Before I go.........

Off to Wales again, and I may or may not have internet, so here's a few for now, until I get back.

House Sparrow

The next three are a couple of Wheatears having a disagreement.

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Red Campion

Some trees

And to finish, two bunches of blossom.

See ya later

Flowers for Leontien

The press love to report in a negative way about the internet and online 'communities'.

A shame they don't report on positive things like this.

A 'blogging' friend e-mailed me recently, and asked if I would support and participate in this event.

I don't know, or have never met Leontien Vandelaar
but that doesn't matter.
Leontien is fighting a battle. A very personal battle.
A battle I hope I never have to fight.

I hope she wins

{{{HUGS}}}

To be part of this, link to Flowers for Leontien.

Something different

A very good, and old friend sent me an e-mail this morning. 

I don't usually do these, but I thought it was too good not to share.

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Congratulations to all my friends born in the 1940's, '50's and '60's

First we survived being born to mothers who smoked and drank while they carried us, and lived in houses made of asbestos..........

They took Aspirin, ate blue cheese, bread and dripping, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Our cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets or knee pads.

As children we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose, and not from a bottle.

Take-away food was limited to fish and chips; no pizza shops, MacDonald's, KFC, Subway, or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6 p.m. and didn't open on a Sunday, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink between four friends, and no-one actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles, and cash them in at the corner shop and buy toffees, gobstoppers and bubblegum.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter.

Drank milk from the cow, and drank soft drinks with sugar in them; but we weren't overweight because.....................we were always outside playing!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.

No-one was able to reach us all day.

And we were OK.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of old prams, and then ride them down the hill, only to find we had forgotten the brakes.

We built tree houses and camps, and played in river beds.

We did not have Nintendo, Wii, X-boxes, no videos or DVD films or colour TV.

No mobile phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms.

We had friends, and we went outside and found them.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits.

Only girls had pierced ears.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms didn't live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter eggs and hot cross buns at Easter time.

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th Birthdays.

We rode bikes, or walked to a friends house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them.

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet., because we didn't need to keep up with the Jones's.

Not everyone made the rugby/football/cricket/netball team.

Those that didn't, had to learn to deal with the disappointment. Imagine that!!

Getting into the team was based on MERIT.

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and throw the blackboard rubber at us if they thought we weren't concentrating.

We can string sentences together and spell because of a good, solid three R's education.

Our parents would tell us to ask a stranger to help us across the road.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora', 'Blade' and 'Vanilla'.

And YOU were one of them.

Congratulations!

You might like to share this with others who had the good luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you're at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

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Enjoy your day.

Just a few

Just a few more birds from my recent trip to Wales.

Back there again soon.

Yellowhammer

Lesser Redpoll

Siskin

Chaffinch

and last one for now,

Little Egret

Single Sunday

Greater Stitchwort

Enjoy your Sunday

New born, and some mystery birds

Well, the birds are a mystery to me; I'm no good with wader ID.

First though, the new born.

These were taken in Wales, and the lambs had just been born.

A busy mum, because she had three little ones.

The mystery birds were taken on the beach at Porthmadog.
A row of Oystercatchers, and in front, what I thought at first, were Sanderling. But after much deliberation, and thought............and looking through a few books, I'm thinking now, maybe Dunlin?

Next one is when they took to the air.

Any ideas?

A lovely beach, and just the place to drive onto, and enjoy some chips.

And where there's a beach, and chips, there's Herring Gulls.

A good variety of weather while I was there, including some snow.

I hope the sun shines where you are today

The Look

Sometimes we get a certain 'look' from the birds and wildlife.

and a half-look from my 'boy' in the snow

Thanks for 'looking'.

Assortment of birds

A few from my recent visit to Wales; but I'll start with some spring Daffodils in the sun, also from Wales.

And now a few birds.

Chaffinch

Blue Tit

Yellowhammer

Goldfinch

Siskin

Brambling

and finally, for now,

Lesser Redpoll

In search of a Ring Ouzel

We've had a few reports of a number of Ring Ouzels around Bucks recently, so I decided I'd go and see if I could find one.

Bright and early, I headed off to Ivinghoe Beacon; a place where some have been sighted.

It was still dark when I left the car in the car park, and made my way down the path, to the steep climb up to the Beacon. And fog was here too.

It slowly got light as I began the walk upwards, and suddenly, up in the distance, three Ring Ouzels were seen in the murk of the fog. A quick bit of video, before they disappeared from sight.

I was almost at the summit, and the sun was climbing in the sky, and looking promising.

The fog seemed to be receding, and the sound of Skylarks was filling the air, as they steadily climbed upwards.

I reached the top, but no view was to be had. The fog seemed to suddenly have got thicker, and dropped like a blanket over the landscape.

Down in the sheep field, it wasn't too bad, and a group of lambs were eyeing me with some amusement.

But higher up, in the trees, a couple of Ring Ouzels were sat, also cautiously eyeing up this intruder.

 At least I managed some pictures, even though they weren't that clever.

A Meadow Pipit appeared, and sat in one of the trees,

and another Ouzel landed in the sheep field,

 which by now seemed to be attracting more fog.

I waited. Surely this fog can't last. I was getting desperate to get some half decent pictures.

It slowly began to clear, until I finally managed a fog free picture.

And one even sat in a tree, sunning himself for a while.

 That's more like it, I thought.

Down with the sheep, a couple of Wheatears were bobbing along in the distance.

And the Skylarks were still singing.

The number of Ring Ouzels suddenly increased from 3 to about a dozen. They seemed to be everywhere.

And the Meadow Pipits seemed to be out in force too.

Finally I began to get some pictures of my target bird I was pleased with.

Eventually I left, feeling very happy. I made my way back down the hill, and headed for some scrub on the way to the car park.

Willow Warblers were calling merrily in the sunshine now, and I managed a few pictures of these lovely little birds.

Almost back at the car park, and I found a sign that made me smile.

 Do we really have to warn people about this sort of thing?

I mean, come on, if it ain't yours, leave it!!

And then I spotted a group of people with binoculars and scopes.

"Are you looking for the Ouzels?" I enquired.

I pointed them in the direction where I'd seen a dozen, but the 'leader' of the group was adamant he was going 'his' way.

The wrong way.

Aaaaaa, 'grown ups'.

Enjoy your weekend.