And now for something completely different!!

24^th July 2016, and what have I done to further my hobby? A slow ponderous walk to the Carsington wild life centre AND BACK. Hirundines in good numbers, and Swifts no doubt starting the fattening process for their long journey home, and that’s about it.

So I was looking at another of Julian’s’ pictures of a Robin, this time from an angle that showed strange elongated claws, and very spindly legs.

          

And the word legs gave me the inspiration I was looking for. You see, most of my readers will not know that I have another hobby as well as Ornithology, a hobby that does not have a collective word, does not have an “…ologist”, but some have been known to tell me what the hobby SHOULD be called.

Now before you deride my second hobby, please be aware that I have appeared on the BBC Antique Road Show in 2013, with some of my collection, so it gives my interest some credibility.   As proof, and as seen on TV!!……………… (Sarah is on the left!!)

 

Yes….I admit it…I collect legs. Well to be more precise, pocket size items that are in the shape of a leg.

No discrimination, I have (naturally-) legs of the more artistic female form, and legs with socks.. the male style. Apart from the shape, which can vary widely and depends on whether the leg is hand carved or machine made, legs have a huge variety of finishing, like bows, buttons, even creases.

I’ll show you some others later on, but basically all 73 in my collection are items that have a function. They are not just carved or made in a leg shape for fun, they can be used. A large proportion of the legs are pipe tampers, the little hand held device that my Grandpa would use to tamp down his backy ( i.e. Tamp = Tampers).

I also have Scissors, pipes, combs, toothpick, vestas, nut-crackers, bottle openers, tweezers, and even an American pair of industrial callipers; a shoe horn, a French dragees bottle, and most important a nail file.

The nail file is important because it was the first item I bought, albeit at the time not for a collection, but because Mary and I were on holiday at Weymouth in 1962, and she needed a nail file. At the time, we just thought the leg shape was fun, and never expected it to lead to a TV appearance. When Mary has had reason to take the file out of her bag, someone has often said “that’s unusual”.

In 2009, whilst attending an Antique fair at the NEC, and having cash on the hoof due to selling some silver sugar tongs (another story!), I had the opportunity to buy 2 ivory pipe tampers, and thus the collection started. Mary gave me her nail file to get the collection moving, and I have been adding different shapes and styles (no 2 the same) as we visit antique centres on our holidays etc over the last 7 years.

Sometimes, a very kind person gives me an addition to my collection as happened this week when I received a well wrapped package with the notation “As soon as I saw this I thought of you”. I took it as a very kind get well gift, which the lady found whilst browsing in an antique shop in Norfolk.

So these are a few examples.

The first one dates from c1850, a bone and Ebony Pipe Tamper

                                        

   

A plastic comb, in a case - a corporate "give away" from "Notebook of Birmingham"

An ivory hinged toothpick, c1830. 

A brass boot shaped bottle opener. (collection addition 24/7/2016)

A Brass vesta in the shape of a leg, probably German.

Well, I have to say that there are 2 tenable, if not remote connections with birds…. The gift from a fellow birder, and the Robins legs…. Well…..that’s good enough for me this week!!

I welcome any comments on this hobby, just as much as I do on Ornithology. I have been a philatelist, a bit of a horologist, stretching it a bit, a botanist, but  what could you suggest for my hobby. Remember I do have the delete button!!       

A Cornucopia of Knowledge!!!

17^th July 2016, and once again my confinement means that I have to apologise for the lack of bird news due to my inactivity in the birding world, although hopefully this is not the case in yours.

So I’ve put together what I hope you will find some interesting bits of info re Birding.

A follower of my blog was asking about telling the difference between Swallows and Swifts. If only she could have been at my house to-day – the Swallows have been high and fast, clearly searching for food.

Anybody admit to being a Twitcher?  I’m afraid I am one of those people who will not admit to twitching, and when I was interviewed on radio Derby 3 or 4 years ago the excellent presenter Andy Potter asked if I was a Twitcher. My reply was polite (as I was on the air!!).

In an article in the Guardian, it states that serious birdwatchers will take exception to being called a twitcher.  Birdwatching entails recording the birds one sees, even the common ones. It entails having the greatest respect for them and making strenuous efforts to minimise disturbance when making observations. These observations  contribute towards our knowledge of birds. This information as is gathered can tell us if the bird population is increasing, stable or falling and can help with their conservation.  Twitchers are only interested in adding to their list of rare birds.

