Weekly Chat, Sunday July 25, 2010

Unknown said:

Does a Cardinal sound anything like a British Blackbird?

Hi, Cirrus. Yup, we have AC. Don't know how my poor ancestors did without it. I listened to the Brit Blackbird, and I think our Cardinal calls are different. Click on the little gold arrow on this page and hear their sounds: http://www.birdjam.com/birdsong.php?id=3 Ours mostly go, "purdy, purdy, purdy" or "what-cheer, what-cheer", and they also make the metallic "chip, chip, chip" sound as a contact or alarm call. We've had several pairs this year. The males are solid, bright red, and they look just stunning in the winter against the snow. Hope you had a good day!

Morning all,

Thanks to everyone for the overnight chat and especially to OG for the great pics of the LG nest. Although I have been there before it is a good reminder of the scale and puts it all into perspective.

Diane : Tell your dad that "the little blue dog" is a little better today but still not 100%. It is a tummy upset brought on by eating something disgusting on his walks I expect.

Another nice day. It is almost although we live in a different country from the Lake District. Last week when we left here it was 26c and when we arrived in the Lakes was around 18c which was about the maximum for the whole week. Now we are back and it is 24c. Amazing contrast from one part of the country to the other.

Probably be out and about today. Not sure exactly where, just play it by ear. Catch up later. 

Goodness me, just look at the time!  At this rate it will be too late to say Good Morning, soon.

Have been busy reading back & have so enjoyed all the chat and photos.  However, Eldest Son is coming for lunch & lots to do this morning so that we can crash out & just sit, this afternoon, so have to go now without replying to any posts individually, yet.  (that is, over the last 2  days as too tired yesterday to put much on here. However, think we are both over our whateveritwas now, thank goodness.)

Have a good Sunday, All.

EDIT:  Cirrus-  If you mean the last one, it was the short poem called  "ID" which is on page One of the Weekly Chat dated 17th July.

Morning all - a bit overcast here, but not cold, quite pleasant in fact.

Alan ... so glad Hamish is a bit better ... dogs do have a habit of finding the most disgusting things to eat or roll on! Years ago when we used to take our border cross collie on the beach he used to always find a dead seagull to roll in! A beautiful hibiscus picture.

Annette - our kitchen re-fit will take 5 to 7 working days ... they said!! I'm hoping for 5 days as it is just a small kitchen. Everything we need is now in the bedroom ... its the most convenient place to put things in this bungalow :-))   I hope poor Lightning is adapting to life without your OH for a while.

Diane - I've just been looking at your Cardinal birds ... how beautiful they are ... such a vibrant red colour. Pumpkin bar .... mmmm ... must look at the recipe! Your humid weather sounds awful ... poor little rabbits in their fur coats :-(

TerryM - I hope you have a great holiday, with good weather.

OG - Wonderful photographs of LG ... it really gives me an idea of what it is like ... never having been and unlikely to go!! I hope your plumber turns up next time he is supposed to come.

Thanks to everyone else for chat, links etc

Take care

Hi Diane and thanks for your interesting post.  Poor little rabbits with all the warm weather we have been having and lack of rain I would think our birds might be struggling a bit especially blackbirds as the ground is so hard they won't be able to get their worms out of the ground.  Lots of advice hear to make sure there is plenty of water for them to drink and drink they do in my garden.  Filling the bird baths up countless times during the day.  Keep cool if you can and rest easy.

Good morning Alan and glad Hamish is a little better.  My sister has a springer spaniel and he is always eating things he shouldn't when he is out on his walks.  a year ago he managed to fill his stomach up with stones and had to have some very unpleasant treatment to get rid of them.  Obviously BiL watches him as much as he can when they are out in the New Forest but sticks that he picks up in the Forest are another favourite as well. 

Have a good say whatever you do.

Alan you are right about Lakes weather, it is still cool and cloudy here, and drizzled most of yesterday. It can be different in the North Lakes though. I hope for some decent weather before the ospreys leave so as to have another visit, though brother and family are here -not interested in ospreys unfortunatly.

Hi folks, thanks for your news. The main blog is very quiet at the moment, the lack of the ability to track the migrations, may be having an effect. In order to keep ourselves going we may have to come up with some alternative subjects to maintain our momentum on the various blogs. I am planning to back-track on the stats to start doing previous years of chicks raised at LG, which would be a useful reference for future comparison purposes.

In the meantime, here is a nice French, Classical Music station, which does have some unintrusive short commercial breaks, which are not hard on the ear, especially if you don't understand them anyway. It features international orchestras and also frequent British ones. I play it a lot in the kitchen on a WiFi radio.

Popup:

http://www.radioclassique.fr/fileadmin/player/player_popup.php?debit=h&rd=0

Home page:

http://www.radioclassique.fr/

Thanks for that, jsb -  I can never have too much music!

By The Way, Everybody --- don't forget also, to check on the link at the bottom of jsb's posts, for a lovely version of 'The Lark Ascending' in a video.