and on the evening a Tawny Owl landed on our neighbours roof, taking the yearly total to 67.

Privileged

Some birds I feel privileged to see, they're a little bit special and today was one of those days. I've never seen a Barn Owl close up, or during the day. Today I saw 2 within the space of a mile and both sat on hedgerow less than 10 foot from the car, giving us all fantastic views. Sadly the camera was in the boot, so you get to see a Treecreeper which I took later. New birds for the year where, Barn Owl, Sanderling, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Redshank, Nuthatch, Marsh Tit and Yellowhammer, taking the years total to 66. Our original plan today was to go to Dalby Forest, but the forest road was closed, so we did Forge Valley and Filey instead.

It took me until Thursday to recover from last weekend (aching limbs!) and what with the snow, I haven't been getting up to much. The picture above is of Beverley Westwood, I haven't been there for a while, I must fit it in sometime. This weekend may involve a day trip on Sunday, but today it's the turn of my Mother, who is visiting for lunch. Philip Larkin wrote a poem about parents, probably a bit harsh in the case of mine and wifey's, but they do muck up your social life at times.

Nightmare!

I have been to Hell, it is a semi detached bungalow in Leeds, specifically the front room. It belongs to the in laws and it is were wifey volunteered our services to lay a laminate floor. We arrived at 10 am on Saturday morning, expecting it to take about 4 or 5 hours. However when we arrived we found that we had to rip out a concrete fireplace before we could start which took an hour, and then we discovered that none of the bits of laminate flooring fitted together. In the end we had to go back again on Sunday to finish off, thus losing the full weekend. Still, look on the bright side, at least I can go back to work tomorrow for a rest.

That time of year

We've just planted our first set of tomato seeds, hoping to emulate last years efforts above!

The power of the press

Some of you will know I work in complaints, some of you won't. One of the most common things complainants say to me is "if this doesn't get sorted I'm going to the press", and yet this has never happened. I've often wondered if it's an idle threat or whether they do and the press tells them to bugger off!

The best laid plans

The plan was to go to Filey Brigg and spot a few Oystercatchers and Turnstones and maybe a few others if we were lucky. However it was cold and wet so we changed our minds and ended up secondary glazing our bedroom (what exciting lives we lead!) So the Oystercatcher you see above was taken at Filey Brigg it just wasn't taken today.

Hull City v Millwall

Well we won, 2-0 and probably deserved it. Reasonable performances throughout the team, with the exception of Garcia and Halmosi, who were both shocking. Harry enjoyed it immensely, refusing to leave early to avoid the crowds, and didn't even notice the crowd trouble.

Momentous Occasion

Today is a special day, Harry is going to his first Hull City game, I don't know who is more excited, him or me. I have taught him all the appropriate things to shout (particularly at the referee) so we are ready to go. We've just got to wait until 3 o clock now.

Wifey surveys the wier at Egton on Sunday. The bird list rises to 58 courtesy of the lovely feral Pigeon which I see every day but never thought of putting on the list, but hey it's got wings and a beak so why not!

East Park

Whilst travelling in East Hull today I popped into East Park to see if the Goosanders were still there. Not a particularly good photo, but there is one female Goosander and several Pochard which is also a new one for the year, taking the total to 57.

Cawthorne, Wheeldale and Egton

Today we drove to Cawthorne Woods (that's my shadow in the bottom left corner). Just before we got there we saw a flock of at least a hundred Fieldfares and in the woods managed to spot a Treecreeper, taking us to 54 for the year. After Cawthorne we drove over Wheeldale Moor where we spotted a Stonechat (number 55), but not much else. We then stopped at the stepping stones at Egton Bridge where normally we would expect to see a Dipper and a Grey Wagtail, but the water levels were too high, which covered the rocks we normally see them on. So, a nice weekend out and about, but unfortunately it's back to work tomorrow.

Waters Edge

Yesterday after Blacktoft we went to Far Ings and then on to Waters Edge. Waters Edge is a fairly new nature reserve on the south bank of the Humber just near Barton. It has an impressive list of birds seen so far, and if it's very cold like it was today, it has a decent cafe inside as well! Other birds seen today include Teal, Goldeneye and Sparrowhawk, taking our years total to 52. The other photograph is as close as I got to the Harrier at Blacktoft.

Blacktoft Sands

We went to Blacktoft Sands today and I had high hopes of getting some nice bird shots. However as you can see from the above shot, there wasn't a lot about! Of the 6 or 7 hides at Blacktoft, all but 1 looked like this. The 1 hide with birds on threw up a Grey Heron and Shelduck which took the years total to 48, we also saw a couple of cavorting Marsh Harriers, make that 49.

Hello everyone, I haven't posted for a couple of days because on Wednesday I saw a Reed Bunting. Now I know I have a photograph of a Reed Bunting somewhere and I wanted to post it, but I can't for the life of me find it, so no post. Anyway it was a new bird for the year so gets added to the total, making it 46. This weekend should see more birds added to the tally and hopefully I will have some fresh photos, I bet you can't wait!. Finally a big welcome back to Gawpo.

Turquoise Beavers

Harry joined the Beavers last week. In my day it was called Cubs and you wore a nice dark green uniform with a neckerchief and toggle. The new uniform is a screaming turquoise and in my opinion is a bit girly. I bet they don't play British Bulldog anymore either!

This is a bottle brush plant in one of the green houses within the walled gardens at Normanby Hall. we have one of these plants in our garden, but it only flowers every 2 years, however when it does it's quite spectacular. We went to Normanby Hall last weekend. We couldn't get out this weekend because of kids parties. I took Harry to a party yesterday, it was a lively affair, bouncy castles etc and the usual party food afterwards. Guess which of the 30 children threw up all over their dad?

Wifey has been poorly today, so I've been running around doing shopping and things. No new birds today, but I did hear a woodpecker in the garden. Almost certainly a Greater Spotted Woodpecker like the one above that we saw at Sherwood Center Parcs last November. I have seen these from our garden in the past so it's nice to know they're still around.

I'm nursing a horrendous hangover today, please leave comments quietly thank you.

Hong Kong Radio

If you see this you know your on the wrong side of the City. (apologies to non Hull residents who probably won't understand this)