Sunday Morning Posting..?!?

Whiskey, Tango, and indeed Foxtrot.


Why am I am lurking about on the 'puter, instead of down at the Nose? No, you haven't wandered into an alternative reality*, I have managed to dent myself a little and am 'taking it easy'. A bit.


My job sometimes involves lifting awkward bits of metal into and out of ovens - the 'out of' being the more delicate operation - and I think I didn't quite lift one properly last week.. It's nothing major [I hope] but better safe than sorry. So, I've not been yomping around on't Moor [yesterday] or seawatching [today] like I was planning. Not to say I haven't been out doing things [Life not stopping for a pesky back ache, after all], but it has been of a more genteel nature.

Yesterday I was mostly being a Good Brother and taxiing my Icklest Sista around. One of her darling hellcats needed to be tortured go to the vet and then she was off to see a man about a grannymobile car. Which she promptly bought, so no more brotherly taxis needed [the two things may or may not be a coincidence]. Sister's cats are in fact Good Cats; they are house cats and no longer inflicted on the local birds. Though this is more due to their propensity to try to defy gravity and traffic [both of which tend to win arguments..] than any compassion for slaughtered wildlife.. ["They're just behaving naturally"] Still, a win's a win, right?


Anyway, while the cat-wrestling was going on, I wandered off to some nearby woods, where I met a lot of lovely birds. A surprising amount, for not very big woods right by a large housing estate; GSW, Treeeeeecreeeeper, Nuthatch, and 4 flavours of Tit were nice to all see, but the Redpoll I did not expect! They were Lessers, of course, and while I was greatly pleased to see them [Redpoll rock], we were outside the Patch, alas. I know I'm not chasing any yearlists, but that doesn't mean I'm not keeping count. Redpoll is a flyover migrant species for the Patch; seeing them on the ground [ok, in the tree, but you know what I mean] is usually only for far afield. So their presence close by does lend some hope.. [Though they could be joining Marsh Tit, Little Owl, and RLP as 'seen by others'] It wasn't all 'nearly', though, as I watched a flyover Stock Dove head Patch-wards for long enough to count [ :) ].

I also met a piece of shocking modern art. Shocking in that I actually quite liked it! I am of the Imperial Attire camp when it comes to most 'art', especially that funded by my grit and graft public money. Far too often, it seems that the required talent these days is being a smooth-talker. I know the truth of commerce is that things are only worth what someone will pay for them and that Barnum was right, but still...

Here is a picture, not the greatest, even by my standards;

No, it's not the Mad Hatter

And with less messing-to-get-rid-of-shadows;

It's a Big Stick

Likewise;

It's a Really Big Stick.

For those of you outside the Bay's Artistic Circles, this is a monument to honour the guy who the woods are named for. Some Victorian chap in a very tall hat who the world thinks looks like Kenneth Brannagh, maybe?

I present a totem to the works of a famous engineer [there's a handy board to name all the bridges and ships and railways and things], surrounded by the elements of fire and water and a statue of the man himself. Despite approaching with no small amount of cynicism healthy scepticism, I found myself quite liking it. Though the huge numbers of birds in the vicinity may have helped my mood somewhat - a Treecreeper was singing as I took these! :D

Just up the hill is the house he had built; he planned to retire here [a man of great taste, as you see] though sadly died before he could. The woods [and quite a few other things around here] are named for him. Further along the Musgrave Way [one of the many trails in the area - set up in honour of a famous rambler], there is a bench facing a panoramic view of the Bay. Not uncommon here [or anywhere else], this one has the usual little metal memorial plaque. The bench itself is markedly more impressive than most, the name..  I K Brunel.


Carrying on the Musgrave Way [which also goes through the Patch at Cockington] takes you up Great Hill. This is the highest point hereabouts, and while the top is fenced off [there's a reservoir up there - our water pressure kicks ass], the views from not-quite-but-almost are very panoramic and very impressive. Too much so for my little phone camera, so go up and have a look for yourselves. [though maybe let the mud dry a bit..]


More exploring was precluded by a call from Sister, she and cat were ready to go.

I'll be back....





[[* Ok, maybe you have accidentally crossed over from the World Without Shrimp or something, but it's nothing to do with me...]]