Riding along in my automobile this morning I serendipitously got to hear a funny programme about " beginner birdwatchers." It was called Susan Calman - Keep Calman Carry On Series 2 Birdwatching You can hear it on BBC Sounds I thoroughly recommend it. (Her cats have all got very silly names as well) When I told The Significant Otter that I was going to the tideline to spot birds, she put in a request for an "interesting" chunk of tideline wood to brighten up the garden. And I got her one ... it was remarkably heavy, and it was a good ( or bad) 15 minute walk back to the aforementioned car ... but, disappointingly, I don't think she likes it. It can be propped up in various positions to look like different sorts of animal. As can I. As for said "tideline spotting" I got the target bird .... 4 pairs of Eiders. 3K Year tick. But enough of all that ... 'tis Music Time ... If The Sig Ott lets it stay in the garden ( unlikely) I could start a " Birds on the Beast" list.
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Here's what I wrote on here on 13th May 2018 ..... the year when Swallow numbers collapsed ... Two days ago I saw as many Swallows as I saw Whimbrels. That's got to be a first ! Yep, 2 Whimbrels flew over me at the estuary, and over the whole day, only 2 Swallows were spotted. Pathetic. Yesterday .... no Swallows at all. Not a single one. Plenty of Swifts and House Martins. Today ... it's 20:05 and I've seen only 1 Swallow. Again, loads of Swifts and HMs .... .... something's up ! ... or down. Yes ... 2018 was a crap year for Swallows ..well, where I live it was. 2019 and 2020 were OK. So ... what about this year so far ? And now I'm wondering if this year will be a repeat of 2018.. The first Swallows I saw this year were on 11th April, at least 30 mixed in with 50+ Sand Martins. On the 16th loads of House Martins and no Sand Martins, and a few Swallows. 17th ... 7 Swallows and a dozen House Martins. So that was looking OK. Then a few Swallowless days. But after the 20th, no Swallows at all anywhere. 4 days of nothingness Swallow-wise. That's 7 Swallow-less days. There might have been some somewhere.... but not where I was looking. It might mean nothing .... they might all pile in after a few "duff" migration days. They might be swarming in their thousands somewhere where I'm not. We must wait and see ...things could get better ... but .... What about this for a jammy snap ? Now that the hirundines are more or less "back" , I am once again wondering ... [a] What are all those insects doing way up there .... what's in it for them ? [b] The pursuing hirundines must surely use up more energy getting up there and chasing around after them than they get from their meagre captures ? It's a bit like driving around like mad all over the place looking for a Polo Mint. [c] Do Swifts still scream with a gobful of flies ? We need to know. They haven't actually arrived yet, but I'm thinking ahead. There's a "Big Moon" tonight ... and you'll never guess ...... after 113 years of rainless and mostly cloudless days, it decides to suddenly get cloudy and rainy just in time for us not to be able to see it. Grrrr. We had a "sky" photo, then a "sky" topic, and now a "sky" song ..... rhyfedd ! ( I was mighty chuffed with that photo ..... a little crowd assembled behind me while I got a sequence of the triangle getting smaller and smaller. )
A good while ago I asked a question....... here it is ..... What with this lockdown and having to "stay local", are all those avid twitchers still avidly twitching despite the fact that they shouldn't be ? And, surprise surprise, so far as I know, there has been a deafening silence on the matter. Here's the vital link to wot I rote at the time .... ..... 837-what-are-twitchers-doing-under-boriss-lockdown.html Plus and furthermore, not to mention "as well", did all the " Bird Alert" and "Birdline" rare-bird-lines still keep going ? I don't know. If any of you lot out there know, you could perhaps let me know, no names, no pack drill, if anybody is in fact "doing" "it". There we are then ... I await an avalanche of comments, and/or similar to my email, [email protected] ...but now.... music .... Death Cab for Cutie .... " Little Wanderer" ..... We haven't had any "vans" lately .... you know, vans and "ghostbirds" ! If you see a van with R.D.E. ELECTRICALS on the back, you "use" the RDE bit to bring a bird back to life ...... in this case, SOLITARY SANDPIPER will do. Or, for that matter, RUFOUS-SIDED TOWHEE . And many others. I've written about them a lot...here's the helpful links with lots more examples .... ..the first two are using 3-letter number plates... and last two are on vans ... 250-things-to-do-in-the-car-31-ghostsbirds.html 267-ghostbirds-extra.html 754-vans.html 755-a-lot-more-vans.html Lately I've been doing the same thing but with 4-letter sequences ...obviously these are trickier and most of them won't work ..but these two will..... ... the first one is easier, but just use the first four letters MEAR . .... and the second one is a bit harder .... but both are do-able. I hope you did OK .... and once you've got the idea, you can have endless competitions while you zoom up the motorway to see who comes up with an answer first .... and it is almost as good when you're on your own. As are many things. Helpful Hint/Swizz .. you CAN find a "result" for all 5 letters of MEARS if you use Latin names instead of the English ones ...... there's more than one result, and it will improve your Latin no end. And you will feel superior to the "Lack-of-Latin-Lot. " ... so, on to " Music Time" ... we listened to this on the way back from Grumbling Stumps yesterday .... 