Category: Birds

Auld Claes and Purrich – 13 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Back to normality whatever that is.

A sleep in your own bed is a wonderful thing, as is not lacing up the dance shoes every day. Some of the glitz and glamour had gone, though, and even I missed that, but it’s good to get back to the grind too … for a while.

My first appointment today was with writing up the blog posts for the past three days before the small details vanish from my head. I know I won’t remember everything with complete clarity, but if I get most of the things down on digital paper, hopefully some time in the future I’ll read a blog written today and say “Oh, yes! I remember that.” And then the Tony Buzan hooks will connect with other memories of that day in the past and another light will come on. It works for me, every time I read last year’s blog.

I had Friday finished and Saturday well on its way when I had to stop to go for my blood-letting appointment. Blood samples for my annual medical review. Or “CHRONIC disease review” as our Medical Centre calls it. I hate the stigma of chronic disease and especially the screaming all caps. Is that really necessary? It feels so dirty, and I do believe they do it to frighten the unwary. Not the nicest medical centre and certainly not the most caring.

I’d been asked to bring back a loaf on the way home and I also got some blueberries, but that was almost all the fruit that was available at Tesco. It was blueberries and that was it. I drove back home in an improving weather picture. The clouds were breaking and the torrential rain we had in the morning had stopped, thankfully.

After lunch which was a piece ’n’ bacon and a piece ’n’ jam (so main course and dessert!) I settled down to finish off Saturday.

By 2.30pm the light from earlier was fading and I thought that if I was going to get any PoDs today I’d have to get my boots on and go soon. So that’s what I did. The PoD was one of the last shots of the day. Half a dozen Canada geese were joined by a Coot in a new extension of the pond at St Mo’s. This new quiet section seems to be attracting a lot of attention in the latter part of the year. That’s good to see.

Tomorrow, Scamp is booked for coffee with Shona. I’m not sure what I’m doing, but I do have a bit computer reorganising to do.

Two new cameras – 15 September 2023

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Well, not exactly new, but not been used in a very long time, so maybe nearly new.

<Technospeak>
Scamp was out keeping fit in her FitSteps class and I was looking for an SSD I’d misplaced. I eventually found it, but not where I thought it would be, and in the process I came upon two old cameras I hadn’t used in a very long time. One, the E-PL1 is really ancient at 13 years old and beginning to show its age. The other, the E-PL5 is 11 years old and still going strong. Both are based on the four thirds system where the proportions of the length to the height of the images is in 4:3. Both have much smaller sensors than my full frame camera, and for that matter my APS-C camera, but today I got them both working and producing some decent images. The E-PL5, especially, would make a decent pocket camera with a couple of compact lenses. I was quite chuffed with that Friday morning’s work. Not sure Scamp agreed. She’d much rather they were consigned to the bin, but she doesn’t get a vote in the photography stakes!
</Technospeak>

Lunch was a Piece ’n’ Banana each, then I went out to get the makings of tonight’s dinner which turned out to be a disaster. We’d made it last week and it ended up a claggy mess. Tonight the result was the same although we had the correct ‘Skin on – Bone in’ chicken thighs and were using paella rice instead of orzo. We hardly ate any of it and settled for a bag of M&S puffy crisps instead. I think we’ll just cut that page out of the magazine and burn it. Such a waste of good ingredients.

While I was waiting for the oven to warm up so that I could start the Disaster Dinner, I watched two blackbirds and a starling stripping the rowan berries from the tree in the back garden. What was I thinking? I had no PoD and here was not one, but two perfect subjects. But alas and alack, when I returned with the camera, they had gone. I waited a while and when they didn’t return I put the chicken in the oven to roast. Then I saw a thrush wandering around the garden, possibly scrounging the rowan berries the other birds left behind. I didn’t think twice and took a series of shots on an old manual focus Tamron 70-300mm (that’s long) lens and with a bit of work in Photoshop, ON1 2023 and Lightroom that became PoD.

After we shared the washing up we discussed plans for tomorrow because it’s a Saturday without an early rise to drive to Brookfield. As usual if and where we go will depend on the weather. I might even take one of my new cameras!

Signs of change – 9 September 2023

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Maybe the last of the really hot weather for this year.

We had half intended to take the train to Edinburgh, but neither of us were all that bothered about getting out and about today. The clouds were low and the sun was taking a lazy day too, not trying to break up the clouds. Which meant that by the time we were up and organised, it was too late to go to Edinburgh.

