years often help nesting pairs protect a nest and feed nestlings.

Crow nestlings in urban areas face threats such as nest entanglement from anthropogenic nesting materials and stunted growth due to poor nutrition.

Lifespan and disease
Some crows may live to the age of 20, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost 30 years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age 59.
The American crow is highly susceptible to the recently introduced North American strain of West Nile virus. American crows typically die within one week of acquiring the disease and very few survive exposure.

Conservation status

Two species of crows have been listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - the Hawaiian crow and the Mariana crow.
The American crow, despite having its population reduced by 45% since 1999 by the West Nile virus, is considered a species of least concern.

Problems and methods of control
Intelligence and social structures make most crow species adaptable and opportunistic. Crows frequently cause damage to crops and property, strew trash, and transfer disease. In densely populated areas around the world, corvids are generally regarded as nuisance animals. Crows are protected in the U.S. under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, but because of their perceived destructive nature, control of the species is allowed in certain areas. Because of their intelligence, control is often difficult or expensive. Methods for control include hunting, chemical immobilization, harassment and scare tactics, and trapping. Before any measure is used to confine, trap, kill, poison, immobilize, or alter the habits of any wild bird species, a person must check local, state, and federal regulations pertaining to such actions.

Hunting

In the United States, hunting is allowed under state and federal regulation. Crow hunting is considered a sport in rural areas of the U.S. because the birds are not considered a traditional edible game species. Some cultures do treat various corvid species as a food source. Liability and possible danger to persons and property limit the use of hunting or shooting as control methods in urban areas. Crows' wariness and cunning make harvesting crows in sufficient numbers difficult.

Scare tactics
Scare tactics have been the most widely used aversion tactic for crows in areas frequented by humans and domestic animal species. This safe method does not require constant maintenance or manpower to operate or monitor. However, corvids quickly become habituated to most tactics such as blast cannons, predator decoys, and traditional scarecrows. Greater success has been achieved by adding sound and motion to predator decoys to mimic a distressed crow being caught by a predator such as an owl or hawk. Work is currently being done which uses multiple aversion techniques in one area. The theory is that multiple techniques used together will confuse the crows, thereby lessening the probability of habituation to stimuli.

Trapping

Trapping is a rarely used technique in the U.S., but is being used with success in parts of Europe and Australia. The ladder-style trap (e.g., Australian Crow Trap or Modified Australian Crow Trap) seems to be the most effective in crow-trapping techniques. Ladder traps are constructed in such a way that unintentional catch of nontarget species is avoided. If a nontarget species is caught, it can be easily released without harm to the bird. The traps are cost-efficient because they are inexpensive and simple to construct, and require little manpower to monitor. The bait used in the traps can also be specific to corvids. Carrion, grains, unshelled raw peanuts, and shiny objects in the trap are effective baits. When removing crows from a ladder trap, one living crow is left as an effective decoy for other crows. Trapping is considered the most humane method for crow removal because the crows can be relocated without harm or stress. However, most wild birds in general have a knack for returning to their home ranges.

Other methods
Other methods have been used with little or limited success. Lasers have been used successfully to remove large flocks of birds from roost structures in urban areas, but success in keeping crows off roosts has been short-lived. Homeowners can reduce the presence of crows by keeping trash stored in containers, feeding pets indoors, and hanging tin pie-pans or reflective gazing globes around garden areas.

As food
Crows were hunted for survival by Curonians, a Baltic tribe, when common food was exhausted and the landscape changed so that farming was not as productive during the 18th and 19th centuries. Fishermen supplemented their diet by gathering coastal bird eggs and preserving crow meat by salting and smoking it. It became a traditional food for poor folk and is documented in a poem, "The Seasons" by K. Donelaitis. After the nonhunting policy was lifted by the Prussian government in 1721–1724 and alternative food supplies increased, the practice was forgotten. The tradition re-emerged after World War I; in marketplaces, butchered crows that were sought after and bought by townsfolk were common. The hunted crows were not the local, but the migrating ones; each year during the spring and autumn, crows migrated via the Curonian Spit between Finland and the rest of Europe. In 1943, the government even issued a hunting quota for such activities. Crows were usually caught by attracting them with smoked fish or grains soaked in spirits and then collecting them with nets. It was a job for the elderly or young who were unable to go to sea to fish, and it was common to catch 150 to 200 birds during a hunting day.

