Category: Birds

Colzium and Brodens – 26 January 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was a lovely morning, too good to waste. To make the most of it we went for a walk.

We drove to Colzium Estate just outside Kilsyth. Lots of snowdrops just coming in to flower and lots more to look forward to in a couple of weeks. We walked up the road through the trees and crossed the bridge over the Colzium burn. When we stopped in the middle a robin flew down to see what we were up to. I thought it would fly away immediately, but I took my camera out of its bag anyway and there was this wee robin looking like it was posing for the camera. Scamp said it was asking which was its best side! I took a few shots then realised two things. Firstly it had a damaged claw on on foot and secondly we were in its way, because it was heading for a pile of birdseed that someone had left on the parapet of the bridge. I apologised to it and we left it to have its lunch. One of those shots made PoD.

We walked on, along the steep road that circles the Big House and its gardens. It used to be the entrance drive when the house was in its heyday. At the top we turned right and then took the even steeper path to the left that led us through the woods to the wee bridge over the Colzium Burn just downstream from the Tak ma Doon road. We crossed the bridge and headed down the quite slippery path on the other side of the burn. Scamp started searching through the fallen branches for a suitable stick to give her some support for walking down the path.

Halfway down we found a big fallen tree that turned out to be half a tree, It looked as if the tree had split in two in the past and this one half had been torn from the other one during last week’s storms. You don’t realise just how big trees are until you see one lying down. We get so used to see trees standing above us. We met a woman who said she didn’t know if it was safe to walk in the trees when it was windy. I hadn’t thought of that. You wouldn’t stand much of a chance if a tree fell on you. Scamp was a bit saddened to see the broken tree lying there and I could see how she’d feel that. We walked on down to the bridge again, having done a complete circuit of this part of the estate. The robin that we’d seen the last time we’d passed was still there eating the seeds. It must have been the same one. There can’t be two robins with a damaged claw in the same place, could there? To end the walk we walked past the old curling pond, now a duck pond and from there back to the car.

So, should we drive to The Fort to have lunch at Wagamama or should we dine locally at Brodens? We settled on Brodens. Scamp had breaded fish ’n’ chips with a glass of Malbec and I had steak pie with mash washed down with a pint of Guinness. After that we walked home.

We watched a strange pair of girls selling manufactured diamonds on Dragons Den. If you watch it, you’ll understand what I mean by strange. It’s not really the people who are strange, but their devious dealing.

Scamp has now packed her sandwiches and fruit into separate boxes and is ready to meet June tomorrow and get a taxi to Glasgow to sing the Verdi Requiem with about 600 other singers in the Royal Concert Hall. I’m not going, because she says I wouldn’t like it. Probably right.

Oh what a day – 16 January 2024

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The snow we were warned about never quite came

It was actually a bit disappointing. We were ready to batten down the hatches and put on extra blankets to keep ourselves warm and when the first flakes started falling just after the predicted 9am we felt vindicated. This was going to be a real winter. Then the snow stopped and the temperature actually rose slightly, and kept rising very gradually.

Hazy phoned to tell us that they were planning to get out for a week’s holiday some time around Easter. I don’t blame her. Everyone should have the opportunity to get away somewhere after the dull depressing winter weather we’re having. Just something to look forward, that’s what we all need. She also told us about the cats needing their claws trimmed. I’d never heard of cats getting pedicures, dogs yes, but not cats. She also talked about long term plans for a family cruise, maybe next year, with the D’Aguairs.

When she’d gone off to bed again to dream of holidays and cats feet, Scamp and I tried to fix a problem she had with her computer, or to be more exact with New Outlook not providing notifications of emails. I sent her an email to see if we’d fixed the problem and that’s when everything fell apart.

The first indication of a problem was when the email I sent was returned to me with a note from Google to say it had been rejected. It was exactly the same problem I had at the back end of last year. Also I couldn’t open my blog. The blog started out over ten years ago just as a bit of fun but now there’s almost ten years of work in it. That’s over 3,000 pages of typing!

I tried to fix the problem myself, but had to contact my web hosting company where someone talked me through the repair process. I fixed the email in a few minutes once I’d remembered how it was done. The problem with the blog was a bit of code I’d put in the wrong place in the DNS section of the website. Luckily the person I was chatting with online gave me the instructions for the repair and said it would take about forty minutes for it to propagate which is how they described the code being updated in DNS readers throughout the world. I waited an hour, and when nothing happened, shut it all down and went for a walk to clear my head. Got a few photos when I was out, but by then it was 4.30pm and almost dark by the time I was coming back. It took three hours before the blog returned, the email worked and I had access to everything. Relief beyond belief as they used to say on an old advert!!

