FRANCE, FRENCHMEN AND A LATE SPRING

My sister in Paris is often very good enough to let me know when les martinets arrive in Paris each year. A couple of days later they generally arrive in Berkshire, in the UK.

No word yet, and last year in the sun-drenched south of England in April, the Swifts arrived on St.Georges day here - the 23rd April - IN TWO DAYS TIME!

We are lucky enough to have Swifts nesting up and down our street, and all last er.... cough cough.... "summer", the air was shred with the screams of my favourite bird of all.

That said, I think they'll be another week yet.

Allegedly after a horrid easterly wind over the weekend, we'll revert back to our prevailing south-westerly mid week this week, with temperatures up 7c on last weekend - that may help my Swifts on their journey home...

I await notification from Paris.

Talking of France, Anna and I were treated to a lovely sight of two "Frenchmen" this weekend.

We spent two days with one of my cousins in the Worcestershire countryside, and even though the weather was a bit dour, its always fantastic to unwind in a place where one wakes up to the sound of lambs bleating and Rooks cawing, rather than suped-up Vauxhall Novas hissing down the road, or Eastern Europeans shouting at each other over a can of rocket fuel.

The "Frenchmen" in question were Red-Legged Partridges - the more flamboyantly-coloured of our two Partridges here in the UK, always VERY nice to see.

Unfortunately the only shots I got were from inside my Cousin's house, through double glazing and drizzle, so not the best photo's in the world I'm afraid.

(In case you weren't aware, the Red-Legged Partridge is called a "Frenchman" in slang, as the orangey/red legs of the bird allegedly reminded people of the red trousers the french military used to wear....

Now then.

Each year in March you'll hear the same nonsense, often from the same mouths regarding:

"OOOoooh! A bumblebee! Spring gets EARLIER and EARLIER eh?!"

"Is that a WASP? In MARCH? That's global warming I tells ya. We're ALL DOOMED"

Ya dee ya dee ya. Uninformed hysterical clap trap.

This year more of the same I'm afraid - specifically regarding Daffodils (some American hybrids flower at Christmas time dopey), Wasps and a Cuckoo that was allegedly heard in February or something daft - That would be a Collared Dove. (Go get yourself an extra gene).

It has become increasingly clear this year since March, that over vast swathes of the country, spring is actually LATE this year. Unequivocally so.

My cousin is a farmer, and we spoke at length to two more on the subject, during our weekend in Worcestershire.

Ask any farmer about acres of grass or bales of hay, or whether their dairy cows are out on pasture yet.

You'll get similar answers from all over the country.

Anna and I will check on our Bluebell Wood later this week (with luck), but I think now it may well be another week or ten days. Remember they exploded around mid April last year (albeit after a bone dry month with temperatures well above the summer average).

Yes folks.

Spring is LATE this year. With luck it might arrive this week, and STAY!

NB.

I hear (after writing this that ONE (unconfirmed) Swift has been seen in Berkshire at the back end of last week). I still think it may be a week before they start to arrive in numbers...

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WOOLACOMBE AND MORTEHOE, NORTH DEVON

Its very rare Anna and I get a few days off together (other than booked holidays), so it was nice for us to spend two days (nearly) in one of my favourite parts of England - the north Devon coast, a few days ago.

We booked a room at a hotel (pub really) called "The Smuggler's Rest", in a sleepy little (almost model) village called Morthoe just north of Woolacombe Sands - where I've been to quite a lot over the years...

You takes yer luck with April weather. We rolled the dice and came up with a double six as far as I'm concerned - lovely sunny weather for one and a half days, and a band of rain when we left on thursday.

Its a strange year so far.

Snow (quite heavy you'd call it for Britain) AFTER the Easter celebrations, and staggered Easter holidays for the nation's schoolchildren have combined to really strangle the coastal tourist industry in the UK.

Do YOU celebrate Easter? (Other than breathing a collective sigh of relief for a quite ridiculous period of about ten bank holidays in as many weeks if you're an office worker).

As I've mentioned on BG before, the arcane rules governing when EXACTLY we celebrate Easter laid down to us by the Roman Catholic Church are a bit silly really - the first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox etc... etc...

Easter this year was the earliest its been for about 95 years, and the earliest it WILL be for about 100 and something - and I can tell you with absolute certainty, the very early Easter this year, combined with the cold snap (remember last years April - hot and sunny ALL month?), AND the staggered holidays, will have put many businesses that rely on tourists, OUT of business this year.

I've been going to north Devon at various times of the year (high season and low), and I've NEVER seen it as quiet. Never.

On Wednesday, we had sun pretty well all day (with a cool sea breeze granted, but bright sun nevertheless) and there were maybe a dozen people on the 2 mile stretch of Woolacombe sands.

Granted there was no surf to speak of, so the "dudes" and "dude-esses" were not there either, but there was quite literally no-one in the pubs or restaurants.

