Thursday, 1 July 2010

New Obsessions

It looks like I have won the Butterfly battle.  He is still visiting but has not been seen looking smug on top of the feeding station for a few days.  He just has to content himself with the seed I scatter on the ground.  I have also noticed the feeder seed does not go down as fast now too which is a big bonus!

The new battle is the gnats, midges, mozzies, whatever you want to call them.  I have every flying insect known to these shores in my garden.  Keeping them away is becoming my new obsession.  Massive amounts my time is currently being spent spraying rooms and myself and treating bites.  It's not a lot of fun and I am considering buying a beekeepers outfit to wear for the whole summer.


I can't think where all the mozzies come from......

I went for a boat ride on the Broad with a friend this week.  While we were waiting to cast off I spotted a Bittern flying past.  Naturally the birder in me took over and forgetting I was in non-birder company I jumped up and loudly stated 'Bittern flying left!'  Not only did the people around me look at me like I was a loony but the guy who was going to do the tour looked doubtful and said 'I think it was a Marsh Harrier'  Still in birding mode I dug an even deeper hole for myself by telling him far too forcefully that no it was most certainly a Bittern, it was barrel chested and was not flying right for a Harrier.  I did not mention that at that short distance you would have to blind to mistake a Bittern for a Harrier!  Later in the tour he told us how Common Terns dive for dragonflies and misidentified a coot as a grebe, saying the chicks looked like baby Coots.  Probably because they were Coots but what he meant was Moorhens.  So he could not tell a Coot from a Grebe or a Moorhen from a Coot...hmmm.....no wonder he could not tell a Bittern from a Harrier!  I was very well behaved and kept very quiet.  My friend said she knew he must be wrong cos I wasn't saying anything!

On the way out of the place I spotted some tiny chicks running along the hedge line.  They must have been Partridge or Pheasant, I have not discovered which yet but they were tiny, perhaps two thirds of the size of a newly hatched duckling. There were about 8 or more of them all running along and trying to get into the long grass and under the Beech hedge.  So sweet, I have never seen such tiny chicks before.  They were only about 10 feet away from us but I could not get my friend onto them, probably because she is not used to getting her eye into things like that.  We ended up on our hands and knees peering under the hedge trying to see them.  Lets hope no one was looking.  Especially anyone who heard my 'Bittern' outburst!


"Gentleman Jim"  aka the scene of the crime!

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