Some you win and some you lose!!

Tuesday 16^th January   Our Triumvirate appearing to now being a Quartet, the decision was taken that we would have a look at a reserve certainly I had not seen, Kilvington Lakes.  East of Nottingham on the A52 and just North of Bottesford, we duly met up for a walk round the water, and through the adjacent woods. 

As It was a case of battling against the winds, tripods were not much use, but we did get views of a good number of water birds, including Goosander, Shelduck and Goldeneye. Somewhere to revisit I think when it is less squally.

We decided to move on to Owthorpe to see the longish staying Great Grey Shrike. So did a number of other birders, but no one was reporting success, albeit it had been seen very early in the day. We had to make do with a good covey of Grey Partridges, and then decided to go to Holme Pierrepoint to spot an again long-staying, Long Tailed Dick. Word was that it was near the finishing line on the rowing course at Holme Pierrepoint.

Was it?  Not that we could see at 3.30ish, and again it was considered too cold to walk the course to see if it had moved to the starting line!   We moved to the coffee shop instead and got reinsulated with hot drinks from the machine.

If nothing else, cobwebs were well and truly blown away!

And that’s it for this week.. well birding anyway. Memorable for the wrong reasons. I di get well wrapped up with 6 layers and a scarf and went to Markeaton Park for the Bird Watching for beginners walk, but at c10.15, the snow was very heavy and the decision was taken to cancel the walk. 

Visibility was very poor and apart from on the lake, I did not anticipate finding many birds out in the open.

Pamela loyally came for the walk as usual, once again generously loaded with bird seed and peanuts for our feathered friends.  As the walk was not going ahead, she decided to walk over and put the food on the feeding table in the area near the Ha Ha which would be a great top up for the bird table.   

She had also brought a bird food cake made up of seed, fat and meal worms, and Mel agreed to hang it up in the walled garden in the best spot for the birds. An area near the wall and the trees will be a good position and being behind the wall (and sometimes locked gates) will not be susceptible to a take-away park visitor.

A few weeks ago, I rambled on about my views on the correct pronunciation of Whooper and Hoopoe, and duly wrote to Bird Watching Magazine for arbitration. The February issue included my letter, and the Editors views.

To recap, I said Whooper with the W sounded.. literally Woo-purr. The editor (using the carefully on the fence words “We tend to say..”) opined the view that the W is silent as in Whooping cough.  Ergo, would he argue that if I fell over I would say “hoops” as opposed to “whoops”?

As for Hoopoe, Bird Watching pronounce it Hoopoo, as the sound is like the Hoo poo poo song after which the Hoopoe is named.

………………………………………Unless of course you know better

Birding Trivia No 3.   If you ever get intimate enough to read somebody’s tattoos, tattoos of Swallows, especially on the older generation, is an indication that the bearer had probably been a sailor.

From the days of difficult sailing, a swallow evidenced that the bearer was an experienced and valuable sailor. It was said that one swallow indicated the sailor had travelled more than 5k nautical miles, two indicated more than 10k. 

Another legend holds that as a Swallow returns to the same location to mate and nest, the swallow will guarantee the sailor safe passage home. Which is why sailors had a Swallow tattooed before setting out on a journey, and another on safe return. Again, legends say that if a sailor drowns, the Swallow will carry their souls to heaven.

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

Blimey only 1 added to my 2018 year list - bad, bad news.  Let’s hope next week will get me out and about… 31^st January and the 100 target looms closer!!!

Happy Birding