Well.... Anna and I liked the privacy of course - no kids running around, very few dogs, no drunks.... very nice, but slightly unsettling, in a strange sort of way.

The Ewes have obviously just had their lambs in the south west - much gambling, sorry, gamboling, was occurring in the fields, and speaking of the fields, Devon is lit up at present with the wonderful yellow Gorse bushes.

The Swallows and Sand Martins have arrived in force over that neck of the woods - we were surrounded by them on our ten mile trek around Baggy point on Wednesday, and its always nice to see Stonechats and Ravens at the coast.

We were HOPING to see a Grey Seal or two - I've spent many an hour perched on the end of Baggy Point Cliff peering down at Seals, but I'm told its just a little early to see them there with any regularity.

What we DID see though, I haven't seen since I was eighteen - a wonderful bright green male Common Lizard, sunning itself on a molehill, and sloughing its skin at the same time.

I'm lucky enough to have seen both Common Lizards and Sand Lizards at Braunton Burrows (a HYOWGE set of sand dunes near Saunton sands - a mile or so down the coast from Croyde and Woolacombe), when I was about 17, but none since - that really made up for the lack of seals!

No Peregrines either (which I've seen in the area before) or Wheatears (strange that), but Sparrowhawks, Buzzards, Kestrels, Ravens, Fulmars, Herring Gulls, Stonechats, Swallows, Sand Martins, Foxes, Bees and Butterflies all were just what the doctor ordered. As was the wonderful light down there and the sea air. We'd love to live near the sea when we can. We'd never watch television again!

Click on any of the photographs above to enlarge them, or click HERE to immediately be transported to my online photo album where there are many more photographs from our two days in Devon, all in their original, large size, and all with explanatory text.

Before I disappear briefly though, I should point out the wonderful beetle in the photo above (as that photo is NOT in th online album).

Anna found that chap in the Marram Grass deep in the dunes behind Woolacombe beach - its a "Bloody-Nosed Beetle". Its elytra are fused together, so it cannot fly, and instead ha a defence mechanism which means if stressed it "bleeds" a quasi blood from its nose.

This beetle was great! It didn't bleed on myself or Anna I should point out, and we popped it back in amongst the Goose Grass, on which it feeds...

Please DO visit my "New Warren" (online flickr photo album) - to see more photographs, like I said - of a few spectacular sunsets and a vampire spostle, if nothing else.

Finally - I can heartily recommend the "Fillet of Gurnard Broth" that the "Ship Aground" pub in Mortehoe serve as one of their specials. Sounds a bit dodgy doesn't it.

Nope.

It was beautiful!

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I'M ADDICTED.

No Owl again this morning.

Just a heavy mist (fog really) and a beautiful sunrise.

Click to enlarge.

ANOTHER RIVERSIDE WALK AT DAWN...

I was a bit late (I hope?) to see the Owl today, so I took a few more pictures of other sights again...

Descriptions can once again be found in the "New Warren".

Click any image to enlarge as usual.

THE THAMES AT DAWN (2)

THE THAMES AT DAWN.

I took another walk along the river at dawn this morning, straight after work.

To be honest I was hoping to get another (better) video of the Barn Owl, but only saw a fleeting glimpse of it this time. I'll try again soon...

So... instead, I took a few photographs of a few sights along the Thames this morning, in the dawn light.

I'll not describe the photographs here - I've already done that in my online photo album, where you can see them enlarged and described a little. Click the "New Warren" link at the top of the front page of BG to visit that album, and feel free to leave any comments...

SUNNNERRISE. SHE BRING IN DE MORNIN'.

Another very cold, clear night, with a layer of cloud drifting high overhead, early in the wee hours.

I took the opportunity to train the BIG telescope on Saturn, but the thin, high cloud made focusing a little difficult.

I'll try and get a photograph of Saturn to end the year with (as it started, remember) but I know this won't be easy.

That thin, high cloud this morning brought on a spectacular sun rise - photo taken on the walk to work, with the phone...

To quote Rolf:

"Spreadin' all the light all arow ow ow ownd...."

MYRTOS BEACH (4)

Click to enlarge.

MYRTOS BEACH (3)

More Myrtos Beach photos - click to enlarge.

MYRTOS BEACH (2)

MYRTOS BEACH (ENGAGEMENT)

This is reputably the most photographed beach in Europe. Upon seeing it, it is not hard to understand why. A long beach of very pale sand (and a small amount of wave-bashed smooth shingle)surrounded by huge 500' jutting cliffs, on the northwest coast of the island, with the most incredible coloured turquoise water - the like of which I doubt very much we'll see in a hurry again.
We visited the beach twice - firstly when there was a fair amount of surf thrown up by a northerly breeze, and the final time when the water was far quieter with very little waves to speak of.

