Tales of Arabian Nights - Part II

There was a little concern from a number of readers in the Borough at the late issue of yesterday's post, highlighted by the number of "are you alright" e-Mails! Fear not kind readers, your correspondent is alive and well and preparing for his next adventure.

Reason for the tardy arrival of the daily doings was a kind invitation from my friend Lesley Brown to join her for lunch at

 

VAUGHAN'S RESTAURANT on Weymouth Quay. A novel birthday present from a close friend was a

voucher valued at 'Lunch for Two' at an establishment neither of us had visited since it was The Sea Cow many years ago. For the benefit of those who look for good places to eat, we can both thoroughly recommend this place for excellent food, good wine and polite and efficient service. Things were a little fraught when we arrived but when the dust settled there was more than adequate apology for the 'moment of madness' and we went on to enjoy Squash and Chili Soup, Moules, Roast Beef and a magic fillet of Hake. Add to that a decent Rosé and it was bon appetit.

Was it a mistake to decant to The Swan straight after the meal - Not Likely! On arrival, metaphorically speaking, we 'fell among thieves' and as can be seen a warm welcome to old friends not seen for an age.

Once known as the Mutual Appreciation Society it was great to see SHANE WARNE (no relation) and IAN JENKINS as harmonica player and vocalist for local band The Skint Imperials NICK GOMER looks on a little bewildered.

Overhearing our conversation concerning music, we were joined by this lovely couple from Stoke City, MEL and GORDON CARTLIDGE which was starter for a couple of hours running through every band we could think of. We were both extremely pleased to meet you both and hope you return soon!

So back to Arabian Knights and an early Spring visit in 2009 to Sharm al-Sheikh

where on arrival I was met by this fantastic group of Estonian tourist

with whom I enjoyed many a happy hour around the Souks, Bazaars and Coffee Shops of the city.

The pleasantries of a cool Hookah, sweet honey tea and good company was only surpassed by a visit to

the local SEWERAGE WORKS. There, I quickly made the acquaintance of Mohamed and Mohamed who were in charge of the area and granted me free access to all points. With plenty of flowing, clean water, areas of arid desert and some reed-bed it was no surprise to find

(Red-spotted) BLUETHROAT,

(White-spotted) BLUETHROAT and

many Juvenile BLUETHROAT. Other species to be found included

KENTISH PLOVER,

LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD,

and RED-THROATED PIPIT just before being attacked by a huge adult Camel. Unaware that I was perched on its favoured 'scratching mound' to get better views across the works, it cut me off from the front, while behind me was a series of cesspools and reeds. Flailing my bag and hitting it a number of times only served to heighten its attack so I was extremely lucky to look behind me and see in the distance

these 3 Sewerage Workers. In broken English they seemed to be shouting "run fast" (which I have heard of but never done) but there was only one direction available to me. The Camel did give chase but as I was now in Usain mode luckily it soon gave up. As for me, I was covered in CESS which my 3 new found friends soon cleaned off with a high power hose. Thankful for the hot sunshine and their help, it was off to some of the more distant 'pits' where there were 'hundreds' of

WHITE STORKs

many of which were approachable,

with a few flying off

while others were already airborne. Sharm is a fantastic 'birding' location, easy to get to, good hotels in all price ranges (£90 for 6 nights bed, breakfast plus evening meal), no transport problems and excursions that will take you to the heart of the Sinai and Red Sea Coast - what are we waiting for?

Finally, another superb photograph from the camera of Paul Harris of a PRIVET HAWK-MOTH LARVA, thanks Bomber and please keep 'em coming!

Tales of Arabian Nights & Days - Part 1

Still feeling a need to get things done at home, which coincides with little being seen in the field at the moment, another session of self confinement warrants another visit to the archive. Over the next couple of days I'll post some images of 2 trips to Egypt and one to Jordan, a part of the world that is full of intrigue, history and avian delights. However, having said that a lovely afternoon and evening unfolded which, accounts for the late delivery of this post, which I will have to touch on tomorrow!

 

At the foot of MOUNT MOSES, EGYPT stands the ancient St KATHERINE'S MONASTERY,

 

complete with what many believe to be the Biblical BURNING BUSH, However, there is a bird that resides here that can be found in few other locations in the world.

 

TRISTRAM'S GRACKLE could be described as enigmatic,

 

but easily seen here. Here an adult male

 

and just a little lower in the tree a juvenile.

 

In this desert region there are many sights related to in the Bible such as the SEVEN PILLARS of WISDOM, but again it was the birds I was after. 

A much welcome addition to the World List was DESERT LARK

and while ISABELLINE WHEATEAR had been seen before it would always be a pleasure to see such a bird again. Following the Camel trail up Mount Moses, the next species was going to be at greater altitude but success in finding it would depend on keeping a careful eye on the 'droppings' of those animals.

A much favoured food source of the SINAI ROSEFINCH are the seeds contained in Camel dung

and it wasn't too long before about half a dozen Males were on view

outnumbering Females 3 to 1.

 

 WHITE (Egyptian) WAGTAIL was a good find

  as the Trucial Omen Scouts descended to a lower level to begin searching a more vegetated area and finding

LAUGHING DOVE

 PARASITIC WASP and

 SARDINIAN WARBLER

Norwegian Wood - The Beatles

Another forced day at home but with the artex completed in most satisfactory style (Carl Harmsworth 07971918749 for excellent plastering and artexing) and the photo scanning continuing apace, we again rely on the latter for this post. Out of sight and probably out of mind, work onboard the thousands of oilrigs around the world continues without interruption day and night. I was fortunate to spend the final 20 years of my sea-going career on various semi-submersible installation where I was responsible for positioning, ballasting, anchoring, logistics and communications, to name but a few. One of our most challenging jobs was to re-commission the Dolphin Drilling semi-sub

BORGLAND DOLPHIN after a lengthy refit in Dusavik, Norway. Here are a few close-ups of part of that operation.

Tug secured with a stern tow,

all ship shape and Bristol fashion in the Control Room

with at least one person working

while the audience look on!

Pulling off the snow covered jetty.

In mid-harbour and about to face the North Sea.

Once positioned by 3 ocean-going Tugs, 10 of these 22 ton 'Dolphin (no relation) Flipper' anchors are deployed secured to about 2 miles of the hefty chain cable shown here. The whole evolution took about 4 days.

and A LITTLE TASTE of a RIG CHRISTMAS

The aproned Camp Boss looking after his Catering Team

and look what they produced.

 

Yum, Yum and not an alcopop in sight.

High jinx always followed a good Christmas meal, (Dave Penney a 'birding' mate as well)

these being contenders for our own slant of

THE WEAKEST LINK

while being serenaded by the Catering Crew.

The Final Celebration but not on the rig!