Since 11 am yesterday the rain has been pelting down ...and here I am at 0844 this morning and it still is .... and it is forecast to ease off a bit at 11 am..... that's 24 hours of it. And here's what it looks like ....38mm of rain in 21 hours. And that's on top of days and weeks of it. February Fill-Dyke ,as the country wisdom has it. Mr. G is a great proponent of ... " There's no such thing as bad weather .... just inadequate clothing." But I say .. Tripe ! But that's Geography teachers for you. I've never liked Geography ever since Shuttleworth set fire to my hair in a Geography lesson. He was sitting behind me, and just decide on a whim to put a match to it. And when it got a bit out of hand, he tried to put it out by bashing me on the back of my head with a rather hefty atlas with such force that it slammed my face onto the desk and caused a rather spectacular nose-bleed. Ah yes, those good old schooldays eh ! I got a detention for that. Not Shuttleworth .... just me. And I've hated Geography ever since. Mr. G's motto is ... Geography is going places. And I say ... Astronomy is looking up Geology is on the rocks Mountaineering is on the up. Helter-skelters are on a downward spiral. Learning Latin is declining. Sexual intercourse is conjugating. Fishermen are just spinning a line. Meteorology is all airy-fairy. Taxidermy can get stuffed... And Ornithology is for the birds. But now ..a deeply sad but lovely song by the inimitable Death Cab for Cutie ... .and now you can get even sadder by singing along to the words video... in English and/or Spanish.. There you are then ... meteorology, mischief ,mottoes and music all in one short missive. Marvellous and memorable, miraculously ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0 Comments
Yesterday, about a mile from where I live, I came across a flattened, run-over, Tawny Owl. It was fairly fresh too, the blood was still liquid. What with the local Tawny Owl population rapidly collapsing, this was a sorry sight. I have written about this before, but the background is, for 35 years we've always had Tawny Owls around the house ... but in the last 3-4 years they have relentlessly declined, and nowadays we might, if we're lucky, hear one or two passers-through in a whole year. There's no obvious reason for it ... there seems to be no significant change in agricultural terms ... but something's happened ... all it takes is a few random runnings-over, a few age-related deaths or whatever, and they're gone. And as I said, there's the odd one every few months calling away like mad for one night, but it's calling into nothingness ... there's no "other" owl to hear it. And on top of that, Little Owls have almost disappeared too. But the good news is, that the " Specky" male Blackcap has made a welcome re-appearance after an absence of three whole days. So we have at least two males around. If you're one of the tiny minority that doesn't know all about Specky ... here's the links.... 767-the-minutiae-of-garden-birding.html * 770-those-blasted-blackcaps.html And typically, in this year when we've had at least 3 males and 1 female in the garden at various points, Grumbling Stumps hasn't bothered to have its usual " Garden Blackcap List" at the reception desk where visitors can write down their sightings. Bah. Damm and Blarst ! Today's music has nowt to do with any of that ... we like the acoustic version, of course .. .. and I know you'll all want to sing along to it ... and here's your big chance .. * I should really have typed it like this ... minutiae Yes ... Buckingham Palace ! What a fantastic House List they must have ..... er .... NOT ! But what are they doing wrong ? Let me count the ways .... [1] Too many people ..... the whole place seems to be awash with people .. .. and it is a well-known-fact that "people" are not good for birds. Members of the Blasted Public nosing around, trampling round the garden , gogglers clogging up the windows, slamming doors etc .... any self-respecting bird would be bogging off to Kensington Gardens like a shot. [2] The forecourt (see above) is a barren waste, worse than the vast Arabian Desert birdwise. Get it dug up and planted up . And where's the all-important water feature ? And the shrubs, trees, flowers, nest boxes, swift towers etc. They could even divert the Thames through it .... that would be good. Their 247 gardeners could do it in their spare time. [3] Noise ! Brass Blasted Bands patrolling up and down endlessly . They are an abomination unto the Lord. And they're always firing cannons .... they're obsessed with the bloody things. [4] Windows ... oh yes, there's plenty of them, but they're all tall and thin and dinky... it's WIDTH you want in a window, not TALLTH. We all know that. Take -em out, turn -em round, put -em back. Get on with it. [5] The occupants, once