Theme For An Imaginary Western - Mountain Part II

 Theme For An Imaginary Western - Mountain

 (Mid-Summer Rock Festival, Cincinnati, Ohio 1970)

MOUNTAIN
(feat Felix Papparlardi)

were, to say the least, a changeable band but the inclusion of 

Jack Bruce from the now defunct Cream and performing under the new heading of

Bruce, West and Laing

was an unforeseen reformation.

Felix Papparlardi was no longer able to play for them as on

17 April 1983 his doting and beloved wife 'shot him to death'!

We can only assume he must have upset her??

As we recommenced our search, as ever, the Lottery Syndrome raised its ugly head, as in do we divert or do we keep on the straight and narrow? Again it would not be a prolonged detour but with these short winter days every penny counts, but against the risk was the fact that the Pacific Diver had not been reported for a week now! Oh, sod it, faint heart never won Fair Lady, nor Pacific Diver for that matter, but arriving at Mounts Bay with 

SAINT MICHEAL'S MOUNT

looming in the distance it was once again The Gillie who picked up the

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER

miles away only needing 3 attempts to get me onto it, unlike

'The Mount' which took 4 goes!

(no wonder I let him come with ME on MY adventures)

By no means a wasted journey, particularly as Portland and Poole Harbours

have hardly had a glimpses of such a creature so far this year, we were happily on our way again.

Arriving at

LEASFOOT SANDS

back across the border into Devon the search began for our second 'target'

which I was almost FIRST to spot (it looks convincing without yer specs on).

Only my second ever

 DESERT WHEATEAR

a most active little bird

 which took quite some keeping up with

and not helped one little bit by so called 'birders' who, as has become
usual in recent years, insist on keeping up a perpetual commentary on
every darn move the bird makes.

Then when you turn to them and dare to utter "if you shut the something 
up it might get to within touching distance" you are battered with a tirade
not fit for delicate ears!

Desert Wheatear World Distribution

So tiny, Leasfoot Sands does not even warrant a mention on Google Maps
but there were a couple of maybe insignificant but nonetheless
interesting features around the place.

Surf was breaking over a close inshore reef where on arrival

at least a dozen divers were swimming around preparing to submerge.
By the time the bird had been seen well enough to turn attentions to
other things, they were gone.

 A World War II Pill Box set in the sandy cliff

 was worth a second look, as was this small

Marine Rock Arch

not quiet as grandiose as our own Durdle Door back in Dorset
but noteworthy for all that.
With daylight now rapidly fading there was one more location to try for before
setting sail for home Heathfields, still in Devon and on the extremely busy A38.
There, as posted on Twitter "opposite the Tile Factory" we found after a short search c11

 WAXWING

 annual visitors to our shores but not true migrants.

 Their arrivals, in vary numbers, is dependant on the availability of
Wild Berries across Northern Europe and beyond.

When supplies are low, or the crop fails completely, they are willing
to brave the rigours of the North Sea to glean berries in Great Britain.

Entry	Pageviews
China	4173
United States	492
France	439
United Kingdom	377
Germany	64
Singapore	24
Egypt	23
Sweden	15
Estonia	10
Russia	9

Theme For An imaginary Western - Mountain Part I

There are but 2 songs in our inexhaustible repertoire that have been
laying dormant for long enough, just waiting to feature on a suitable Post.
The day has come for the first

but even then, to fit the bill, we have had to juggle with it a little!

This poignant song, which has never failed to reduce me to tears,

was penned by CREAM bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce and cohort Pete Brown

(ex PIBLOKTO) who in turn 

handed it over to American 'Hard Rock' band

MOUNTAIN,

for whom Cream had been a massive inspiration and long standing friends, for them to record.

It formed part of their album 

Mountain Climbing

(arguably) their 'finest hour', and featured l to r

Corky Laing - drums, Felix Pappalardi - bass guitar, lead vocals and piano,

West on lead guitar and vox with Steve Knight - keyboards,

 There are but a few video recordings of this 'magical' composition in existence so, with no disrespect to the other band members, that is where the 'juggling' crept in. In 1970, when the album was released (7 March), hedonism ruled the day with West being somewhat suppressed on the original version. Later, Mountain were reformed under a number of reincarnations especially with West fronting most, this is one of them. We don't know who the vocalist is in this version but one thing is for certain he wasn't even born  when this first hit the streets and was played at Woodstock!

