Lookalike model birds are being placed in a rare bird’s habitat in a bid to lure them into nesting there again.
The RSPB has created the fake birds to put in Langstone Harbour, between Portsmouth and Hayling Island, Hampshire, in the hope that the threatened little terns will feel at home there.
The breeding little tern population in southeast England has declined by 86 per cent during the past 30 years while Langstone harbour’s little tern population has dropped from 171 to 31 pairs in the same period.
Lichtenstein’s new exhibition
A new exhibition by Pop Art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein will open to the public. US artist Lichtenstein created Whaam! and Crying Girl, comic book-inspired paintings which came to define the 1960s movement. Since his death in 1997, Lichtenstein’s works have regularly fetched upwards of $40 million at auction.
A new display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, supported by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, looks at his reworking of imagery by modern art giants Picasso and Monet, including his homage to the latter’s water lilies series.
Troubled toys on display
Model-making toy boxes depicting images from the Northern Ireland Troubles are being displayed in a new artistic exhibition aimed at stimulating debate on how the conflict is commemorated.
Dublin artist Tadhg McGrath has produced his own take on the well-known Airfix modelling kits, with participants from the region’s violent past as his main characters.
Stark images of paramilitaries and security force members have taken the place of subjects traditionally made by Airfix, such as Second World War soldiers.
Robs same shop 15 years later
A convict who had just completed at 15-year prison sentence for robbery has admitted robbing the same shoe shop again.
Prosecutors said 41-year-old Christopher Miller raided the Stride Rite store in Toms River, New Jersey, a day after he was released from prison in March last year.
Miller escaped with $390 and the employees’ mobile phones, but the shop assistant had been notified about his release and identified the suspect as the same person who had robbed the store in 1999.
Miller pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and now faces another 10 to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in May.
Mad week for New Yorkers
For one week this month, New Yorkers can get a taste of Dan Draper’s world. Mad Men Dining Week will take place from March 23, with 34 top New York City restaurants offering 1960s-inspired lunches in celebration of the last season of the award-winning Mad Men television drama.
For $19.69, diners will be able to choose from a two-course menu of appetiser and entree or entree and dessert, but there is also a “liquid lunch” option – no food, unless you count the martini olive or the lemon twist.
Bless this shake, says Vatican
The Vatican has given its blessing to a shortbread milkshake, created in honour of the Pope’s upcoming visit to Philadelphia.
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Vatican department that organises the world meetings, picked the winning flavour from three choices at Potbelly Sandwich Shop in the city.
Part of the proceeds from sales of the PopeinPhilly shake – a blend of vanilla ice cream and shortbread – will go towards the planning of a world gathering of Catholic families and a visit by the Pope in Philadelphia in September.