I know, it's been ages
Well, things of note recently.
Spent this last weekend in Suffolk looking for pretty birdies. We arrived at Minsmere at 10am on Saturday (after leaving here at 6am) , 30 minutes late to meet the bird people - it turns out that they'd seen a bittern before we met them and I missed it. Damn. Anyway I got 13 life ticks - barnacle goose, black tailed godwit, common sandpiper, green sandpiper, green woodpecker, hobby, lesser black backed gull, little gull, little tern, ruff, sandwich tern, shoveler, spotted redshank. It was a really nice day, great to meet more bird people. We enjoyed chocolate cake for Pete's birthday too, which turned out well if I say so myself!
We left about 5pm, and had the fun job of trying to find a B&B for the night - we'd decided to live dangerously and not book in advance, and unfortunately everywhere near was full up. Eventually we found a place about 8 miles away from where everyone else was staying, which was completely empty!
Then met up for a meal in the evening - I had trout poached in cider with new potatoes and stir-fried veggies, which was quite nice. I wouldn't normally order fish (I'm a chicken person I guess) so it was a nice change. The company was good, we had a lot of animated intelligent discussion, it was great to be able to chat about so many different subjects with new people!
Sunday we pigged out on a cooked breakfast as well as cereal and toast, had a nice chat with the landlady then headed to Westleton Heath in search of a Dartford warbler. We didn't actually see a single bird, too hot I think, but there were loads of butterflies. Then back to Minsmere where again we failed with the bittern, but I did spot a lovely water vole eating reeds. We watched it for ages and I kept pointing it out to people who walked past! And I saw a small brownish bird which I couldn't immediately identify, so I remembered the song and what it looked like so I could look it up later - yesterday I trawled the RSPB site looking for small brown birds and listening to their songs, and discovered that it was a chiffchaff, another tick. I'm quite pleased with myself.
We spent the afternoon in Thorpeness, which was pretty. There's a beach and a lake and some nice houses and a windmill. Then got home around 9pm-ish and picked the dog up from my parents' - she'd been in the caravan with them and apparently spent the whole weekend being fussed by everyone who walked past!
Michael's been off this week but I've been revising so haven't been able to do much. We have been taking walks with the dog of an evening though (too hot in the daytime), getting pictures for our photography project.
And this afternoon we went to Chatsworth to look for dippers, but the river was full of people paddling and even swimming so no chance of seeing one. We did see a lovely grey wagtail and a treecreeper as well as mallards, coots and a tufted duck with chicks. And we sneaked into the farm without paying and stroked some nice animals, including a baby donkey which was only born yesterday! So cute.
We've walked so much over the last few days, my legs certainly know about it! But I'm glad because it does make me feel better, when I'm getting out and doing stuff instead of just reading and mooching round the internet all day. Shame I don't feel like doing it a lot of the time.
Anyway we're off to Padley Gorge tomorrow morning, maybe we'll get a dipper there.
In other news, tonight Basil will have his first taste of freedom. I've propped his pen up so there's a gap where he can get out - it's nice in a way that he'll be able to live in the wild like a normal hog, but I do feel a bit sad and worried about him. I do hope he'll be okay and find himself a nice girl hog to harass. ;)
Spent this last weekend in Suffolk looking for pretty birdies. We arrived at Minsmere at 10am on Saturday (after leaving here at 6am) , 30 minutes late to meet the bird people - it turns out that they'd seen a bittern before we met them and I missed it. Damn. Anyway I got 13 life ticks - barnacle goose, black tailed godwit, common sandpiper, green sandpiper, green woodpecker, hobby, lesser black backed gull, little gull, little tern, ruff, sandwich tern, shoveler, spotted redshank. It was a really nice day, great to meet more bird people. We enjoyed chocolate cake for Pete's birthday too, which turned out well if I say so myself!
We left about 5pm, and had the fun job of trying to find a B&B for the night - we'd decided to live dangerously and not book in advance, and unfortunately everywhere near was full up. Eventually we found a place about 8 miles away from where everyone else was staying, which was completely empty!
Then met up for a meal in the evening - I had trout poached in cider with new potatoes and stir-fried veggies, which was quite nice. I wouldn't normally order fish (I'm a chicken person I guess) so it was a nice change. The company was good, we had a lot of animated intelligent discussion, it was great to be able to chat about so many different subjects with new people!
Sunday we pigged out on a cooked breakfast as well as cereal and toast, had a nice chat with the landlady then headed to Westleton Heath in search of a Dartford warbler. We didn't actually see a single bird, too hot I think, but there were loads of butterflies. Then back to Minsmere where again we failed with the bittern, but I did spot a lovely water vole eating reeds. We watched it for ages and I kept pointing it out to people who walked past! And I saw a small brownish bird which I couldn't immediately identify, so I remembered the song and what it looked like so I could look it up later - yesterday I trawled the RSPB site looking for small brown birds and listening to their songs, and discovered that it was a chiffchaff, another tick. I'm quite pleased with myself.
We spent the afternoon in Thorpeness, which was pretty. There's a beach and a lake and some nice houses and a windmill. Then got home around 9pm-ish and picked the dog up from my parents' - she'd been in the caravan with them and apparently spent the whole weekend being fussed by everyone who walked past!
Michael's been off this week but I've been revising so haven't been able to do much. We have been taking walks with the dog of an evening though (too hot in the daytime), getting pictures for our photography project.
And this afternoon we went to Chatsworth to look for dippers, but the river was full of people paddling and even swimming so no chance of seeing one. We did see a lovely grey wagtail and a treecreeper as well as mallards, coots and a tufted duck with chicks. And we sneaked into the farm without paying and stroked some nice animals, including a baby donkey which was only born yesterday! So cute.
We've walked so much over the last few days, my legs certainly know about it! But I'm glad because it does make me feel better, when I'm getting out and doing stuff instead of just reading and mooching round the internet all day. Shame I don't feel like doing it a lot of the time.
Anyway we're off to Padley Gorge tomorrow morning, maybe we'll get a dipper there.
In other news, tonight Basil will have his first taste of freedom. I've propped his pen up so there's a gap where he can get out - it's nice in a way that he'll be able to live in the wild like a normal hog, but I do feel a bit sad and worried about him. I do hope he'll be okay and find himself a nice girl hog to harass. ;)