Knyghtryders and St Patrick’s Night

Knyghtryders, the Folk Group I play with, are preparing for our biggest engagement since we formed.

We are playing at the Pfizer Sport Centre St. Patrick’s Night Dance on Saturday 20th March 2010. We start playing at 8.30pm.

The evening will be full of Irish Folk tunes and songs, all suitable for a Ceilidh (pronounced kaylee).  We hope to get everyone’s feet tapping and on to the dance floor for the ’set dances’ and joining in with choruses to your favourite Irish songs such as leaving of Liverpool, Black Velvet Band, Whiskey in the jar and Rare Oul’  Mountain Dew.

Tickets cost £5.00

Also on offer is a home-cooked Steak and Guiness Pie with mashed potatoes and vegetables for £5.95 (this must be ordered at time of booking).

To book your tickets  call 01304 645675.

A lively evening is in prospect. We hope to see you there.

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North Foreland Lighthouse and Wind Turbines

Today, while Mae was visiting a nearby house, I took some photographs of  North Foreland Light House.

I had hoped for a bright sunny day. Instead I got grey clouds and a bitterly cold wind.

This is the second time I have been in this area all geared up ready to take that ‘defining’ photograph of the lighthouse, you know the sort, blue skies as a backdrop to a brilliant white building.  This was the best I could manage.

I then went to Joss Bay to look at the construction of the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm.

The Thanet project is located approximately 11 km to the east of Margate, Kent.

The Thanet project will comprise 100 Vestas V90 wind turbines and have a total capacity of 300 MW which is sufficient to supply approximately 240,000 homes per year with green energy.

I didn’t linger long taking photographs as it was freezing and my eyes were watering trying to focus on the vessel. It was then back into the warmth of the car to wait outside the house where Mae was to continue reading the last book in the ‘Flashman’ series. (A good read).

When will we get some warmth?

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Musical & Statues

We had early start on Saturday as we were off to spend a day in London and see the Massed Bands of the Royal Marines at the Mountbatten Festival at the Royal Albert Hall.

On our arrival in London, having been dropped off outside the Royal Albert Hall, we walked to the Natural History Museum for a cup of coffee and a Blueberry Muffin in their cafe.  Mae and I decided to stay in the Natural History Museum while others from the coach party went off to Harrods.

We looked around the exhibits and saw the dinosaurs.

The statue of Charles Robert Darwin dominates the main hall.

I did take more photographs of some of the exhibits but they are not very good (I only had my Canon Powershot) so you won’t be seeing them!

We had lunch (Ham, Egg and Chips and Cider) in a nearby pub, the Bunch of Grapes.  I recommend it if you are in the area (Brompton Road).

The afternoon saw us in Harrods. We didn’t buy anything.

We then decided to pop into the Victoria and Albert Museum, mainly to rest our weary bones and use their free facilities.  We didn’t look around but I saw this statue of Eurydice by Joseph Boehm on the way to the ‘facilites’.

We met up with the rest of our party and returned to the Bunch of Grapes for a meal (Prawn Curry and a pint of Abbotts Ale) before going to the Royal Albert Hall

As a flute player this position was ideal as we could watch the musicians and see the conductor. Very informative as well as a brilliant concert.

We didn’t get home until 1am in the morning.

It was a brilliant day out and already plans are being made to return for the Mountbatten Festival Concert in April next year.

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Trojan Trashed

I am pleased to say that I am back ‘on line’

It appears that there was a vulnerability with WordPress, the blogging software that is used for my site, which allowed hackers to add a bit of script which redirected users to their website (for advertising purposes).  Nothing else was affected.

I am grateful to all my readers who kindly let me know of the trojan especially Jeremy who took the trouble to research the trojan and contact me with useful advice.

I am indebted to Nathan, who looks after my website, for his work in sorting it out and getting me back.

He also designed this new look and I am very pleased with it.

Thanks Nathan.

I have been busy watching the birds etc in our garden. There are too many images to show in this post so I thought I would show you just one that I consider to be the best of the lot.

I am gradually getting used to the hide and how close I can get to the feeders. I do it in stages and the birds do not seem to mind providing I do not make any sudden movements.

It is nice to be back and I trust all my loyal readers will return.

Thanks.

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Saturday in the Hide

Another hour spent in the hide on Saturday morning. Mae went shopping and I had rugby to look forward to all afternoon so out I went and spent another pleasant hour watching the activity in our garden.

The garden was busy until the cat took an interest. I don’t know whether he saw me but he spent awhile looking towards the hide before ambling off. The garden became quiet then and that was it.

The afternoon was spent watching the 6 Nations Rugby matches. Well done England!!!

