Category: Birds

What a dull day for the first day of the decade – 1 January 2020

Posted on by Zogman

Dull, but at least it was dry.

As predicted, bedtime was early this morning rather than late last night, and drink was taken. Therefore, it was a late rise this morning. After that a rather lazy start to the day with no attempt to achieve the required 10,000 steps or even the 250 steps per hour. The fact that I was moving at all was an achievement in itself. Scamp, however, was much better today with very little sign of the pains that had been bothering her for the last couple of days.

After a frugal lunch (piece ’n’ bacon for me and a piece ’n’ egg for Scamp), we went for a leisurely walk around ‘easy’ St Mo’s. We stuck to the new path and I took a few photos, but only a few were worth considering as PoD. The best of a bad lot was the swan’s head. Even that was poor. Hopefully there will be better light tomorrow, but I’m not too confident about that.

<Technospeak>
On the computer front, the bastardised macOS Sierra was still working on the old MBP, but it took a terrible time to boot up and I’m still not sure what exactly that patched OS is doing in the background. With that in mind I decided to do a clean install of El Capitan and to remove the ancient hard drive that’s been draining the battery for years. The reset worked well and the boot time to El Capitan is much reduced from that of the slightly illegal Sierra.

My Lightroom 6 is an upgrade version and needs proof of purchase of a previous version to install. That proof is the serial number for the original version, in my case, version 1! Today I found it at the back of a cupboard, so I can have Lightroom on my old MBP and a legal version too, because Adobe are very aggressive in their searches for illegal software. That’s tomorrow’s job, as is what someone once called “the tracery of free and shareware programs that constantly run in the background”.
</Technospeak>

Dinner was a bit of a mishmash. My steak pie was overcooked because I forgot that the Le Creuset pot holds the heat and therefore keeps cooking long after the heat has been turned off. Still it was edible and we had a civilised dinner sitting at the table as befits a New Year’s Day dinner. Scamp’s salmon seemed to fair much better than my stew. We had a bottle of Prosecco courtesy of Clive back in September, and it was one of the best bottles of prosecco I’ve had.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere for a walk or a look in the shops. It all depends on the weather. As usual.

Sun worship again – 15 December 2019

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The sun came out to play today and so did I.

Late rising this morning again because it had been a late night last night again. After talking to Hazy in the morning, and trying to remember details of The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, we had breakfast. All the while the sun was getting higher in the sky and after breakfast I simply had to go out and get some photos.

The LBJ was a bit tired (like me), so I plugged it in to charge and took the E-M1 with a zoom and the old EPL-5 with the fisheye lens and trotted off round St Mo’s. Fed the ducks and grabbed a couple of shots of a goosander and a mallard then went for a walk in the woods.

Found lots of tiny little fungi, smaller than my pinkie nail, but couldn’t quite keep them in focus. Finally moved on and got some shots looking straight up with the fisheye, the reason I’d brought it! Then I noticed the light coming through the trees and took a few of that with the same lens.
Finally headed for home where Scamp had put the coffee maker on! Thank you so much S.

After an initial look through the photos, and assuring myself there was a PoD in there, we drove in to the Byres Road to the Record Factory where music was playing, the DJ was there, but there were no dancers! Eventually Scamp and I filled the floor by ourselves and gradually, very gradually, people started to drift in. The new area for dancing isn’t nearly as big as the one we were used to in the Record Factory, but at least there are no cross-head screws sticking out of the floor! By the time we left there were about 10 people, not ten couples, just people there. Maybe it was the cold tonight, maybe there were Christmas parties on, whatever, there weren’t may people wanting to dance salsa. Plenty of cars parked everywhere, we had been lucky to get a space. Don’t know what the problem is.

Dinner tonight was a plate of soup then custard and prunes. Not a banquet fit for kings and queens, but perfectly adequate which amused JIC when he phoned.

PoD is the shot of the mallard with the lovely reflections.

Tomorrow is Scamp’s Christmas party for Gems, so I’ll probably help with that and then go somewhere quieter.

Down on the boardwalk – 12 December 2019

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Accomplished another ‘out before 11am’ .

Down to the village to pick up Isobel at 10am. Drove her to her pre-op appointment at Monklands. Thought we might go to The Fort for a cup of coffee and then pick her up again later. She reckoned it would take about an hour to get her tests done and speak to the surgeon. The satnav thought it would take about half an hour to get to The Fort from the hospital and that would leave us no time for coffee, so, as we were on the road to Drumpellier, we changed our destination to there. A cup of coffee, a bit of a walk and then check in with Isobel to see if she was ready.

