Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 26 March 2023

At last here I am!!!! I have gone back to last weeks posts to make sure I reply to people.
Diane - thanks for starting us off this week. I am so sorry you are having the Internet problems. I, like Annette, feel you shouldn’t have to pay for something which is not your fault. I hope it can be sorted soon. That road doesn’t seem to be very popular either. I am so pleased your kingbird has returned. I looked it up. It looks a bit like our pied flycatcher.
OG - so glad you got 2 trips out last week. The different garden centre sounds to have been a big success. I am glad you are seeing signs of spring. Nice to see lots of goldfinches. I used to have quite a “charm” of them on my feeders but now I am on,y getting one or two! Strange isn’t it? There have been some very high tides recently. On my birdwatching walk last Thursday we saw a dead lamb. The field it was in wasn’t waterlogged or anything but the conditions were and had been bad. We felt sad because the mum was standing by it,
Lindy - I am really enjoying your photos. It looks lovely and warm. I am not sure what I would think about all that volcanic scenery. Mind you, I liked Iceland so you never know. I don’t know when you are due to fly back but I know of 2 people who have been delayed because of the French air traffic controllers strike. Maybe it will be over by the time you are coming back.
Could your bird of prey have been an eagle? Do they have them there?
Annette - I haven’t had time to look at your killdeer video yet. Not hopeful for the eggs on a school playing field.
I will post this and then give an account of my trip to Leeds and my golf.

Oh good. The above posted.
Well, the Lady Captain Drove into office yesterday in a heavy squally rain shower and so it continued. Mercifully, it was decided to cut the competition to 10 holes. I got round but the going was very heavy and we got wet and muddy. We did have tea and cakes at the 9th even though we were going to finish on the 10th!!!! I have spent quite a bit of time this morning cleaning shoes, trolley and equipment!!! I didn’t do very well but I wasn’t last!!!!
I think I was tired yesterday too after my trip to Leeds. The trains were new rolling stock, warm and on time!!! How about that? I had one change on the way there and got onto a train which had started in Liverpool. I knew one of my friends was going to be on it so we sat together and chatted throughout the journey. We met up with 9 other grammar school friends and had a good meal with much chat as you can imagine. It is so good to hear the different things people have done in their lives. The train back was a slow one which stopped everywhere but I didn’t have to change. It was just annoying that I then got caught up in the Friday night North Wales coast traffic at Queensferry. (You will know it well Lindy)
So today I am catching up and having a rest as, indeed, I did last night too.
I hope everyone has a good week.

Circus- nice to hear from you, and always cheering to know that at least some of our most famous Osprey have returned safely.

Rusty I enjoy your posts, too! How lovely to still meet up with old schoolfriends, after all this time. Well done on just managing to finish your ten holes in the golf: my OH says the same if its a bad day -- it's all right as long as you're not the last!!

AQ -- I like to write on here if I can find the time, as it saves dredging it all up on our return. And its often done at times such as now when I've had lunch & don't want to go out into the mid day sun. My OH has just gone up to sit on our terrace out of the wind, and it's very hot. He then gets annoyed as I appear an hour & a half later & sit in the last of the sunshine which gives me a better tan than his! I seem to tan easily.

More pictures - this taken from the car. Most buildings are painted white which gives them a peaceful feeling. 

Yes, the  roads are good and we even drove through some roadworks on Friday where they were resurfacing which made me remark on their lack of potholes!! A big source of complaints in the UK, where the roads are now a disgrace! I saw a Facebook post recently where a village were holding a party in the road for their most famous large pothole -- it was 5 years old and they had even produced a birthday cake with a "5" on it and photographed it!!

There is very scrubby undergrowth and some small mammals survive, but mostly we just see pretty lizards. Doubt if there are many snakes. The bird we saw might have been a Booted Eagle as I see that they migrate through these islands, but it's more likely to have been an Egyptian Vulture which we saw illustrations of here in a tourist centre with pictures of the wildlife.

Lindy - don’t keep us in suspense - the bird might have been a - - - - ???????

Yesterday, walked around our town-- view of the big surfing beach from afar.

Rusty, LOL, I went off to check that I'd got my Vulture name right before I put it in!!

Standing almost in the same place, looking down from a small cliff - the town around the old harbour with a grey shingle beach, which flings itself up onto the promenade in high tides. We had one this week and there were stones everywhere!