One of the first shots I took was destined to be PoD. It was a wee robin, well fluffed up to give it some insulation against the cold that was coming tonight. I took it with a new lens I’d ordered on Sunday and which was delivered today in the middle of the turmoil. It’s a heavy chunk of glass and mainly plastic, second-hand of course. Hopefully it will replace an old worn out standard lens I’ve had for years and which doesn’t operate very well now.

Tomorrow I’ve a letter to write and some boxes of stuff to organise for putting up into the loft for another year. Another cold night tonight.

 

 

… a new one just begun – 1 January 2024

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A new day and a new year. I wonder what it will bring.

The weather was fine today and we were going for a walk. Not driving out for a walk as I’d intended. Scamp though a walk nearer to home would be better. We walked down to Broadwood loch where there were more than the usual amount of photogs, all carrying some heavy duty glass. I had the A6500 with short and very short lenses. One of the photogs asked if I was there to photograph the Smew (pronounced Sm you). I told him “No” then he proceeded to tell me that a smew is a small white diving bird with strong black patterns and a white crest. I’d heard of it, but not being a ‘twitcher’, I wasn’t really interested, but he seemed quite excited about it. Then I recognised him. He used to teach at the same school as me, long time ago. I let him go and put the camera back in my bag in case someone else would give us more directions to the best smew spotting places.

We walked over the dam and round the exercise machines. First time I’ve been there for ages, not since last year in fact 🙂 . Then up past the shops, all of which were closed, but some had lights on inside. Scamp guessed that they were taking down the Christmas decorations and getting the Easter eggs in. I think she might be right. I had a few shots in the bag, so we walked back home.

Lots of computer stuff to do at the end of a month. Photos to move into long term storage disks and catalogs to, well, catalog! All just the housekeeping that computers don’t do for themselves. I started it and let it run while Scamp made Scrambled Egg with Smoked Salmon. Very nice. We had it on toast after I cleaned out the toaster and then managed to remove some charred remains of long gone bread from the inside. It actually worked after that. Perfectly happily toasting bread, too lightly, but that’s not a problem. Maybe there was some bread crumbs in the electromagnet and my shaking and poking got rid of it, or maybe it was just a lucky day when it felt like working. Anyway, we had toast.

Dinner tonight was a strange but interesting cooked mix of veg for Scamp and a very nice sirloin steak for me. Both washed down with a glass of Merlot courtesy of Jamie & Simonne. Thank you both.

PoD turned out to be a photo of some gulls looking for that Smew!

No plans for tomorrow, yet, but I’m sure we’ll find something to do!

 

 

Dancin’ – 21 December 2023

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We were back to a tea dance today after a long lay off.

First, earlier in the morning I went for a walk in St Mo’s to get a photo or two while Storm Pia was still giving Scotland a severe buffeting. It was gradually powering down, but it was taking quite a while. I was glad I hadn’t been there when Pia was at full strength.

I saw a blackbird fly into a tree and I’m sure he saw me too, but he turned away and tried the “If I can’t see him, he can’t see me” trick. As I took a few steps towards him, he caught me and flew away, but not before I had one more shot. How can birds navigate through that maze of branches? That final shot gave me a PoD. One in the bag on a morning walk. That’s good.

By the time I walked home, I had just enough time for a quick lunch before getting dressed for dancing and then we headed off to Glenburn for the last tea dance of the year. Despite the weather, it was a fairly easy drive to Paisley. The hall wasn’t very busy when we arrived, but the dancers gradually trickled in and the dance started with a waltz. I stumbled through the first track, but by the second it was flowing better. We danced Waltz, Rumba, Cha-Cha and three or four sequence dances. Really, the only one I completely messed up was the Quickstep which I knew I could do. Just not today.

As usual we left a few minutes early to avoid the schools coming out. However, it appeared that the traffic was light on both the M80 and the M74, also, thankfully, the wind had reduced to a normal breeze.

We watched what I thought was a tedious Celebrity Sewing Bee tonight. It was probably the worst of the ‘Christmas’ specials foisted on us these days in the name of entertainment. It’s just a bunch of has-been and never-was ‘celebrities’ getting their faces on the TV again. Bah Humbug!

