Sea Birds, Historic Buildings and Modern Art

Boy was that a muggy night!! I woke at 4:30, no alarm, and thought that I may as well go!

I went first to Bempton Cliffs. I knew it would be bird light but I saw what I wanted: Puffins (all at sea), Gannets, Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills and there were Skylarks and Tree Sparrows. What i hadn't bargained for were the thunder bugs which made it very unpleasant! They were really bad!!















So I went to Burton Agnes. It has a fine church,











old norman hall


and the "new" hall.



It's a private house and I was rather shocked I could take pictures.





















































Ahem I may have overdone the photos again :D I took loads!!!

You'll never guess.

I'm off again!! Yes I know I've just come back!! The previous trip was planned for two weeks earlier but things came up at work so I pushed it back.

I'm off to East Yorkshire for a few days. I'll get to Bempton Cliffs and see if there are any Puffins.

I also want to get to Castle Howard (pics allowed in doors), Scampston Hall, Sledmere and Burton Agnes. That should be enough for the four days! Not sure about churches a few I need but I think they may be locked and I really couldn't be bothered to negotiate entry.

With the exception of Bempton all the places will be new to this blog. I've not been to Scampston and the other places were years and years ago.

When I come back the next one will be in a month! The beauty of short breaks!

Slight increase in Puffin numbers

It was good to hear that Puffin numbers have increased on the Farne Islands this year. Ok a five percent increase after a 30 percent fall still means a long way to go but its a start.

Puffins have also been fitted with GPS loggers to enable researchers to see where the birds go to fish.

Results show that the birds are travelling 20 miles from the islands, they were previously thought to head anything up to 60 miles away. Puffins were thought to dive up to 25 metres but now they are only going down an average of 4-5 metres.

The team of researchers from Newcastle University also fitted the tiny geolocator tags to the leg rings of eight puffins during 2009.

However so faronly two have been recovered and they are waiting for the data to be extracted from the devices.

Black Redstart

The BBC are reporting that Black Redstart have four chicks at a secret location in Birmingham. I didn't realise just how few breeding pairs there are in England and Wales (20-70).

I know they like abandoned buildings and if memory serves did well in the aftermath of world war II.

There are (or were) some birds at Rainham Marshes underneath the bridge and some are at Sizewell near minsmere. Nicely guarded those are!

Florida Pythons caught out by Florida cold snap.

The Burmese python has become a major risk to biodiversity in the Florida Everglades.

The snakes have secured a foothold after having escaped or been released into the wild by pet owners. Many of may remember this story of a Python bursting after trying to swallow an alligator.

This January was particularly cold in Florida and many pythons didn't survive the exteme cold weather (well for Florida!).

Before the cold weather researchers from the University of Florida implanted radio transmitters and temperature loggers into ten pythons they had captured and then released again. Nine of the ten Pythons died during the cold weather.

99 other Pythons were found of which 40 were dead. It is hoped that this has checked the spread of the Python and will allow numbers to be controlled.

Don't bet against the Germans

There is just a week left of the World Cup and I can't say its been a classic so far. There haven't been lots of goals, there haven't been lots of highly exciting games - well not to me there hasn't. I'll accept the odd goody and its been better since England went! Quelle Surprise.

One of the things that always amuses me is how the pundits always write off the Germans. "Man for man xxxxx are the better team". We heard that a lot before Germany played England and then Germany promptly whipped us 4-1. We heard the same before the game against Argentina and also how poor the German defence was and how Argentina's devastating forward line would find them out. Result? Germany 4 Argentina 0! Players who wouldn't get near the England Team (Klose for one) always play well in a German shirt.

Ah say the apologists our players are more tired due to all the games they play. Well of the starting elevens in the Germany-England game, the Germans played 577 and the English 555. This is league, cup and international games, including friendlies.

In the semi's Germany play the favourites Spain and their star forward David Villa. I'm sure the same old lines will be wheeled out but as the title says: Don't bet against the Germans!

The Gibberd Garden

Frederick Gibberd was an English architect and landscape designer. His notable buildings include the Roman Catholic cathedral in Liverpool (Paddy's wigwam), Didcot Power station and he was consultant architect planner for the Harlow New Town development.

