The 'Secret Lemonade Drinker'

If (Chief Engineer) Mike Nicholls is reading this, please don't worry mate the heading has no relation to a 'drink problem' - ha, ha!

Even though the weather had brightened up since yesterday, once again it was a day at home for me. With about 10 miles of 'electric string' winding through my lounge and a heap of gadgets piled on the dining table I was more interested in getting my 'media system' sorted out than birding. It always takes me an age to sort these technical things out but about 10 'o' clock a knock on the door saw my savior arrive. Gary White (the SLD) has been shipmate, great friend and now helper for many years and soon got down to getting all the right leads in the right holes, with me heading for the shops and a new i-Pod and lap-top computer. One more technician to visit tomorrow and we should be back to normal, and then maybe a few original photographs rather than another selection from the archive as below.

Black & Rufous Warbling-Finch

Black-necked Swan

Eared Dove

Giant Wood Rail

Green-barred Woodpecker

Guira Cuckoo

Hooded Siskin

Monk Parakeet

Narrow-billed Woodcreeper

Picazuro Pigeon

Plumbeous Rail

Red-crested Cardinal (male)

An e-mail from regular reader Janet Reed gives us an insight to the rescue described below - Many Thanks Janet.

The crew of the Weymouth RNLI relief Severn class all-weather lifeboat Beth Sell assisted a 24- metre sail training vessel with 16 persons onboard that was dismasted South of Portland Bill. Footage taken by crew members i-phones and pentax hand held camera. 5 Sept 2011.

Portland Rescue

A quick update on the Stat Counter, notably Spain hovering just outside of 3 figures!

	Num	Perc.	Country Name
	14502	71.63%	United Kingdom
	1498	7.40%	United States
	532	2.63%	Taiwan
	515	2.54%	Canada
	297	1.47%	Estonia
	283	1.40%	Australia
	219	1.08%	Germany
	183	0.90%	France
	158	0.78%	New Zealand
	144	0.71%	Netherlands
	129	0.64%	Italy
	108	0.53%	Japan
	95	0.47%	Spain
	83	0.41%	Brazil
	78	0.39%	India
	67	0.33%	Belgium
	62	0.31%	Poland
	53	0.26%	Colombia
	49	0.24%	American Samoa
	49	0.24%	Thailand
	48	0.24%	Sweden
	46	0.23%	Romania
	44	0.22%	Switzerland
	41	0.20%	Peru
	37	0.18%	Malaysia
	37	0.18%	Finland
	35	0.17%	Singapore
	33	0.16%	Israel
	32	0.16%	Mexico
	32	0.16%	Philippines
	32	0.16%	South Africa
	30	0.15%	Denmark
	30	0.15%	Korea, Republic Of
	28	0.14%	Dominican Republic
	27	0.13%	Hungary
	26	0.13%	Hong Kong
	24	0.12%	Bulgaria
	24	0.12%	Russian Federation
	23	0.11%	Chile
	23	0.11%	Norway
	22	0.11%	Ireland
	22	0.11%	Ukraine
	22	0.11%	Saudi Arabia
	20	0.10%	Argentina
	20	0.10%	Greece
	20	0.10%	Indonesia
	19	0.09%	Portugal
	19	0.09%	Turkey
	19	0.09%	Vietnam
	17	0.08%	Czech Republic
	17	0.08%	Sri Lanka
	16	0.08%	Croatia
	15	0.07%	Serbia
	14	0.07%	Pakistan
	14	0.07%	Malta
	13	0.06%	Anonymous Proxy
	12	0.06%	Costa Rica
	11	0.05%	Madagascar
	9	0.04%	Venezuela
	9	0.04%	United Arab Emirates
	9	0.04%	Europe
	8	0.04%	Egypt
	7	0.03%	Slovakia
	7	0.03%	Jordan
	7	0.03%	Austria
	7	0.03%	Oman
	7	0.03%	Lithuania
	6	0.03%	Bangladesh
	5	0.02%	Macedonia
	5	0.02%	Cuba
	5	0.02%	Ecuador
	5	0.02%	Kuwait
	4	0.02%	Grenada
	4	0.02%	Trinidad And Tobago
	4	0.02%	Belarus
	3	0.01%	Guernsey
	3	0.01%	Kenya
	3	0.01%	Georgia
	3	0.01%	Algeria
	3	0.01%	Jersey
	3	0.01%	Latvia
	3	0.01%	Lesotho
	3	0.01%	Guyana
	3	0.01%	Puerto Rico
	3	0.01%	Virgin Island, U.s.
	3	0.01%	Satellite Provider
	3	0.01%	Qatar
	2	0.01%	Nepal
	2	0.01%	Malawi
	2	0.01%	Lebanon
	2	0.01%	Senegal
	2	0.01%	Gabon
	2	0.01%	Armenia
	2	0.01%	Luxembourg
	2	0.01%	Zimbabwe
	2	0.01%	China
	2	0.01%	Slovenia
	2	0.01%	Mauritius
	1	0.00%	Tanzania, United Republic Of
	1	0.00%	Macao
	1	0.00%	Guatemala
	1	0.00%	Botswana
	1	0.00%	Montenegro
	1	0.00%	Maldives
	1	0.00%	Faroe Islands
	1	0.00%	Gibraltar
	1	0.00%	Bermuda
	1	0.00%	Morocco
	1	0.00%	Iceland
	1	0.00%	Bosnia And Herzegovina
	1	0.00%	Uruguay

Living In The Past - Jethro Tull

On a day when Portland recorded the highest wind in the land, at 58 knots, and the heavy rain only stopped long for me to pop down to the shops it was another day at home catching up. High on the agenda was the stereo system which is long overdue minimising, and with an i-Pod shortly to be installed, there was plenty of re-jigging to be done. Enter my good mate Gary (the Secret Lemonade Drinker), armed with all the tools of the trade, if it were note for endless tales of the sea we could probably have taken over from Abbey Road. So, all of that left with me little to report and no photographs and again having to rely on the archive to supply a little padding.

All of these images were taken in Ecuador early 2010.

Chilean Flamingo

Pale-mandibiled Aricari

Peruvian Pelican

Red-faced Spinetail

Red-footed Booby

Rufous Motmot

Snowy Plover

Toucan Barbet

White-necked Jacobin (female)