22nd November . A date to remember..........in 1963.

And now for something completely different!!

As you know my days as a volunteer in the birding environment are numbered and having listened to comments about “hanging up my binoculars” I have this week been interviewed for a post as a volunteer at the local city council library in Allestree.    I’m pleased to say that I appear to “cut the mustard” and I have been accepted as a trainee volunteer. Training starts in January next year and I look forward to a nice indoor job, of just half a day a week.

I was asked at the interview what I anticipated the work would entail and I could only hark back to my days as a teenager, when I used to go to the library in Bristol in Zetland Road.  I had a couple of library tickets, and each ticket was exchanged at the check-out (not the word they used in those days for a book – that’s a more recent supermarket introduced phrase) for a library book and then within 14 days, the transaction was (supposed to be-) reversed and I got my card back. In my case, that was also the point when I handed over my “fine” as I regularly went over the lending period.

My interviewer started talking about self-service scanners, which demonstrated that I was 

not up with the modern library procedures. Anyway, it will all be new, and I’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a whirl. I’ve been invited to the Xmas fuddle so that’s a good start. There are 48 volunteers so far… I hope they are wearing name badges!

Interestingly, 55 years ago last Thursday the 22nd, Mary was working as a BBC librarian employed in the Overseas Broadcasting unit in London.     She was on duty on a date many will remember, Friday 22nd November 1963, the day when President John Kennedy was murdered.

That was a frantic day in the library, with requests coming in for a recorded obituary..... which did not exist. Nobody anticipated that one would yet be needed for a President who was only 46. 

Other news?    I’ve finally finished writing a booklet for Derby City Council about the Birds of Markeaton Park, which I hope will be published in the new year. I delivered it on Thursday, and the lady from the council seemed pleased with my ideas so I will have to see if the first draft is what I wrote!!! It’s been fun designing and writing it, but it has only been to help the public… and for the ego trip!!!

I started the leaflet 4 years ago, but when major changes were made in the park, the route and reference points tended to vanish.  The final version therefore had to be rewritten to ensure that the facts were still accurate.  Fortunately, bird wise, apart from the addition of the breeding Red Kites in 2018 at Kedleston Hall which can be seen hovering over Markeaton, the species remain the same.

Tuesday November 20^th, and yet another walk in a hitherto unvisited potential birding location. Chris Gill and I met up for a cold morning to look round Wollaton Park, a park on the West side of Nottingham.

The park with the hall, museum and a large lake is a huge 500-acre site. Whilst it abuts on to the A52, it is peaceful with just a faint traffic hum in the distance. Both the ladies knew the park well, so we struck out to areas where they had some good sightings in the past.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tawny Owl, Green Woodpecker were the targets… but not today. Anyway, I do now know these locations and they will get visited at a future date and a better time, a day when the birds are not tucked up warm somewhere.

BOSD? (bird of the short day?) A couple of bouncy Jays clearly hunting and storing acorns, and two well horned stags were good to see. The park is probably better known as Wollaton Hall and Deer Park.

Whilst I think of it, in the interest of making my study look more civilised, I have 20  Derbyshire Ornithological Society years books from 1996 – 2015 to give to a good home. Drop me a text on 07721325345 if you are interested.   They would need to be collected, in Derbyshire.

200 Club.   As we start December, as opposed to 4 qualifiers in 2017, I appear to have only 2 candidates for a 2018 award.  A few birders are in the 150+ category, but that final 25%, let alone the last 5, can be hard to get. But nothing is impossible!

Sorry about the delay with this post, but Mary and I only got back from Scarborough yesterday. Bempton and Filey were too wet and cloudy for birding and only at Whitby did we get near the sea. (Ed:  What about THE Oystercatcher, the Cormorants, and the Seal at Whitby?) OK, not all bad!

On the plus side - I won £26 on the hotel Bingo and Mary won £35 on the third night.

Best laugh?  Sitting in the coffee shop in the middle of M & S in Beverley, and watching a lady walk through with her brolly up!!

Upcoming walks?

My last BwB Carsington           Sunday December 2^nd       10.00   Please book

My Last BwB Markeaton          Sunday December 16^th      10.30  …Just turn up!!

Happy Birding