Human interaction
The common raven and carrion crow have been blamed for killing weak lambs and are often seen eating freshly dead corpses probably killed by other means. The Australian raven has been documented chasing, attacking, and seriously injuring lambs. Rooks have been blamed for eating grain in the UK and brown-necked ravens for raiding date crops in desert countries.

Crows have been shown to have the ability to visually recognize individual humans and to transmit information about "bad" humans by squawking. Crows appear to show appreciation to humans by presenting them with gifts.

Cultural depictions

In folklore and mythology

In Ancient Greece and Rome, several myths about crows and jackdaws included:
An ancient Greek and Roman adage, told by Erasmus runs, "The swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent," meaning that educated or wise people will speak after the foolish become quiet.
The Roman poet Ovid saw the crow as a harbinger of rain (Amores 2,6, 34).
Pliny noted how the Thessalians, Illyrians, and Lemnians cherished jackdaws for destroying grasshoppers' eggs. The Veneti are fabled to have bribed the jackdaws to spare their crops.
Ancient Greek authors tell how a jackdaw, being a social creature, may be caught with a dish of oil into which it falls while looking at its own reflection.
In Greek legend, princess Arne was bribed with gold by King Minos of Crete and was punished for her avarice by being transformed into an equally avaricious jackdaw, which still seeks shiny things.

In the Bible account at 1 Kings 17:6, ravens are credited with providing Elijah food.

In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Crow is a trickster, culture hero, and ancestral being. Legends relating to Crow have been observed in various Aboriginal language groups and cultures across Australia; these commonly include stories relating to Crow's role in the theft of fire, the origin of death, and the killing of Eagle's son.

Crows are mentioned often in Buddhism, especially Tibetan disciplines. The Dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) Mahakala is represented by a crow in one of his physical/earthly forms.

In the Chaldean myth, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim releases a dove and raven to find land; however, the dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, which does not return, and Utnapishtim concludes the raven has found land.

In Chinese mythology, the world originally had 10 suns either spiritually embodied as 10 crows and/or carried by 10 crows; when all 10 decided to rise at once, the effect was devastating to crops, so the gods sent their greatest archer Houyi, who shot down nine crows and spared only one.

In Denmark, the night raven is considered an exorcised spirit. A hole in its left wing denotes where the stake used to exorcise it was driven into the earth. He who looks through the hole will become a night raven himself.

In Hinduism, crows are thought of as carriers of information that give omens to people regarding their situations. For example, when a crow crows in front of a person's house, the resident is expected to have special visitors that day. Also, in Hindu literature, crows have great memories which they use to give information. Symbolism is associated with the crow in the Hindu faith. On a positive note, crows are often associated with worship of ancestors because they are believed to be embodying the souls of the recently deceased. However, many other associations with crows are seen in Hinduism. Crows are believed to be connected with both the gods and goddesses, particularly the controversial ones such as Sani, the god of the planet Saturn, who uses a crow as his vehicle. In Hindu astrology, it is said that one who has the effect of Sani in their horoscope are angered easily, and may be unable to take control of their futures, but are extremely intelligent at the same time. Thus the presence of a crow, the vehicle of Sani is believed to have similar effects on the homes it lays its eyes on. Whether these effects are positive or negative is a source of debate in Hinduism. Crows are also considered ancestors in Hinduism and during Śrāddha, the practice of offering food or pinda to crows is still in vogue. Crows are associated with Dhumavati the form of mother goddess that invokes quarrel and fear. Crows are also fed during the fifteen day period of Pitru Paksha, which occurs in the autumn season, as an offering and sacrifice to the ancestors. During the time of Pitra Paksha, it is believed that the ancestors descend on earth from pitra-loka, and are able to eat food offered to them by the means of a crow. This can also occur during the time of Kumbha, many Hindus prepare entire vegetarian meals that are eaten solely by the crows and other birds.

