Went to a talk by Chris Packham at the John Collet school in Wendover this evening. He is a very good public speaker and his enthusiasm for his subject matter is inspiring. The talk was loosely based around his passion for photography with a sprinkling of interesting facts about the animals and bird kingdom. Birds featured a lot, which is always a plus point with me.
He also did a really good job of putting across his usual message, which is that we should try to make the most of what we have around us and go a look at nature for what it is, don’t just go out there to get the ticks. He is a great advocate of promoting the less promotable species that need help. The door mouse already has lots of money ploughed into it’s conservation and it is a boring mammal, what about all the other less cuddly species that need help for example Britains rarest mammal the Black rat!
A couple of the things I remember well are his story of how when he was young he found a blackbird carcass which was being buried by grave digging beetles. He dug it up put it in an aquarium and sat it on top of the TV. So for a few weeks he could watch the beetles as the buried the blackbird. he also did a section about animals that get rid of excess slat in their snot, and even birds that live of the snot of other animals when times get harsh.
At the end he had a bit a a rant and asked everyone to get the kids out and about exploring nature, because unless that happens then they will not grow up to have the respect for nature that it really needs in the age of disappearing habitat.
Google have updated their search page, now when you start a search you not not have to press the enter key or button to do the search, the results appear below the search box as you type. I suspect that it waits for a slight pause, the displays, as you type more stuff the search results get updated. This is not the suggested search terms that they have been providing for some time, it is much much better than that. Here is a screen shot of the thing in action.
This is will probably have the effect of shaking up the SEO market, as the way websites will appear at the top of the search results will change some what. You will need far few words before the results appear!
The adwords market may also be affected, not sure how though. The ads appear as you type also, this means that for example if you type “oil” you get ads for oil spill kits, (BP might be responsible for that!), but then if you add the work “tank” the ads change and you get oil tanks adverts. You can see how this is different the user has seen two sets of adverts, and one of the set was for the wrong thing, but the user may have eye balled them.
I am writing this blog entry from my blackberry, using the wordpress mobile app. Previously I have always used the email to blog feature of word press, but I found when I did it from my blackberry it stripped out paragraphs, so I had to spend time fixing the text afterwards.
You can do most of the stuff you would need to do, I.e. You can format the text, insert media from the phone, and even add location information. Drafts can be saved as you go along, so it seems quite comprehensive.
I am going to try to use it from now on and see how I get on. The picture below is from my phone just to prove it works ok.
Tate Britain has had an exhibition on the summer called Rude Britannia, it has bee getting good reviews, so we had made a note to try to get to see it. I checked the Tate website, turns out this is the last weekend so we booked up for an 11am viewing. We were up early so left the house at 8, and were on the 8:30 train from Berkhamsted, which got us to Tate Britain, via the Victoria line, at 9:30. We hung about until the doors opened at 10!
The exhibition was worth the effort, it is all about comic art through the ages, from the first hints of caricatures in political engravings and oil paintings by Hogarth, through the 80’s Spitting Image and Scarfe, right up to today. Helen particularly enjoyed a Heath Robinson cartoon from the war about camouflage in the streets of the city. In the main hall there were two shells of fighter jets, one extremely polished, lying on its back and another drab grey hanging by it’s tail from the roof. Everyone wanted their picture of these objects in an unusual setting. We had a quick look at some of the other paintings then decided to get the boat to Tate Modern.
Over the road we found the jetty and spent our time watching the Thames for a quarter of an hour. We saw the London duck tour boat/road vehicles, and some canoeists, making their way down the river. The boat was a bit disappointing as you could not go out on deck to take photo’s, but the seats were a welcome rest. We passed the Festival Hall which reminded me of the Press Photographer of the Year exhibition (ppye), so I did a quick google and found out it was currently on. We now had a plan, walk along the Southbank, grab some lunch, check out ppye, get the bus to Foyles, and then head back home via Euston. At Tate Modern we saw a sign for RSPB Peregrine watch, we haven’t ticked that bird this year so we took a small detour and scoped both a female and male bird sat on the ledge of the Tate buildings chimney. We then wandered on down to the National Theatre for the photos.
The ppye is an annual event (it’s in the title!) and is well worth a visit, it is always free and the photos are both stunning and thought provoking. The year Haiti featured a lot. I thing I have only missed one year, if that, in the past 10-12 years, and it is often sheer fluke that I manage to be in London when it is on.
