Beauty Queen - Roxy Music

There was an unexpected but most welcome visitor at the weekend, but not the weekend just past but the one before. It's doubtful I'd get away with saying things have been busy around here, but much of my time has been taken up this week with the memoirs and other things. It was, as ever, great to see Dave Foot making the most of his journey from Weymouth to take a look at Blashford Lakes only a 15 minute drive over the border into Hampshire. It should be said from the start that weather conditions and the distance from most of the birds proved impossible for photography, so most of the images that follow are taken from the Archive.

Returning to the Memoir, and thumbing through the Diary for 1971 I came across a long forgotten fact and most pleasant meeting in that year. Only having been out of the Royal Navy for a couple of months, in the interim I joined the Merchant Navy where, on my first ship I was pleased to meet a character indeed, Albert (Nobby) Clark, Nobbler or Nobby Stokes to you. On our first trip away he invited me to his home for a drink and to meet his wife, which on our return I did with great pleasure. On arrival at Sutton Poyntz, just east of Weymouth, outside of their house stood a brand new, yellow, Chevrolet Corvette and immediately thought there was something Nobby had not told me. Within, I met his wife and in turn her daughter (Nobby's Step Daughter) Lesley and as is my usual style went Continental kissing her lightly on each cheek. It wasn't until later, over the promised drink, that the subject of the car was brought up only to find it belonged to

 LESLEY LANGLEY

who it was revelled was

Lesley Langley (born 1945) from Weymouth, England was Miss United Kingdom and Miss World in 1965. She became the third woman from her country to win the title, and the second Miss United Kingdom in a row, thus becoming the second country to have back-to-back winners. Sweden was the first, winning the inaugural pageant in 1951 and the second pageant in 1952. She attended the Royal Merchant Navy School, near Wokingham, Berkshire, (now known as Bearwood College) in the 1950s. During her tenure she met and married Jazz organist Alan Haven and they had one daughter named Chloe. They divorced and Lesley later worked as a Dental practise assistant. She played a small part in the James Bond film Goldfinger and also became the front cover in 1967 on Weymouth's Official Holiday Guide, with photos inside.

Lesley with other competitors in the 1965 Miss World Pageant.

Now, hands up if you have ever kissed a Miss World!

Having thrown a bucket of iced water over myself, it's back to business.

 COAL TIT

 CHAFFINCH

with some kind of 'build-up' on its legs?

 GADWALL

 WIGEON

 GADWALL with COOT (foreground)

 It was only Dave who saw the 

BITTERN

 TUFTED DUCK

 GOOSANDER

'snorkling'

 GOLDCREST

and after my initial sighting

 we both caught sight of the

 GREAT WHITE EGRET

 BLACK-NECKED GREBE

 and the

LONG-TAILED DUCK

On Ibsley Water that day we saw, at great distance, no fewer

that 8 species of Gull. None of these images were taken on that day

but with such a fascinating family it is felt well worth while to illustrate

these birds from no matter what source!

 HERRING GULL

 COMMON GULL

 

 BLACK-HEADED GULL

 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL

 MEDITERRANEAN GULL

 YELLOW-LEGGED GULL

(first winter)

 RING-BILLED GULL

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

GREY SQUIRREL

GOOSANDER (swimming)

GOOSANDER (preening)

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	417
United States	178
Germany	85
Russia	23
France	18
Estonia	17
Czech Republic	16
Romania	16
Canada	11
Netherlands	9

Fire Brigade - The Move

Not wishing to trivialise matters with the 'headline' but it was a case of Best Fit!

Yesterday was shaping up to be one of those most unusual

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town

Waiting for someone or something to show you the way     Time - Pink Floyd

kind of days, until arriving back at Parley Pond and there,

preening away for all it was worth then stealing a large amount

of pond weed, was the first returning

 COOT

of the year.

The preening /stretching / feeding behaviour was thought indicative of a long flight,

thought most likely from the Fleet, a saline watercourse which runs from

Weymouth to beyond Abbotsbury and holds many hundreds, if not thousands,

of these birds.

as if by way of a Welcoming Committee a

MOORHEN

joined in.

It was 14:00 and the mood of the day was about to change to

                                       The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land.

                                       Plumes of smoke rise and merge into a leaden sky.     Sorrow - Pink Floyd

 PARLEY COURT MANOR

was ablaze.

 At least 9 Appliances attended,

 much to the bemusement of the Llamas.

 Credit to the Dorset Fire Service

 they seemed to be on site within a matter of minutes soon setting up a

Control Point

 and it is understood

Fire Crews

donning Breathing Apparatus, unusually, before arrival.

 It took some time to get the flames and

 smoke under control

 before a search could be made of the interior.

 Cause or severity of the damage is not yet known but the

GOOD NEWS

is, no one was hurt.

As for today, well another covering what has become known

(to me only) as

My Patch

and a great start relocating the confiding but amazingly mobile

WOODLARK

in addition the highest count (5) of

 SKYLARK

'on the ground' this year.

The highest count (24) of

 REED BUNTING

 between the Weed Field and Marsh behind the Eco Recycling Plant,

where there were also

 c19

 COMMON SNIPE

 along with c2 returning

GREY WAGTAIL

and finally a little bleat about having to go 'SHOPPING' today. As if this degradation

 on its own is not enough you find that Mankind is also operating

with all those little traits and annoyances.

 We all like a bit of SPACE and get it until

Mr and Mrs Let's Snuggle Up arrive.

Oh look, The Rolling Acres.
How the hell is a FFB suppose to gain access to his vehicle under these conditions?

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	451
United States	170
Germany	90
Czech Republic	59
Ukraine	27
Estonia	22
France	20
Canada	16
Romania	13
Russia	12 - YES! Russia back in the Frame, Dmitri must be having a day off?