In Irish mythology, crows are associated with Morrigan, the goddess of war and death.

In Islam, the Surat Al-Ma'ida of the Qur'an describes the story of how the crow teaches the son of Adam to cover the dead body of his brother: "Then Allah sent a crow digging a grave in the ground for a dead crow, in order to show him how to bury the corpse of his brother. He cried, 'Alas! Have I even failed to be like this crow and bury the corpse of my brother?' So he became regretful."

In Japanese mythology, a three-legged crow called  is depicted.

In Korean mythology, a three-legged crow is known as Samjokgo (hangul: 삼족오; hanja: 三足烏).

In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are a pair of common ravens that range the entire world, Midgard, bringing the god Odin information.

In Sweden, ravens are held to be the ghosts of murdered men.

In Welsh mythology, the god Brân the Blessed – whose name means "crow" or "raven"—is associated with corvids and death; tradition holds that Bran's severed head is buried under the Tower of London, facing France—a possible genesis for the practice of keeping ravens in the Tower, said to protect the fortunes of Britain. In Cornish folklore, crows—magpies particularly—are associated with death and the "other world", and must be greeted respectfully. The origin of "counting crows" as augury is British; however, the British version rather is to "count magpies"—their black and white pied colouring alluding to the realms of the living and dead.

In some Native American mythologies, especially those in the Pacific Northwest, the raven is seen as both the Creator of the World and, separately, a trickster god.

In medieval times, crows were thought to live abnormally long lives. They were also thought to be monogamous throughout their long lives. They were thought to predict the future, anticipate rain and reveal ambushes. Crows were also thought to lead flocks of storks while they crossed the sea to Asia.

In popular culture

Literature
 In Aesop's Fables, the jackdaw embodies stupidity in one tale (by starving while waiting for figs on a fig tree to ripen), vanity in another (the jackdaw sought to become king of the birds with borrowed feathers, but was shamed when they fell off), and cunning in yet another (the crow comes up to a pitcher and knows that his beak is too short to reach the water, and if he tips it over, all the water will fall out, so the crow places pebbles in the pitcher so the water rises and he can reach it to relieve his thirst).
 The British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes combined some of the Amerindian and Celtic myths mentioned above in writing the 1970 poetry collection Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow (1970).
 In Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Mrs. Frisby helps Jeremy, a young crow who was tied with a silver ribbon, and they managed to escape from Dragon, the farmer's cat, in gratitude for saving his life, Jeremy flies Mrs. Frisby to The Great Owl's tree, so that the owl can give the necessary answers to Mrs. Frisby.
 In Ovid's Metamorphoses, in Greek mythology, the god Apollo became enraged when the crow exposed his lover Coronis' tryst with a mortal, his ire transmuting the crow's feathers from white to black.
 In the Story of Bhusunda, a chapter of the Yoga Vasistha, a very old sage in the form of a crow, Bhusunda, recalls a succession of epochs in the earth's history, as described in Hindu cosmology. He survived several destructions, living on a wish-fulfilling tree on Mount Meru.
 Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit states that crows are agents of the evil goblins, while ravens are allies of the Dwarves.
In Hans Christian Andersen's 1844 fairy tale The Snow Queen, the protagonist Gerda meets a crow and his mate who help her trying to find her friend Kai.

Games
 In a science-fantasy tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 one of 20 demigods called Primarchs is named Corvus Corax, and many of his weapons and armor are raven-themed. He's the spiritual father of a space marine legion (later changed to a chapter) called the Raven Guard.

