Little things in life that make you smile

[-DL-]

Well done -DL-.

Where is this eating establishment?

A place called Middle Stoke on The Hoo Peninsular.

I'll no doubt give full notification where it is and when it opens on here to get some custom in

[The Old Man of Storr]

Two more birds that I never knew resided in our garden thanks to the Merlin app -

Siskin

Dunnock


In fact I was watching what I thought was a sparrow feeding nearby , turns out it was a Dunnock .

You're never too old to learn .

[prophet:marginal]

I think - Tenners or Rigoberts are your experts - that you can tell the diff between a dunnock and a sparrow because the former have brighter/pink legs.

Aint never seen a siskin myself, so that's a nice find.

On smiling, had a first sight this year of a pair of local fox cubs, just as I walked in from work tonight. Beautiful colouring.

[Tenbury]

By and large, if it looks like a sparrow, and it rarely flies over 3 or 4 foot above ground, it's a dunnock.
Look to the base of hedges, fascinating creatures, always busy

[The Old Man of Storr]

I think - Tenners or Rigoberts are your experts - that you can tell the diff between a dunnock and a sparrow because the former have brighter/pink legs.



On smiling, had a first sight this year of a pair of local fox cubs, just as I walked in from work tonight. Beautiful colouring.

When I was a student at Hatfield Poly I'd regularly see this bloke taking out his pet fox out on a lead through the Hilltop shopping centre .
Would that be legal now I wonder ?

Used to have a fox regularly visit Jen's parents' garden in Corringham , not seen one on Skye for years possibly decades .

But speaking of birds , I've seen more eagles this year [ and it's only June just ] than I have in the past 34/35 years we've been here - could be I'm going out more but we've seen quite a few on Skye [ mixture of Golden and Sea Eagles ] and one in Lossiemouth [ huge sea eagle ] - saw 2 x Ospreys fishing the River Lossie while walking along the bank [ early May ] and one [ a female ] in its nest at Loch Garten last week albeit through binoculars .


Jerry

[The Old Man of Storr]

I never know what day it is from one to the next but this morning I noticed it was June 2nd so I asked Jen ' Have you checked whether we've won anything on the Premium Bonds this month ? ' - she hadn't ...which is unusual for her .

So she goes on her laptop and a minute or so later cries out ' You won £100 !! '

Then a minute later she cries out ' And back in March you won £150 !! ' .

We were busy in March going back and forth to Raigmore with finger up the bums and biopsy tests and she'd forgotten to check then too . Problem is I adjusted my settings so as any winnings are invested back into Premium Bonds so we never see the money .

That's £250 I never knew I had . Woohoo .

[Monkeybubbles]

Peculiar scenes down on the beach this afternoon.

This bloke and woman were having a row in front of a bunch of kids, and then the bloke gave her a proper clump, a few times. Eventually a copper turned up and ended up having to lay into the bloke with his baton, but the feller wrestled it off him and started whacking the copper with it.

Then a crocodile showed up and stole all the sausages while the bloke shouted "That's the way to do it!".

[S-H]

Wrong thread, geeze.

[ageing hammer]

Peculiar scenes down on the beach this afternoon.

This bloke and woman were having a row in front of a bunch of kids, and then the bloke gave her a proper clump, a few times. Eventually a copper turned up and ended up having to lay into the bloke with his baton, but the feller wrestled it off him and started whacking the copper with it.

Then a crocodile showed up and stole all the sausages while the bloke shouted "That's the way to do it!".

[Samba]

When I was a student at Hatfield Poly I'd regularly see this bloke taking out his pet fox out on a lead through the Hilltop shopping centre .
Would that be legal now I wonder ?

Not illegal, then or now but not very advisable, apparently.
Dogs have been domesticated but foxes never have & would probably always have a certain 'wild animalness' about them..
Clearly, it's not impossible though.

[Monkeybubbles]

Wrong thread, geeze.

Yeah, I was going to put it in NUMB but I couldn't find a supporting report anywhere.

[The Old Man of Storr]

Not illegal, then or now but not very advisable, apparently.
Dogs have been domesticated but foxes never have & would probably always have a certain 'wild animalness' about them..
Clearly, it's not impossible though.

On one of our several walks recently we saw a young lad out walking his collie dog and got chatting to him [ we'd met him before a couple of months back - a young boy who'd moved up to Skye to be with his Mum and Stepfather ] - the conversation turned to dogs and I happened to mention meeting another young lad with this beautiful husky type dog , could have been a Malamute , gorgeous looking dog , all white which placed itself right next to me as we sat next to the River Findhorn - the young lad then went on to tell us about some man he knew from his Derbyshire days who kept wolves and had one as a ' Pet ' - he added it wasn't advisable to keep a wolf as a pet . I tried looking this bloke up without success so whether the story was true or not I wasn't able to verify but I had no reason to doubt this young man . I then went on to look up folk in the US who had kept wolves as pets - I can confirm it's unwise to keep a wolf as a pet as much as I'd like one along with a black panther or a jaguar .

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Do not keep a wolf as a 'pet'. They are pack animals and have a natural fear of humans. All their instincts are telling them to keep away from us, to follow their pack, be subserviant to those above them in the heirarchy and exert dominance over those below them. Where do you think you'll fit in its pack? Quite apart from it being amimal abuse for the poor creature, do you really want a neurotic wolf around your nearest and dearest. That's presuming you have any, what with being the sort of person who thinks keeping a wolf is a good idea.