5 Cetti's doing their "in-your-face" outbursts, Flying Bittern, Water Rails, swarms of midges ( year tick) and no sign of Dodgy ! Perfection !! Two days ago I heard the first Willow Warbler .... just one wispy 3-second burst was enough. I was wondering when they were going to turn up ..were they late ? And then yesterday on a short stroll, I heard 5 of them ...they were " in". As us orthli-nogolisters say. And when I got back to my office/junk-heap I worked out what the average arrival dates were for the usual suspects .... and here's what I found from my impeccably collected data over many years .... earliest to latest ... BIRD MEAN ARRIVAL DATE Chiffchaff 3rd April Willow Warbler 6th April Blackcap 7th April Swallow 15th April House Martin 2nd May Swift 4th May And as for this Spring, it was very different to those figures. Here's what actually happened. ( I've left Blackcap out as they've been around the garden all winter and so it was difficult to be sure when the migrant ones arrived.) The first Chiffchaff .... 24th March. First House Martin .... 1st April First Swallow ............. 11th April First Willow Warbler... 14th April ( Swifts, obviously, have not yet arrived) After all that analysis, this .... Yesterday I couldn't get into weebly, the site that hosts this blog. They insisted that I had to accept cookies, which is odd, and hasn't happened before, and I certainly didn't accept them.. So, I didn't think I'd be able to write this today. But, strangely, no cookies were requested this morning, and all is fine. But .... I won't be surprised if some day soon I'll not be able to get into it. In which case, I thank all my readers over the 3 years of its little life. That RSPB bloke Martin Fowler was in the paper today. You might remember him from his previous appearance on here due to his multi-birdy- name...... Martin, Owl and Fowl. Martin Fowler Martin Fowler Martin Fowler ( I'm not going to mention that "tin" = arse in Welsh !) So ..... in the interests of farting about I thought it would be fun to conjure up a few more of such names ........ and after decades of lockdown we're ready for a bit of fun ... Robin Uthatchaffincheron ( 4 in there) S. Mewrentit. F.Inches Hagannet Pip I. Tits-Erin Bob Ramblingrouserin. C. Raneleg Ant-Tern Bob O'linknot S.Nipetrel O'rtolan Fulm'a Robinoddy H. Awkestrel ( A founder-member of Awkestrel Manoeuvres in the Dark) T. E. Aleutian Ternut-hatchobby ( there's 4 of them in there) Cliff Swallowl St. Ockdoveery Will O'Warblerookitealinnet ( there's 5 of them in there ) So far I haven't ventured into foreign stuff ..but there must be a rich vein of "that sort of thing" in those distant climes. Any similar ridiculous conglomerations will be happily accepted and published, as long as they are within the bounds of decency and decorum. But now ..... music .... obviously it will be Awkestrel Manoeuvres in the Dark......... Here's a sequence of people and birds .... Mark Andrews Firecrest Tim Appleton Shoveler Eustace Barnes Barn Owl Richard Bashford Hobby Bo Beolens Swift Keith Betton Tree Sparrow Carl Buttle Barn Owl Clive Byers ? So ... what was that next bird ..and where ... and why ? While you're thinking about that ...this .... turn it up to "Full Power" ! We went to Grumbling Stumps ( my nickname for our local bird reserve) today, for the first time since December 28th. For obvious reasons. We got a welcome reception of sn*w and hail and bitter cold. So we wandered around getting steadily colder and colder, and eventually heard a Bittern. We rambled around a bit more, and "got" the first Swallow of the year ..well, Swallows actually.. rather strangely, there were loads of them, and stacks of Sand Martins too, all whizzing around totally silent ...but no House Martins at all. How bizarre . And right at the end of the wander, as our fingers started to turn purple and drop off, two Treecreepers appeared trundling up some trunks busily as they generally do .... sadly, I can't hear them any more .... I got to wondering when I last saw two Treecreepers together. A very long time ago. I think. Then we encountered Dodgy and Mark in the Car Park, and then we ate our picnic in the sub-zero-temperature car, and then I drove us home and gradually thawed out. I was really pleased to find out that some incredibly wealthy person was able to travel all over the world on some fancy boat. And on top of that, that person also went all over the world on planes as well. I suspect that it was all "free of charge" too. And then he rubs our noses in it by writing a book all about it. Plus, it must be very nice to be able to flit from one huge estate to another, each with extensive grounds and plenty of servants to fulfil their every whim. Free of charge. But apart from all that, everything is fine and dandy. We'll all just struggle on with our many many months of Covid ... spread around the world by people in planes belching out pollutants and squandering one of the most expensive fuels in the world. Apparently, day by day, 1000's of "tourists" are piling into the UK. But, it seems, we can't reciprocate their enthusiasm for travel. Ah well, I'm sure our terrific government knows what to do..... ... so happiness abounds ! ..but on the plus side, I spotted my first Wheatear of the year yesterday. Woo !
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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