Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 30 July 2023

HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY FULL SUPERMOON!

The moon turns full on Tuesday, 1 August, in the UK and the US. Then, on 30 August, a full Blue moon will occur (the second full moon in a month). Both are supermoons (perigean moons, which are full moons that happen at or near the exact time when the moon is closest to earth in its orbit, so they appear larger and brighter). The August Blue moon will be the closest of the year!

I hope everyone has a peaceful, joyful week. Love to all.

  • Happy August!

    It's rained all night, here!

    Never thought of the human voice, in the poll about musical instruments. I would have included choirs, as I love those massed voices, the bigger, the better. Sing lustily myself when called upon in church etc, but doubt that the sound I make is all that pleasant, LOL!!
  • Lindybird said:
    Happy August!

    It's rained all night, here!

    Never thought of the human voice, in the poll about musical instruments. I would have included choirs, as I love those massed voices, the bigger, the better. Sing lustily myself when called upon in church etc, but doubt that the sound I make is all that pleasant, LOL!!

    Limpy was in a church choir in Cromer in his youth and he was good enough to sing solos - he loved it.  Then his voice broke ........ oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  Nowadays he'd be like Alice Cooper in their early days - apparently it was once the thing to pay to go and see him, just to walk out!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • This conversation re music is so interesting!!! Pat - my taste hasn’t changed much over the years either.
    Well, I was just getting the washing out of the machine when I heard a commotion in the garden. It seems that a cat ( not mine - I don’t have one) was lurking under the buddleija bush and jumped up at the sparrows on the fatball feeder. It was strong enough to break the lid away from the container which fell on the ground complete with fatballs!! Fortunately, the cat didn’t get a bird because they were all inside the mesh as it is my new (pretty expensive) squirrel proof fatball feeder. I have managed to fix it and the birds were soon back. I then went out and did some drastic pruning at the base of the bush so that the cat can’t lurk!! That then turned into a general deadheading and pruning session as I saw things which needed doing!!!!
  • Just wrote a long post in reply but then lost the lot as forgot that if I went onto Google at the same time, it all goes!!!


    Back later...
  • A resounding YES to your comments. Longtime fan of Queen and Elton John. I like music of all kinds and especially if they have written their own music.
  • Hi all,, trust all is well with you.
    Apart from thanking Diane for starting us off I am not going back 5 pages to read all.
    Did read your post OG re holiday club finale, we had ours last Sunday too and it went great apart from the songs
    which I didn't know one but there again holiday week is orientated for the kids.
    Had first of 3 visits to the hospital as an outpatient yesterday and have cataract op on the 25th of this month.
    We are looking forward to our holiday on Sunday. Trying to get a taxi booked to take us down to the pickup point in Northampton and what a malarky. You can't speak to anyone, have to do it all online and kept getting it wrong. In the end I managed a time but decided we needed it 5 mins earlier so contacted them through their site. Still waiting to hear from them.
    Harelady - sounds as though you are having a great time with your dau and both of you will be able to celebrate and remember your other daughter/sister and the memories you have.

    Weather has been cloudy with some sunshine but many showers. Forecast isn't hopeful for the next few days and our gardner is coming tomorrow.
  • bjane said:
    A resounding YES to your comments. Longtime fan of Queen and Elton John. I like music of all kinds and especially if they have written their own music.

    Yeah!  I should add that it's one of my biggest regrets not seeing Queen with Freddie Mercury in concert.  I've now seen Iron Maiden four times, though, and they are great live.

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • I went to see the “We will Rock You” musical in London. The finale was fantastic. All on our feet and doing the clapping, actions, singing etc to We Will Rock You. We were buzzing when we came out!
  • Birding holiday report Part 1.

    Getting to Norfolk from North Wales cross country isn’t easy especially when you divert to RSPB Frampton Marsh. We had lunch there and then went onto the reserve in the pouring rain to look for the black winged stilts. We were lucky. We found both families - adults and chicks. I had only seen them in Spain before. I was glad to finally get to our hotel in North Norfolk though.

    Next day we were out at 6am!!! We went to RSPB Titchwell. What an amazing reserve it is. In 2 hours we saw over 50 species of birds. Waders, ducks, marsh harriers, seabirds over the beach. Superb. Notice the lovely sea lavender and 2 little egrets.

    During the day we birded at various sites along the coast including Cley where we eventually found the Long Billed Dowitcher.

    I like the thatched hides at Cley.

    For me, seeing birds like spoonbills and yellow hammers is a huge treat. We get the odd spoonbill on the Dee estuary but nothing like the numbers we saw every day. I have never seen a yellow hammer in North Wales.