neil.baldwin – Page 47 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

8 and a half miles in as many hours

We arrived at Southwold on Friday and went for a shop round town then a quick tour of Minsmere. Then we went to the Eelsfoot Inn at Eastbridge, booked in. There were a family of Swallows sat under the metal stairs outside our room. All weeknd they were there sometimes all sometimes just a one or two. The parents were doing lots of swooping about, and would roost next to the young at night.

On Saturday we woke up in good time and thought we would have a go at our day record to celebrate our recent wedding. So we got up for an 8:30 breakfast at The Eelsfoot Inn, and were on our way down to the Minsmere sluices via the path that goes directly to the sea from Eastbridge. The weather was bright with a stiff wind from the north east but the air temperature was pleasant. Saw some great beetles and butterflies on the way. Saw a spotted flycatcher on top of a tree. When we got down to the sluice bushes we paused for a while in hope of a Pied Flycatcher but it was not to be, although the lesser and common Whitethroat we adequate compensation.

On to the public hide to see some Knot, Dunlin, common Sandpiper, and Redshank. Then on to the East hide, where some Sandwich Terns appeared. We were soon sat outside the Coastguard Cottages fighting off the wasps while we ate our lunch of toasted cheese sandwiches. The wasp I trapped in a bottle was really mad, even after Helen freed it. A bit of sea watching produced Common Scoter, but nothing else the winds was probably blowing them all off shore.

Over to Dunwich Heath we did not rate our chances of seeing any Dartford Warblers after the hard winter they have suffered, but there they were loads of them. The Heath was looking good the heather was bright purple and the gorse was starting to flower giving a contrasting bright yellow. We walked to the far north end of the heath before turning round and walking along the west boundary back towards Minsmere.

Lots of different mushrooms were out a sign of the recent damp weather and Autumn approaching, the light was really bright so it was a great opportunity to get pictures. We strolled along back to the visitors centre back at Minsmere via the west hide to share a portion of carrot cake. We headed off back to Eastbridge stopping off at the Bittern Hide (not much action except a juv. Marsh Harrier) then on to the Island Mere hide, where a few more ticks were recorded. We saw a very yellow warbler in a willow tree but could not make Icterine from it.

The sun was low in the sky as we headed down the Minsmere road back to the pub, we had a great day out, but had not managed to beat our record. August can be quite a quiet, we managed 61 quite a reasonable tally. There is always tomorrow when we plan to head slightly in land then out to Dunwich and back through Minsmere again. What a great day!

Rose bedeguar gall (Diplolepis rosae)

On my way to work this morning I noticed a Rose bedeguar gall, so I thought I would tell you all about it. What it is is a sort of ball of hairy growth found on rose plants, in this case I think it was a Dog Rose in the hedge row.

Apparently they are created by a type of wasp called the gall wasp (Diplolepis rosae), they lay eggs in the leaf buds and when the larvae (almost all female) hatch and they start to eat the leaf bud then some magic happens. It is not full understood but it is belived that a chemical is realesed that causes the plant to grow in the strange way it does, which provides more food for the growing larvae.

The fully developed gall was used in days gone by a a medicine, to cure baldness, and cure a toothache.

If you want to know more why not check out Wikipedia. Picture blow show a new one from this year and an old one from a previous season.

The Infidel (***)

This is a film about a muslim father (Mahmud) who is a “relaxed” muslim, his son want to marry the daughter of an devout muslim cleric, and want to visit the family to check how muslim the family really are.

The story takes a twist when Mahmud when clearing out his deceased mothers house finds an adoption certificate. After some investigation he finds out that he is the birth child of a Jew, who it turns out is still alive.

He then needs to learn about Judism in order to get past the Rabbi who is guarding the birth fathers room. With the help of an american jewish taxi who he had previously had an altercation with Mahmud.

The film is full of funny moments and the commedian Omid Dijalili, makes the funny moments all the better. Well worth a watch even though only 3 stars.

Homing Pigeon

On my way home from work today I came across a pigeon that did not fly away as I got close, he/she was really trusting. On closer inspection it was in a poorly state but seemed to be looking for food. I took quick video with my trusty camera and you can see the footage here.

On reflection I think he was probably a tired homing pigeon, as I noticed he had no less that 4 rings on his two legs, and I have never see a feral pigeon with rings. He also looked in really good state i.e. his plumage was neat and tidy no tufty bits.

Up in the air (****)

George Clooney comedy, about and executive who job it is to go into companies and fire people. He takes pride in his job, and does a lot of air miles. He has his routine down to a tee he one would say a seasoned traveller. He is also very close to becoming only the 7th person in history to achieve 20,000,000 miles, for which you get a platinum card.

