Where theres a will, theres a way
¢ Plans to reintroduce cranes to Somerset were almost grounded by the airline chaos.
Yesterday Nigel Jarrett, a conservationist at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, drove to Germany in a hire car to pick up eggs timed to hatch in a purpose-built crane school in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire and eventually be released in Somerset.
Mr Jarrett left before dawn and loaded incubators into the back of his car to protect the eggs as they travelled.
He said that sticking to the schedule was essential because the eggs needed to be collected from the nests at the right time to encourage the Cranes to re-lay.
This is the culmination of years of hard work and planning and there was no way I was going to let clouds of volcanic ash get in the way, he said.
The release in Somerset is part of The Great Crane Project, which aims to restore Crane populations to parts of the UK.
¢ When Michael Williams, a 55-year-old building contractor from Staplehurt, Kent, received the first phone call on Friday morning, he thought it was a joke.
It was a man who said he was stranded in Dover and his wife was in labour. I thought, Which of my friends is trying to wind me up? I turned him away.
However, soon the calls were coming in thick and fast, and Mr Williams contacted Dave Bachelor , a fellow sailing enthusiast to muster their two boats at Dover Marina. What had once been a hobby became a rescue mission.
Over the next two days they made three or four trips to Calais. They charged between £400 and £600 for each group of around 12 passengers to make the 90-minute trip across the Channel he on his 36ft fishing boat and Mr Bachelor on his 8ft catamaran, Neptune. They rescued 38 stranded holidaymakers over the weekend, until French border authorities, who had previously agreed to co-operate with the team, decided to crack down on their plans.
Mr Williams blames the historian and TV presenter Dan Snow for scuppering their efforts.
Dan Snow found out we were doing this, and then he thought it would be good to have this big idea of lets get the Brits off beaches like in Dunkirk, he said. I said, Hang on, we cant do things like that. There are procedures and the French are very hot on procedures. They never had the correct papers, they were picking up people willy-nilly, the boats werent safe and it was a total farce.
Meanwhile, the 20 remaining passengers Mr Williams and Mr Bachelor were due to pick up will have to find an even more enterprising way to reach Blightys shores.
¢ Scores of musicians stranded in the UK have been seeking gigs, while those due to arrive from abroad cancelled their dates, leaving promoters to make last-minute plans.
Simon Cooke, manager of Ronnie Scotts jazz club in London, said he had been deluged with calls.
¢ BBC News online has had its biggest ever weekend for global traffic as more than five million people logged on for information about the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud. The Live Volcano News page attracted more than one million hits over the weekend.
The data suggests that Sunday was the busiest weekend day ever for BBC News online, pulling in more than 5.5 million unique users from around the world.
Steve Herrmann, editor of the BBC News website, said: This is something genuinely unexpected, with far-reaching effects, and still unpredictable, and thats reflected in the audience interest, which has been big from the start, and remains high.
¢ DJ Chris Moyles is returning to the airwaves on Tuesday by hosting his Radio 1 breakfast show from New York.
The presenter, who has been unable to return to the UK following a US holiday, will host the show from the Sirius studio while his team are in London.
He alerted fans to his absence on Twitter by simply posting the word stuck!.
Moyles said: Its brilliant. Im so pleased I can get on the air. Ill have to sleep in the evening, then get up at midnight and be on air at 1.30am New York time but itll be worth it and very exciting.
Other BBC radio hosts who have been hit by the travel problems include Radio 2s Steve Wright, who is also in New York. His show is being hosted by Richard Allinson this week.
Mark Radcliffe will be hosting his show tonight without co-presenter Stuart Maconie who is still making his way back from a trip to Venice.
Another Radio 2 star Paul OGrady is also stuck in New York Jodie Prenger, winner of the talent show Id Do Anything is pencilled in to host his show on Sunday.
¢ The National Trust has announced that stranded foreign tourists will be able to visit some of Britains historic houses free of charge on production of their airline ticket and passport.
The charity, which looks after more than 300 properties, gardens and ancient monuments as well as sections of coastline and countryside, said it wanted to thank countries which are currently hosting British holidaymakers trapped abroad because of the volcanic ash.
Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, said: British travellers stranded overseas have been shown tremendous hospitality by their hosts.
This offer is a way of reciprocating that kindness and saying thank you on behalf of the country.
Graham Deans, assistant director for operations in the Trusts Thames and Solent region, said: Its the perfect time to visit Osterley and its just down the road from Heathrow for anyone stranded or staying near there.
Its a great spot to get away from everything, so we hope some visitors will be able to take up the chance to visit whilst theyre here.
The National Trust said it will run the offer as long as people remain stuck in the UK.
¢ It was also announced that teen star Miley Cyrus and her Australian co-star Liam Hemsworth will not be attending the European premiere of the film The Last Song in London on Tuesday.
A press statement said: Due to the current flight restrictions over the UK, Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth and the director Julie Anne Robinson will no longer be attending the European charity premiere of The Last Song on Tuesday April 20, 2010.
The screening of the film, in support of Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity, is still going ahead for ticket holders at the Empire Leicester Square.