Music
 Both ravens and crows have commonly featured in the lyrics of heavy metal songs. A 2019 study showed that ravens are the most frequent birds mentioned in heavy metal lyrics, while crows are the fourth (eagles and vultures being the second and third).

See also
 Corvus (heraldry)
 Eating crow
 Ischys for the Greek myth of why the raven's feathers are black
 Scarecrows

References

Further reading

External links

Frequently Asked Questions About Crows - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Crows.net: The Language and Culture of Crows
Tool making and use by Crows - Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Oxford University
"A Murder of Crows" - PBS documentary (2010)

Talking birds
Scavengers
Bird genera
Extant Burdigalian first appearances
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Corvus


Maurice Silvera (born 10 October 1973), better known as Antonio, is a United Kingdom-based Jamaican reggae singer, primarily recording in the lovers rock style.

Born in Port Antonio, he began performing at the age of twelve, and went on to perform regularly on sound systems such as Mafia Five, Prince Ajax and Missile, initially working under the name Singing Morris. His first recording was "Woman a You Mi Want" for the Black Lion label in 1995. After touring Europe with the Jungle Brothers, he relocated to Birmingham, England in 1998, and began working under the name Antonio. His debut album, So Many Signs, was recorded at Cave studio in London and released in 2000 on Jet Star's Charm label. He since recorded primarily for European labels including the German Sun Vibes Records. His second album, with a working title of So Amazing, is due for release in June 2012.

Discography
So Many Signs (2000), Jet Star/Charm
So Amazing (TBC)

References

1973 births
Living people
Jamaican reggae singers

Antonio (singer)


Epiphryne verriculata, the cabbage tree moth,  is a moth in the family Geometridae. It is found only in New Zealand, and only feeds on the native cabbage tree (Cordyline australis); its wings are patterned to camouflage it against dead cabbage tree leaves.

Taxonomy
E. verriculata was first described by Baron Cajetan von Felder, Rudolf Felder & Alois Friedrich Rogenhofer in 1875 under the name Cidaria verriculata.

Distribution and habitat
This moth is endemic to New Zealand and is very common, being widely distributed throughout the country. Its favoured habitats are wetland and native forest, but it can be found in urban parks and gardens, as cabbage trees are commonly grown in cultivation.

Life cycle

Eggs
The eggs of E. verriculata are bright green and are laid on the underside of leaves in neat parallel rows in autumn and spring. As they mature the eggs change colour from bright green to brown and then finally to red. After approximately 14 days the eggs hatch and the caterpillars emerge.

Larva
The caterpillar is green with red and dark brown lines. When fully grown it is approximately 2.5 cm long. At night caterpillars feed on the new and unopened leaves of Cordyline australis; their flattened bodies allow them to squeeze in amongst the developing leaves. The caterpillars create a characteristic pattern of damage, initially making holes and dark channels along the leaf and, as they grow, notches in the leaf edge. As the leaf opens and grows the notches likewise grow and become more noticeable. The larvae reach 25 mm in length before pupating, either on the cabbage tree in crevices or dead leaf bases or on the ground underneath.

Adult
The wingspan of the adult moth is about 40 mm. Adults can be seen from spring to late summer (October to May). E. verriculata have light brown wings with parallel horizontal stripes that resemble the veins in dead cabbage tree leaves; the moth sits with its body perpendicular to the leaf's long axis and wings pressed up against the leaf, its markings lining up with the veins. If disturbed, the will only fly a short distance before finding another dead brown leaf to settle on, avoiding the green fresh leaves. Although attracted to light, the adult moth is inconspicuous when resting by day on cabbage tree leaves, and this camouflage helps protect it from predators.

Conservation status
Epiphryne verriculata is common throughout New Zealand and not regarded as threatened.

