Surprise present!

Being a gentleman 'of a certain age' (ie: old!) it's very rare for me to enjoy a completely uninterrupted night's sleep: luckily bungalow-living has its rewards, including a mere twenty foot amble down the corridor between bedroom and bathroom. Last night, as is customary, I didn't turn on any lights so as not to wake Linda. I opened the bathroom door to be welcomed by this loveliness! I thought I was being abducted!

Dinner for two!

Just because there was only the two of us for dinner, that doesn't mean there was no point in making the effort!

I cooked a mushroom, chestnut and truffle pate en croute with a red wine and port reduction and, as you can see, lots of posh vegetables and wines: to follow, I did a salted caramel sticky toffee pudding and cream. Yum!

 

 

Christmas day!

It seems to have become the fashion on some of the better-followed blogs to publish occasional 'family interest' posts, so I thought I'd go with the trend! I do have two lovely daughters, but, for their own reasons, they've both cut me out of their lives: luckily, I have two step-children too, who haven't!

A great start to the holiday (although, since Linda has now retired, every day is pretty much a holiday!) when her son Simon joined us for breakfast. A novelty for me to cook bacon (Linda and I have been veggies for thirty+ years!) but I must have got it right, because Simon woofed it up! We did the present thing after breakfast: as you can see, I neglected to remove the price tag from Linda's Kingfisher earrings!

We bought ten kilos of apples at the usual Sunday carboot yesterday and the Blackbirds and Starlings have been polishing them off with gusto. The garden has been full all morning with Pheasants, Partridges and our adopted Chicken ever-present..

 

Happy Christmas!

Just a massive thanks to friends old, new and virtual who follow my little blog: who'd've believed its audience would have grown from 5 or 6 views a day in 2012 to 200 - 300 now?

Here's to a happy, bird-filled new year!

Finch fiesta at Ranworth!

Linda and I decided on spot of fresh air this morning and thought we'd take a walk around Ranworth to see if we could catch up with the Waxwing that somebody had reported there yesterday.

In the event we didn't manage to locate our prime target, but the boardwalk through the woodland gave us great views of a large mixed finch flock, made up of Siskins, Redpolls, Bramblings, Bullfinches and Chaffinches. Out on the Broad large numbers of Wigeon, Teal and Gadwall were rafted up, while several Marsh Harriers hunted along the far shore.

Interesting to see a lone Pink-footed Goose on the grassy bank by the yacht club, as well as a few Redwings and Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Back home, a Pied Wagtail was enjoying the sausage Rolls (veggie, naturally!) left over from Thursday's jam session.

Bruce McCandless: another legend leaves Earth...

I imagine not too many people have heard of Bruce McCandless: to me he was one of the true 'greats' of the Shuttle program, being the first astronaut to fly away from a spacecraft untethered. How much courage did that take?

I first met him on board a paddle steamer on the crossing to Arran: we chatted about steam engines for an hour before I realised who he was!

 

 

Wild - and not so wild - Swans and Geese.

Linda and I had to pop over to Latham's at Potter Heigham for bird seed, so we took a quick drive around the fields and byways towards Waxham. No Cranes, but a very large flock of Greylags and Mute Swans at Horsey, while the fields by the PH bypass were crowded with Pink-footed Geese - thousands of them, but nothing special among them.

A drive along the two marsh roads around St Benet's, Ludham, gave better views of the wild swan flock: mostly Bewick's, but still a few Whoopers.

Christmas jam session...

Final jam session of the year at Heathlands last night. Most of the regulars turned up and it was a light-hearted enjoyable evening's music, with lots of Wizard, Slade and Shaky!

Only slight downer was a late arrival (who wears two hearing aids!)  who plonked himself down in front of my amplifier and then started moaning that it was too loud! I tried to point out that I was playing FBI (by request) and had to go up a notch, but - typical folkie - he was having none of it! Home for a glass of Muscadet!

A morning at Cley: last cheese scones of the year!

With miscellaneous family commitments predicating against a full day out, Brian, Norman, Linda and I met early and headed north, arriving at Cley by 8.30. First stop was the Coastguards, where a glance at the sea (through the fog!) revealed a somewhat distant Red-throated Diver. A lone sea angler had assembled a decent bag of fish: Whiting, Plaice and Dabs, using - believe it or not - pig's liver as bait!

A walk along the shingle produced a few Snow Buntings and Goldfinches, but little else, so we moved to the Reserve Centre car park, walking out to Bishop's Hide. A vast gathering of Brent Geese filled the pool, but, somewhat surprisingly, the Black Brant wasn't amongst them. Highlights were a mixed flock of Avocets, Dunlin and Snipe: in front of the hide a Little Egret fed industriously.

After coffee and cheese scones, we were about to leave when I picked up a ring-tailed Hen Harrier cruising above the reedbeds: just time for one distant shot.

And so home! A great morning in great company!

 

 

 

Redpolls are like buses: you don't see one for ages, then loads turn up!

As I mentioned earlier: I was at the Fen just before 8.00am, enjoying the beautiful misty sunrise and the frosty meadows. Brian T arrived a little after me and we walked round together checking the state of the paths. On the way we picked up a few nice bits and pieces, including a decent flock of Redpolls which included a couple of Mealies.

On the river a pike angler broke every speed limit, creating a tremendous wake: I remember a similar occurrence a few years back when a Kingfisher's nest was washed out...