It was a cold, dull day at Coatbridge, but we had the coffee and a scone each then we did go for a walk. In the cafe I snapped the high chairs because I liked the way the light shone on their chrome and the silhouette they made against the window. It would have looked better if the windows had been clean, but it is Coatbridge after all. The fact that the windows are still there is a minor miracle.

On our short walk we passed a bloke with a nice bit Nikon fitted with a long lens.  He also had a spotter scope on an equally expensive looking tripod with a smartphone clipped on to it. The only bird life I could see were a couple of swans, a goosander and about a million seagulls. (By the way, my spellchecker just tried to change ‘goosander’ to ‘goo sander’?!). Back to the bloke. Poor soul looked frozen. I wonder what he was waiting for. Flamingos perhaps? Scarlet Ibis? Spoonbills? We’ll never know. I hope he found them.

Just leaving the park, Scamp phoned Isobel, only to find that she was still waiting in the first queue for the ECG and had another three tests and therefore another three queue lined up before she met the surgeon. She said thanks very much, but she would get the bus home rather than having us wait around. We drove back home via The Fort because Scamp wanted to get some cold remedies from Boots, and because we were out anyway.

Back home I changed into my boots and old cord trousers and went for a walk in St Mo’s. The light was too low for any photography, so I fed the ducks and swans with some bread. Then I noticed the barriers were down at the boardwalk and I decided I’d have a walk on it, just to make sure it worked. It did. It held my weight. I even did a wee selfie as a reminder! Maybe they’ll ask me to cut the ribbon when it’s officially opened!

PoD was the High Chairs.

Tomorrow we may go to Perth for coffee or Larky to order new glasses.

Lost in Coatbridge – 3 December 2019

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Not the place to get lost really.

Jackie left early to go for the bus home from Glasgow. As usual she booked herself a taxi, because she didn’t want to bother us. It was good to see her. We must visit Skye soon.

We set off ourselves a bit later in search of a walk in the fresh air at Drumpellier Park on the edge of Coatbridge. It was a fine day, not sunny, not bitterly cold and dry into the bargain. A comfortable walk around an essentially dull big pond, watching the ducks and swans being ice-breakers and cutting through the thin surface layer of ice. Had a coffee and shared a muffin in the cafe and gazed out over the pond. Great view across the water and although I said it wasn’t cold, it wasn’t too warm either, so a heat in the cafe was ideal.

Drove out of the gates of the park and turned right. After about half a mile I got a bit worried, because I couldn’t remember seeing those buildings when we came in. Turned at a school, I definitely couldn’t remember that. Lost, we switched on the sat nav and asked it to find the Fort. It directed us back the way we’d come. I didn’t think that was right either, but followed its instructions for a while before I went my own way again. Nope, that wasn’t right either. Finally after checking with Google Maps, I agreed that we had to go back the way we’d come and found the proper road. Trick was to turn left on exiting the park THEN turn right. Dumplin’! ( A “dumplin’ “ is like a “numpty”, but not as stupid. )

Found the Fort and got a few things for making parcels for Christmas. Then Scamp suggested we drive in to Glasgow because Santa was going halfers with me on my Christmas Prezzy. It’s (yet) another camera. This one is new. My first new camera for a month and before that? About ten years, maybe more. So, don’t start you pair! You know who you are.

Back home it was soup and Spaghetti Carbonara for dinner. Best I’ve made for ages, although Scamp’s Lentil Soup came a close second.

Testing the camera tonight, I found a big dust bunny on the sensor. This is a new camera and the sensor has dust on it and not just a microscopic particle, this one was bit. I was tempted to take it back, but then I tried my trusty blower on it and that did the trick. It’s a nice bit of kit this. It’s a bit smaller than the rest of my M43 cameras, but has that magic 4K Post Focus trick up its sleeve. Hopefully the best of both worlds. Even better, it came with a 12-32mm lens which I loved until it fell apart on me when we were down in Wales. Hopefully this one will last longer.

PoD was a Convolvulus stem making a neat helix on a cow parsley. Taken at Drumpellier before we got lost in darkest Coatbridge.

