On The Border - The Eagles

Another successful day, mostly spent in town, as plans for the next stage of the game continue to come together. Not much time then for wildlife, so back to the archive and 'All Out Yesterdays'! 

The Iguazu Falls, Iguassu Falls or Iguaçu Falls  

are considered the largest or greatest waterfalls in the world by virtue of the fact that they comprise of 275 separate 'falls' and cover such a vast tract of land. Lying on the borders of both Brazil and Argentina, Mike Hughes and I had decided to visit the Argentine side first despite being in Brazil, but that was before we met Enrico, a stroke of luck that stood us in good stead throughout this leg of our journey. "No Signor you need to stay at the 

Lodge Down The Road (never did make a note of its name) where you can get anything you want and daily transport to the Falls". Within minutes of arrival we had seen such goodies as Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Sayaca Tanager,

CATTLE TYRANT

GREAT KISKADEE

GREYISH SALTATOR

MASKED CARDINAL, Creamy-bellied Thrush, Brown-chested Martin and Blond-crested Woodpecker (a most striking bird) along with a wealth of Hummingbirds. We were beginning to believe Enrico was right! He had also suggest this was the correct way to do it as from here, on arrival, the full panorama of the falls would meet the eye.

Leaving the bus, you walk up a tarmac incline where the full extent opens to view - WOW!

Lots of birds here too, best of which were 'thousands' of GREAT DUSKY SWIFTs flying through the spray,

under the cascades then perching on the sheer rock-face to dry out before the next feeding sortie.

A couple of days later were were on the bus once again, this time heading for the Argentine border and a completely different experience with Iguazu. It would have been impossible to photograph all the birds, there were so many, especially Tanagers. Those we did capture included:-

ORIOLE BLACKBIRD and

TROPICAL KINGBIRD

before donning the waterproofs to wander the catwalks which took you literally 'under the falls'. It is hoped to bring you some more of the birds of Northern South America in days to come and then even more (in real time) before the year is out - KEEP WATCHING!

Want to know more about Iguazu_Falls?

finally, a couple of 'milestones' from the Stat Counter:-

It will be noted that Japan reached the '4 figure' mark today, likely due to Chris Cook in Tokyo, while Croatia, after a little dallying, finally broke 'the Ton'. Austria and Slovakia are not far behind so maybe a  

Golden Opportunity to pass the link on to Friends  and Families - PLEASE!

	Num	Perc.	Country Name
	84523	72.04%	United Kingdom
	8751	7.46%	United States
	1512	1.29%	Canada
	1298	1.11%	Australia
	1189	1.01%	Germany
	1181	1.01%	Estonia
	1124	0.96%	France
	1043	0.89%	Netherlands
	1000	0.85%	Japan
	831	0.71%	Italy

	138	0.12%	Ukraine
	138	0.12%	Hong Kong
	118	0.10%	Bulgaria
	116	0.10%	Vietnam
	108	0.09%	Chile
	100	0.09%	Croatia
	96	0.08%	Austria
	95	0.08%	Slovakia

Pigs On THe Wing (Parts 1 & 2) - Pink Floyd

A few more things to sort out today but not before a visit to the cemetery which bore no fruit at all. Lucky then that early afternoon the Secret Lemonade Drinker turned up an announced a 'Magical Mystery Tour', which boiled down to an impromptu drive through some spectacular and interesting Dorset countryside. I would say from the off, that the light was poor, during the whole trip, and coupled with an even poorer photographer the images are not of the best - excuses, excuses!

Having cleared Weymouth, we headed north on the new, and totally successful, relief road then onto the Dorchester bye-pass and to our first stop close to the tiny hamlet of Stinsford.

Close by stands KINGSTON MAURWARD HOUSE a Georgian Manor built between 1717 and 1720 standing in about 3 square Kms of parkland.

 Much of this is now taken up by the nationally recognised KM Agricultural Collage where we watched 'would-be' shepherds rounding up their flocks.

Also in the area are a number of quaint cottages, but to be honest we were more interested in what was held

 in the Pig Pens opposite - don't you just love PIGS!!

However, that was put on hold as this GREY WAGTAIL landed close by giving us opportunity for a close look.

That done it was over to the piglets

then what I feel sure were TAMWORTHs. My knowledge of such things is extremely limited

but feel a calculated guess is worth a go, for instance is this a DANISH LANDRACE?

TAMWORTHs again,

 then what might be BLACK SLAVONIAN (isn't that a hybrid of Grebe?),

and finally, some kind of Old Spot? Now, I may not have got many of these right, but I'd bet anyone 50 quid that all will be correctly identified within 30 minutes (or even seconds) of going to press. Over to Mr John Gifford for a qualified report!

 

A COMMON BUZZARD stood sentinel during our short stay, but it was now time to continue to the west and pay a visit to Monkey's Jump just outside of the county town.

 Here you are afforded great views of MAIDEN_CASTLE, the largest Earth Works in Europe, with a 'link' for those who would like further reading.

SHEEP abound here, as do Golden Plover during the winter months but we only 'heard' one today. As an aside, there were 200 reported there during the day so perhaps the binoculars need a polish? Other birds we looked for were Corn Bunting, Yellow Hammer, Grey and Red-legged Partridge, Redwing plus Fieldfare but saw not one! Consolation? We did hear a Fieldfare - ever onward!

Continuing west we arrived at LITTLE BREDY a tiny village sited at the head of the (River) Bride valley and nestling among the wooded slopes of the Dorset Downs.

The quaint little church

and rolling downlands so loved by my daughters when they were children.

 

Next came the Manor House which stands by an ornamental lake complete with waterfall but inaccessible today.

The CRICKET PAVILION

crowned with a fitting Weather Vane, but the pitch looked as though it had been 'grubbed up' by hogs, but maybe this is just part of the maintenance program?

Just outside of the village we stopped to check what sounded every bit like more than one RAVEN, only to count 11 with suspicion of there being even more around a nearby farm yard. Don't know what was attracting them to this area, maybe dead livestock, but that's as many of these birds either of us have seen together in Dorset. There was another short stop as I caught the sound of a

 YELLOWHAMMER, much to the delight of 'Secret' for whom it was a 'Lifer', a first sighting!

Reaching the cross-roads it was unanimous that we turned left to just take a short peek at a village we have both enjoyed so much over the years. There was however another reason, that being the e-mail I had received just a couple of days ago from our friend in Tokyo, Chris Cook.

Chris hails from PUNCKNOWLE and feel sure he will love to see these shots of the CROWN PUBLIC HOUSE,

what I believe to have been his previous home THORNLEIGH COTTAGE 

and wonder if he remembers Geoff Fry, brother of Allan, who still does good works for the 

LOCAL CHURCH St Mark's.To quote from The Dorset Walk - Puncknowle and West Bexington by Matt Wilkinson and Mark Bauer:- Its two best-known features are, perhaps, the pronunciation of its name (to rhyme with ‘funnel’) and the fact that members of the 1950s Portland spy ring (Harry Houghton and Ethel Gee) would rendezvous in the village pub.