I Am The Walrus - The Beatles

What could be worse than an evening of 'holiday snaps'? Having been at Parley Court for a whole day now, I thought this was the Dampney way of saying "time to go Bagsy" but I didn't take the hint despite sitting through about an hour of boredom looking at the likes of these.

Hugh and his mother Joan are recently returned from a cruise around Spitsbergen with some most uninteresting images.

I am the WALRUS goo goo g'joob,

followed by one of the 3 Gulls in the World that I still have to photograph myself,

IVORY GULL

POLAR BEAR

POLAR BEAR

 

HUMPBACKED WHALE

ARCTIC FOX

REINDEER and

FINWHALE the second largest creature on Earth! Now feast your eyes on what I saw today.

GREY SQUIRREL collecting nuts

and burying them as a winter larder,

before approaching and giving some excellent close views.

PIED WAGTAIL and

ROOK before spotting something a little more unusual. On first sighting this Duck on the Parley Pond was thought to be a

MANDARIN but not in a state of plumage I had ever seen before? Seeming nervous and very flighty it was only allowing for brief glimpses and the occasional photo. Armed with these I went for the Field Guide, 'Madge and Burn' but remained no more enlightened. Calling in the cavalry,

the general consensus was that it was in fact a male MANDARIN in eclipse plumage. This is the first record at Parley Court Farm, a great end to the day. PS the Apprenticeship is continuing apace!

Tales of Arabian Days - Part III

Although I arrived at Parley Court Farm mid-afternoon yesterday it was still though worth while to publish the final episode of Arabian Nites, and give me a days grace to get the visit underway. Here to start my 3 days apprenticeship in 'animal management and care' before attending Jim the Medic and Liz's wedding at the week-end I will then be taking charge of  3 dogs, a dozen chickens (and hopefully a dozen eggs), 2 goats plus looking after the farm house while my friends the Dampney family enjoy a well earned holiday in Canada.. On the way from Weymouth we saw a tardy Turtle Dove at Red Post which I had all but given up on for this year, so a good start.

Meanwhile, back in Jordan a visit to the 'Rosine City' of Petra accessible via a

narrow passage through the mountainside

which is timed to coincide with 'sunrise' to get the first glimpse of

AL KAHZNEH or THE TREASURY

The URN TOMB

and THE MONASTERY. From there it's a couple of hours drive south to the Port of AQABA for the fast Hydrofoil crossing of the Gulf of the same name and back to NUWEIBA, Qesm Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt. Along the coast road back to Sharm el-Sheikh there is a wealth of bird-life to see, many of them Gulls

such as adult PALLAS'S GULL (with their distinctive 'black head' and bulky bill)

 

 while younger birds don't show the 'dark bonnet' until adulthood.

BALTIC GULL

DESERT WHEATEAR

This shot shows GREAT CORMORANT in the distance, while on the sand bar left to right are 2 PALLAS'S GULLS, SPOONBILL and probable SIBERIAN GULL.

SLENDER-BILLED GULL

SOOTY GULL this one seemingly intent on drowning its mate

while others show more elegance.

A SPUR-WINGED PLOVER

STEPPE (BARABENSIS) GULL

WHITE-CROWNED BLACK WHEATEAR

WHITE-EYED GULL

YELLOW-VENTED BULBUL.

and finally a wander through the COLOURED CANYON.

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!