Searching for the Queen

One of the frustrating things about keeping bees is that you occasionally have to locate - and isolate - the queen. As I'm sure most of you know, only she can lay eggs and therefore must be kept away from the productive honey combs. During the Winter the nucleus of the hive all huddle together for protection, so in the Spring the queen has to located and separated with a 'queen excluder'. Of course, to do this you have to pick her out from the thousands of other, slightly smaller bees. Linda has had three attempts over the past few days, but hasn't managed to find her majesty yet!

'Pink Supermoon'

Hmmmmm... Well the full Moon did look slightly larger than normal, but it wasn't pink: more of a tangerine colour! Still, as it rose above next door's roof, it was quite eye-catching.

Tuesday walk: Red Kites, Buzzards and Chiffchaffs...

Linda and I walked the circular route past Hemblington Church this morning: the weather was glorious and Linda soon had to take her coat off! Lots of wildlife interest - Muntjacs, Hares, 10+ Peacock Butterflies etc -  as well as the more predictable birds of arable land: House Sparrows, Yellowhammers, Chaffinches, Skylarks and Linnets.

Since I'm a bit of a raptor-freak, my favourites were the Buzzards and Kites we saw. although a newly-arrived Chiffchaff at the Church was good to see. What wasn't so good to note was that ten of the twelve dogs we met were not on leads, despite current government 'advice'.

Honor Blackman: 1925 - 2020

Sorry to hear about the death of Honor Blackman...  I only met her once, but we chatted for nearly an hour: if you ever bump into me, ask me the story about how we traded insults: it's a good one!

She was a really pleasant, genuine person.

Comparing lenses...

Some shots of tonight's near-full Moon, taken with a 300mm prime lens and a 500mm zoom. The very large crater near the 'limb' of the Moon is Clavius.

Linda's birthday supper!

Not the same without our friends joining us for a candlelit dinner, but still: a delicious Spanish omelette with dressed salad and garlic bread was a reasonable substitute!

Linda's lockdown birthday!

Poor Linda! I know there are literally millions of people worse off than us - particularly those living in big cities - but when you're our age, birthdays begin to be special again. Normally, we'd go into Norwich for breakfast, do a bit of shopping, have lunch and come home to enjoy a home-cooked supper (with lots of fizz!) with best chums Peter and Sue. This year that's not an option... I did make a special veggie breakfast and will try to conjure something up from what's left in the fridge. Still: I did give Linda a huge Hotel Chocolat special dark selection box for her pressie: that should keep her going!

(Even worse: it's just started to rain, so we probably won't even go for a walk!)

I see the Moon, the Moon sees me...

Some beautifully-defined craters tonight: you can even see a chain of peaks and a large rille on the floor of the crater Gassendi.

Three more walk ticks!

It looks as if the small number of mindless and selfish cretins who have been consistently ignoring advice to restrict their movements to exercise and essential journeys may very well be condemning  us all to house arrest... I hope the several dog walkers I encountered along the lanes today, who were getting out of their cars to let their pets take an al fresco crap, are proud of themselves. Still: at least the fly-tippers who seem to think the current emergency is an opportunity for risk-free dumping might have their activities curtailed.

So: if today was the last exercise walk I can take around my village, at least I saw a few good birds (and got my blood sugar down to 7.3) The three additions to the lockdown list - which now stands at 55 - were Swallow, Cormorant and Goldcrest. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that flyover Terns / Gulls / Hirundines might add to this over the coming weeks.

Funny how things work out... Gigrin Farm, Norfolk!

As some regular readers may know, Linda, Brian, Norman and I try to get away for a few days' birding each year: in the past we've 'done' Skomer, The Farnes and Flamborough. This year we'd booked four days in mid-Wales, with a visit to Gigrin Farm on the itinerary. (We'd even paid for the hides - that seems to be 'lost money'!) Of course, there's no chance of the trip going ahead, so Wood Warbler, Raven, Dipper, Pied Flycatcher etc will have to wait...

But not Red Kite! This morning's walk gave me stunning views of a beautiful Kite within a couple of miles of the front door. It was an amazing experience: when the Kite saw me, it actually flew over for a closer look, descending to within twenty feet of my head!

Apropos of nothing: is someone trying to tell us something?

I recently came across a fascinating Canadian $20 silver coin on Ebay: allegedly it is intended to show a young Canadian paddling his canoe into the future, while the reflection shows a Native American transporting furs. Hmmmmm... Am I the only one who sees a 'grey alien'?