There's Always 'Something'

The penultimate day of the first month of 2020 dawned with a reminder of that delightful old Scottish word, ‘dreich’, which in a nutshell means dark, dismal, dreary and/or downright depressing or a combination thereof! However, even then there were some hopes that the Moth Traps might hold a catch as the overnight conditions had been perfect as windless, with full cloud cover and an unseasonable +9°C on the gauge -
but that also was not to be.

To brighten things up just a little we still had a couple of items omitted from days 1 and 2 of the Norfolk trip, so let’s kick off with them and hopefully get the final day to you before this month is also out. 

 SNOW BUNTINGS

CHINESE WATER DEER 

and something of an iconic gateway to most ardent Twitchers where beyound lie

BUCKENHAM MARSHES

and where once upon a time, long ago, both

LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE 
and

RED-BREASTED GOOSE
once overwintered but not any more

A much reduced rounds of the Recording Area (RA) today all due to the recent poor weath,
with the Heath out of bounds to both vehicles and pedestrians due to flooding and the rest as described above. Nonetheless, we soldiered on undaunted and did pick up on a few more common, but no less attractive Birds.
A chance also to familiarise our new found readers with the lay of the land and a timely reminder to those revisiting as the first stop was the

 IRRIGATION POND
where just a single overwintering

LITTLE GREBE 
was found and moments later a second on the now redundant

GRAVEL PIT
given the state of plumage and their continuous presence here they are both considered to be
from a number of broods (mostly predated) across last years breeding season.

LITTLE GREBE
Additionally, there were also 2 males and a single female

 TUFTED DUCK
in the gloom, along with an uncounted number of

 MOORHEN
Back at Slight Return there was found an unexpected

 JAY

the most wary of all our resident Crows (Corvids)

and not usually recorded in the garden
More obliging, when approached cautiously, is the

GREEN WOODPECKER

which often favour the tennis court as a feeding area.

Only 2 today but there have been a maximum of 5 on a number of occassions.
Many Thanks for Visiting and please pass on the Link as you see fit!

Out and About in NORFOLK

The main teething problem with the first post was the addition of the

correct date only indicated by a stream of admirers pointing out the error.

2½ hours later, no flies on this kid, the problem was resolved with thanks to the vigilant few!

With the Strange Rover still banged up in the Sick Bay until late afternoon yesterday we have been a little restricted in our ability to manoeuvre, so not a lot from the local surrounds. What have been notable are the numerous and seemingly ever vocal

 SONG THRUSH

performing both day and night

with in this case a descanting Great Tit lending a helping hand.

Additionally, there have also been decent numbers of

 BLACKBIRD

drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker, a few each of Redwing and Fieldfare, Tawney Owls singing/calling throughout the nights while unusually a Coal Tit has taken up residence in the garden.

Although the year is still very young we have already deployed a couple of

 Moth Traps 

close to the homestead, more in hope than ambition, but have already captured c4

 CHESTNUT

and a rather underwhelming

WINTER MOTH

 Otherwise, from the morning stroll it was noted that the presumed breeding

 KESTRALs

 of last year have returned and although a little camera shy are already displaying.

 The waters of the

 River Stour

 have dropped back somewhat there are still pockets of

 FLOODING

 but nothing to effect local residents and while familiar with most of the domesticated animals hereabouts

Ol' Blue Eye

(singular) has never been noticed before, the other one is brown.

 With the

 now discharged from the Sick Bay and looking spick and span 

(and me over a £GRAND lighter in the pocket) it is predicted it won't be that 

shiny and clean this time tomorrow.

 As for the Hasienda, we are still snuggled up on the 

Lord of the Manors Lawn

onboard

SLIGHT RETURN II

 ( a tribute to the Jimi Hendrix hit song of the same name, enjoying the life of a

FREEBIRD

while dreaming of those heady days in 

KASHMIR

with my Shipmate and dear friend Jim the Medic

with more Hendrix tributes

s'cuse me while I kiss the sky - from Purple Haze

While back to the recent weekend in Norfolk where we were gunwhals under with  dozen upon dozen of

Wild Swans

and the weather was not conducive with good photographs

(always get the excuses in before the complaints start arriving)

Bewick's Swan (left) Whooper Swan (right)

Then onward to the East Coast where it was a case of

 "I must go down to the sea again to the loanly sea and the sky,

I left my socks and knickers there I wonder if they're dry"?