Tomorrow, hopefully we’re dancing again and I think I’ve worked out how to do that bloody spin 4 properly.

All Good Things etc. – 19 November 2019

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One last chance for some sun before we return to sub-zero Scotland.

After breakfast we found those sun beds again and put them to good use, then the clouds started rolling in, but we didn’t mind, in fact we were quite glad for an excuse to get up and go for a walk. We walked round the garden to the manmade waterfall and there stood a heron. At first we both thought it was a fixture, a model to scare real herons away from the fish in the pond. Then it move. Camera out and grabbed a few shots. Moved closer and took a few more, as did Scamp. Finally we were almost inside zoom range and had to back off a bit, that’s how close. We walked through the cave and another photog appeared and took some photos. Still the heron blanked us. It must be really used to tourists in the hotel and the fishing must be good too.

Back to the room and did the final change into winter clothes and sealed up the bags. Taxi was due for 12.30pm we waited until 12.45 and then went to phone the help line. I was just getting put through when Scamp shouted that the taxi had arrived. I went out and all I could see was a big bus, no taxi. That’s when the bloke took my case and bag and put them in the hold of the bus. The bus was our taxi to the airport. I think we laughed all the way to the airport, just the two of us on a big tour bus!

The laughing stopped when we got through security and saw that our flight was delayed. The only one that was on the whole board. We needn’t have worried, it was only delayed by about 30mins and we were boarded fairly quickly. The captain explained that the temperature in Glasgow in the morning was -5ºc and in his words “None of the ground crew seemed to want to come out and work.” I think he was choosing his words very carefully because he really sounded as if someone was going to get one helluva bollocking when he got back to Glasgow.

Flight back was fairly uneventful and we were actually slightly ahead of time when we landed. Back home, the heating was on and the house was warm, thankfully because it was about 3ºc when we were driving into Cumbersheugh.

PoD was that heron. What else could it be

Tomorrow, believe it or not, Scamp wants to go dancing!

Heliotropic Sunbeds – 18 November 2019

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Another scorcher for our last full day, but there were a few clouds in the sky.

Grabbed those two seats again. The ones we could rotate to face the sun. Heliotropic is the word. Lay there baking for a few hours before our peace was broken by Pepe doing his round of the pools. Pepe, by the way is a multicoloured caterpillar with a big friendly smile, and is the emblem of the Kids Club at the Elba hotels. All the kids seem to love him (and at least one adult too). Once Pepe had done his round, we went for lunch.

After stuffing our faces again, Scamp headed back for more sun while I headed off to the badlands for one last walk on the wild side. Today I chanced upon a Southern Grey Shrike that was perfectly happy to pose for me. Didn’t see any evidence of its ‘larder’. Shrikes are known as ‘Butcher Birds’ because they hand their kills on the spikes of bushes. Viscious wee devils! I finally found some of the green and yellow rock plants I’d been looking for. I presume their bulbous leafs store water to see them through the dry spells. I also found a ‘Mother of Thousands’ plant looking quite graphic with its dark leaves against a light sandy background. A host of Painted Lady butterflies and a Snowy Egret completed my collection of flora and fauna for this visit. On the way back I saw one of the blokes with the carabiners and the ropes from the other day, abseiling down from the roof to wash the windows. Nice way to spend your day.

Back at the hotel, Scamp was just finishing off a cup of sangria delivered to her by a dubious Ladyboy with a dodgy lopsided wig. So she said, anyway but she had no photographic evidence to prove her story and she was just finishing off a cup of sangria. I rest my case.

The night was spent packing and consuming a few more G ’n’ Ts. Probably a few more than was good for us, but it was the last night and tonight’s entertainment was Bingo or a Quiz. G ’n’ Ts won.

PoD was the Shrike. First one I’ve seen on Fuerteventura although I did see a few on Lanzarote.

Tomorrow the dreaded flight home.

Fairy Lights – 15 November 2019

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I’d tried to avoid it, but Christmas is coming.

This morning, the inevitable happened. We’d been waiting for it and watching the weather forecasts. Pulled back the curtains and there it was. Rain. Not terribly heavy, but it was there blowing in on that constant north wind. Hmm, let’s have breakfast and make plans for the day.