the hoi polloi have pissed off, don't give a stuff about garden birds ... they're too busy jetting around the world,polluting the globe and its atmosphere, interfering with other countries, forcing the unwilling occupants to dress up in ridiculous and embarrassing outfits and jig about randomly for hours on end, , and occasionally casting a glance at gaudy rarities that they get "shown the way to" by " local experts." [6] Best thing ... rip it up and start again............. This is really part of that thread about what you do when there are no birds about. So ...there's not a dicky bird to be seen ... but the hide is packed with every possible variety of bird-spotter you could want .... and as there are no birds, why not do a bit of Binocular-spotting. Here's a few to get you thinking .... ...ranging from the "Difficult" to the " Almost Impossible" .... Well..... I think that was a bit of a struggle .... so let's have some soothing music.. Dans l'ombre de tes yeux J'ai trouvé les plus beau mensonges Emmêlés comme des noeuds Et mon coeur, est-ce que t'y songes? Tu dis que la lune brille en bleu Et qu'les mers sont asséchées T'inventes tout ce que tu peux Et j'dois croire que tu veux m'aimer? J'suis pas dupe Et même les fleurs de ma jupe S'envolent haut Quand tu craches tes mots Je sais que t'es pas sérieux Qu'c'est ton égaux qui te ronge J'connais des gens heureux Tellement loin de ces mensonges Et tant pis pour l'amour Remballe tout et puis va-t'en Tu reviendras un jour Dans deux mois ou dans mille ans J'suis pas dupe Et même les fleurs de ma jupe S'envolent haut J'suis pas dupe Et même les fleurs de ma jupe S'envolent haut Quand tu craches tes mots J'suis pas dupe Et même les fleurs de ma jupe S'envolent haut J'suis pas dupe Et même les fleurs de ma jupe S'envolent haut Quand tu craches tes mots ..and here's a special bonus picture .... Here's a true story from the distant past featuring .......yes ... my binoculars ...
50-the-man-with-the-proper-binoculars.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I bet you've often wondered what other peoples' house list might be. So ...here's one to have a think about .... Personally, I think quite a bit of work would be needed to get the list up. Here's my 10-point plan.... [1] Get some decent sodding huge windows, you old fool ! Those ones are rubbish. [2] And a bigger door ... you can't rush through that piddling thing with your scope and tripod can you ? NO. [3] Knock down that stupid Scottish flagpole ..birds don't like flappy things...... [4] ..or just ditch the flag and turn that pole into a Swift Tower. [5] Ditch the steep roof and make a flat one ... great for vismigging, raptor watching and of course spying on the neighbours. And on the same theme, get rid of most of those hefty rock formations ... you'll miss many a tick with them in the bloody way. [6] "Make a Lake" should be your mantra from now on. There's plenty of hollows to use. [7] Get that " Gardener's World" lot to pop round and tell them to plant lots of, er, plants. [8] A few trees would be good. Shrubs ... yes. Berries ... yes. [9] Plant a woodland corridor which will wind its way down to a proper wood. Then woodland birds will winkle their way along it and you can tick them. [10] And, of course ... food could well be a good idea. You can get all that stuff from "outlets". I'm sure there's lots of other things you could do ... .. and no doubt there will be other useless buildings I might need to help with. But for now ... music ..... The Treecreeper was featured on the radio this morning but I was of course unable to hear a bloody thing it was sprung on me without a word of warning I was devastated not to hear it sing ! So I'm going to write a letter to the BBC and it's going to be a bloody stiff one too Someone has been offended ... and this time it is ME My self-esteem has sunk to minus 22. Let's just suppose that Radio 3 had played a bit of Liszt But upped it a few octaves, so all of it was missed by us despairing oldies, who couldn't hear one crochet and would miss the blasted lot ..... and "off" they would be "pissed." So ..if they're going to taunt us all with the Swift and Goldcrest There ought to be a warning , so we could hobble across the room and switch the bloody radio OFF, and lie down for a rest in the all-pervading silence, and our inevitable doom. And if next week the Swift is going to be Tweet of the Day I'll be up in the bedroom, rotting happily away ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ah ... you can tell that all came from the depths of my heart ... such as it is. And as it is yet again raining, we'll have one of MY very appropriate home-made videos... the "real" title is Dafydd Iwan yn y glaw ... but once I'd typed it "they" wouldn't let me put it right .Anyway, "yn y glaw" means " in the rain" ... . ....
