I've been wittering on for ages about the total lack of any winter birds ... but yesterday I found some ! But for the Power of PUOC I might have not have seen them at all, because they were right at the top of a giant beech tree. But luckily, I heard their calls and "got" them. Ten Fieldfares. I was ridiculously pleased, and elated. Plus, as an added bonus, they were in the 3K. PUOC, of course, means that they were Picked Up On Call. Even with that sighting, this has been the duffest January ever for me. What with the terrible weather, which has brought treacherous ice, ferocious winds which have frozen us half to death, and vast amounts of rain, hail, sleet and snow, plus the whole Covid/Lockdown situation, all on top of my ever-increasing age and knackeredness, my January List has slumped to an all time low. But on the bright side, here's a highly relevant song .... ... you can even sing along to it ...
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One of the RULES OF SCIENCE is .. Keep Asking Why. And here's a practical and real example ... February so far has been bitterly cold and very wet. And the daylight is very short. BUT ..every morning the birds don't appear as soon as it gets reasonably light. It actually takes a long time for them to get going .... about 30-40 mins after " reasonable light" appears . Surely, with long, freezing, windy and soggy nights, and very few hours of light, you would think they'd be desperate to get eating and drinking and whooshing about. So ... why don't they ? Are they so cold that it takes 30-40 minutes for them to become mobile ? Or do they get into a "torpid state" that takes a while to de-torpidise ? Or is it a competition to see who can stay asleep the longest ? Or are they simply gormless nits ? There's something for you to think about. And me too. It seems to bit a Bit of a Baffler Here's a previous ( and more important) version of Keep Asking Why .. 31-keep-asking-why.html Maybe this will help ............ ... and now Melys ( sweet) and Cysgu ( sleep) .... very appropriate . This is Eric Hardy, sadly no longer with us ..a leg-end in his own lifetime ! Yes folks, now is the time to show you the next gripping installment of ... " ( Insert Month Here) from the past." Be prepared to be underwhelmed ... Feb 1st Nothing Feb 2nd More nothing Feb 3rd 1991 American Bittern, Marton Mere, Lancs 2007 Pacific Diver, Knaresborough ... huge crowds ! Feb 4th Nuffink Feb 5th 1989 Great Grey Shrike, Leeds Feb 6th 2010 Rose-coloured Starling, 8 Rusland Park, Kendal. Very cold ! Feb 7th Absolutely zilch. Feb 8th Even absolutely-er nothing. Feb 9th A total expanse of emptyness. Feb 10th 2002 Blue-phase Snow Goose, Pilling. Torrential rain. Feb 11th , 12th, 13th, 14th ...... Not A Sausage ! Feb 15th 2002 Adult Ivory Gull, Fairhaven Lake, Blackpool !!!! Woo ! Feb 16th 1989 Surf Scoter, Llandulas , Gwyneth. Frozen solid was I . 1989 Forster's Tern .. Inland Sea, Anglesey. 1988 Golden Pheasant, Knott's Wood Priory. Feb 18th 0² Feb 19th 1990 American Wigeon, Martin Mere, S. Lancs Feb 20th 2000 Ruddy Shelduck, Pilling Lane Ends, Lancs. Feb 21st 1965 My first ever trip to Leighton Moss with the famous Eric Hardy at the tender age of 15 .... not him .. me. Feb 23-24-25 0³ Feb 26 1986 .. my first Lesser Spot at Mere Sands Wood, S. Lancs. Ace !!! 2002 ... I spotted a male Wheatear at Lane Ends, N. Lancs ... which I later discovered was the first in the country, and the earliest ever in Lancashire. I didn't shut up about it for years! "The Rest Of February" was notable for there being nothing notable. There you are then ... I hope some of you saw some of those... you might even have seen me if you were especially unfortunate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But now ...the music .... a terrific song from Jupiter Jones "Nordpol/Südpol" After lots of days, I've managed to get the internet back after its sudden disappearance on Jan 20th. [ We celebrated the reappearance of it like they're doing up there. But ours was the " geriatric" over-70's version. ] I sorted it out just in time for me to send in my Big Garden Bird Watch results. Yes, me and The Significant Otter did it, even though I reckon that the "rules" are not stuck to by a fairly large percentage of the participants. Which makes the results a bit un-re- liar -bull. The TSO tried to cheat straight away ... we were getting ready to start, and a Jay landed on the back of one of the luxurious plastic garden chairs . And she said ... let's start now then . That's not right .. it is flagrant cherry-picking. It brings in a hint of bias . I've written about all the ways that B-G-B-Watchers don't do it the right way. ( It will appear here when I manage to find it) And as for the " sending in the results" I feel the need to say that the "online" route is somewhat more awkward to use than whatever it was like before. There were are few sections that I couldn't make any sense of. And I've told them so ... so there. On the plus side, January is behind us. It was bloody crap as well. It slung everything at us ..... ice, rain, torrential rain, sludge, flooded roads, ferocious winds, biting cold ..... and it is FAR TOO L O N G. But I'm dead chuffed to have the Internet back .... ... so now ..some music ..... and not just any old music. .. an uplifting cover version of DCFC's "TRANSATLANTICISM" |
AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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