Breakfast is the first chance you get to over eat in this place. I’m trying to meter my fruit intake because too much isn’t too good for my insides, but a little is good. I’ve been trying to have cereal on most mornings, then an omelette with some bacon. What are called ‘English Sausages’ have the shape of British sausages, but the content is partly sawdust, partly stale breadcrumbs and partly something else I don’t want to consider at this time of the morning. Bacon is fatty and salty. Both of these ingredients are essential to giving it a bit of taste. The omelettes are excellent and enormous.

After the morning repast we noted a fair bit of activity in the hotel. Three blokes kitted out with carabiners and ropes, clinking around with hard hats on. Then we realised they were there to put up the Christmas lights. All the way down from the ceiling on the enormous window wall to the floor. Oh dear, it’s almost Christmas.

While Scamp read in the hotel, I attempted a sketch of the rear of the hotel with its chairs, tables and palm trees. Half listening to the chatter around me of people whose plans had been thwarted by the now lessening rain. Soon it stopped and so did the sketch. Time to go for a walk.

We’d hear that the market was on in Caleta today and walked down the main drag to find that the rumours were untrue. Not a Looky, Looky man in sight! Continued on to The Trafalgar, the English pub in the town. Lunch was a bowl of hand cut chips washed down with a mug of Nescafe coffee. One of Scamp’s traditions is coffee in the English pub. After that a pint of lager each washed the coffee down!

We walked round to the harbour which is now much prettier and less interesting than it used to be. After that we crossed the sands to cut off a large corner of the road back. Today wasn’t just cool, it was actually getting cold. Scamp, of course, disagreed!

In the afternoon I went out to get some more bird pictures using the 4K setting on the camera. This time the subject was Ringed Plovers, but the abseilers got PoD.

There was a Variety Show tonight, but we’ve been to one of those before and there was very little variety on show, so we decided to give this one a miss. Played Rummikub for a while and called a halt to the day.

Tomorrow we may go to the market. We’ve checked and it is on tomorrow.

The big city – 14 November 2019

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Travelling with the ordinary folk

This morning we got the bus to Puerto del Rosario. Paid the princely sum of €2.90 for both of us to travel to the big city. About a 20 minute journey, equivalent to a ‘fast’ bus to Glasgow, but at a fraction of the cost.

We didn’t have an agenda, although Scamp wanted to go to the beach which had looked interesting the last time we were on the island. We got off near the big shopping mall and Scamp immediately found a shoe shop. There she started a conversation with two Scottish women in the shop and discovered that they were from one of the cruise ships that was berthed in the harbour.

We found our way back to the “Church with the Bar”. The bar isn’t actually in the church, but it is in the church grounds. Can’t see that happening here! We got interviewed by two students who recognised us as tourists. I was shocked, I thought we fitted in perfectly with the locals! They were doing a survey for school and wanted to know if we’d been to Fuerteventura before, what we thought of it and why we came back. The boy especially spoke perfect English. I felt ashamed of my “Two beers and where’s the toilet” in Spanish.

Lunch was in the same café we went to last time we were there and after a bit of a panic, when I thought I was eating shellfish stuffed peppers, only to find it Hake, we had a great meal for a very, very reasonable price.

There were two Cruise ships in the port. One was the gigantic Aida Nova and the other was tiny by comparison, the Marella Explorer.
It was the Marella, the two ladies Scamp met were sailing on. We walked along the prom and were forced to listen to a street drummer playing to a seemingly endless set of midi files.

Lovely and warm in Puerto del Rosario, but cool when we got back to Caleta. It took us almost twice as long to get back. We must have boarded the island equivalent of the X3 by mistake.

Went to the Island when we got back and had a couple of Mojitos (one each!) sheltering from the wind.

PoD was one of a group of little shells. About 100 meters from the sea and not near any river. How they got there in the middle of what’s really a desert, I do not know.  Also saw a Spoonbill.  Never seen one before.  Such a strange looking bird which Scamp thinks looks like a pelican from the front.  Yes, it does, but from the side there is no likeness at all.  It was interesting, but  the little shell won PoD.

Danced to Tina at night. Even got a namecheck. “My two friends from Glasgow” she called us!

Tomorrow we’re hoping to walk into town to go to the market.

Dancing and a screamer – 23 October 2019

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Wednesday is dancing day. Screamers are just nutters with a different name.

My new phone vibrated just after 12 noon to tell me it had changed numbers, back to the one I’ve had for the last eight(?) years. A result. Thank you to the bloke in EE who sorted it. Now I can go ahead and unlock the old phone.