We had to take a detour to get up onto the bridge to get the bus, and chanced upon a food fayre, shame we had already had lunch, some of the street food looked delicious. The bus from the bridge took us to Tottenham Court Rd, it was like gravity was pulling me there, but today I gave the technology mecca a miss. We headed over to Foyles for a browse through the books, and perhaps a purchase. I bought a PHP book, The Remains of the Day, and the new Collins complete bird guide, as a thank you to Abida and Connie for their help with the wedding.
We got a taxi from Foyles, because we could not be bothered to find a bus stop that would take us to Euston, it was not the first time we have done that, £6 well spent. I am now on the 15:04 typing this blog entry. All in all a relaxed day wandering around, London with some culture and some purchases to boot.
Angelina Jolie stars in the film where she plays a CIA agent who interogates a former cold war Russian agent. He tells her that she is a conditioned Russion spy from the 197o’s, and that she is going to kill the visiting Russian president, at the funeral of the american vice-president. Things then get very action thriller from then on.
Great action scenes and car chashes galore. Helen gave it 4 stars but I am more conservative so only 3.
Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor star in the this film about a guy who is happily married, working for the police, and an upstanding member of the christian community. Living the american dream so to speak. Then things take a complete turn about he finds out that he was adopted and then has a car accident. Suddenly he is gay and commiting fraud to fund his lavish habits.
He then gets cuaght and goe to prison where he meets Ewan McGregor and falls in love. The film then continues with him in and out of jail and going to extreme lengths to be with the person he loves.
When I see Jim carrey in a film I can’t help thinking that it is all a bit tongue in cheek, and to some extent the film is, but it does not distract from what is claimed to be based on the true life events of Steven Jay Russell. Altough there are some seriuos parts to the film the exploits of Mr Russell are so extreme it almost becomes comical.
I have been meaning to do a post about this for some time. Helen and I did a Minsmere guided tour and the guide told us a bout a feature of reeds I have never noticed before. If you put your thumb and forefinger either side and the base of a leaf and then let the leaf slide through your finger you will notice about one third of the way up that there is a bump or ridge across the leaf. All leaves have it.
The guide told us that it is colloquially known as “the devils pinch”, which I think is a great name, somehow fitting and very colloquial. Ever since then I just can’t help running my fingers only the leaf as described above, to feel for the feature. It is just compulsive and impulsive.
I have done some googling on the subject but cannot find any reference to reeds. Some of the things I found are:
There is a canyon some where in Austalia, on the Wolgan River, in Katoomba with the name. Apparently a bad accident with a team of horses pulling logs happened then in the 1870’s
A few references to marks on the body similar to liver spots.
References to a feature in a cave, perhaps where it gets really narrow, again a good name for such a place.
So now we have a reference in the reed’s Devils Pinch. I wonder how long it will take to start appearing in Google searches.
Left The Eelsfoot Inn this morning with a heavy heart. The plan was to drive back and stop at Fowlmere RSPB. We took the route via Minsmere on to Westleton to stop off and pick some wild plums. There are a lot about they are bigger than sloes but smaller than a victoria plum, dark in colour. We very quickly filled a plastic box full. See a later post for the results.
We took a great road which took us via Scole and Diss in search of an Army Surplus store, I need some buckles, webbing, and proper poncho. We found a very interesting store down a housing estate it was the proper thing it had a yard full of green and grey metal junk. Unfortunately shut on bank holidays, mental note to self to make a return journey! (Helen says not with her!).
We soon arrived at Fowlmere after various detours in Thetford forest avoiding traffic. Turns out we had been there before, and did not see much. Today was going to be a repeat. We are in late August and had arrived at mid day, so the odds were really against us. We did the tour round but there was not much to see. The list was Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Heron, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, and Brown Trout! The reserve is very quiet and secluded, great for a gentle stroll.
Fake Wasp Fly
We left the reserve and said we would stop if we saw somewhere worth while for a bite to eat. What a mistake that was! Bury Lane cafe in the garden centre just north of Royston. We dropped in for a some food and to sample the goods in the veg shop. We sat down and a waitress was there instantly, too quick for us to decide, so we sent her away, 15 minutes later Helen caught her eye and she took our order. Our drinks came first with an apology that the food would be 10 to 20 minutes, I almost walked! When the food finally arrived to be fair it was nice, I had tuna and sweet corn baguette and Helen baked potato and beans which she complimented.
