What could be worse than an evening
of 'holiday snaps'? Having been at Parley Court for a whole day now, I
thought this was the Dampney way of saying "time to go Bagsy" but I
didn't take the hint despite sitting through about an hour of boredom
looking at the likes of these.
Hugh
and his mother Joan are recently returned from a cruise around
Spitsbergen with some most uninteresting images.
I am the WALRUS goo goo g'joob,
followed by one of the 3 Gulls in the World that I still have to photograph myself,
IVORY GULLPOLAR BEAR
POLAR BEAR
HUMPBACKED WHALE
ARCTIC FOX
REINDEER and
FINWHALE the second largest creature on Earth! Now feast your eyes on what I saw today.
GREY SQUIRREL collecting nuts
and burying them as a winter larder,
before approaching and giving some excellent close views.
PIED WAGTAIL and
ROOK before spotting something a little more unusual. On first sighting this Duck on the Parley Pond was thought to be a
MANDARIN
but not in a state of plumage I had ever seen before? Seeming nervous
and very flighty it was only allowing for brief glimpses and the
occasional photo. Armed with these I went for the Field Guide, 'Madge
and Burn' but remained no more enlightened. Calling in the cavalry,
the
general consensus was that it was in fact a male MANDARIN in eclipse
plumage. This is the first record at Parley Court Farm, a great end to
the day. PS the Apprenticeship is continuing apace!