Drove in to Glasgow and started again into the new routine, adding the subtly named Bump and Grind. After that is was a practise session for the Quickstep and the Waltz. I had problems with them both, but the room is simply too small to be able to go over these steps. Add two speaker stacks and a piano and it becomes more challenging. If you add the third complication of the thick couple Gary and Freda who will happily stop anywhere and discuss who was making the mistakes. Actually, like most couples both were at fault, but do they really need to block everyone else’s path while the blame each other? It appears they do.

Coffee afterwards and coming back from the toilet, I noticed an iPhone on the floor behind where a woman was sitting. I tapped her on the shoulder to tell her and she let out this cutting scream. Honest, I just tapped her on the shoulder. I didn’t think I was that scary, although years of S1 pupils at school might disagree. Some folk just want to be the centre of attention. Nutters by any other name.

Back home I went out for a walk with the “Big Dog”. Thinking that as it was really dull, the bigger sensor on the Nikon would handle it better than the Oly. I was wrong. Lots of grain showing on the images. I finally chose a shot of a swan as PoD.

When I got back it was time to get the sketch sorted out. The topic was “A Fried Egg”. Where do these people get their ideas from (it was an old list for EDIM actually)? It should have been fairly easy, but I’m not that good at getting eggs into the frying pan without breaking the yolk, (and that’s what I did with the first one.) Tomorrow I’m expected to continue the food theme!

I packed in early and that’s why this blog post is a catch up. Sorry!

Tomorrow Scamp has a gig and I may go in to Glasgow.

Making the change – 14 October 2019

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Today there will be no lying around. Today I will be active.

That’s what I said anyway. Out fairly early to drop off another sample at the doc’s. Don’t know what they find so fascinating about my pee, but it seems to keep them amused. Back home and today’s work schedule included cleaning the downstairs toilet. It didn’t take long, certainly not nearly as long as the bathroom last week. Probably that’s partly due to the fact that it’s a tiny little space. However I did give it the full “big clean” as one of my cleaners used to call it.

After that it was lunchtime and Scamp suggested I have a couple of slices of my excellent bread with some Wiltshire ham between. What makes the bread extra excellent is that it’s made by Prince Chic (Charles to you, but Chic to his friends). I don’t suppose Chic actually mills the flour himself, but it comes from his estate and it makes very good bread. It was also cheap at Waitrose or I wouldn’t have bought it.

When Gems came in I sat and talked to Margie for a while and showed her my sketches for Inktober. Margie is always very complementary about my work, but she produces some startling paintings herself. Veronica slipped a copy of Wildlife Photographer of the Year onto the table. It seems her son-in-law is a keen wildlife photog. I wouldn’t say that what I take are wildlife photos, more landscapes and macros. I like looking at landscape photos, but find it hard to compose them properly when I’m out and about with a camera. There’s no such problems with macros. With them the big challenges are more technical, like getting the aperture right and trying to get the best use of light. Also there’s the stalking of the tiny wee insects. Great fun, but not really artistic. On first glance at the photos in the book, I’m amazed at the quality and detail. I’ll have a good look before I have to give it back next week.

To continue the ‘active’ theme, I went for a walk along the canal and then on to the railway and that’s where I saw today’s PoD. It’s an old oak tree and I just liked the way the light hit the trunk. It was good to be out in the fresh air under  a blue sky for a change. Took a few more shots, but you’ll have to visit Flickr to see them.   Walking back along the canal, I saw a goosander surface quite close to me with a fish in its beak.  Knew I didn’t have time to grab the camera from my bag and focus, so I just watched it for a while.  It looked quite pleased with it’s early dinner.  Back to M&S for the makings of our own dinner and while I was traipsing around, I got the signal that I’d completed my 10,000 steps. Happy.

Dinner tonight met with a mixed reception. I thought it was great, Scamp was more critical. It was Prawns with Spaghetti and Courgette Spaghetti. Scamp didn’t like the dill that was in it, I didn’t mind. Maybe needs a bit of work.

The topic for today was “A Rowing Boat”. There aren’t many rowing boats lying around waiting to be sketched in the Central Belt of Scotland, so this one came straight out of my head. I quite liked it.

The plan for tomorrow is to get up early and then go to the seaside. Not sure if that will be east or west coast, but the weather looks like it will be fairly dry.