Oh wow!!!

Accordsing to the stats there's 20 folks looked this blog today and there I've been lazy again for a few days.  Haven't been birding though but yesterday Jan and I took Kile to Newport in sarf bigfish (think about it ... you'll get there I'm sure ;-))) ), for a few hours and we saw around 20 speices as we were on the road but only a Raven for this years list.  Sad enit?  Off for a day and we still record birds seen ;-)))

OK then, what else can I waffle on about ... I know, that new railway they want to build!  The question seems to eb do we want it?  According to one lot no we don't, according to another lot, yes we do.  Such arguemnt can got on for years and we would get no where.  One of the 'Yes' group arguments is that there are a number of high speed lines in Europe and we should have one becuase they have one and we will fall behind if we don't.  That sounds OK dunnit?  But hang a minute ...  

According to Wikipeadia (and I make no claims for its accuracy here), Britain has a physical size of 240,000km square with a population of 60, 003,000 giving it a density of 277 ppkm square.  The figures for France are, 676,843km; 65,821,885; 116km;  For Germany, 357,021km; 81,757,600; 229km.  I think for that it becomes very clear that both France and Germany have a lot more land that can used up for a highspeed railway.  Just think about how much l;and is going to be swollowed up by it.  Two tracks at least with a safe margin between them for going aorund corners at high speed; wide safety margins at both side of the track; access road for maintainance crews; new or expanded stations; they will take up loads of space that Britain just doesn't have to spare in reality.  I'm not a maths expert but by my figures, allowing 15m for width and 150km for the distance from London to Brum, it works out at a loss of 2500km square land lost for public use!  And don't forget the added plans to extent it to Manchester and Leeds to be added in - you can add the smae mount from Brum to Mancester and I have no idea for the route to Leeds!

Come folks ... can we really afford to lose so much to land just to keep you the Jones's, or what ever the European equivilants are?  I don't think so!

More photos then ...

Talking of Brum, here's three of cities greatest ... Boulton, Watt and Murdoch.

This work of art is now gone, burnt down by some 15 year old nut case who thought it a jolly good jape.  Sadly the brat on got a caution I think.  What I wanted was a public execution at dawn on the spot where this stood!

This is Waterbeach Baptist Church.  Nothing much there I suppose, except that it is the first church of one Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the great Baptist preachers of 19th century.  From here he mover to here ...

  ... the Metropolitan Tabernacle on the Elephant and Castle in London where he regularly preached to over 1000 people.  Oh how things have a changed.

And finally a birdy ... a black headed gull, very exciting eh ;-)))

 

Has anyone else heard of this group?  I hadn't until I started to read my copy of Birdwatching that arrived this morning.  It seems they have funded an £88,000 cull on carrion crows and magpies blaming them as the reason why song bird numbers have fallen so rapidly.  Speaking about the RSPB's response to the cull their spokesman claims that, "...They don't want to alienate people who might think twice about leaving money to an organisation that culls certain species of birds."  He also claimed that RSPB was turning a blind eye to the threat from predator species.

Well, it seems to me that the spokesman is turning a blind eye to the cull of rudy duck a few years ago which was supported by RSPB.  As for legacy funding, he might look at the result of their cull might have on their finacnes in future.

 

Weather forecasting ... a new crystal needed?

We were hoping to go to Slimbridge today for more birding but today's weather just wasn't suitable.  It was actually just as they predicted earlier this week but last night the BEEB was saying it would be dry today opps, got it wrong yet again.  The result is that I have no birding news to relate to anyone.  Instead of watching birds we ended up visiting Focus Optics in Chorley so that Jan could buy more bird seed for the feeders out back and I could ‘drop’ off my scope for repair after having ‘dropped’ it some time ago when out birding once.  The focus knob rod needs replacing; just hoping it won’t cost the earth to do.  Likewise my Nikon Coolpix 5100 camera which has decided it no longer wants to play.  It was working fine then I turned it off and then it just seized up half way through its close down procedure.  Ah well, look at that later.

After Focus Optics (which by the way is a great place to visit if you are looking for some decent optics or for birdseed and outdoor clothing and so on), we went off to Go Outdoors to look at camping tables, they had five to look at and none of them were what we needed one for.  But the thing is, they’ve changed it all around again.  Now it’s mainly all clothing and footwear and very little of anything else.  We tend to go over there 3 or 4 times a year and each time it’s been changed around.  If I didn’t know better I’d have thought they had been taken over by Woolies ... another store that couldn’t decide how to lay its goods out.  They changed that around every couple of weeks.  From there we went to the Burnt Post, a pub on the A45 in Coventry.  Not been in there before and we were both impressed with it.  I had a pint of The Reverend James, one of the very best real ales I’ve had in a long time, and believe me, it did taste as good as it looks here ...

Some more photos then ...

And talking of beer Hobgoblin is another very fine ale.  I saw this poster in a pub in Oxford and thought it worth a shot.  It asks a very relevant question to my mind.

Very red berries at Brandon a few years ago.

Another of my favourtie images also taken on my Minolta 404si but on slide film this time and then scanned into the 'puter.

