The Wall - Pink Floyd

Andrew Lindsay - how would you feel if this bloke knocked on your door asking for a 'free' bed for the week-end?

Andy Lindsay my mate from Derby decided on an impromptu week-end in Weymouth giving me just 4 hours to knock up a 'pot-mess' (Naval for stew). By 21-30 we were eating and drinking a couple of bottles of Burgundy and a glass or 3 of Port.

This morning we consigned ourselves to a walk along the west cliff at Portland and down to the Observatory. Not a lot of birds about, but Andy wouldn't profess to being a birder but does have a fairly keen interest. How our visits usually go is, when I am up at his he takes me course or fly fishing, where I have had a good deal of success, and birding when he is here. The things we do have in common are a passion for Blues, Rock and Prog music, fine wine (hence the Louise Jadot last night) and good food. We ended up covering a fair number of artistes from Leadbelly to Cowboy Junkies and rounded off the evening with my current number one choice Dark Matter by Southampton band IQ, and his all time favourite track Salisbury from the album of the same name by Uriah Heep.

Golden Plover

With good numbers of Swallow and House Martin passing along the coast there was always a chance of a good migrant being among them, but in the end, best birds were c2 Grasshopper Warblers, a few Whitethroats, a Peregrine and a distant Golden Plover (the first I have ever seen in Dorset in the month of April), in summer plumage, in Top Fields. This afternoon he went off to have a look at the Sand Martin Wall, with the promise that he would try not to disturb anything, while I stayed home to do this and check the 2009 vintage from Bordeaux - it is said to be outstanding. Our mate Stephen Williams, owner of the Antiques Wine Company now has a Blog as well as a Web Site, which may well be of interest to readers of these pages, where he interviews the owner of Chateau Le Pin, arguably the finest Claret in the world. I'll let you know if I ever get lucky enough to try it, the link is below.

We are spoilt for choice as far as this evenings entertainment is concerned, with Wishbone Ash playing The Cheese & Grain in Frome, while The Producers perform at Pete Smith's Number 6 on King Street, Weymouth. I feel the later will win on distance and a couple of pints alone.

FineWineBlog | Wine news and views from Stephen Williams

I only told Lindsay to take a photograph of the Sand Martin Wall, but he took it upon himself to take a picture of this crippled Coot wasting my 'film' in the process.

and here's the Sand Martin Wall that disturbed nothing in its construction. Sour Grapes aside I wish it great success similar to the one at Blashford Lakes!