I'm not convinced that Gibberd can be blamed for modern Harlow. I mean can you blame him that it doesn't have a specialist bookshop? No I think not. Harlow was born of Harlow "old Town" and several local villages. The idea of communities was to be enforced by the small shopping centres such as Bush Fair, the Stow and Staple Tye. Of course Gibberd can't escape all blame, some of the building materials were deeply depressing.

Gibberd's water garden I believe is still there, I haven't been to the new shopping centre built on the spot called The Water Gardens.

I suspect most people in Harlow have never heard of Gibberd and their one association of the name maybe as they head out of Harlow towards Sheering. On the outskirts of the town is a brown tourist sign pointing to the Gibberd Garden.

I have never been and this afternoon I thought ooh I know!

The garden is a series of rooms and contains many sculptures. Some of the architectural elements were salvaged from his reconstruction of Coutt's Bank in London.

I didn't take many photos. All photos Panasonic GF1 2ommf1.7.

There are two ways into the garden. I chose the wrong one and was initially disappointed.





































Not many photos eh OC :D There is a cafe that I didn't use. Not a garden of high quality planting but one worth a visit if you're in the area.

And Rye Meads it is.

Well we had two votes and those votes meant I stayed local....

Rye Meads doesn't open until 10 so I went to the Forest. I hadn't walked far when I heard a lot of small birds making a racket in a tree and an owl flew out. He perched up and gave nice views before promptly flying off as my camera.... still a good start.

I got to the lake and found THREE Common Sandpiper sitting in the south east corner. My first of the year and a forest tick. Really chuffed!




There were two Great Crested Grebe chicks on the lake and two Common Tern chicks on the raft. The adults went mental chasing a Buzzard as it flew over. A few warblers, bullfinch, Green Woodpeckers, Bullfinch (pair), Tufties and a Yellowhammer. Also some youngsters!

Nice stroll.

on to Rye Meads.

A few lapwings and terns at the Draper Hide as well as two Green Sandpipers.










A common tern in flight. Not in such large numbers this year and I'm told the same is true at Amwell.


And so on to the lakes to see if the Black-Necked Grebe was there. Well he was but boy was he distant. If he was over there when found then it was a good spot. I was scanning saw a dark Grebe that was too big for a Little Grebe and two dark for a Great Crested. The ear tufts were the give away!

So as I have no photos have a little Grebe. Alas the sun was in the wrong place!






A Hobby flew over the lake giving nice views!

a few dragons and butterflies about but they were not playing ball.

Still a very nice set of birds for a local stroll!

Decisions Decisions....

So where do I go tomorrow? Dragonfly hunting at Wicken Fen? a nice garden like the Beth Chatto garden at Colchester?, the water garden at Gooderstone? birding in Norfolk? I mean you really don't want me to go to the Forest and Rye Meads again do you?

Of course not but on Wednesday I saw a report of a Black-Necked Grebe. A nice bird but I've seen one quite a few times before. But hold on its at Rye Meads my patch! well it won't hang about. BUT!! Thursday it was seen and it was seen today!!

So do I take a chance it'll still be there Sunday or go to Rye Meads tomorrow and it still may have gone?

Decisions Decision. Any suggestions?

Restoring places of worship

I was reading something on the English Heritage website about there campaign Caring for Places of Worship. Apparently there are 14,500 listed places of worship.

I then found a story about St Andrew's Church in the village of Kirby Grindalythe. Five years ago the church was facing a bleak future and possible closure, then local people rallied around.

The local community organised suppers, parties, treasure hunts, a flower festival and a sponsored swim to raise funds for vital restoration work. English Heritage was impressed with the enthusiasm and gave grants to enable restoration work.

The work was completed and now St Andrew's has been declared the winner in a national competition to recognise the efforts of congregations and churches in securing the future places of worship and putting them back at the heart of the community.

The repairs were also beneficial for a local man. David Land persuaded Matthias Garn, from York, the Master Mason carrying out the work, to give him a trial. David has now received a full three year apprenticeship and has been named English Heritage's Apprentice of the Year.

Curiously I'll be up that way soon.