While we’d both been reading after breakfast in bed, we’d heard the ominous thump of a bird hitting what sounded like the back room’s window. When I got up I found the body of a thrush lying beside the back door. It looked like the poor wee thing hadn’t suffered and had broken its neck in the impact. I disposed of the wee body.

Instead of Edinburgh, we went to Tesco. We’d chosen a recipe to try out. Chicken Thighs with Apricot Jam and Roasted Cauliflower. It sounds a bit cobbled together, but it was worth a try. We drove to Tesco to get the ingredients, but didn’t go any further. Really, it was one of those days when we were just waiting to find out when, rather than if the rain would come. Never one to sit back and wait, Scamp suggested we strip the bed and get some washing done, so that’s what we did, and it went in to the washing machine and out onto the ‘whirly’ before lunch. Lunch was a pizza that had been languishing in the fridge for almost too long. Almost, but not quite.

This weekend was the Ayr Air Show and although we’d decided not to go, instead I found a live feed on YouTube from Ayr and spent a good hour watching the planes go through their paces. It wasn’t as good as actually being there, but I was sitting in our living room, not wandering around the Low Green with a couple of thousand other folk. I sent Alex a message and sent him the link to the website. He texted me back to say that the Red Arrows had just flown over his house in Motherwell heading north east and then returned flying south west! Some folk just need to be better than you!

The Chicken Thighs with Apricot Jam and Roasted Cauliflower traybake turned out a lot better than I thought it would, but strangely, the star was the roasted cauliflower! Tomorrow I’m booked to make starter (focaccia) and pudding. Scamp is in charge of the main course.

It being a lazy day, I took today’s photo in the garden. It’s a close-up of a Rudbekia flower and it turned out better than I anticipated. An easy PoD.

It rained this evening. The first real rain we’ve had for about a month. The gardens really need a good soaking rain and this might just be the start of that. Thunder storms forecast for tomorrow

No plans for tomorrow, for obvious reasons!

Out to Lunch – 25 August 2023

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It was Scamp who suggested that we go out to lunch today.

In the morning she went to her FitSteps class and I did some housekeeping. Actual, physical tidying-up housekeeping, but also the more interesting and almost invisible housekeeping on the computer. I was searching for a sofa bed that I knew was in the back bedroom / painting room / spare room. I’d seen it recently under a pile of books, a rucksack and a blizzard of paper. After some rearranging of things, a disposing of rubbish and just finding better places for jackets and hats to live, there, under it all was the sofa bed. It’s not completely unearthed yet, but now I know where to look the next time I might need it.

The computer clean-up took longer, although there was far less physical work involved. It’s so easy to get sidetracked into looking at photos you haven’t seen for a while and then that leads to more photos that look interesting until nearly an hour has gone and you still haven’t accomplished what you set out to do. It was when Scamp returned I realised that I was only half way through the clean up or what became a clear out. However I did manage to get the required photos put in the bin and their replacement put in place. I’ve still to empty the bin, because, well, I’ll need to check that I wasn’t throwing good photos out with the bad, and you never know when I’ll need that one or that one or …

I shut the computer down. I powered it off and we went out to lunch, just as the rain came on. Thankfully it didn’t last long because we’d agreed to walk down to Broadwood Farm for a cheap lunch and a glass of something alcoholic. After all it was Friday and the end of the historical working week. Not that I’ve been involved in any working for a while now, but you have to keep these traditions alive! Fish & Chips for Scamp and small carvery for me. Small because that means two of the three meats that are always available, Gammon, Turkey and Cardboard. It’s actually advertised as Roast Beef, but it’s so dry the gravy won’t be absorbed into it and it tastes like cardboard, so let’s cut to the chase here and call it what it is – Cardboard. Some mixed veg and Cauliflower Cheese brightened up the plate and actually the food was good, washed down with a pint of Tennents for me and a glass of 19 Crimes Red for Scamp. The father of a family sitting on the other side of the room had a broad southern Irish accent, and although he was speaking quite loudly, I couldn’t understand more than about three words in every sentence. This got me thinking: Is that what I sound like to English folk? I must ask Simonne the next time we meet. Scamp thinks Simonne can probably decode my accent by now!

