Last posting before Christmas!!!!!

The 2018 Penultimate post!

Who’s the most gullible?  Me, for believing the data that an ex-friend sent about the calendar frequency of there being 5 Saturdays, 5 Sundays and 5 Mondays in a year. (Incidentally not 3 times as I wrongly stated.)  No it’s not once in 723 years, but in fact the next one will be in 2029.   A positive correction from Mrs Bridge, thank you.

I have requested my source to check his/her facts more carefully, so that I am not subjected to claims of tautology by one follower which my spell and grammar check failed to pick up!!

By the way, I notice that I did not show you the 2 legs added to my collection in November, so these are them!

                                            

The first leg is a metal bottle opener in a similar style to a footballer and a golfer that I already have 

in my collection. Not valuable, but still a leg.

The second one is a bronze pipe tamper, dated c 1880, and probably at 2 ins small enough to be used by a lady.

Tuesday 18^th December birding was very much an on-off situation, depending on which weather forecast you read. But determination prevailed and once Chris had cleared the eternal problem of the traffic at 8.30am on the west bound Brian Clough way from Nottingham to Derby we set off for Carsington.

Despite poor visibility, we got to Millfields first so we popped in for a quick gander. Almost immediately we noticed a non-Severn Trent feeding station which I had not seen before. There was plenty of seed and fat and it was being well used by Tits and Finches. In the few minutes we watched, a Nuthatch came down the branches, and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker spent a long time pecking the fat balls.

Thanks to the public spirited people who fill the feeders, and to Roger Carrington and Simon Roddis who carry some food to top up these feeders if needed.   

Next stop was Sheepwash where the best place to be was in the hide. An easterly wind was driving the rain through the windows, so we picked which window to open with some thought!! Nothing really to talk about, so we next went to the Wildlife Centre. Pat and Jill were on duty, and with such inclement weather they were pleased to have 2 visitors. Their sightings Board was up to 38 before we left, with many of the usual suspects, but I added a female Goldeneye to the list, and a smart Song Thrush dropped in. 4 VERY well camouflaged Snipe were on Stones Island, but with no Lapwings they were the only Waders.

As the restaurant was in use for a lunch + music event, we warmed up in the courtyard café, before venturing out on Stones Island to the Janet Ede hide. To start with not much, until I picked up the Great Northern Diver not far offshore, a good reward for our dedicated efforts in crossing the ice cold causeway!

37 for the walk, not bad all considered… oh and the water is now 69.5% full

I hope like me, you are looking forward to the festive season and I hope that you and your family will have a relaxed and happy Christmas. Assuming and hoping that Santa will be calling in, I have 3 landmark dates on the horizon.

The first date is Christmas with different family members dropping in on various days. Ed: Relaxing? in the kitchen? I’ll keep you fortified with G & T, darling.

6 days later is my last day as a Volunteer Ranger, and together with the other kind gifts and cards I have received I have that superb painting of an Osprey. That will soon be reframed and on the wall, and I’ll let you see what it looks like when it is done.

And then, 26 days later I cease to be in my seventies (you work it out if you must). My good birding friend Christine together with her husband John, has given me a birthday voucher for 2 birding cruises with which I have booked the Avocet cruise from Exmouth in February, and the Boston (Lincs) cruise in the Wash in May. Ed: One assumes that it was 2 cruises for 1, and not 1 cruise for 2.

Sunday 23^rd December.  To-day was extremely quiet at Carsington, the only news being that the tide is still coming in, with the Reservoir being nearly 70% full. The rain in the last 24 hours has got to have helped, not so much by the reservoir capturing it, but by the need to relieve the Derwent of the volume that will be flowing down from the hills in the north of the county.

Anyway, and once again, a very Happy Xmas to both my readers!!

PS.  Any Waxwings around??