Talk of the Town: Fast food to help train archer fish

IT might be the scourge of Scotland's health, but experts at Deep Sea World have turned to fast food to help one of their inhabitants feel more at home.

Staff at the North Queensferry attraction have come up with a way to encourage archer fish to regain their natural hunting instinct.

It's nothing deep fried however- in the wild, archer fish spit high-powered jets of water up to three metres to knock insects into their waiting mouths, and to try and mimic their natural hunting antics, keepers have suspended a rope bridge above their display and each morning, live crickets are placed in a food box at one end of the rope, giving the fish a speedy moving target as they run along the bridge.

Deep Sea World's Paul Francis said: "The hope is that this feeding method will encourage the fish to behave as they would in the wild."

Just don't mention fish and chips.

Rod makes a sharp exit - for the last time?

AFTER being faced by soaking fans at his Edinburgh Castle gig was hit with a torrential downpour on Wednesday night, you could hardly blame Rod Stewart for choosing to make a quick exit.

The singer escaped Edinburgh's weather entirely, choosing to fly home for the night instead.

An insider revealed he flew to Stanstead in a privately chartered plane as soon as the concert was finished, as the airport is just 10 mins from one of his many homes.

He was back on Thursday when the rain had cleared up, although it seems that could be his last gig in the Capital, with rumours abound that he has apparently decided to stop touring after this run.

Saying goodbye can often be a hard thing to do however, which might have been another reason for his hasty exit.

Conferences mushroom

RECENT news suggests that Edinburgh may be finding itself in something of a niche when it comes to conferences.

Not only is the World Potato Congress due to be held in the Capital over four days in 2012, now we learn that the ninth Mycological Congress will spend five days at the EICC this August.

For those reaching for their dictionaries, mycology is the study of fungi, and it seems all we need now is the International Egg Congress to come to town so we can rustle up a Spanish omelette.

Summer snowstorm

THERE'S been some unseasonal weather of late, but residents of Blenheim Place must have rubbed their eyes when they looked out to see snow in the street recently.

In fact the white stuff had been spread about by the producers of a John Lewis Christmas advertisement which was being shot in the Capital.