Weekly Chat, Sunday November 21, 2010

Gary - caravan was many years ago!  Roadworks are changing if not really progressing - they dug second half of a trench crossing side road today - and re-dug part of first side which had been filled in Friday!  Very dangerous working practices with the big digger and not all wearing hard hats.  OH reckons he's seen someone up a lampost with wires - but no lamp on nearest post so far.  Think roundabout is waiting for curved curbs to go around its edge - hence all the measuring.  Some traffic flowing through temp. lights (when digger is not in the way) but local folk seem to be using alternative routes where possible - I wonder why?!!!

Another Whooper Swan photo:

and a family of five Cygnets:

Hi everyone.

Not been online for a few days.  Needed time off over the last few days to help erect a new shed.  Thankfully my father and I managed to get the thing built, with the right amount of swear words, and questions along the lines of: "Can't they make those drawings any better?" and "Ya daft eejit! That bit disnae go there."  Although we had to make a few adjustments with the doors because the slabs we put down as a base weren't as level as we thought.  Must confess to a bit of a rushed job in that department, although to be fair the old shed was falling apart and had more ventilation than required.  Thing is though the bird food has a new store and I've even got a shelf for keeping spare feeders on so I can immediately replace feeders I take down to wash, without leaving the birds a feeder less.  Also this means I can clean the seed feeders once a fornight as opposed to just once a month.  I feel with peanut and fatball feeders, these can be dried pretty easily and much more quickly than seed feeders.  So it's just a case of washing them, leaving for a few minutes, drying and re-filling. 

We've got another two sheds, although the smallest one is fairly tiny and has seen better days.  Right okay I'll admit that this talk about sheds is getting boring.  Now birds!  That's a much more interesting subject.  I saw (or perhaps that should be managed to spot) the first Wren in my garden on Saturday.  Brilliant!  The Starlings have been excelling themselves with fantastic impressions, including Blackbird, Swallow, and this morning a female Tawny Owl.  I saw couple of Robins earlier.  They weren't taking part in the avian version of a 12 rounds title fight.  So I reckon they must be Mr and Mrs Robin.

Sorry about the lack of individual replies because I've missed so much and I wouldn't want to miss anything important out.  Thanks to everyone for all the news, heads ups, and pictures.  As always a great standard.



Paul.

Annette, It is understandable how you feel about your granddaughter's problems but I am sure it is going to be a very welcome baby when he/she arrives and will be very spoilt by it's Mother, Grandmother and hey, just realised, the Great Grandmother. When is the baby due ?

Diane, Thanks for the Blue Moon ' true' explanation.

Patriciat, Congratulations to Tweed and you of course.

Margo, I am sure you are enjoying your visitors. I couldn't recall a group called ' The Fall' so had to Google them and find that they have been around since 1976. When I read about them, I think I could see why I didn't remember them.

Lynette, I agree with you about Strictly, but it looks as if Ann W has every chance of winning now. She has said that she will not retire, so it is up to the public vote.

Gary, You now have your own snow plough. I am pretty sure that there is no one on here who can compete with you. That puncture sounds as if it could have been quite dangerous. Great how people will help in such situations, especially when there is an animal involved.

Alicat, Lovely swan photograph. Thanks.

OG, Brilliant autumnal swan photograph and I love the whooper swan ( great capture).

Paul, You have been busy, shed building. Although we can hear the owls nearby, we have never seen one in the garden. I am so jealous of you seeing the Tawny this morning.

Thank you for al your news, but I should stop before this turns into an essay !

Heron - good to see you back again.  Pleased the replacement shed was built without too much bother, and that you have somewhere to store the bird essentials.  I was surprised to hear Chris Packham say on Autumn Watch that we should clean bird equipment "two or three times in the season" (whatever that meant!) - I thought it was much more frequent.  Daughter#2 can beat your three sheds - she has four: one for bikes, one for storage of the less vulnerable accumulations of past (frequent) house moves, one for general "stuff" such as patio furniture etc - all in the wee back yard - and one across the road at the front, in her main garden, for gardening stuff.  Her sister only has two sheds, but also has a playhouse and a summerhouse, as well as two conservatories!!  Pleased you spotted your Wren and are enjoying the Starlings and non-belligerent Robins.

Hi Brenda.

I didn't actually see a Tawny Owl, I never have unfortunately.  It was just one of the Starlings doing a brilliant imperssionation.  Although to be fair that probably got lost in the ramblings of my last post.  Apologies for any confusion caused.  If I am actually lucky enough to have a visit from a Tawny Owl, this will be the first place I post the news.

Paul.