Back home the streets were drying, but not for long. I was just thinking I might get an hour in St Mo’s when down it came, straight down rain. As soon as it had disappeared to bother somebody else, I got my boots on and went for a walk with the A6500 and a 50mm macro lens. The 50 did its magic again. 50mm used to be the lens to stick on your camera. A general purpose go anywhere lens that could handle most things. That part hasn’t really changed, but having the ‘macro’ part means it’s possible to focus down to about 30mm from the front of the lens and still get super sharp images. Kind of two lenses in one. Today it took a photo of a swan drying its wings while standing on a rock in the middle of St Mo’s pond – the swan was standing on the rock, not me, BTW! Daft, but not stupid. It took a photo of a tiny, about 3mm long spider on a web. Last, but not least it took a photo of a Red Admiral butterfly sunning itself on a bush. First red admiral I’ve seen this year and even better, there were actually two of them! The butterfly got PoD and the other two are able to be viewed on Flickr.

Swans are sneaky things.  You’ve only got to ask Jamie about their wiles!  The one referred to in the previous paragraph successfully enveigled itself into the photograph, but it’s now been bounced out and replaced with the butterfly.  Swan’s! You can never turn your back on them for a minute.  Ask Jamie!

A thin G&T each tonight because we’re out early tomorrow intending to drive to Brookfield to demonstrate that we have been practising the Outside Spin, if not the Cross Basic.

Dunfermline Toon – 6 July 2023

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Off to meet my brother and drive to Dunfermline today.

The weather wasn’t as good as was predicted earlier in the week, but we’ve never let that stop us before and it wouldn’t today. After our traditional coffee we discussed our plans for the day. We were in the Peacock cafe which was chock full of screaming toddlers but a peacock, a real one, was parading around outside the cafe seemingly unaffected by the mayhem inside. I suggested we might start by going to visit the rest of the peacocks that roam free around the park. We saw a white peacock among the other ‘normal’ ones. Apparently only one in 30,000 peacocks is white. There you are, I bet you didn’t know that.

We walked back to find the path that would take us over the burn and up to the Abbey Church. On the way we stopped to watch a boy and his father (?) flying a small electric powered radio controlled Messerschmitt Bf109. The tiny little plane had a wingspan not much more than 400mm, but flew well. I think we both though “I want one!”, but we walked on and found the path.

The Abbey Church is a beautiful building and much better lit than Glasgow Cathedral, Alex commented, and I had to agree. We took a lot of photos and my favourite was the shot of the main part of the church, the ‘modern’ church. It’s a combination of two shots that allowed me to ‘paint out’ visitors who spoiled the view of the alter. That became PoD. As we were walking through the Nave on our way out of the church the rain that had been threatening all day came down in torrents and we waited until it had moved on before we left.

Lunch was in Wetherspoons in Dunfermline and again, just as we were leaving the rain became heavier, so we waited until the rainclouds had passed before we went for a walk up the Main Street, than back down to the park for the drive home.

I dropped Alex at the station and about ten minutes later got a text to say he was on the train. Dinner was Fish Fingers, Egg and Spaghetti. A family favourite.

Watched Andy Murray battering a ball about for a while and managing to start making inroads on his younger opponent’s initial lead. Poor Andy looked as if he’d done himself a mischief just before clinching the set. The umpire actually called “New Balls Please” just after it happened! Let’s hope they weren’t needed.

No plans for tomorrow, but the rain is lashing down again tonight as I write.

Outside toilet – 1 May 2023

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Today the weather fairies got it wrong. They predicted a dull day and it turned out bright and sunny.

I have a lot to do on the first day of the month. Screensavers to be created, files and folders to be moved, folders of pictures to be backed up and then rejected photos to be deleted. Today was no different. Eventually, when all was running normally again, we decided we’d better go out and make the best of the day before it all slipped away.

Scamp wanted to go to Drumpellier for a walk through the woods, and so did an awful lot of folk on this surprisingly sunny May Day. All around us seemed to be dark and cloudy, but for once we were sitting in the sweet spot, at least we were when we finally found a parking place.

Off we trudged on the conveyer belt with all the other folk walking round this big pond. But we knew we could get off the travelator and into the woods. It’s good to see the colour returning to the trees after so many weeks of bare branches. There were a lot fewer folk on these paths through the woods and at times we seemed to be the only people walking these pathways. Eventually we found our way back to the main circuit at the far end of the loch. I had taken a few shots in the woods, but not very many. We walked round to the ice cream van and had a cone each. With raspberry, but without a flake. Scamp was quite firm about that. No 99s today, even if it is a bank holiday.