Popular trees at Brandon again, they've changed a lot now.

Mr Bierce says of the telephone, “An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.”  I wonder what he would have thought of mobiles then ;-)))

Badgers Tea Room at Brandon Marsh

A good day at Brandon Marsh today and I added 9 to my year list making it 58 now.  The full day’s list is, Magpie;  Blackbird;  Mute swan;  Robin;  Blue tit;  Great tit;  Moorhen;  Canada goose;  Coot;  Mallard;  Lapwing (+Leucistic lapwing, mainly off-white);  Shelduck: Tufted duck;  Teal;  Shoveler:  Oystercatcher;  Pheasant;  Cormorant;  Snipe;  Widgeon;  Gadwall;  Greater black-backed gull; Chaffinch;  Wood pigeon;  Dunnock;  Tree sparrow;  Goldfinch;  Coal tit;  Black headed gull.  The main one of note is the so-called Leucistic Lapwing.  It’s a rather nice looking bird that is mainly off-white in colour apart from the areas that are normally reddish on a normal lapwing.  The general impression of the birders there was of surprise that some raptor hadn’t got him yet.  But with so many black headed gulls about too it might not stand out quite as much as it would if was in a flock of just lapwings.  Whatever, it was nice to see him and added to a good day all round although it was pretty cold.  I nice pot of tea and a toasted tea cake in Badger Tea Room soon warmed me up though.   If you haven't been there please do try it, it's very good indeed.

 

The other bright spot of the day for me was getting a good shot of a robin.  Yes, I know there are countless quality shots of the robin in webland but I’ve never managed to get a decent shot of one until today.  So here it is ...

And this one is from today too ...

Is anyone else a tad concerned about what is happening in the Middle East right now?  Once Tunisia went down the pan it seemed fairly obvious to me that it wouldn’t be long before another went too.  Egypt has now followed but who is next, Bahrain, Libya or Iran?  So many of them are run either by dictators or by a powerful royal family who broke no decent from their peoples.  But remember folks, most of our oil comes from that area and this all may leads to a disruption of supply – if you think fuel prices and inflation are high now, just wait till that happens.  Then of course there is the possible spread of Islamic extremism and any dangers that might lead to. 

Enough of that how about some more photos ... I used to have a Konica Minolta Z5 bridge camera and very good it was too, here the proof ...

 You don't get the full perspective of this one in this shot.  It was a hughe great big thing growing on the side of the A444 just outside Dorktown and the plant was taller than I am, well over 5' 5".  This flower head was around 4" across.  My next camaera was a Nikon Coolpix 4500 with which I got this ...

Sadly the damned thing kept breaking down every 7 or 8 months so I got shut of it pretty quick.  But my all time favourite shot is this one ...

O got this one out side my sister-in-laws pub just outside Abingdon.  It was taken on a Minolta 404Dynax SI, a very good camera indeed. 

Nothing from the Sage today so a how about this then ...

The word HUMBER.   Good eh?  D you remember the old big black Humber Hawkes that Harold Wilson used to be driven about in?  And don’t forget the Humber Sceptre either ... but I’m not on about any those old motors.  The River Humber in what is now known as Humberside was once part of the border between Lincolnshire and Yorkshire until some over educated idiot decided to change it around, that why Coventry is now in West Midlands and not in Warwickshire where it belongs!  Anyway, enough ... The river Humber gets it’s name from a man called Humber who apparently invaded England in 1000AD.  He was defeated in battle and somewhere in the Humber area and was drowned in that mighty river, hence the river getting its name.  (from Brewers dic-n-ary of Phrase and Fable).  Now I really do know that you will all sleep far more soundly in your beds knowing about that man being beaten in battle ;-)))

And remember ... “History is but a picture of crimes and misfortunes” (Voltaire)

A send off in stlye?

No birds again today but I thought I might ramble on a wee bit about birding and birders as a whole.  Well, yesterday I mentioned that Jan would have something to say if I tried to go birding every day, and rightly so too.  Yesterday morning my copy of the monthly magazine Birdwatch arrived and I’ve just sat and finished reading it.  On page 23 Jonathon Lethbridge one of the mags regular writers has penned a piece about the manic state most birders get themselves into every December 31 ready for the start of the new birding year on January 1.  Jonathon has decided that he is going to try to take it easy this year and not run around to do a ‘year list’.  For the non-birder reading this I should perhaps mention that most birders have lists, one is a list of bird species they have seen since they started birding, a ‘life’ list; another list for all the species they have seen in any one year, a ‘year’ list; and lastly a list of birds they have seen in their local ‘patch’, a ‘patch’ list.  OK, but do they run a life and year list for their patch I wonder?  And what happens if the move home?  I also remember seeing something about other birders having list of bird they have seen on the telly!  And in films!  Oh dear, I think I agree with Jonathon, time to take it easy ;-)))  Have a look at this one then ...

This 'pied' jackdaw I got some time ago at Bradgate Park.  I've only ever seen it the once so I'm glad I got the chance when I did. 

A nuthatch at Coombe Abbey.

A bullfinch but I can't remember where.

 A mandrin duck at Richmond Park I think.

