The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix

Well, it would appear my theory on 'readership' was right as will be seen at the end of this post. It is intended, when time allows, to dig out a few photos from my extensive journeying throughout the United States of America (every State) which may reach some of the many friends I have made there over the years! Today has been a sunny yet chilly day, mainly down to the breeze now coming in from the north west, and without a sign of rain. All 3 traps were deployed last night which only saw a mitigating disaster as first of all one of the lamps exploded while secondly there was only one Moth captured which was

 CHESTNUT

 Even before leaving Parley, on what was a necessary but all too short visit to Weymouth and Portland,

STARLING

predominated along with the now daily 'fly-past' of at least 100 Jackdaw and the arrival of c2 Fieldfare in the garden - good start! My business commitment soon completed I hightailed it to the

 PORTLAND BIRD OBSERVATORY

where by and large things were quiet except for this exquisite

 MOTTLED UMBER

With time at a premium my visit there was cut to 10 minutes before heading down to the coast in the hope of catching up with some sea-birds.

Viewing from the

TRINITY HOUSE OBELISK

most action was of the 'boating' kind

 with this SPEEDBOAT cutting close under Bill Point,

 a PORTLAND CRABBER

working the 'ledges' close off-shore

 

 while the CHARTER ANGLING BOYS

seemed to have enough clientele to keep the tills ringing.

 

Talking of Trinity House and the Obelisk, which was built in 1844 as an 'aid to mariners' before such luxuries as Satellite Navigators, there was a connection out to seaward.

Trinity House Multi Functional Tender (MFT) PATRICIA 

works around the coast of England, Wales and the Channel Islands undertaking aid to navigation maintenance work, towing, wreck location and marking amongst other projects. This morning she appeared to be heading for the Shambles Bank a 'sand bar' a couple of miles south-east of Portland which is a serious danger to mariners. I have personally been involve in pulling 3 large ships (no names no pack-drills) off this bank during my days as a Towing Master.

The bank is marked at each end by a (tower-like) buoy known as a Cardinal Marks, all of which are painted with a set combination of black and yellow bands and have a 'distinctive top mark' and flashing light. The aim of the 'top mark' (constructed of 2 black cones) is to guide the Mariner to areas of 'safe water' each indicating N, S, E or WEST as in the case of the buoy on left of picture. North Cardinals show both 'cones' point up and South points down. The characteristics of each light is shown in shortened form such as Q(9) 15s (W Shambles) meaning 9 Quick Flashes every 15 seconds. The 'red bar', lower right, indicates a continuous red light shown from the 'active'

PORTLAND BILL LIGHTHOUSE

also a warning to the Mariner.

 

The main LENS of the Lighthouse.

 At last some bird-life as a small party of

COMMON SCOTER

fly west.

These were followed by the appearance of c2 flighty

 BLACK REDSTART

 This being the darker of the two.

 As the PATRICIA turned to 'stem' the West Shambles Buoy

another Cardinal Mark could be seen on her foredeck. With the shape of the 'top mark' being 2 black cones 'bases together' it was likely the East Shambles Buoy from the other end of the bank. It is part of the Trinity House function to maintain all Navigation Marks around our coast, which can be done in a number of ways. Total replacement (one for one) is an option when things need major repair, but in this case it is likely the 'marks' were lifted to the ship, maintained by the crew, then relaid.

 Another slightly larger flock of 

COMMON SCOTER

flying south along the west cliff, were accompanied by Kittiwake, Shag, Cormorant, Common Gull, Guillemot, Gannet and Great Black-backed Gull all at some distance.

 A RAVEN

perched conveniently close by on the chimney of the 

Lighthouse Cottage

 until flying overhead to find 'carrion' on a block of Portland Stone.

 The view from Bill Point along the East Cliff

 THV PATRICIA

now with both buoys safely aboard, the second with 'wine glass'

top-mark, points together.

 COMMON KESTREL and

COLLARED DOVE

were the last birds to be seen before a swift cup of coffee with

The Secret Lemonade Drinker

ended my stay. It is hoped to return soon!

The Readership of the United States of America surge ahead of the United Kingdom for the first time since the Bagsy Blog has been in production. Thanks to all our 'friends' over there (known or unknown) and as previously stated we will try to publish some US photos soon, but feel we will not be able to represent every State.  

THANK YOU ALL!

Entry	Pageviews
United States	1165
United Kingdom	962
Germany	79
Estonia	48
France	17
Italy	16
China	15
South Korea	13
Spain	8
India	7

America - The Nice

OK, it is a little cooler and there was something of a frost but what a dawn with Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers both vocal, Redwings also calling from above and Jackdaws now forming 'hunting parties' of 3 figures.

