behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.”
Second earthquake at fracking site
The UK’s only fracking site has been hit by a second earthquake, days after the largest ever recorded,
accorded to the energy firm Cuadrilla. The fracking site at Preston New Road in Lancashire experienced a
tremor measuring 1.05 on the Richter scale on Friday night, two days after a magnitude 1.55 tremor.
The company said the “micro seismicity” lasted for less than one second and said the overall “integrity” of
the well was fine. A smaller 0.53 magnitude tremor occurred just after 5am yesterday and also lasted for less
than one second, the company added. Pausing work for 18 hours is the routine response for any tremor over
0.5.
The shutdown came less than one week after the energy firm started fracking a new well on the site after
closing down the first one following a string of tremors.
Pensioner discovers ring found buried in field is medieval artefact
A metal detectorist dug up a rare gold ring and kept it in his garage for 40 years only to discover it was
medieval treasure worth up to £10,000.
Tom Clark, 81, first found the piece of jewellery in 1979 while searching a plot of farmland just outside
Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire. Without realising its true value, he put the ring inside a metal tin and left it
inside a garage, where it remained forgotten about for decades.
It wasn’t until he began sorting through items from his mother’s house after her death that Mr Clark came
across the seal ring again by chance. He decided to get it valued and was shocked to discover it was dated
back to 1350.
Mr Clark said: “I had completely forgotten about it. At the time I’d only been metal detecting for 10 years
and didn’t realise the ring was anything special. It was all twisted and broken when I dug it up.”
It is now set to be sold at Hansons Auctioneers’ Historica and Metal Detecting Auction in Etwall,
Derbyshire, on 27 August for an estimated £8,500 to £10,000.
Woman fined over illegal taxidermy collection
A retired teacher whose illegal taxidermy collection caused police to raid her home with a BBC TV crew has
been fined after pleading guilty to possessing dead animals taken from the wild.
A toy wolf shown in photographs of her house on property website Zoopla initially aroused the suspicion of
a potential buyer, who alerted the authorities. This led a team of police to search Susan Tate’s home while
Crimewatch videographers filmed – a scene described by the 57-year-old as “a circus”. When they realised
the 16in-tall wolf was a toy, they turned their attention to Ms Tate’s taxidermy collection elsewhere in the
house, seizing 20 stuffed animals and bones.
Police found several illegal carcasses and body parts, including an endangered porpoise skull she found on a
beach, a stuffed Scottish wildcat she inherited from her mother, a blue butterfly and a red squirrel
purchased via Ebay for £40. The former biology teacher said she had no idea the items were illegal or that
she needed a licence for her collection. She accepted a £224 fine, plus £650 costs.