I notice that Slim Bridge added a comment on one of my
posts, suggesting that in the absence of bird news, I should work on a
Travelogue. If that’s what my readers want…..try this Poser of the week.
Where and what is it?
A clue? It’s quite
quiet round here….. at the moment!
To more serious matters, Sunday 2nd December 2018 was my final guided walk for the
Carsington Birdwatching for Beginners course and it was indeed a day with a bit
of a lump in my throat. Today was unfortunately a dull day weather wise, with
poor visibility and one short sharp shower (say those 3 words quickly 5
times!!) whilst we were on Stones Island, making bird watching difficult.
There was a
good turn out for December, with 23 people on the walk, including a young
couple doing Birding for their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Amanda, Gary
and Keith were coincidentally all away for this walk, so I had the pleasure of
Volunteer Lorna (complete with scope!!) to help me.
Simon Roddis
greeted me at 9.45 with the comment “The Great Northern Diver is back, just in
time for your final walk” which was nice, but unfortunately despite 3
telescopes searching hard he could not be found during the 2-hour walk.
Volunteer Mac, watching from the relatively comfortable wildlife centre, was
pretty sure he had seen it flying North up the reservoir, so it could well have
been at the more protected Hopton End.
Coots in the
sailing club bay were in surprising short supply but they were replaced by a
large number of Teal.
The adverse
weather accelerated our walking, and we were at the Wildlife Centre by 11.45,
almost an unprecedented speed record!
HOWEVER, the last 15 minutes spent there, added some nice goodies,
including Ruff, Redshank, Gadwall, Tree Sparrow, Snipe, the Kestrel on the TV
camera post, and Coal Tit, finishing the morning on 33, which regulars will
know entitles me to the Roast lunch… a bit prophetic, it was Turkey!!!
Bird of the
day (BOD) received a range of nominations, from Bullfinch (a pair on Stones
Island), a single Wigeon in Sailing Club Bay, to the one nominated by young
Peter Cavell (he of the sponsored hair cut I told you about last month) and me…
a Weasel! 4 of us were heading the group
towards the visitor centre, and where the path forks, a weasel ran left to
right across the left path, and as we stood there talking about it, it across
the right-hand fork. Brilliant.
When we
reached the Wildlife Centre I had the very nice surprise of gifts from
appreciative regulars on the BwB walks. A very welcome bottle of Glenfiddich, a
box of shortbread (my favourite) and a Waterstones book voucher. (I had seen 2
interesting books in Waterstones in Trafalgar Square only this week – most
apposite.) … and a card signed by many regulars. Thank you all very much.
So (!!) to
all those people who have enjoyed some of the 13 years that I have been doing
the walk, thank you for coming on the walks, thank you for your donations to
the Osprey nest maintenance fund, thank you for my retirement gifts and I hope
I have helped you to get more enjoyment and bird knowledge from your walks.
To my fellow
Volunteers thank you for supporting me and thank you for replacing me on a few unplanned
occasions. I know that birders will be well looked after by Amanda with the
continuing support of Keith and Gary.
Sunday 13th
January 2019 is in my diary for my annual 3-hour New Year walk at Attenborough –
if you wish to join me, just turn up.
Finally, did you
notice Teal above?
Not bird news - that was the 100,000th word I have written in my blog
since 24th December 2015!
(Statistics, right to the end!!)
And the Poser of the week?
Big Ben.. shrouded in scaffolding for the major overhaul, and with a
silenced bell for a while.
And finally a few memorable photos.
For a brief moment I thought your Poser of the Week was Yew House! Then I realised it was of course, Big Ben. Paranoid? Who me?
ReplyDeleteSome good birds seen from the Wildlife Centre. One day perhaps....
Pleased to hear about your surprise gifts, very well deserved David.