We sat on a bench, eating our cones and watching an asian bloke with two little girls in tow, in tow, but not under control. Poor man was run ragged chasing one then the other to keep them from falling into the loch while the girls just seemed to ignore him, so that they could throw stones in the water. Just weans having fun and taking more than a little leeway with their dad.

As we were walking back to the car I saw a photo opportunity with three gulls on the big Whale’s Tail sculpture that sits out in the water. I climbed over a couple of rocks and sat down on one to get a nice low viewpoint for the shot across the water, when I heard a woman’s voice behind me saying “What’s he doing?” Another woman answered, “I think he’s doing the toilet!” Then a man’s voice said “He’s taking photographs!” Oh, the ignominy of it. To be thought to be performing your bodily functions outside in Coatbridge. I’d never live it down! However, it did make me smile. “Doing the toilet”, indeed! No wonder photogs get a bad reputation.

We drove home before the polis came. After a late lunch and after checking that I did indeed have a PoD, I set to work on the first sketch for a long while for Every Day in May, or EDiM for short. The first one is complete and can be seen on Flickr and Facebook. It was tough going. This was the best of three attempts.

Today’s prompt was A Waffle.
I don’t eat waffles as a rule, although I can be enticed into having one when we’re on holiday.
Today’s sketch was of what I would have if I did eat waffles. My toppings would be blueberries and strawberries, plus maybe some melted chocolate, just to make it little bit less healthy!

Some interesting topics this time round.

Hoping for some more bright sunny weather tomorrow to get out and about in.

Happy Birthday to Me – 8 April 2023

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Out for a walk with the prospect of a posh dinner in the evening.

Jamie, Simonne and Vixen went to Run Free in the morning, but we stayed at home and lazed about.

After lunch, Jamie drove us all to Levington on the River Orwell for a walk. We walked from The Ship Inn down through the dried reed beds to the river. From there, Simonne suggested we walk west along the banks of the river. We walked for about a mile to Nacton Shores then turned north for a few hundred yards, then north east through woods until we reached a road. We followed the road back to the pub at Levington where we had a refreshing drink before being driven back to the house.

Back at the house it was time to get ready for dinner. We were booked at the Brewers in Rattlesden for 6pm. First thoughts were that it was just a noisy pub with ideas above its station. How wrong can you be?!

Starter:

Seatrout tartare for Scamp
Lobster risotto for Simonne
Lamb + black pudding for Jamie and me

Main:

Scallops for Scamp
Beef fillet with kale for Simonne and Jamie
Pork belly with black haggis for me

Dessert:

Treacle tart for me
Date pudding for all the rest

All washed down with a variety of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, from zero alcohol beer to a porn star martini.

On the drive home through the gloaming along the misted narrow lanes that populate this countryside, we passed a statuesque looking deer that watched us, fearlessly, not 50 metres away in a borderless field. Countless pheasants risked life and limb by darting out in front of the car, but Jamie saw us safely back to the house without turning a hair.

A rum and coke each finished off our day while we watched a strange South African series with far too much swearing (and not ‘good’ swearing either) and a dialog that switched constantly from Afrikaans (with subtitles) to English. If you’re looking for it, don’t. It’s called Unseen. Might have been better all in one language and using actors who can act.

Tomorrow the weather fairies say it’s going to rain.

Ducks and Crocuses – 3 March 2023

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Apparently Crocuses, Crocus and Croci are all acceptable plurals for more than one crocus. Just thought you might like to know that.

I had a lazy morning today, to balance out the day because Scamp was off FitStepping. I sat and read for a while and then checked in with Flickr. I might even have snoozed for a while, and by that time Scamp had returned from her exercise class.

Lunch was soup, that last of it – three day soup is pretty good. After that, Scamp was off to chop more of the plants in the front garden. I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s. Found and photographed a bunch of crocuses in St Mo’s. Now crocuses are not wild flowers, so these ones must have been planted in the grass park and were just growing in the wild. They made PoD. I also did a check on the ladybirds which are still nestled in their various trees. Final photos were of a couple of Mallards which usually take off as soon as they see me. I was careful today and got fairly close while I changed the camera setting to Continuous Shooting which means the camera will take a rapid set of shots until I release the shutter button. As soon as the birds took off, I pressed the shutter and followed them as the climbed into the air. I got one clear shot from the seven I took, which I ‘fiddled’ by enlarging it in ON1. It’s a bit rougher than the original, but it does a good job of enlarging the photos without losing too much detail. It still didn’t beat the crocuses.

