Here's the thing ..... I bloody hate the winter. And it isn't old age or owt like that. I've always hated it. It is FAR TOO LONG for a start. Here we are, approx half-way through the blasted month... ... it gets light incredibly late, and dark about 20 minutes later. ... a slight exaggeration, but not far out. ... the romans called their stony roads "aggers" ... and when their carts strayed off the agger, they had ex-aggerated. ... I suppose you could spend the winter indoors learning Latin. ... then you could read " Winnie ille Pu" and "Domus Anguli Puensis". .... as have I. And what's more, there's 1000s of hours of winter still to come. Each one of them cold, mainly wet, and mostly dark. If it wasn't for bloody Scotland, we could keep BST going over the whole year. But those wittering sods won't have it. We should ideally have Double Summer Time ( 2 hours on) all summer, and ordinary BST in the winter. And, of course, what with the bad weather, restricted daylight and ice, snow, rain,mud, and gales, it restricts our birding both vastly and unpredictably. Plus, in the summer ( remember that ?) if there's no birds about, you can watch butterflies, or admire the flowers, and you can sit down somewhere and contemplate Mother Nature without freezing half to death. And December isn't the worst bit ..no ... 'tis bloody blasted February. The Atlantic is c ~ o~~l~~~d in February .... and W winds go over it and get cold too .... and they're heading for US. On the plus side, "a" male Blackcap turned up in't garden this afternoon. Was it, I wonder, the same one we had a bit ago ? And out on a bitterly cold walk, there were loads of Fieldfares about ... and some Redwings in the mix. And I mansplained to The Sig Oth that it wasn't the wings that were red ... ..and we discussed my idea that all bird names should tell the truth . .. so as not to plant the wrong ideas in upcoming birders. ... so here's a thing ... ... is the Redwing the most misleadingly named UK bird ? .... and if not, which one is ? ..... it's a Long December, so you've got plenty of thinking time.
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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