Rambling after Redwing

Yesterday 8am I set off in search of redwing around Withnell Fold nature reserve and scrapes and all I found were stripped hawthorns.... But I did spot a kingfisher hurtling down the Leeds-Liverpool canal - you never know what you're going to find.

This morning I explored Bagganley Lane and Healey Lodges. First up was an electric blue kingfisher poised on a branch over Black Brook - stunning colours in the sunlight.

Next, flocks overhead - and a chance to practise identifying them in flight. I think I've got it now: fieldfare have black tails and pale rumps from the back, pale underwings from the side. Redwing - more difficult - generally have a pale belly. Hmm need more practise with these.

And then walking the path back from the lodges to the car - flocks sooo close! Redwing flitting in the hawthorns, pale eye patched giving them away. And fieldfare at the top of the ash, the sun blending their heads and backs with the grey/brown bark, and their buff chests the same colour as ash keys. What a stunning morning.

Now, back to the redwing. How do you identify flocks in flight?
Photos of kingfisher and redwing are by Mike Atkinson. See link from this page. Well worth a visit.

Rain-rich colour of the day

It was well worth delaying today's walk until late afternoon, when we were rewarded by powder blue skies and rain-rich autumn leaves - just like freshly washed pebbles in a stream.

We climbed up to Rivington Pike (see below), then ambled back through Lever Gardens (right)


Photos copied from www.bbc.co.uk

Where daws fly into rainbows

I did a recce of my new BTO tetrad today SD51E: fields - with so much cow-hoof-mud I'd need a crane to haul me out!
But persistence found a couple of passable field sections. There are single track roads with gaps in the hedges. No parking spots and a long way to carry the scope I don't possess. I'm wondering whether I should borrow one and strap it to my bicycle - on dry, windless days!

It's a place of corvids. I saw a flock of C200 rising - the jackdaws settling on top of a line of still-leafy oaks; the bald-beaked rooks gathered like old men on a skeleton tree; several crows flew to the fields beyond. Flocks too of starlings, collard doves, woodpigeon and mistle thrush.
It's a place of grey sky and bright rainbows, where buzzard and kestrel incise the air. And where a lone wigeon sought rest.

Today's photos have been copied from the RSPB's website: www.rspb.org.uk

What Makes An Effective Review? Why Do It?

I suppose it depends who you ask. Do editors prefer entertaining reviews to help sell issues? Certainly authors and publishers hope for fair reviews - and reviews that promote the book rather than the reviewer. And readers - what do they want? An indication about the content, quality and value for money.
And what about the reviewers? What do they want? Well, my top priority is being able to sleep at night. So fairness and honesty-without-unkindness are my major concerns. And if the book has a pronounced style, I might emulate that in the tone of the review.

Over to you. What do you think?

Surreal

As I was enjoying a pocket of sunshine by walking around Croston Finney and Moss and others were clay pigeon shooting, some residents in Croston were once again having to cope with flooded homes.
This is a photo of the River Yarrow which flows through picturesque Croston. This morning the water level was very high up the wall. A few metres upstream, it had overflowed and flooded Grape Lane. A short distance downstream and it was spilling over the wall into Back Drink House Lane. And the dykes criss-crossing the Moss and Finney, although not overflowing, were becoming alarmingly full.

Sightings included four fieldfares, eight red legged partridges and a common buzzard.
Image of Croston copied from www.lancashire.gov.uk

In search of fieldfares

I've been searching for fieldfares this weekend. I saw a possible fleeting glimpse of a couple of these colourful winter visitors on Croston Finney yesterday. This morning, my colleagues humoured me by digressing slightly from our duck count route to take in areas of hawthorn where they are usually seen - but not today! Thanks anyway....
But all's not lost. We did see a pochard and a goldeneye (unusual for or area) and also a stoat dashing across the road.
And it didn't rain until we got home - can't be bad!

Photo copied from http://www.machrihanishbirds.org.uk Follow the link to some amazing photos.

The trouble with English

The trouble with English is that it doesn't have enough words to describe tastes and sounds - or does it? That was the issue raised in a recent class. It certainly seems difficult to record tastes and smells without actually naming the 'thing' being described. Referring to texture and the eating precess helps.

But we did find another powerful link. It seems that taste and smell evoke memories. (I can't walk through woodsmoke without being transported back to my days as a Guide leader.) So maybe we should record these associations to lead readers to similar sensory sensations.
What do you think?