The irrepressible Spike Milligan

While there were other species added to the Year List most, such as Red-throated Diver, Common Scotter, Sanderling, Meditteranian Gull et al 

 there were also good numbers of rather large

 ATLANTIC GREY SEALS

but most attention was turned to finding and obtaining excellent views of the 80 strong flock of delightful

 SNOW BUNTING

all extremely flighty and rangey

but hadn't accounted for Mr Foot's stratagy of 

'Letting the Mountain come to Mohamed'

only a short wait and they were landing all around us.

Additionally and finally there were some lovely people strolling the sands including one of the Lady Seal Wardens, a young Seychellois gentleman with his English wife and young son and these 3

young Japanese Taxi Drivers from Kyoto here to learn the English language.

There can be little better than being able to warmly welcome to your own country those of a nation that has so warmly welcomed you - job done!

I would take the opportunity to thank all of the people we met, who had my Link forced upon them, but most particularly Dave Foot who it is always a Great Pleasure to be alongside.

Rock 'n' Roll - Fred Zeppelin

It's Been a Long Time, Been a Long Time, Been a Long Lonely, Lonely, Lonely, Lonely, Lonely Time! 

Led Zeppelin

912 days to be precise, but seems like a lifetime!

Unlike the previous pages there is no intent to make this a ‘daily’, but more of a ‘when time allows’ which is usually daily. Success will be reliant on those stalwart few who still persist in clicking The Bagsy Blog, transmitting the link to all addressees, along with the few printed fliers that will be distributed by myself. It should be noted that my foreign travelling days have been over for a long time now but continue to plod the hallowed turf of my ‘wildlife patch’ in East Dorset. Additionally, there are the odd forays across the Highways and Byways of sunny Dorset (Sir Frederick Treves - the doctor who nursed Joseph Carey (John) Merrick the Elephant Man) and less frequently the odd dalliance beyond like last weekend’s pop up to Norfolk. It is also hoped that the format will include, from time to time, highlights of past sojourns around the world (as shown below) certainly more music here and there, past highlights at home and away and 'Finest Hours' while not venturing into the less fine ones!

It will be good to have you all back - Bagsy

So, why not kick off with the afore mentioned Norfolk Gig of last weekend, but please do not ask for locations various birding sites will deal with that. In a nutshell, Dave had formulated a Plan of Attack and of the 50 to 60 species included we failed see but one - Common (but not showing) Crane.

Dave Foot

(mentor and friend)

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Some of the most accomplished and poignant sculptures ever stumbled across while visiting 

Omaha City, Nebraska in 2010

I sure as hell ain't going to teach my mother to suck eggs
particularly accessing this link on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_x0xH9fLM

When the wagons leave the city for the forest and further on
Painted wagons of the morning dusty roads where they have gone
Sometimes travelling through the darkness met the summer coming home
Fallen faces by the wayside looked as if they might have known

Oh the sun was in their eyes and the desert was dry
In the country town where the laughter sounds

Oh the dancing and the singing, oh the music when they played
Oh the fires that they started, oh the girls with no regret
Sometimes they found it, sometimes they kept it
Often lost it along the way, fought each other to possess it
Often died in sight of day

Oh the sun was in their eyes and the desert was dry
In the country town where the laughter sounds

Oh the sun was in their eyes
And the desert was dry
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds

 

Mountain was an American hard-rock band that formed on Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising Leslie West (lead guitar / vocals), Felix Pappalardi (bass guitar / vox), Steve Knight (keyboards) and N.D. Smart (drums).

Songwriters: Jack Bruce / Peter Constantine Brown (ex Piblokto)

Trivia:- Bruce has played in combos bearing the names of such luminaries as Alexis Corner, Graham Bond and as a short lived Bluesbreaker with one of my personal heroes John Mayall. However, this itinerant musician is most famed for his part with the relatively short lived British Blues outfit ‘Cream’ alongside Eric Clapton - guitar and Peter Edward (Ginger) Baker - drums. No surprises then when he joined up with in house axe-man and new recruit on drums to form the ‘power trio’ Bruce, West and Laing! Piblokto is a culture-specific hysterical reaction mainly found in the female gender of the Inuit people.

Further, Pappalardi didn’t hang around long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labours and success 

as his wife shot him to death with a revolver - guess he must have upset her?

Pete Brown, apart from this magical compositions was the front man with the band Piblokto

Piblokto is a culture-specific hysterical reaction in the Inuit people, 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, with the condition appearing most commonly in winter.
Ah, that fits Pete's missus must have been an Inuit! 

Adios Amigo see you Manana!