Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1498713
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 MAY 2023 7 ALMANAC Nature Notebook 865. Eleonora's Falcon FALCONS are speed junkies, and they're superbly built for it. One of these is the Eleonora's falcon (M. bies tar-reġina), a slender, long- winged, often dark bird that nests on seacliffs of Mediterranean is- lands. Were it not for the many hunters strutting around our coun- tryside, Malta would be perfectly qualified to host this bird among our breeding species. So we only get to see Eleonora's falcons on migration. The birds we see in spring will have flown all the way from Madagascar, where apparently all these falcons spend winter: a mind-boggling 7000km across sea, desert, mountain, etc. Inciden- tally, "Eleonora" was a 14th century rather avant-garde noblewoman who passed laws to protect the falcons in Sardinia, where they still breed in good numbers today. May Plant of the Month: Evergreen Honeysuckle (MT: Qarn il-Mogħża) As a part of Project PANCAKE, every month Friends of the Earth Malta introduces one of the local Maltese plants. Meet May Plany - its name is Evergreen Honeysuckle and you certainly have seen it on the island! If you encounter the wild indigenous Honeysuckle around this time of year take a moment to get a close-up view of its dainty flowers and pro- ceed to inhale the sweet scented air around it. Although it can act as a climbing shrub in maquis habitat, it is often seen as a stand-alone bush in the garigue. The outburst of pink and cream funnel shaped flowers abound between April and June and it is an attractive pollinator plant. In autumn this evergreen shrub will produce oval shaped orange berries. Victor Falzon www.birdlifemalta.org Green idea of the week 753: Friends of the Earth Malta is crowdfunding to restore the Old Bakery in Comino. www.foemalta.org/cominozaar Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation – www.foemalta.org/donate Don't miss this ZfinMalta's ballet intensive with Herve Palito 11 June 2023 Place: The National Dance Company, Valetta ZfinMalta Dance Intensives are curated as themed experiences, focusing on a particular movement technique and exposing participants to guest teachers commissioned who contribute to company dancers' training. Intensives are best experienced in their entirety through package offers however drop-in sessions are also up for grabs for a taster of the whole experience. Hervé's unique approach as a ballet master, is to develop exercises which connect the physical preparation and study of the ballet technique with its more organic side. Give nature a voice. Become a BirdLife member Only Rock n Roll! 20 May Place: Montekristo Estate The best Rock Classics to sing along to. Queen, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Whitesnake, U2 and more. At the ARENA. Chris Grech, Tiziana, Kenneth Calleja, Daryl Ebejer and others will perform with a live band. You should sing and dance all night. Food and drinks available. Dress up in your best Rock n Roll outfit! Prizes will be given to those who wore it best. A GOOD WEEK Good Week/Bad Week A BAD WEEK Ed Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On when composing Thinking Out Loud, a US court has ruled. The British singer- songwriter had denied stealing elements of the song for his 2014 worldwide hit. Late-night comedy shows have been taken off air in the US after a strike by writers brought production to a halt. More than 11,000 television and film writers are on strike as their union seeks a deal for better wages and job security. Heirs of Gaye's co- writer argued that Sheeran, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Publishing owed them money for copyright infringement. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike is the largest of its kind since 2007 and has impacted some of television's most- watched shows.