Back in the car we then drove straight back to home and reality. I got straight onto making the jam. I just got rid of the the stones by the squashing method, i.e put between thumb and fore-finger and squeeze/squash out. I add equal amounts of sugar and not water. Give a good stir and wait for the sugar to draw the liquid out of the fruit. Put on the heat and bring to the boil slowly , you do not want to burn anything. Once boiling turn the heat down and wait till it is ready. There are ways to check that the jam is ready, using a cold saucer or a thermometer, but I have found that if you keep it boiling for about 20 minutes the white foam disappears and the jam gets kind of thicker. I just seem to know when it is ready.
The plums were a bit under ripe and at the start I thought it would not work, but after some boiling a really deal purple colour leached out of the skins. The jam tastes great, quite sharp but the plum flavour is really intense.
Up again early on a Sunday, for a breakfast at 8:30 we were on the trail at 9:30. We headed towards Minsmere but took a diversion off the road to take the path that runs through the woods that leads to Westleton Heath. In the woods the recent damp weather seemed to have bought all the mushrooms out, they were literally everywhere. The sun was out and the light was really bright even in the shade of the trees. So taking photos was really easy.
I modified the gorilla pod by shortening the two front legs this allowed me to set a small aperture, and by using the 2 second delay on the Lumix LX3 I got some really clear shots. Once we hit Westleton Heath we headed towards Dunwich. We started to get the odd light shower but nothing was going to dampen our enthusiasm, we were really happy to be out in the fresh air. We bagged a Coal Tit on the way down.
Coming across the Dunwich museum was well timed. There was an art exhibition going on in a hall behind the museum, some great original water colours and prints were on show. Mainly Suffolk and Essex, painted early in the morning. The guy who had painted them explained to me that he had been a container boat captain for a Brazilian company. He had worked 3 months on 3 months off then retired at 52, lucky bastard!
Mushrooms
We also had a look round the museum all about Dunwich, I really had not appreciated just how much of a town existed around 1900’s, then we drifted down to the car park and famous fish and chip establishment down by the sea. We sat out the front with our bowls of chips and beverages, there was quite a wind blowing, I literally had a storm on in my tea cup. We scanned Dingle marsh for signs of Hen Harrier, but it was wishful thinking. I did spot a bird in the distance but we could agree what it was, when it flew away we were able to identify it as a Greenshank, by the long white patch on the back, a good tick.
After a quick look at the sea we headed up the hill and along the ever moving west cliff path. Great views of the coast and Sole bay in the distance can be had at a couple of spots before the path heads inland, after you pass the ruins of the abbey. It then started to rain heavily as we walked through the woods towards Dunwich heath. I was glad to be able to try on the poncho that my mother in law had kindly bought for me in Millets Oxford for £1.50.
I have to say I have been considering getting one for a while, I am now a convert they cover you and your luggage, you have to be careful that the wind does not catch it but they keep the wind and the rain off. We walked though heavy rain across the heath and could not get any view of Dartdord Warblers, as we headed toward the National Trust tearooms at the Coastguard cottages, we had coffee and I had some bread pudding. When the rain had cleared we could see yet another big bank of storm clouds on the horizon, so after a couple of pictures we rushed off down to the East Hide at Minsmere, and we timed it just right the rain started as we arrived.
Dunwich from Minsmere
We spent about 30 minutes in the hide and some patient scanning revealed Little Ringed Plover, Black Tailed Godwit, and a couple of Snipe. The weather system moved on and the sun came out so we walked back to the visitors centre and on through to the Island Mere hide. I then suggested that we walk back along a footpath that runs parallel to the tarmac road, but involves an extra 10 minutes walking, it was towards the end of the day and Helen was in a “trough of disillusionment” so I got the usual ranting.
Later in the pub Helen did agree it was a nicer walk back, I don’t think the high winds and dropping branches helped the situation. We rejoined the tarmac road and walked the final yards back to the pub, the light over the water logged field was begging for photos to be taken, I obliged.
Back at the pub I stopped the GPS logger and we had walked over 13 miles (may be adjusted down). What a fantastic day out 8.5 hours out on foot, with the wife, plenty of tea and bird watching stops, can life get better?
