Here's a small selection of my own Pertinent Place-names for you to absorb.... "OLD LEAKE" When you've got a carload of twitchers, there's always one old gaffer who has to get out for a furtive piss every 20 minutes. That's your "Old Leake" scenario .. it seems funny at the time, but when you reach the rarity site and find that the blasted bird vanished 4 mins ago, it ain't funny any more. "JOY HILL" The only reasonably elevated spot in your local patch ..... topped with a sometimes productive grove of trees as well. Apart from it being a great raptor-spotting spot, it also is a mecca for furtive and hurried conjugations ..... amo amas amat in real life ! "HERONSHAW HALL " I bet you've got some sort of decrepit once-stately home in your area. And round our way it is a "first port of call" when there's a "Big Day" in progress. There's acres of mixed woodland, two huge lakes, the house itself is awash with nest-sites of all sorts, and the only occupant is 93 years old and hasn't been seen for 12 years. Perfect. I hope you've got one nearby. Your very own "Heronshaw Hall." "SEA DYKE" I hope you've got a Sea Dyke equivalent where you live. The original Sea Dyke was a narrow, ½-mile-long inlet which brought the sea right into my patch. In fact, it has come to mean any unusual/unlikely feature in your own sphere of activity. We, for example, have a neglected and diverse woodland tucked away behind the Town Hall which very few people have even noticed and is a magnet for migrants . You might have a secret pond with an easy-to-spot resident Black Duck .. that's your "Sea Dyke Scenario." "B1184" The B1184 is infamous for its total lack of any birds at all. It is rumoured that way back in the distant past, around 1953 actually, the road was re-surfaced with effluent from the newly-built nuclear power station .... due to idiocy, mainly. These things will happen you know. You'll notice it is the only road with a red number on it .... this is a warning to anybody daft enough to use it. So ... B1184 is a simple code for a birdless and deadly spot. "SADCAKE INGS" It's on the left there .... the locals call it Sadcake Ings, but obviously the twit who drew the map didn't know that. Deep research by me has revealed that it is actually 5AD CAKE INGS .. so nowadays the whole area is awash with metal detectorists and those Unthanks singing songs. So, Sadcake Ings ,for us birders, means a potentially bird-filled ornithological paradise that has been ruined by "members of the public", film crews, media folk and brass bands. Or, to put it bluntly, us humans. Here's a smashing video + song of sad detectorists ..... 1184, by the way, is a very special number. It forms an "amicable pair" with 1210 . The factors of 1184 are 1 2 4 8 16 32 37 74 148 296 592 .... add them up ! And the factors of 1210 are 1 2 5 10 11 22 55 110 121 242 605 ... add them up.! I hope you were successful, and also impressed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
|