Tomorrow I believe we need some shopping and there’s a chance we may have a pub lunch later.

Yet more bloodletting – 5 December 2023

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Today I had my annual checkup with the nurse.

Actually the checkup today was with the sister, as these annual checkups usually are. She checked my BP, then tried it again. On the third try, I asked if there was something wrong and she said my BP was quite low. After she had looked at my record she asked me if I would mind them reducing some of my meds. Mind? I said I’d be delighted. I’ve felt for months if not years that my blood pressure meds are too low and nobody listened, now here was somebody listening. Long story short she has reduced one of my BP meds by half for a month and will monitor it after that. That, and the fact that and having lost a bit of weight and was stabilising at that, was the good news.

The not so good was that my vitamin B12 level was lower than it should have been and the doc wanted to get more blood tests. She took the blood and said the doc would review it in a week or so. So now I wait to see what the doc has to say probably in a phone consultation in a week or so.

It’s always the same when I got for an annual checkup. One good thing and one not so good. That’s life, I suppose.

That left me with the rest of the day to play with, but it wasn’t a playing day, in fact it was dull and dreary. Cold too, with the temperature barely reaching 3ºc. At least it was a positive temperature, not sub zero. We should be grateful for small mercies!

Finally, later than I’d intended the sun broke through the clouds and I dragged myself out to St Mo’s for a walk and hopefully a photo or two. I think I left it just too late for the good light, but I did get some sunset photos of the light through the trees. My favourite, and PoD was a shot over the pond of the gulls and geese circling and trying to find a bit of clear water to land on in the middle of the partly frozen pond.

Tomorrow another early(ish) rise and coffee in Costa with Colin Campbell and John Malley. Looking forward to that.

 

A Dreich Day – 26 November 2023

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A early walk in St Mo’s today, hoping against hope that there would be enough frost left to allow me to get my picture, but knowing that there wouldn’t be. I was right. There wasn’t. However I did get the PoD which is a photo of a gaggle of geese, a pair of swans, innumerable mallards and one cormorant that thought it fitted right in and that nobody would notice. Even the ducks were laughing. The rest of the walk brought no more photo opportunities and it was one of those damp colds that seems to eat into your bones, so I walked home and found Scamp talking to Hazy on the phone.

After Scamp and Hazy had completed their discussions, I had a chance to talk to Hazy. Just talking about the weather, cats and how the ‘down south’ folks were getting on. Then it was time for Hazy to have a snooze and time for our lunch.

Today’s lunch and dinner were from the far famed “What have we got in the fridge and freezer” collection. Scamp’s lunch was yesterday’s potatoes fried with some baby tomatoes and a chopped up black pudding with an beaten egg to bind them together. Mine was the remains of a pack of padron peppers, a slice of spiced beef ham, a slice of bacon and a trio of baby tomatoes. Both lunches filled a space and, well, mine at least were delicious.

While Scamp watched a recording of Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday politics show, I started the post processing of today’s scant collection of photos. Sometimes I enjoy the cut and thrust of Kuenssberg’s verbal fencing, other times, like today, I just can’t be bothered. I struggled for over an hour with one of the photos of some raindrops on a grass stem before I thought to myself “Why?”. Do you like it? Is it worth the effort? The answers were No and No, so I left it.

By mid afternoon it was time to raid the freezer again and this time Scamp found a large fillet of salmon and I found two beef olives. Both needed time in a warm place to defrost and then thaw out, so we left them to it. While Scamp booked us a week in the sun. Not tomorrow, and not next week either, but it’s booked now and the parking is too. With judicious use of Black Friday offers and discounts from last year’s holiday we cut a fair chunk out of the price. It’s nice to think, as the days get shorter and the snow is forecast by the weather fairies, that there are still warm places we can go to.

Watched the final Grand Prix of the year and of course the usual suspect won. It is almost as if they are working to a script, either that or some of the cars are powered by Sublight engine thrusters.

Spoke to Jamie and got him up to speed with our complaint to British Gas and the power of having an Ombudsman on your side. Heard about the problems dealing with English Heritage who seem to be working with quill pens on parchment. Although some of the more advanced drawings are done with fountain pens and paper.  It’s hard to believe what some of these people ask folk to do.

Tomorrow we may go out for a run to warm the car up and maybe get an ES daylight bulb for my new lamp.

 

 

Auld Claes and Purrich – 13 November 2023

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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.