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)
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