The first time we went, the choppy waters had churned the pale sand up so much, that the sea had turned milky and opaque. The almost fluorescent aqua-marine colour mixed with the milky salty sandy water produced what I assume was an optical illusion of immense proportions. The water was SO bright blue that ones eyes quite literally couldn't take any more blue, and once out in the warm sea (past the breakwater), in the 6' swells, the sky appeared to be bright red. Incredible really, no words or photos can do it justice, but I'll post a couple of unedited photos to try.
I was particularly proud of Anna this first time, as she has had issues with confidence in the sea in the past - this was a SERIOUS sea to go out in and she managed it twice, albeit being shown by a large wave on her return to the beach for the second (and last) time, that the ocean was in fact in control, and dragging her up the beach, filling up her bikini bottoms with pebbles.
I'm lucky I suppose, that I've had a little experience with waves in the past, and being somewhat bigger than Anna and almost certainly more stubborn, managed to get out and back a good few times, although I certainly didn't take the sea that day for granted.

The second time we visited the beach, the water was almost flat-calm, and certainly Anna was relieved! The water was crystal clear this time also.
It was on this day (August 4th - NOT the date of this post) that we took a walk up to a quiet part of the beach, under a goat climbing 100' up a large rockfall, and I proposed to Anna.
I don't think she suspected anything until I asked her to close her eyes, dug the engagement ring out of my shorts pockets and went down on one knee.

We hope to return to Myrtos Beach sometime in our lives, for an anniversary of sorts, maybe in a decade or two.
Until then, it will certainly remain in our minds....
Mind blowing colours and the pictures (above) are completely unedited.

DAS WETTER

Whats this?

RAIN?!

I'm normally the first to 'defend' the British weather - our national obsession.

If you have spent any time actually working outside, you will know exactly what I mean when I say it rains in Britain far, far less than is commonly thought.

You might also know that rain in summer is statistically more forceful and often more prominent than at other times of the year. Don't believe me? Just google weather records for the past 20 years or so - when it rains in July, it really, really rains. (Summer storms etc...).

My present job means I'm tied to weather forecasts every day. I get satellite images and predictions beamed straight from the Met Office into my face every day, via one of our monitors in the office which is never switched off.


I've resisted giving this weather a post of its own until now. I can't anymore. This is just silly now.

I'm bored of this summer. There doesn't seem to be much point of looking at weather forecasts, because I know what the weather will be like today. Like it has been since the first week of May. Wet and windy.

I've certainly never known a summer like it, and I'd rather not again. I do love my summer, and I've missed it!

I'm still very much in my 'winter plumage', the vegetables have suffered (although on the upside, we haven't had to water them since May), even Carnoustie, the 'hardest golf course in the world', which hosts The Open Championship next week doesn't look like a scorched, brown links desert like it should do - it looks like a rich, lush, green fertile parkland course ths year. It baint natural I tells ya.

Well. Anna and I are off to Greece in a couple of weeks, for a couple of weeks, where I hear they're experiencing their hottest, driest summer for decades. I'll have to go easy on the sun though, as any tan I picked up in April this year has long since gone - all very strange!

I'll leave you with a couple of photos of our washing line and apologise for this rather depressing post!


As I upload this post, wait for it, I thinnnnkkk the sun is coming out...! Waddya know?!

BLUE SKY (AT LAST) & RED KITE SOARING

Have we waited A LONG time for the sun to come out and produce a sky like it has this weekend?!
Wonderful. Really uplifting.
(As it was physically also, for the Red Kite in the photo, making use of a rare thermal this year, over Booker Airfield). Click to enlarge.

"MIDSUMMERS DAY"?!

June 21st. The longest day of the year. "Midsummers" day. (Always badly named).
I have been watching the street-lamps on our road to see what time they've been flicking ON this week - real rock and roll lifestyle eh?!
I was expecting a year record (late time) tonight, but due to the shitty weather we've been having - (spare a thought for those at the Glastonbury Festival this weekend), it was darker earlier than the 20th, and the street lamps all came on at 21:46. (On the 20th they came on at 21:50 in a clear sky).
Annyywwway.... its all downhill from here - here come the short days and long nights etc... etc...

ANGRY SKY

This post, and these two photos (from my new camera phone) have been given the label "sunlight". Maybe that should be "lack of..." - we've had REAL April (not May) showers here over the past 7 or 8 days, with strong winds and incredible skies...
These photos were taken an hour ago from our back garden, looking north. Click to enlarge.

SUNRISE

If you were awake at around 06:30am this morning, you may have thought "Blimey, it's finally getting lighter in the mornings..?!"

Today was most certainly the first day I noticed decent light at half-six in the morning - really nice to see, at last! (Especially after yesterday's miserable weather).

British Summer Time will race up on us I'm sure, now that February is over. The clocks "go forward" at 01:00am on Sunday 25th March this year - and that's less than three weeks away!
The (white) Blackthorn blossom is out in hedges and gardens all over the place, and in this month, I hope to see the first Swallow of the summer (I'll let you know as soon as this happens). Then, it's just a case of seeing the first of my favourite bird species - the Swift, and then summer will have finally arrived!