I leave it to you where you fit – probably in the middle somewhere!

I have probably mentioned that I have researched a large number of bird societies to find out why they have used the particular bird that appears on their logo, and these are the first 2. I am indebted to those PR people, Chairs and Secretaries who did not treat my request as spam! More will come later

Carsington Bird Club (CBC). CBC has a Black Necked Grebe as its logo, because it was the rarest bird on the water on the day the Queen opened the Reservoir on 22^nd May 1992. 

Next year will be the 25^th anniversary of the opening, and it could be a good fund raiser to get people to nominate their suggestion for the Silver rarity in 2017. Arbitration by the Bird Club….. not me!

West Midland Bird Club (WMBC) Jim Winsper of the WMBC reminded me of the background to the choice of a Ruddy Duck for their logo, which in 2003 was changed to a grey heron and in 2014 to a Black Redstart.

“The Ruddy Duck was adopted as the logo following the escape from Slimbridge of some of these birds which in turn settled in the WMBC region. Sir Peter Scott, who was responsible for adding Ruddies to the Slimbridge collection, had strong ties with the club, and these common links made a Ruddy Duck most apt for the club.”

There was much debate throughout the UK, about the decision by the Government to cull the Ruddy, due to its alleged hybridisation with the Spanish White Headed Duck. But the law prevailed, and many lakes and reservoirs saw dawn raids to cull these birds.  My records show that I saw a Ruddy Duck every year from 1992 to 2015. When you consider that the cull took place in 2003 > 2005, was never going to be 100%, I’ve done well to know, sorry find a lone bird somewhere. (Stuffed and caged examples do not count). My immobility has stopped me going to the location where I saw a pair in 2015, so I hope they are a) surviving, and b) reproducing.

From my perception, the WMBC logo, when they changed to a Grey Heron in c2003, cocked a snoot at the Government decision, by incorporating a perceptible drawing of a Ruddy Duck. 

If you Google West Midland Bird Club/old logo you will see a drawing of a Heron facing right. Rotate the image anti-clockwise by 90 degrees… eureka… a Ruddy Duck.!!

Sorry these are both such interesting stories, I have got carried away so it will have to be.. 

TTFN

Inspired by Red Kites

P.S.

Just after I had posted my last blog, all to do with birds and food, I was sent a superb photograph which you are fortunate I am sharing with you. It is of a standard worthy of publications far superior to my blog, but I got it first.

To continue the food saga, it is not uncommon to see photographs of Puffins with a beak full of up to 10 sand eels. What is so clever, is that a Puffin does not have jaws like ours (ie “hinged” inside at the back) but they have an expanding hinge which enables the bird to open its upper and lower beaks in parallel and thus hold a row of eels. 

If you look at the following Photograph I took on the Farne Islands in 2007, the orange at the base of the bill is like an elastic joint.

     

So with a hinged jaw like ours, you would not expect a normal garden bird to have much carrying capacity, until you see the next photograph. It was taken by Julian Turner this month, at RHS Wisley gardens in Surrey.

              

The amount  of food being carried is remarkable, no doubt destined for a family in a nest nearby.

Well, it’s Monday 11^th July and I’m struggling for bird news, so I’m reverting to some nostalgia!

Although when we moved to Derby in the seventies, and lived in a house backing onto Allestree golf course, it was hard work getting the children to have any interest in birds. When we moved Sarah and Michael were only 7 and 5 respectively, so it was understandable.

I must admit I was not as enthusiastic as I am now, but with the golf course and the woods, it was a good environment for our avian friends and there was plenty of evidence. We were quite used to hearing the Woodpeckers tapping away in the woods, and managed to spot Great Spotted Woodpeckers from time to time. Lesser Spotted were, and still are, known to frequent the park, but they have become rarer in recent years.

Our back garden had its rarities. I can recall Michael saying “that’s a strange looking Chaffinch”, and indeed it was… what he had spotted was a Brambling, who are known to cohabit with Chaffinches.

A Sparrowhawk mantling a sparrow on the grass was a real education for the children, as was the Peacock which decided to enter by the back gate. In days gone by, Allestree Park had a large pen of exotic birds (Peacocks, Muscovey, Guinea Fowl etc) and this male decided to go walk abouts… and which was quite a long walk from our house.

