Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[cambridgealex]

As of May 1st, I have joined the ranks of the unemployed. So if anyone needs a hole dug, a pie crimped, a bra burned, an uprising quelled, or a step donkey-stoned, I'm your man.

U ever thought about playing poker for a living? I keep hearing that all the games are 'redic soft and full of fish'

Unfortunately, players these days are so bad it's virtually impossible for good players to win.

 

Robert Baguley, Andrew Wan, Rastafish and Alex Goulder all low limit local players that have won major comps.  Really love seeing these guys win as it gives hope to all

haha gfy

[smashedagain]

You know it's only coz I am jealous

[RED-DOG]

According to the grand kids, today is Star Wars day.

May the 4th be with you.

[smashedagain]

According to the grand kids, today is Star Wars day.

May the 4th be with you.

Fml. The 8 year old nephew completely whooshed me this morning
I just replied "you better believe I've got Jedi skills. Now get in the car"

[Rod Paradise]

Just saw my first ever short-eared owl. took the dog up to an area of moorland they're regenerating for grouse (ie they're keeping the sheep off it) and was driving back when I spotted it about 20 yards away sitting on a rock - typically I'd not got my camera  but buzzing to have seen one none the less.

[RED-DOG]

Just saw my first ever short-eared owl. took the dog up to an area of moorland they're regenerating for grouse (ie they're keeping the sheep off it) and was driving back when I spotted it about 20 yards away sitting on a rock - typically I'd not got my camera  but buzzing to have seen one none the less.

I'm jealous Rod.

I'm just glad you didn't take that picture.

[RED-DOG]

One for the oldies this.  Wonderful stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Ray%20Reardon%20at%2080

[Rod Paradise]

Just saw my first ever short-eared owl. took the dog up to an area of moorland they're regenerating for grouse (ie they're keeping the sheep off it) and was driving back when I spotted it about 20 yards away sitting on a rock - typically I'd not got my camera   but buzzing to have seen one none the less.

I'm jealous Rod.

I'm just glad you didn't take that picture.

Thought for a second I'd manage a pic with my phone - it let me out of the car and a bit closer before it flew off - I'd seen one further down the valley but from a distance -  was going daft trying to work out what it was because flight style and wing shape said owl but the terrain didn't - no woods for a couple of miles in any direction. Got a spotters scope and a camera mount so a bivvy/blind and a 'stakeout' might manage a pic or 2 - and there's lots of grouse to photograph as well.

Only worry is there's a lot of gamekeepers due to the regeneration - and if they're hunting/nesting near the road the gamekeepers all use I'm worried I'll find a few fresh shotshells....

[Kev B]

One for the oldies this.  Wonderful stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Ray%20Reardon%20at%2080

I watched this last night. What a lovely man he is, very tenatious though behind that smile. They mentioned that he moved to the Midlands in the program, he actually lived in Weston Coyney in Stoke on Trent.

They also mentioned the holiday camp circuit. When I was a kid we used to go to Pontins in Brixham and he was there one morning and I overslept and missed him. My old man played a frame with him and only got to play a couple of shots before Ray cleared up.

[tikay]

One for the oldies this.  Wonderful stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Ray%20Reardon%20at%2080

Thanks Tom, I will definitely watch thst later, ray Reardon was very much a man I admired hugely, & one of those types who aged well, he became very dry, laconic, & extremely funny.

I saw him "live" many times, & played against him once, when he visited our Club for an Exhibition Match. Naturally, as was the fashion then, he had great humility, & despite great confidence, not even a touch of arrogance or conceit. Extremely hard not to like & respect. 

[tikay]

Rod - the short-eared owl. Wow, just wow, I'm so jealous!

Amazingly, despite my tender years, it was not until I visited a bird sanctuary in Yorkshire quite recently, which had an owl collection, did I realise that owls don't even have ears! Not sure what those two sticky-up things do, but it's so hard not to "see them" as ears.

Do you have any idea what function those "ears" (which seem to be just feathers) serve? Seems very odd.

[tikay]

Quite by chance, sitting on the M1 in a traffic jam yesterday, I spotted the unmistakeable "hover" of a kestrel some 200 yards ahead, & just off the hard shoulder, hovering over some grassland.

He did his hovery thing for what seemed like 45 or 50 seconds, "head down" holding station, then flew to one of the lamp-standards on the central reservation & landed on top of it, right above me.

Very weird how such things mean so much, but I was thrilled to bits, & thought of nothing else for the rest of the journey.

I got to DTD, & kestrel sightings rarely oils the wheels of table convo, so I could not really discuss it, but then I bumped into Junior, who is a bit of a bird freak, & I bored him senseless with my tale, poor lad.

After every day, I make a little entry in a private diary, & despite a wonderful day in which all sorts happened, & I set fire to £500, my entry last night simply read "saw kestrel on M1". I'll peruse that in a year or two, & will snap recollect every minute detail.  

Here's the photo I took, though I'll fold to any raise.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

You know those motorway sign signs? Well they put nest boxes for raptors in the steel supports behind them.

There is an issue with tinypic which means it's no longer secure. It also means that I can no longer see your pictures.

Might I persuade you to use Image shack instead?

[tikay]

You know those motorway sign signs? Well they put nest boxes for raptors in the steel supports behind them.

There is an issue with tinypic which means it's no longer secure. It also means that I can no longer see your pictures.

Might I persuade you to use Image shack instead?

Well I never knew that! (Raptor nest boxes).

Teach me to use Image Shack & I will. Little words, & slowly, please. 

[Rod Paradise]

Rod - the short-eared owl. Wow, just wow, I'm so jealous!

Amazingly, despite my tender years, it was not until I visited a bird sanctuary in Yorkshire quite recently, which had an owl collection, did I realise that owls don't even have ears! Not sure what those two sticky-up things do, but it's so hard not to "see them" as ears.

Do you have any idea what function those "ears" (which seem to be just feathers) serve? Seems very odd.

Not sure if that's a level - owls have ears - but the tufts on eared owls are nothing to do with their ears. Owls have ears placed asymmetrically on their head to allow them to better use their ears to pinpoint their prey.

As for the ear tufts there are a few theories, but the one that stacks up best in my view is as an aid to camouflage for woodland day roosting owls. THe ear tufts help break up the shape of the bird when sleeping during the day. Almost all tufted owls are day roosters & woodland dwellers, the exception I know of being the one I saw yesterday - the short-eared. But since the tufts are so small as to be impossible to see from a distance their use as camouflage is negligible, so my theory is that they were descended from the long eared & the tufts have become vestigial as they were not needed.