During the week I am off to a nature reserve with some-one who knows his birds so I hope to come back with some more (better?) images.

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Cheerful Drawings

I received a really nice surprise in the post today.
As you know from the previous post, last week was a ‘different’ week for me when a chest complaint laid me low.
Of course, Janet and Sharon were told and they told the boys who decided to do some drawings to cheer me up.

So it was lovely to open the mail and find these ‘get well’ cards:
This drawing from Joseph.

This drawing from Henry:

Joseph’s will join the Grandchildren’s Art Exhibition on the kitchen door.
(A question for Joseph – Can you spot the difference?)
Henry requested that I use his as a luggage lable but I think I will attach it to the holdall in which I carry my musical instruments etc. so, like Joseph’s, I will see it everyday.

Getting these through the post really did cheer me up.
Thanks Boys.

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Garden Bird Watch

Today I did the Garden Watch for the RSPB (Royal Society for Protection of Birds).
I sat in the hide for the hour from 0945am and here are some of the birds I saw.

The complete list was:
Robin – 2
Dunnocks – 4
Blackbird – 2 (Male and Female)
Blue Tit – 2
Great Tit – 2
Chaffinch -2 (Male and Female)
House Sparrow – 2 (Male and Female)
Long Tail Tit – 2

Only the birds seen in your own garden can be counted so I missed out on LongTail Tits and Chaffinchs in our neighbour’s garden.

The (our) Robin was the first visitor when the clock started but later in the hour a second Robin appeared and although very wary on the approach and while on the feeder tray did manage to eat until he was chased away by ‘our’ Robin although he was cheeky enough to return.

A bit disappointing considering that when I looked out of the window at 8.30am this morning (didn’t get the best night’s sleep so I was a bit later rising than I wanted to be) the garden was buzzing. Yesterday there were two Jays and what I think were FieldFare.

I was lucky to be allowed out at all as I have been under ‘forced convalescence’ (I say house arrest!) after a chest complaint returned mid-week. (I am okay now – and our girls have been told about it!!).

Now the weather seems to be brightening up I hope to go out and get photographs from further afield as this blog is in danger of becoming an ornithological diary!

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More Images from the Hide

Another Sunday when the grey skies lifted for a while. So, what else was there to do but get into the hide and see what activity was occuring in the garden.

Click on an image to see it full size.
It was fairly busy.

This last week has seen grey, dull days and, as the Sunday Telegraph reports, the sun has shone for barely ten hours since January 9th and light levels have been abnormally low.
I have not taken any other photographs. My camera has been with me but dull monotone images are not very interesting.

Next weekend (30th- 31st January) the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is having it’s Big Garden Birdwatch so I will definitely be out in the hide keeping a count on the type of birds and their numbers that are visiting our garden.

I’ll let you know how I get on – after I have told the RSPB of course!

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Blue Sky

Enough blue to make a pair of sailor’s trousers!

That was a saying when I was a boy. There was not a cloud in the sky. What a nice day.

We had anticipated that we would visit our Janet and family today but with Mae and me still coughing and not feeling 100% we decided it was not fair on them or us to travel. So, we went for a walk round the block. It is the first time I had been out, apart from visiting the Doctors, since before Christmas. Why is it that we didn’t cough while out but as soon as we were back indoors we were both coughing like mad? – maybe it’s the change from cold to warm air.

By this afternoon I was anxious to do some bird watching. The hide was up, so, with a pocket full of Mentho-Lyptus sweets to stave off the coughing and wrapped up to the nines out I went.

Here are some of the photographs from the hour or so I was out there. Click on them to see a full size version.

It is nice and cosy in the hide and I can get really close to the birds. The Robin and the Blackbird seemed to be aware of my presence as both looked in my direction but they then carried on as normal.

I was surprised to see a lone Longtail Tit as they are usually in a flock. I had hoped to see some Chaffinches that were in the garden this morning but there was no sign of them this afternoon.

The Mentho-Lyptus sweets helped to keep me quiet but I am sick of the taste of them. Unfortunately I have to keep sucking them this evening as I am disturbing Mae’s enjoyment of ‘Dancing on Ice’!

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Snow on a Squirrel’s Tail

A sure sign that it is thawing is a squirrel being out and about. They have been scarce since this cold and snow set in but I saw two of them yesterday and today, having put some peanuts out for them, I watched and photographed one as he fed to his tummy’s content.
A light snow was falling and settling on his tail.

I watched through the patio doors as, again, there was no chance of getting the hide out.

The sky is still very grey as it seems to have been for weeks now.
I did glimpse the sun trying to break through the clouds this afternoon without much success but wouldn’t it be nice to see a patch of blue sky.

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