 A hooded crow on the shore of Lough Neagh, Antrim last year.

It's bird club tonight, I shall report on it tomorrow.

Oh dear, we are in the kids bad books.  Rusty and Bella had to go for their second jab today and they also had a micro-chip inserted too.  They have both bleed very badly after the micro-chip which seems strange to me.  Cindy didn’t and as far as I remember neither did Sally when we had her done.  Anyway, it’s all done now and they have been feeling very sorry for themselves.     

The other week I was sat in the Felix Holt, a Whetherspoons pub in Dorktown and I found one of their in-house mags on the table so I took it home for a read.  One item that caught my eye was about the amount of time you have to wait to be served in their pubs.  The only place I have experienced this is in the Felix Holt where on a regular basis there is only one person behind the bar with a long queue of customers waiting, and yes I do get a tad uppity over it!  But what annoys me a lot more is having to pass through a gang of smokers standing outside the front door filling their lungs with poison.  The Felix Holt doesn’t actually have a smoking area so up to a point I can accept it but I still don’t like it!  However, the Bear and Ragged Staff in Nonetown does have a smoking area out back but the smokers won’t use it and us non-smokers have to walk through it every time we go in there.  I’ve complained to manager o a number of occasions, I’ve even phoned their head office but it is still happening.  So much for customer service then eh?  So you might then be tempted to ask, “Why do you go there then?”  Simply, they are about the only places where I can my scooter inside safely. 

St Pancras Station in front of the new Library.

St Pancras clock tower

 Hyatt reflection, Brum.

Today from the Sage ... 

A very prestigious cardiologist died, and was given a very elaborate funeral by the hospital he worked        formost of his life... A huge heart... covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service as all the  doctors from the hospital sat in awe. Following the eulogy, the heart opened, and the casket rolled inside. The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever..

         At that point, one of the mourners just -burst- into laughter. When all eyes stared at him, he said, 

                     'I am so sorry, I was just thinking of my own funeral... I'm a gynaecologist.'

The priest fainted !!

No birds but is the Pope ill?

No birds again today simply cos I didn’t go out the house at all.  Sadly I can’t go out birding every day; Jan would soon have something to say about if I did.  However, I am hoping to get out somewhere on Sunday, depending on the weather of course.  

Not a bad day even without the lack of birding anyway so that’s good.  I sat there again watching the BBC News and yet again the British courts are over reacting to something from court of human rights or whatever it’s called.  Now they want to interfere with the way that we deal with sexual perverts and rapists and say that these monsters shouldn’t be kept on the Sex Offenders Register for life ... but is that what they are really saying?  Towards the end of the report there a comment from the Labour Party that quoted another section of the ruling that said that the government wasn’t actually required to do anything about it.  So both parties are trying to score some sorts of points on the issue.  Thing is, there was a report in the local paper yesterday that a pervert raped an 11 year old boy at least 3 times and had been told by the judge hearing the case that he could expect a lengthy jail term – I hope he does!  But maybe TPTB (the powers that be), should go and ask that lad’s Mum and Dad with they agree not only to allow the rapist to be removed from the register or if they are happy about the political parties trying to score points off each other because it.  I somehow don’t think they will. 

       

Now then, on a lighter note ...

On my travels I also keep and eye out for odd or perhaps funny signs.  This one amused me when I saw while driving south on the A6 not far from Preston.  The thought of crooks selling any sort of vehicles struck me as very funny.

This one is a street in Brum up by the cathedral.  Again it amused me.

A lot of villages are now going in for a more garphic type of village sign.  This one as you see is for Waterbeach which is just off the A10 a few miles north of Cambridge.  I spent to very good years there while I was in the army.  My local was called the Star but although the building is still there it's now a private house, sadly.  It was much better as a pub!

Our tent in which we spent two very happy weeks in holiday in Antrim last summer.  The tent was in a really nice bag that look like one of those larg 'hold-all' type bags.  Getting out of the bag was easy ... getting it beg in is in my opinion impossible!  Being a plastice or pvc material once you drop it down and start to roll it up the air can't be got out if it.  However, it's a nice big tent, veery easy to errect and we were very happy with it.

Last one for today then ... this si wind farm off the coast at Skeggy.  I used a 500mm mirror lens to take this.  It's not quite sharp enough and that is becuase the lens is manual focus and with my eyes not being as good as they should be I didn't quite it it right.  Overall though I like this shot.

Now then ...

Are you like me in that you dislike it when you are about say something and someone jumps in and stops you?  Well, according to Ambrose Bierce in his The Devil’s Dictionary that person suffers from Loquacity which he defines as being ... “A disorder which renders the sufferer unable to curb his tongue when you wish to talk.” 

From the Rochdale Sage ...

 A drunk man, who smelled of liquor, sat down on a subway next to a priest.  The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading.  After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, 'Say Father, do you know what causes arthritis?'

The priest replies, 'My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap wicked women, too
much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath.'

 The drunk muttered in response, 'Well, I'll be damned.' Then he returned to his paper.

 The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized.  'I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?'

 The drunk answered, 'I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.'