[prophet:marginal]

When I was a student at Hatfield Poly I'd regularly see this bloke taking out his pet fox out on a lead through the Hilltop shopping centre .
Would that be legal now I wonder ?

Used to have a fox regularly visit Jen's parents' garden in Corringham , not seen one on Skye for years possibly decades .

But speaking of birds , I've seen more eagles this year [ and it's only June just ] than I have in the past 34/35 years we've been here - could be I'm going out more but we've seen quite a few on Skye [ mixture of Golden and Sea Eagles ] and one in Lossiemouth [ huge sea eagle ] - saw 2 x Ospreys fishing the River Lossie while walking along the bank [ early May ] and one [ a female ] in its nest at Loch Garten last week albeit through binoculars .


Jerry

I'm sure I read something about this recently. It might be something connected to new attitudes to hedgerow and other similar spaces and their being more likely than not left to grow. This increases cover for small mammals, but, obviously, in due course, increases too the amount of live food for the kind of birds you're now seeing more of up where you are.

You lucky bloke.

[The Old Man of Storr]

The blackbird which comes over to me every time I go outside made me laugh today -

He's pestering us for food 4 times a day now as his kids have fledged - yesterday I could hear them calling out for food but today one came to our kitchen window with Dad who fed him/her in front of us .

Anyway , sometime this afternoon Jen and I were taking a rest from our chores , i'd been making a start on next door , she'd been painting the inside of our lounge - we were both sat outside in the sun with the front door wedged open to let in some air - Radio 4 was playing on the telly -

There at the front door looking as though he was about to go in was the blackbird - he could hear the voices coming from the TV and thought he'd try his luck with whoever was inside - I had to get up and find him something to eat otherwise he may have flown in to help himself . He's definitely part of the family now , an amazing little character .

[Samba]

Love seeing & hearing blackbirds. Used to hear them out the back gardens but not any more. Too many b*stard crows, magpies & green parakeets (alleged to be 50k in London alone) around, scaring them off or eating their young.
Having said that, cycling along the 'Greenway' ('sewer bank') on Friday, I heard a lovely, strident blackbird song.

I think I forgot to say at the time but one day last summer as I was going out the front door, I was most surprised to hear a loud honking overhead which made me quickly look up. Not far above the (Plane)treetops was what looked like a very angry goose (Greylag or Canada) chasing, honking & right on the tail of a heron, itself desperately trying to get away.
I don't know what the heron had done* but the goose was not happy..

*I'm guessing eaten it's eggs or young.

[thamesideiron]

When I was a student at Hatfield Poly I'd regularly see this bloke taking out his pet fox out on a lead through the Hilltop shopping centre .
Would that be legal now I wonder ?

Used to have a fox regularly visit Jen's parents' garden in Corringham , not seen one on Skye for years possibly decades .

But speaking of birds , I've seen more eagles this year [ and it's only June just ] than I have in the past 34/35 years we've been here - could be I'm going out more but we've seen quite a few on Skye [ mixture of Golden and Sea Eagles ] and one in Lossiemouth [ huge sea eagle ] - saw 2 x Ospreys fishing the River Lossie while walking along the bank [ early May ] and one [ a female ] in its nest at Loch Garten last week albeit through binoculars .


Jerry

Thats really great news to hear mate...
Always on a look out for them on my trips up to the West Coast,Usually spot some Golden but White Tails not so much..very very rare
to see one.
Best sighting I had was Ullapool...boat trip,the skipper was a conservationist,said one was spotted (Sea White tail) couple days ago
on a trip out...Low and behold it made an appearance for us this time...Amazing came in quite close,when see them close they are
massive....6ft up to 8ft wingspan..
Said(Skipper) they had been out trying to find the nest,if there's a pair or not..
Were all but extinct 40 years ago...Farmers used to hate them...still do,reckon they were taking young lambs attacking killing calfs..
They tried to reintroduce with breeding pairs from Norway..and subsidising farmers for any loses,but was a slow burner...
Only 40 pairs or so across Scotland,maybe 10 years ago....think theres about a hundred pairs or so now,so on the increase..
Still lucky to spot one tho....nice one..beautiful things

[thamesideiron]

With the bird thing....Starlings always make me smile,their chirpping and chattering amongst themselves..

There's a Bar/Restaurant place ,Newquay Cornwall,overlooks Fistral beach....The Starlings there a few hundred at times,just sit
on the side fencing outside watching people eat their pizzas whatever, they don't incroach just watch,they've learnt they just get shooed away,
they wait till you finish then jump down picking at left overs....funny to watch..

Brighton pier....early evening just before sunset,used to be a massive murmuration of Starlings,not so many anymore but still happens,
before they would come into roost under the pier...really spectacular..

[S-H]

This weather, man.

Just perfection.

[dasnutnock3]

This weather, man.

Just perfection.

Google maps took us a funny route home from Cornwall to Surrey on friday night. We normally go A303/M3, but it kept us on the M5. Assumed we'd join the M4 and go that way, but it took us off somewhere around Taunton and through Somerset, including a drive through the wonderfully-named Fivehead. Have to say, Somerset is a county I barely know, but I was struck by how pretty much of it was - little villages & hamlets with some incredible views. Can imagine it's a proper paradise this time of year.