CONCEPT Me ! CAMERA OPERATOR The Significant Otter LOCATION MANAGER My Sister I think I'll just let you make your own assessment of this article ..... OK .. " On with the music" ..... ..... completely irrelevant to that up there .... but a beautiful song ... Regular readers might remember that post a bit ago in which I "claimed" my extra 32 ticks ... the only problem being, what are they ? 771-in-which-i-do-a-bit-of-upjustment.html So ..here they are at last .... all of my own choosing. It's the least I deserve. Westermann's Prongtail Drab-breasted Oaktapper Amblesnipe Axe-billed Snapper Variegated Eelsnatcher The Fark Spear-arsed Linnet-snatcher Harrier Pigeon Emaciated Grossbill King Harold's Nutling Scarce Phantasm Half-crowned Reed-Stalker Unlikely Boonspill Carpularia carpularia carpularia ( no known English name) No-striped Stripling Armenian Thripgobbler Armenian Thripgobbler ! ( a much flashier version ) Erring Gull Conspicuous Cock-of-the-Rock Ostentatious Rockhopper Modest Parrot Resplendent Shywren Spoon-billed Scraper-Wren Farmhouse Goatsucker Farmhouse Oatsucker Onomatopoeic Dingaling Oneiric Snorter Popadom Beardscrubber Half-price Toadrunner Naarb Slithery Kingfisher Oooaa So ..there you are. And after all that resplendent oneiric Armenian load of Fark .... some music... we've had a hell of a lot of rain lately .... so .... Wo bist du gewesen?
Warum bist du so kalt? Möchtest du nicht reden? Welche Farbe hat dein Frosch im Hals? Draußen heult der Regen, nur Schweigen füllt den Raum Ich suche deine Augen, doch dein Blick weicht meinem aus Du beisst dir auf die Lippen, es fällt dir gar nicht auf Und mit einem Kratzen auf der Stimme, ganz langsam packst du aus Was soll ich davon halten? Ich weiß es nicht genau Es waren große Stücke, jetzt bleibt nur Schutt und Staub Du hast Blut auf deinen Lippen, es fällt dir gar nicht auf Deine Hände zittern und deine Schultern auch Dein Körper ist am beben, du löst dich darin auf Verpackt in tausend Tränen lässt du alles raus Was soll ich davon halten? Ich weiß es nicht genau Es waren große Stücke, jetzt bleibt nur Schutt und Staub Ich gehe jetzt nach Hause, ruf mich an, wenn du was brauchst Wenn man die Augen zu macht, klingt der Regen wie Applaus Wenn man die Augen zu macht, klingt der Regen wie Applaus Wenn man die Augen zu macht, klingt der Regen wie Applaus Wenn man die Augen zu macht, klingt der Regen wie Applaus Wenn man die Augen zu macht, klingt der Regen wie Applaus Und die Tür, die gerade zufällt, hörst du die auch? If you've got this far, which you probably haven't, you are surely wondering ... where's the usual tricky question for you to fathom out ... well , OK then, if you insist ... One of those 32 "birds" is real. But which one ? And another one is a very near miss ......... This morning I was setting the fire, and using some newspapers out of the box to make some spills ... rather ingenious ones actually ,the method for which has been passed down by generations of my family, probably going back to 1543 or so. Hang on ... I'm not sure they had newspapers back then ... and if they did, they'd be oldpapers by now anyway. BUT ... to get to the point .... I found this crossword in one of them, and lo and behold, there were TWO bird-related clues in it ...here they are. .... but not only that .... later in the day I was lining the cat tray with newspaper, and spotted another crossword,which even more remarkably also had two blasted bird-related clues...... Maybe it is " International Two-Bird-Related-Crossword-Clue-Day." Anyway, there they are . And I hope you've also noticed that my wonderful drawing up at the top there has four, yes, four, birds in it. And now, by another coincidence .... a song about words ..... and age ... Remarkably, just after I wrote that thing about us birders getting to sleep by listing all the birds we'd only seen once (Black Lark etc), we took our two cats, Ginger and Pickles, to the vet for a check-up, and while we were waiting I picked a book out of the box-of-books-for-waiting-pet-owners-to-read.... and here's the first page I opened it at .... I suppose we could translate that idea somehow into the birding sphere... but I've hardly seen ANY famous birders. Bill Oddie (1), Lee Evans (2) ... er .... So instead you could try to think of all the authors of bird books you've read .... Severe Benson is an obvious starting point, then there's, er, Bill Oddie, Roger Tory Peterson, I'm falling asleep already , After all, that's almost like meeting them. Unfortunately I cannot remember , rather ironically, the title of the book or the author. But I will find it.... and I'll tell you .... when it happens .... |
AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
|