Talk of the Town: Birds survive on a wing and a prayer

AS striking a sight as it is, you wouldn’t say the Bass Rock was the most hospitable place to live.

And it seems even the resident gannets can find life tough on their perilous perch in the Forth. The Scottish SPCA tells Talk of the Town it had to rescue three gannet chicks who were blown off their nest and into the sea.

Centre manager Colin Seddon tells us: “The gannet chicks are only around six weeks old and can’t yet fly. When there’s a high wind the chicks get caught up and dumped in the sea, and that’s when they get into trouble because they aren’t able to fend for themselves. Thankfully these ones were scooped up by passers-by and they are all doing fine.”

Festival-goers are noising up the council leader

THE council leader’s office can sometimes be a hive of activity, as council business takes shape.

And as she wrote this month’s leader’s report, Jenny Dawe reported noises including “shouts, yelps, cheers, clapping and the occasional burst of song or music”.

It’s OK, though, they weren’t having as much fun as it sounded – the noises were festival-goers outside City Chambers.

She said that the range of noises warned her that “it will take twice as long this month to get from the City Chambers to the bus stop”.

It sounds simply offal

HERE at Talk of the Town we can stomach pretty much anything, but this we’re not sure about.

To coincide with the Edinburgh Dungeon’s feature on legendary Scottish cannibal Sawney Bean, sausage maker Crombies has created “Cannibal Sausages”.

Designed to taste like human flesh, the sausages were revealed yesterday, and the maker is selling the gruesome treats at its shop in Broughton Street. The recipe was designed using historical accounts describing the taste and texture of human flesh, but not to worry, the ingredients are pork and rhubarb.

How do they know they taste of human flesh – we’ll just have to take their word.

You can’t handle the tooth

CHILDREN may be a blessing, but it seems in Edinburgh, the little money-grabbers are fleecing their parents.

Recent research by a toothpaste manufacturer shows that 71 per cent of kids in the Capital don’t believe in the tooth fairy, but 67 per cent are more than happy to accept the cash she brings. And what’s worse is that nearly a third went even further, suggesting the payments were too stingy.