One frustration was the night I could see the silhouette of an Owl on the bird table, a Tawney I suspect, silhouetted against the dark sky, but by the time I could get my bins it had flown.

2 house moves later we are where we are today, and being quite dense with houses, the only hi-light in 18 years has been a Red Legged Partridge strutting round the patio.

But rewards come to those who are patient, and with my grandson Leo readily warming to a Buzzzzard (his posh version) the Derby-Pair-a-Greens, and loving the Great Crested Grebes, I think I am at last getting somewhere.

When my son rings from near Corby and asks what is the large red bird with a forked tail, and which flew straight into a garden when the owner through some food out, I’ve got him interested!!   2 days later, and he rings again to say that he went out of the front door, and there were 2 Red Kites overhead.

My daughter has been taught the skill of using our bird counter (clicker) and 10 days ago counted c28 Kites on the M40 on the way to Weybridge. Yesterday, on the way to a pop concert at Rockingham, south of Rutland Water yesterday, she saw 4 red kites ….. and in the course of the concert she could see occasional Red Kites overhead.

I think I’m at last bequeathing some bird knowledge to future generations!

....And it's all been worth while!!

Food for thought!!

Monday 27^th June,  and a forthcoming 7 days when I know that there will be little to see from my lounge window as I continue my recovery from my op. We don’t have the sort of garden that should be on Springwatch, or even feature in the Big Garden Birdwatch. But some patience has been known to throw up the odd bit of avian entertainment.

This week, for a start, a pair of Wrens was obviously voraciously collecting food for their youngsters, judging by how many times they vanished in a large green bush in the corner of the garden. The pair of Blackbirds was doing much the same, interspersed by the male lying on the ground with both wings outstretched. I always fear whether the cat will catch it napping.

Our Robin (does every garden have one?) is in and out non-stop, and I was pleased (and so was he) that I’d at least mustered enough energy to clean the bird bath. (Saw an identical birdbath on Bargain Hunt the other week – went for £10!). The birds I do enjoy are the juvenile Magpies, always active and judging by how they bounce when they land, they must have well sprung legs.  The Magpies and the Blackbirds like all this rain, because it means that my gutters are wet and the seeds and weeds in the mud are good sources for food. Mary does object to them throwing out the tasteless bit, but I reckon it saves me having to get the 20ft ladder out.

Several times, a pair of Swifts has been spotted well up in the sky, the scimitar shape being unlike any other British Bird. But the best day was Wednesday, when I looked up just as a female Sparrowhawk swooped low across the lawn from right to left, and up to perch on the 8ft high fence. Long enough to see the tail rings, then she dropped forwarded looking for her next meal.

I missed my Beginners Walk on Sunday 3^rd July, but Keith, Amanda and Gary coped as always with 19 people, including 3 newbies, and the report was that of the 32 species seen, the bird of the day was a Great Crested Grebe. Not a rarity by any means, but this one had a chick sitting on its back. So the “Wow” factor decided the BOD.

This prompts me to tell you some more stories from birders who have enjoyed a WoW moment.

My daughter Sarah remembers the occasion in 1998 pre-DWT when we were in the Drakelow nature reserve, and saw a Green Woodpecker on the path some way in front. As we froze to watch, a parent came down and passed food to the juvenile.

Likewise on the West coast of Pembrokeshire in 2007, Mary was admiring a “large blackbird with a bright red bill”, in other words, a Chough, when again a parent landed by the juvenile and fed it some food.

Interestingly, Wales whilst wanting to claim the Euro 2016 crown, does claim that the Chough is the bird of Wales. Not wrong, but the Cornwall coat of arms is based on a Chough, so thats the start of a debate.

I have 2 feeding memories. In Rufford Park in Notts, on a snow bound day, bird food on my palm enticed one robin to land on my finger tips, and one on my cuff. Then another Robin violently flew in and replaced the bird on my cuff.   The other time was at Mudeford Quay in Dorset when a birding colleague was squeezing a bit of bread between two fingers, when a Starling perched on his knuckle, and proceeded to probe frantically to get some bread.....and it did!

On reflection, this whole article revolves round, and emphasises how important food (and water) is for our avian friends......just as much as it is for us!

Keep feeding.