And I thought Coronavirus was something you got from a bottle of Ginger Beer - showing my age!

You will know than I have a propensity for words (obviously!) and I enjoy picking up interesting and amusing stories, especially those in the news.

Which is why I thought I would share this one with you. 

Last week I saw a news item in the press about Amazon opening its first cashier-less shop in Seattle, and  I pondered how we Brits would adjust to such a system.

It came as no surprise to see a news par in the paper to-day, about a US reporter trying to see if he could buck the system, and to a degree he did.   

The procedure is that the store charges customers with the goods that they pick up and take out of the store. There are scanners and cameras watching every action the customer takes.

To try and fool the technology the reporter juggled a bunch of bananas and hid one. He did not win that one – he was charged for the hidden banana.

In the second case the reporter was not charged for 2 items he picked up when he left a bathroom. He put on his jacket and held his backpack differently, and the system/sensors lost him!! There were apparently no sensors in the washroom.

Back to birding.

I was lucky this week – I had a day out birding on probably the best day of the week. 

Thursday February 27^th I went to Cromford to try and find a Dipper or Hawfinch. No luck on both counts but I did watch two quivering Grey Wagtails; I suspect the Derwent was too fast for the Dipper.

I then went to the moors above Darley Dale, hoping for the Bramblings, at Screacham Lane or Bumper Castle Farm. Nope!

Next stop the Peak Shopping Village at Rowsley, where Dipper and Mandarin had been reported. 50% success!  6 male Mandarin Ducks on the river were nice, and I assume that whoever reported the Dipper must have just been lucky at that moment, a bit like my Kingfisher at Carsington last Sunday.

Let’s pop in a QI item for the day – well tomorrow anyway.  138 years ago, today Queen Victoria survived the 8^th assassination attempt on her life, whilst sitting in her railway carriage at Windsor.

Yes? The link to the previous par (about Rowsley) is that there is a building in the middle of the Rowsley shopping village that was the waiting room in the original Rowsley North station in the 1800’s. And that station was built for, and used by, Queen Victoria when she visited her friends at Chatsworth. So, I trod in some famous footsteps last week.

……….. and not a lot of people know that.

Yesterday was a quadrennial event, in this case a leap year.  So, for Saturday February 29^th I decided to make it special by driving 68 miles to try and add a new 2010 sighting to my bird list.  Yes, we went to Buxton, despite the threatened adverse weather, and the brief snowstorm whilst we were there.

And we succeeded !! Apart from a Jemima puddle-duck, and a single female Goosander, my YTD increased to 113 with a Muscovy Duck.  And we took in lunch and an antique fair for good measure.

Sunday 1^st March (Happy Month!)

And finally,  Amanda fresh back from a couple of weeks with Noel visiting their relatives across the pond, and c40 lifers in the bag was running her usual BwB. A good number turned out, most of whom had to wrestle with the new parking system. Quite straight forward, except that the ticket machine is inflexible and precise, and does not have latitude that existed under the previous system whereby exceeding the paid for parking time by a tad, did not incur a charge. Consequently, Amanda has, from April 2020 changed the walk to 90 minutes, so that there is enough time in a 2-hour slot  to come and go without incurring an extra cost.

Carsington was still well waterlogged, with the Janet Ede hide flooded, and pathways very boggy, which was why Amanda led what must be called a birding meander!! We started with the wildlife centre, then took our time to trundle(??) along and round Stones Island, finishing at 11.30. BOD was Little Grebe, although I opted for the almost camouflaged Snipe.

I have 4 appointments this week for charitable tasks, so don’t be surprised if there is a blank blog post next Sunday!!

Happy Birding   

Good grief ……………….. spell check shows 2 x “so”!