 Given the forecast, all 3 traps were run last night and as can be seen not switched off yet (centre shot).

 PHOEBE, a neighbours dog, and FLIPPER, the love of Janet's

life seemed to be enjoying the 'crunchy' sensation as they dashed 

across the lawns and I set about clearing the traps.

The River STOUR was also a picture shrouded in fine mist.
Stepping in the moist silence, with a warm breeze he's gently kissed.
Thinking he is quite alone, he enters the room as if it were his own
But ripples on the sweet pink water reveal some company unthought of.
Rael stands astonished doubting his sight, struck by beauty, gripped in fright;
Three vermilion snakes of female face, the smallest motion, filled with grace.
Muted melodies fill the echoing hall, but there is no sign of warning in the siren's call: 

"Rael, welcome! We are the Lamia of the pool.
We have been waiting for our waters to bring you cool.”

 The Lamia - Genesis

Clearing the traps was simplicity itself, only 3 Insects

RED-LINE QUAKER

our 'third'

NOVEMBER MOTH

and yet another FEATHERED THORN

Job done, next on the agenda was to visit

family friend JEN, down in the paddock with usual mount HONEY,

and to meet new arrival, miniature Cart Horse
ALFIE.
After the traps and the photo calls I was off to

about 15 miles from the farm and on the mainland bank of the
SOLENT
the stretch of sea separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland.

In the shadow of HURST LIGHTHOUSE and

HURST CASTLE
I was once again in search of another 'rare' bird.

Some people's behaviour just sometimes completely baffles me!

Just on the left of the bridge is a 'HUGE' sign saying simply
ROAD CLOSED
with still a few hours of rising tide to go.

Are you fed up with photographs of

The NEEDLES ROCKS and LIGHTHOUSE yet?
There seem to have been a few of late.

Before commencing the search I was lucky to meet a couple of local 'birders', but unlucky to find that the 'target' bird had not been seen. They did however direct me to Sturt Pond, a pool of water behind a huge shingle bank fed by the sea, where there is also a large field of lush grass ideal for feeding Geese.

LAPWING
were obviously taking advantage of the food supply close by, but
there was only one Goose in the field afore mentioned.

That's when the BRENT GEESE started flying in from seaward

increasing the chance of location the bird.

While about 100 of them dropped into the area I was still at a loss. Walking the bank back to the car, I noted another 'raft' of Geese some way off-shore and decided to collect the telescope and give them a looking at.

Rounding a bend just before the bridge more came into view

much closer to the shore. A short wander along the coastal path was thought to be a better Plan B, without the 'scope, bringing the desired result. There, no more than 30 feet away, was the resplendent

 
RED-BREASTED GOOSE
 

A 'rare vagrant' to Great Britain that breeds in Arctic Siberia, mainly on the Taymyr Peninsula, with most wintering along the northwestern shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine (occasionally moving further southwest to Greece), and some winter in Azerbaijan.

Being a common and favourite species in captive wildfowl collections, escapees outside its usual range are fairly frequent raising some conjecture as to the provenance of this individual..

It is said to bear a 'ring' which was not seen by myself, which could conclusively prove its origin but until that is disclosed there is one other reasonable argument for it as a truly 'wild' bird. It has left this area with the flocks of Brent Geese for a number of years now and returned, again in company, to over-winter. Until the conundrum is resolved, I for one will consider it as 'wild'. On my return to the farm there was still much interest from 'above' as this

SPITFIRE

took off and landed at Bournemouth International Airport
a number of times.

HOUSE SPARROW

at the feeders, just to keep my hand in.

It would seem that the recent dramatic rise in readership lies with our friends in the United States of America. It seems obvious that being base here in England that the UK would always field the largest number of readers, but I have often wondered if the US might catch up one day. As will be seen there is only a very small 130 difference on today's count, so who knows our cousins across The Pond may just be in the overtaking lane. FANTASTIC to greet you wherever you are from!

 America - The Nice 

(later to be known as Emerson, Lake and Palmer)

Nice were probably one of the first bands to bring 'theatre into Rock as we found out at the 1969 Bath Blues Festival. Carl Palmer was quite content sat on hid Drums stool hammering away, while his mate Greg Lake knocked out some impressive Bass lines. Not so the slightly eccentric Keith Emerson who would stab a huge Bowie knife between the keys of his electric piano, keeping the note continuous, then race to the other side of the stage and throw the rest of the collection of cutlery into the back of his wall of keyboards, Them wuz the days!!

Entry	Pageviews
United States	1118
United Kingdom	988
Germany	70
Estonia	39
France	21
Italy	15
China	14
South Korea	13
India	9
Ukraine	7