Halloween.......for dogs?

Apologies for the 24-hour delay.  I fell asleep on Sunday night!!!

Birding highlights this week?  Well, the Grey Heron standing on the ridge of the house opposite ours was a bit of a surprise.  I know he had a birds-eye view of the fish pond at No 5, but it only took a little tweak of my curtain with my camera and he was off to find another take-away restaurant!!

What WAS spooky was that my son, living 71 miles away had the same thing. He kindly sent me 2 photographs. One of his Heron standing on the apex of the roof opposite, and a second one with what looks like a streak of white paint running down the tiles!! He’d had his lunch I presume.

On the subject of bucket shops despite living for 7 years just 17 miles away in Surrey neither Mary or I had ever visited Windsor Castle. We decided to go pay it a visit and we would combine it with another trip of a meal on board a floating restaurant on the Thames.   

We had dined on a similar trip in July last year from Westminster to Greenwich, but this Windsor to Bray experience was on a smaller boat, in the dark and with a more upmarket meal!! (Well she’s worth it!)

Red Kites

I never cease to appreciate how widely the Red Kite territories are expanding, and on our car journey south the first 2 kites we saw were close to Toddington Service Station on the M1. One near Watford, and one on the M4.

During breakfast on Saturday morning as I was watched the early Heathrow flight arrivals, a single Kite was drifting around just above our accommodation, a Toby Inn. What a wonderful languid style they have, no sense of urgency or direction, just drifting, unlike the great 4 engine jets powering a direct route straight to the Heathrow runway.

I need no persuading to drive on the M40, (the Red Kite route) so in view of the congestion we encountered on the M1 and M25 on the way to Windsor, we returned via the M40 and the A43. Which is how Mary managed to clock 28 Kites between Watford and Oxford. Not our highest count but still impressive.  

Sunday the 28^th did give up one bird for the life list. Near Eton, a flash of a small agile predator added Hobby to my year list, now on 178.

The visit to Windsor castle was worth the journey and the cost. Saturday was the changing of the guard day, and at our visit, the guard was carried out by The Royal Canadian Regiment.  

For the tour, personal audio recorders provide a commentary, and is the ideal way to ensure nothing is missed. Currently, the wedding dress worn by Meghan Markle must be the main attraction, in a glass cabinet and within 2ft from the public.  

We both thoroughly enjoyed what was a 4-hour tour, along with hundreds of Japanese tourists. We overheard them saying that they were doing Windsor in the morning and London (Westminster?) in the afternoon.

A couple of sightings that would not be in the tour brochure!!

A foreign couple sauntering up the path were blissfully unaware of a fast-marching sentry-escort making its way to a sentry box further round the castle walls. They, and everyone else around, only became aware of the presence of the escort party when the VERY loud shout was heard “Make way for the Queen’s Guard”.

It is not uncommon to see people dressed in a strange way, or strange colours, or just strange, enough to make you turn your head and look twice.   This “dog” stopped everyone in their tracks, especially as it was taken only a few days before Halloween. 

Maybe it was a bit unfair on the dog, but it did seem to savour the attention that it was getting from members of the public.

Next Bird walk…. Sunday November 4^th.  BwB Carsington 10.00am

Happy Birding