 Theme For An Imaginary Western - Leslie West

 (PLEASE do not overlook this Link)

WE WERE ALSO HEADING WEST ON THE DAY

SO NO MORE THAN A 'NATURAL' CHOICE.

Another 'out of the blue' telephone call from our dear friend Dave Foot had me pondering for a little less than a micro-second (we don't do Micros) before his generous invitation was accepted. His plan was to travel, in the first instance, to Cornwall and then retrace our steps back to Devon all in the name of searching of 'rare' Birds. There were initially just 2 'target' species but in the mix were also a few not so common others that we might pick up across the whole of our predicted journey. The time set for our rendezvous in Weymouth was 05:30 which for me meant springing out of the hammock at 04:00 to ready myself before undertaking the one hour drive to the meet. It has always been considered a good omen should something out of the ordinary be seen, under cover of dark, on such a drive and maybe reason enough for being on the wrong side of the road for much of that time? Candidate sometimes include Barn Owl or Woodcock et al but on that particular morning and after just 30 minutes it was BROCK who strolled out into the headlights! At a slow pace and affording excellent views we thanked our lucky stars we were not 10 seconds earlier, for surely it would have died, and that we were cruising at economical speed.

BADGER
Crossing the Devon / Cornwall border and a few more miles down the road
it was readily agreed that a 15 minute detour to a damp and dismal looking

DOZMARY POOL

might prove beneficial in adding the first 'rare' bird of the day to the notebook.
Not one of the 2 in our sights, but nonetheless my Gillie was quickly set to work
but taking an exorbitant 8 minutes to locate the tiny 'dot' at the other side of the pond,
glad that he was not on a hourly rate, the dot quickly manifested itself into a fine looking male

 LESSER SCAUP

 A resident of The Americas these Ducks do make occasional visits to
our shores with this particular bird have been 'overwintering' here for a number of years now.

After that initial excitement we quickly moved on to the tiny village of

 pronounced Mau-zal, and after clocking a couple of additions to the

Year List

from the car park such as

 GANNET

  KITTIWAKE

 and

FULMAR

 our 'target bird' presented no problems with being located.

 Said to have been fed Meal Worms almost constantly

 since its arrival here, by comparison who in the Human World would 

want to move from a 5***** Michelin Restaurant serving 'free groceries'?

 Yes, the

EASTERN BLACK REDSTART

seemed more than happy

to have arrived in Cornwall.

At the time of writing the EBR remains a SUB-species not qualifying to be added
to such lists as World, Country, County etc in its own right so for now at least
it is simply appended under Black Redstart but who know one
day that may change. A new
Definitive List of Birds of the World,
miraculously agreed by most authorities, is due for publication in early 2018
so we'll wait and see what they have to say about this matter.

(COMMON) BLACK REDSTART

for comparison.

We were now eager to crack on to our next location a couple of hours drive
back in the direction from  whence we had just travelled but not before checking out
what else might be close at hand and of interest.

Additions to the Year List included

 TURNSTONE

 These 2 short clips show just why these

Dapper Dudes of the Foreshore

 were considered for such a name!

 SHAG

 ROCK PIPIT

and

OYSTERCATCHER
On a last look round over on a craggy islet we noted a number of

 ATLANTIC GREY SEAL

PS - for information Piblokto, also known as Pibloktoq and Arctic Hysteria, is a condition most commonly appearing in Inughuit societies living within the Arctic Circle. Piblokto is a culture-specific hysterical reaction in Inuit, especially women, who may perform irrational or dangerous acts, followed by amnesia for the event. Piblokto may be linked to repression of the personality of Inuit women. The condition appears most commonly in winter, and is considered to be a form of cultural bond syndrome, although more recent studies question whether it exists at all. Piblokto is also part of the glossary of cultural bound syndromes found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

MUCH MORE TO COME so BE SURE TO TUNE IN

and WHY NOT SHARE the LINK with all those people
you don't like, or others, that should teach them a lesson!!

Entry	Pageviews
China	4171
United States	475
France	424
United Kingdom	384
Spain	117
Germany	62
Singapore	26
Egypt	22
Sweden	14
Estonia	11