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It's nice to see everyone back on-line!  Checking out the comments does become a habit and I really missed it yesterday.  OH and I went to RSPB HQ today to buy the C**s cards (are we allowed to use the word yet?), and I mentioned the difficulties we all had in getting into the Community/groups site, but they knew nothing about that side of the business.  The trip was an opportunity to gain some more experience with the new car!  106 miles now clocked since picking it up!  Had to find the windscreen wipers knob today!

Another tennis match this afternoon, Djokovic v Berdych which to be fair wasn't exactly exciting, but it is not as clinical as the MurrayvSoderling match, and given the score line probably the Federer match.  As Berdych beat Nadal in the Wimbledon final this year he is was sadly beaten by Djoko.  Fed v Murray tomorrow afternoon should be good.

Lynette indeed I do remember Crimpelene.  I had an above the knee dress, with short sleeves, a high neck and a zip down the front in horizontal stripes of various pale colours, probably blue, aquamarine, pink, white, but I cannot remember now.  It required no ironing which was a blessing.  It was a plain knit material.  Those were the days!  I agree that Strictly has lost its edge now.  Other than Widdy, it is right that Felicity or Gavin should have gone, but in truth Widdy has now had her day.  It wasn't funny, it wasn't entertaining.

AQ your weather sounds awful at present – is it usual?  We had dry weather in July this year and our lawn turned straw-like, but it poured in August (school holidays!) and hey presto it quickly turned green, and by September we were cutting it so often it could have been May again!  I love some of your town/area names.  Is Morgan in the Riverland far away.  Locusts?  Oh dear.  I worked in London for 19 years prior to Cambridge and one arm of the Institute I worked for was formerly called the Anti-Locust Research Centre.  I believe they used to observe desert locust swarms by radar and monitor populations.

Annette Oh dear you too are having a time of the weather!  Will 'frost in the valley' affect any vineyards – indeed are there any vineyards near Santa Barbara?  We too are going to be subject to a blast of freezing air later in the week and into next week, with the possibility of snow even down here in East Anglia – just as I have agreed that we will head to North Yorkshire for a long weekend!!  Snow and our visits there have often combined and have led to much laughter.

All I was browsing Amazon at the weekend and found out that a paperback book called Lady of the Loch:  The Incredible Story of Britain's Oldest Osprey by Helen Armitage is due to be published next year at £7.10 – my estimated delivery date is 27 to 29 April.

Sorry to hear that the fireworks disturbed your sleep last night Lindybird.  How very inconsiderate all round.  I hope the stove arrives promptly so you have more time to prepare for your flight down the M6.  Will be thinking of you and yours!

Well done Tweed and patriciat on your successful competition.  A successful team!

OG sorry you didn't get to Caerlaverock (and thank you for the pronunciation!), but it sounds as though your time was well spent.

Good luck with the shopping Margobird.

Love the osprey photos Tiger.  Not too long to wait for ours??....

Gary glad to hear that neither you, your passenger(s) nor Lida were hurt when you had a flat tyre.  I often wonder what would happen on a motorway when I was behind the wheel – freeze I guess!  A snow plough, what a hoot!  How much snow do you usually get at the worst time?  Are you the knight in shining armour who clears the lanes and roads locally?

Alicat and OG I love the swans.

Hi there Heron or should that be Two Sheds Plus!  It sounds a very professional layout you have for all your stores.  Kettle? Fridge? Tinnies?

Have a good evening Everyone.

Nice pic of the swans, Alicat, and did enjoy yours, OG - especially the one with the outstretched wings, glorious!

Dramatic news from Gary about the travelling problems, and with a horse on board, too!  Glad to hear someone helped, and that all turned out well in the end.  Of course you need a snow plough - we saw your pictures last winter and I def. would have one, for all that snow!

Quite a saga about the new shed, Paul - Hope its all right and tight now, as we used to say, and that it is better for you than the old draughty one.  There are always unexpected problems when putting up something like that- not surprised to hear it took a while.   :-)

Annette:  I'm sure all will be well with your expected new addition to the family, young people are very adaptable and she sounds sensible, to me. Hope you can all enjoy the new person in the family, when it arrives.  Meant to say, interesting reading about your bit of jury service a few weeks ago, bet you're glad that's over and done with.

Thanks to Diane for the info on Blue Moons - always wondered what they were!

Sorry Paul, I just didn't read properly. I got so excited thinking you had seeen the owl in your garden. We very rarely see starlings in our garden but they are in the area. I think we have to buy enough bird food without being invaded by starlings.

Hi, all. Here is information about the Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count. I think this is a worldwide effort. I have never participated and can't this year because of my Dad, but I thought I'd pass along the link.

http://birds.audubon.org/get-involved-christmas-bird-count

Will try to catch up later. Things are hectic here. Hope everyone is well and happy.