References

External links

 The cabbage tree moth discussed on RNZ Critter of the Week, 26 January 2018

Larentiinae
Moths of New Zealand
Endemic fauna of New Zealand
Moths described in 1875
Taxa named by Rudolf Felder
Taxa named by Alois Friedrich Rogenhofer
Endemic moths of New Zealand

Epiphryne verriculata


Middletown Regional Airport, also known as Hook Field,  is a city-owned public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) north of the central business district of Middletown, a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States. The airport was renamed in October 2008; it was previously known as Hook Field Municipal Airport.

In late August 2008 the airport gained some national prominence when the Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin flew into Hook to later attend a Dayton campaign rally where she was announced as Senator John McCain's running mate.

Facilities and aircraft
Middletown Regional Airport covers an area of  at an elevation of 650 feet (198 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways: 5/23 is 6,100 by 100 feet (1,859 x 30 m) with an asphalt pavement; 8/26 is 3,040 by 297 feet (927 x 91 m) with a turf surface. It has the longest runway of any non-towered airport in southwest Ohio.

For the 12-month period ending October 1, 2007, the airport had 40,050 aircraft operations, an average of 109 per day: 91% general aviation, 9% air taxi, and <% military. At that time there were 84 aircraft based at this airport: 95% single-engine, 1% multi-engine, 2% jet and 1% helicopter.

References

External links
 B&B Aero Services, the airport's fixed-base operator (FBO)

Airports in Ohio
Middletown, Ohio
Transportation buildings and structures in Butler County, Ohio

Middletown Regional Airport


Frank Mugisha (born 17 June 1979) is a Ugandan LGBT advocate and Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), who has won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize 2011 for his activism.  Mugisha is one of the most prominent advocates for LGBT rights in Uganda.

Biography
Mugisha was born in a suburb of Kampala, Uganda. Raised in a strict Catholic family, he came out to his brother at age 14. Although his coming out estranged him from some family members, other friends and family have continued to support him.

While still at university in 2004, he founded Icebreakers Uganda, an organization created as a support network for LGBT Ugandans who are out or in the process of coming out to family and friends. Mugisha is now the executive director of SMUG, an umbrella organization that consists of eighteen groups, including Icebreakers Uganda.

Mugisha has been honored by the UN - Secretary General. Listed in the Advocate Magazine, The Independent, honored by Black Entertainment Television - BET and Mugisha was named by #POWER10: among most Influential Black LGBTQ people in 2014.

Mugisha was close friends with fellow advocate and SMUG founder David Kato, who was murdered in January 2011 after successfully suing a tabloid named Rolling Stone for publishing the names of 100 LGBT Ugandans with an encouragement to "hang them".  Mugisha is one of the plaintiffs from SMUG represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights using the Alien Tort Statute to sue American evangelist Scott Lively for crimes against humanity for his work on the Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill, work described as inciting the persecution of gay men and lesbians and as "conduct ... actively trying to harm and deprive other people of their rights [which] is the definition of persecution".  In August 2013, Federal U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor ruled that the plaintiffs were on solid ground under international and federal law in rejecting a jurisdictional challenge to the suit; he also ruled that First Amendment defenses for Lively's conduct were premature.

Writing in The Guardian in 2014, Mugisha argued that homophobia and the hatred behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill were from western influences: "I am a gay man. I am also Ugandan. There is nothing un-African about me. Uganda is where I was born, grew up and call my home. It is also a country in which I have become little more than an unapprehended criminal because of whom I love. I want my fellow Ugandans to understand that homosexuality is not a western import and our friends in the developed world to recognise that the current trend of homophobia is."

Recognition
Mugisha was awarded the 2011 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the 2011 Rafto Prize for his work pursuing LGBT rights in Uganda. He also received an honorary doctorate of the University of Ghent.
Mugisha was a 2014 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2017, Mugisha was included in Fortune Magazine's list of world's greatest leaders.

See also
Stella Nyanzi
Pepe Julian Onziema

References

External links
 SMUG official website

1979 births
Living people
Ugandan LGBT rights activists
Ugandan gay men
People from Kampala
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates
21st-century Ugandan LGBT people
21st-century Ugandan people

Frank Mugisha