Read a bit more of my book when I got back and almost fell asleep on the couch.

According to the weather fairies we may be getting some snow next week. Not sure about the detail yet, and we may miss it, but best to be prepared. I’ll put the snow shove in the car again.

Hoping for a long lie in tomorrow with the prospect of dancing later.

At last, a walk in the sunshine – 6 January 2023

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Today we managed to go for a walk. It was cold, but it didn’t rain.

We drove to Drumpellier and went for a walk through the woods. Lots of folk out doing just the same thing, although to be honest most of the folk were doing circuits of the pond. Not our idea of fun, now that we’ve discovered the variety of paths through the woodland. Some are official paths, but there are a lot more that are just paths trodden by walking feet and although many are mucky and slippery, they are more interesting than the official paths.

I took a few photos in the woodland, but the best by far was just where we were parked. It was the Whale’s Tail with two gulls landing and one just taking off. Another two gulls were taxiing before take off. The low sun you get at this time of year helped add a bit of contrast to the scene. The finished shot was almost as it came out of the camera.

We need a large wall calendar for the kitchen and when we left Drumpellier we drove to The Fort to see if we could find one. But we came home empty handed. I’ve an idea where we might find one tomorrow.

Back home I was trying to work out how to use mail merging in MS Word to create a Word document from an Excel sheet. I’d already tried to do the same thing on Pages in the Mac, but it’s really just a toy. Very little practical use. I’m still trying to do it and it still evades me. I know I used to do it regularly in school, but then I was using a PC every day. Macs in general aren’t used for this sort of thing. I found the Avery app really useful for it last year, but that facility is no longer in the app or is so deeply buried that it would take me too long to find it. I’ll keep looking, it’s in there somewhere.

Scamp was ploughing through the holiday companies on the computer looking for somewhere warm for February. After a fair bit of searching and evaluating, I think we can say that we may be going to somewhere warm for a week, all being well. Still nothing booked for the summer, but we have a few possibilities that just need some things confirmed before we make a final decision.

Dinner tonight was a half a pizza each. Actually it was more like two thirds for me and just a third for Scamp. It was washed down with a nice glass of red. Dessert was Scottish Tablet Ice Cream!

Tonight looks wet, but tomorrow, for the most part may remain dry during daylight hours. That’s the best you can ask for. It was good to be out in the sunshine today somewhere that isn’t Cumbersheugh!

Another beautiful day – 6 December 2022

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Same blue sky as yesterday, but colder.

Today started with a visit by the bloke to do a service on the boiler. Half an hour later it was done and given a clean bill of health. More or less as we expected, the boiler being just a couple of years old.

Next I was out to the doc’s to find out what he thought about the lesions (his word) on my leg. I’d been using cortisone cream for the last two weeks and they had almost disappeared. He had a good look and a prod round the nearby skin and pronounced them as looking good, but recommended another fortnight’s treatment with the cream twice a day. It’s not an onerous task, putting some cream on four marks.

Went home and did the usual Wordle and Spelling Bee before lunch which was a flat sausage I’d found in the freezer the other day, cooked and squashed between two slices of brown bread. Delicious, but an amazing amount of fat was left in the pan. One a week is quite enough, I think.

We did go out for a walk today, well wrapped up because it was cold. Lots of icy, slippery leaves. Today’s circuit was almost the same as yesterday and I got a few shots of seagulls on the outfall of Broadwood Loch again. On the way home we stopped at the shops to get some bread, milk and also a pack of four pineapple tarts. Well, man (and woman) cannot live by bread alone, as someone once said.

On the final leg of the walk I took the opportunity to get some photos in St Mo’s while Scamp went straight home. PoD came from there and was a view across the rushes to St Mo’s school lit up by the setting sun.

Dinner tonight was “What have we got in the fridge” and pasta. Actually it tasted quite good despite being made from odds and ends. I confess, I actually watched almost a whole episode of Masterchef tonight, mainly because Greg (Oh, Mate) wasn’t involved. He’d been sat in a corner with a bow tie and told to be quiet, I think. It was interesting to discover the number of things you can do with carrots, or an octopus on one occasion!

Tomorrow we’re booked for coffee with Isobel. That should be an entertainment.