A you up and coming employee then upsets the apple cart and proposes to sack people by video link, something which George does not agree with. He gets the job of raining up the new girl and is tasked with taking her on a trip.

There is also an affair going on between Geoprge and another lady whom he meets very occasionally when they happen to be over nighting in the same place.

An original scripts well acted with some very funny moments. I would recommend seeing it.

The Old Swan

Helen and I decided to take some time out of our preparations, to go on one of our favourite walks from The Old Swan at Swan Bottom. You take the gravel track from the left had side of the pub do a big circle then end up back on the other side of the road after passing along the outskirts of The Lee.

After the first woods we noticed in the field where the Yellow Hammers hang out that there were quite a few Beatles and Long legged spiders about. We usually do the walk in the Autumn/Winter/Spring time so it was a treat to see it in late summer mode. The blackberries are starting to become ripe, so you had to be careful to find a sweet ripe one if you did not want to end up with a real sour one.

Further round we came across a bare patch in a field that had more that it’s fair share of butterflies, quite a few browns, and a definite Holly Blue amongst the blues that were there. I made a mental note to learn a bit more about butterflies so that I could at least identify the common ones. I guess it is a bit like bird watching you need to start to identify them and after a while becomes second nature and you wander why it was so difficult.

We then crossed the horse field where you can often see Meadow Pipit, Red Wing, and Fieldfare in the winter and then took a wrong turning in the woods. I recognised we had stumbled across the edge of The Lee. Following our nose we eventually got back on track, I will remember that route in future it made a change to pass through some civilisation for once. Perhaps we could start the walk from Lee Common pub instead another time. I thought it is called the Cock and Rabbit but apparently is it called Graziemille . We also passed an old closed pub which looked a bit run down call The Bugle .

Back on track we headed through the farm and along the usually muddy bit, and it was muddy, then onto the final stretch along the arched hedgerow path up towards the big house, which is opposite the pub.

We decided to treat ourselves with a pub lunch, as usual we had veggie burger and chips accompanied by a pint of real ale. Helen had tribute and I had Chiltern Ale, both were great pints especially sweet after our longish walk.

Lovely bunch of coconuts

I have been accused of letting my blog become boring, i quote “too many film reviews and not enough walks”. To try to put things back on track here is a post that you might find interesting.
Today was the annual Horticultural Society Fete in Aston Clinton, it is one of the bigger events on the calendar.
We turned up at 2:30pm and paid the £1 pound entrance fee, which entitled us to a program and I believe the chance to win a prize in a draw. The usual charity stalls were present, surprisingly for a land locked county, and about a far away from the sea you can get in England there was a stall for the Aylesbury branch of the RNLI! We worked our way round buying up all the raffle ticks on offer, and I bought some Victoria Plum jam, for the winter stores. Then it started to rain.

We popped into the produce exhibition in the old school building and checked out the the displays of long runner beans and themed flower displays. Some people go to a lot of effort for the show.
Back at the stalls we came to the main raffle desk and I noticed that Mark Webber (Formula 1 driver) had donated a prize for the raffle, a basketball cap with his logo on it which he had personally signed, how generous I thought.
Then it was off round the kids and craft exhibits where such delights and a garden on a plate or painted stones are pitted against each other for cash prizes. The garden on a plate would win the Eric Sharp cup.
On to the skill based stands where you could win prizes for putting and throwing balls at coconuts. I scored 225 on the putting golf balls though slots in a plank, which put me 2nd equal with “Mark” and the chance of winning a prize if the person who came first and “Mark” was not around to collect the prize at the end of the after noon.
Then on to the coconut shy I reluctantly agreed to have a go, 5 balls for £1, and managed to knock 2 nuts off of their holders. Not sure what I am going to do with them, as they are high in saturated fats I avoid them. Perhaps the birds will like them?

I liked this

It seems to defy newtons laws of physics.

5555 a special number

On my way to B&Q I noticed that my odometer in the golf was about to go to 5555 luckily when I parked up it was still showing.

Toy Story 3 (*****)

As ever the toy story franchise has lived up to my expectations. All the usual characters plus a few more to keep the interest. At the beginning of the film I have fleeting thoughts that maybe they had run out of ideas, and we were going to see the same formula again but true to form the film makers had loads of new material.

My favorite bit was Buzz’s spanish mode. The quality of the images was amazing I suspect we were watching in very high resolution, as some of the adverts appeared to be much clearer than others. The animation was spectacular it took it to a new level, there was a scene in a garbage processing plant where there was literally 10’s of thousand of “bits” having to be rendered.

This film deserves full marks.