Duck Quacks Don't Echo

I now have a self-appointed managing editor, who has decided she will approve all future posts and the contents therein. She says that there will be no more waffle and straying from the subject as happened in the September 11^th edition. Amendments by herself will be left in the article, with blue pencil highlighting where her view has predominated.

She is of course correct, so I apologise for drifting from the Avian norm. I used to collect train numbers, she collects Eddie Stobart names, so we’ve mutually agreed that the blog will be about birds.

On the subject of weekly posts, I am able to see how many people have looked at my blog, and from which country. However, for those of you who get my posts direct and don’t look at the blog, this does not get a “hit” so the number of “hits” has dropped significantly. IF you want to make a comment, you will have to place your words of wisdom via the website, and not reply to the mail. (OK Ed?? YES)

In a recent crossword, the clue “Duck quacks don’t (blank)” made me extract from the deep recesses of my mind the phrase “Duck Quacks don’t echo”. I trawled the net and found that there was a TV quiz programme with this name, hosted by Lee Mac, but not having Sky I was unaware of it or the title.

If this statement interests you, check www.snopes.com where there is some good reasoned research as to whether a quack does echo. Trevor Cox, an acoustics expert at Salford University in Manchester set this legend to rest, with the conclusion that a quack fades away, and when it has faded away there is no chance of an echo off a wall or cliff etc. He therefore concludes “A Duck’s quack might echo, but it is impossible to hear unless the bird quacks while flying under a bridge”. (..so that any echo will be heard instantly.)

On the other hand, you may not be bothered!!

Tuesday 13^th September must really have been one of the hottest days, at least in our area. But undeterred, Chris and I decided to visit Frampton Marsh to see if we could replicate a boom visit we had there a couple of years ago. We dropped her husband John at Boston, as he wanted to take some photos of The Stump (because??) and we went to the RSPB reserve.

Temminck’s and Little Stints had been reported, and I did identify a Curlew Sandpiper to add to my 2016 list (No 175). At one stage we thought we had found the Temminck’s, but whilst I was recouperating in the car, some skilled birders pointed out 3 Little Stints to Chris, and as they say, I dipped.   I think the heat, with nowhere to hide, deflated my enthusiasm, so we did not stay long, but long enough to see 3 Yellow Wagtails.

When I do my Carsington walks, I tell people that the best place to find Yellow Wags, in the summer, is round the hooves of cattle, as they move and disturb the dust. And this is exactly where and how we saw them to-day.

Just to keep you up to speed with my unofficial sighting reports for 2016, Chris is on 183, Amanda is on 188, I’m on 175, and Carsington Volunteer Mike Daykin is on c225 - he gets out a lot!

To end, I have another of the super wow moments sent to me for a newspaper article in 2013.

On a cold January evening a family returned to their old cottage with a porch with 2 doors, one into the porch and one into the hall. A beautiful old lamp, with a frame hung in the porch. As they entered, to the family’s astonishment a flock of Long Tailed Tits, which had gathered nearby, bravely entered the porch one by one and settled on the frame of the lamp. The family went into the house, closing both of the porch doors, and left the birds to settle in for the night.

The following morning, the lady of the house opened the outer door and all the Long Tailed Tits flew away chattering what she said sounded like “Thank Yous”.

Off to Weston Super Mare to-morrow for 4 days – Weston on the mud to regular visitors!…Mud = Waders. (I hope)