Two's Company

Bubble Couples and Mystery Guests

10th -ish June 2020

The oak tree: a symbol of strength, morale, resistance and knowledge . 

 All things we have coped with over the last few weeks. 

At the time of organising the June activity, there was still some uncertainty about what we were allowed to do and what really met the scientific evidence.  Three choices were given: stay at home but dress up, meet a friend or go to Durham for an eye test.  Whilst there was some temptation for a day trip to Durham, being who we are, we settled to meet a friend.  Pairs were decided by nearest  distance and each pair had to sort their own day and weather out, see birds and provide bits for the  blog.  This is what happened exactly as was sent to me, honest!😉

 Maggie has grown very long arms enabling a socially distanced selfie, whilst

Alison gives the thumbs up!

Carsington Reservoir, the scene of many a previous GB get together had very kindly decided to partially open just in time for these two (and I am told a mystery guest).  They walked anti-clockwise from Sheep Wash, dropping below the dam wall through the woods as an extension to the circuit. 

Keeping two metres apart at all times, whilst stopping for drinks and snacks they caught up on a lot of news and collected litter along the way.  

Alison is still giving the thumbs up!

And the reason for that is because over the last three days, as a result of an act of extreme stupidity, Alison decided it would be fun to close the car door whilst her thumb was still in the lock.  However,  the upside of attending hospital appointments during a pandemic is there is no waiting!

Three and a half hours later.  Have they run out of things to talk about? 

And who is the mystery guest?

Meanwhile,  the Helens,  not sure if they would recognise each other after such a long time, played safe and met at the newly opened Mitchell garden where it was all too much for Betty in much need of several mad hugs! After a lot of laughter, particularly about their social life (or lack of it) they set off to Stanley Common.  Along the way, Helen gave Helen a private tutorial about plant identification

Buttercup meadow with grassy bits.

As leaves were getting in the way, Helen also showed Helen how her new bird app works.  It managed a blackbird and wren combination!

Betty having a quiet moment pre-squirrel siting.

Squirrel spotting, but keeping quiet about it! 

Avoiding golfers, they headed into the woods marvelling at the powerful smell of pine trees, spotted mostly squirrels, some birds and an unidentified flying red thingy (need an insect app now). Then headed back to an outdoor bistro for some lovely soup and sarnies.... each lovingly created by their respective halves.  Helen took her litter home. Mike popped the bowls in the dishwasher. 

The table is two metres wide ... the Helens are really quite tall!

After checking out each other's homemade masks, Helen was treated to a private viewing of a couple of art masterpieces: a beautiful photo of some giraffes and a penguin jigsaw puzzle; the closest they will get to any world wildlife for some time.  In preparation for a camping staycation, Helen is sorted:  she has a pop-up toilet tent and will be able to take a shower from a bucket. Bet no one else talked about that! 

They soaked up the sun (it is a matter of timing!)  and after a tour of a very flowery garden and pond complete with new water snail, they planned our next trip, curtsied and waved. 

Meanwhile, later in the week, after much careful planning, Lynn and Jo met at Black Rocks for a walk along the track towards Middleton incline.

Sniffing beats hugs any day! 

The walk started with some stunning views of wild flowers and a very loud song thrush, and just in case she couldn't be heard the first time, she repeated the phrases. Then another mystery guest appeared in the form of Sharen Thorpe, now a grandmother four times over.  

Lynn and Jo continued their walk and thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing about industrial sites, quarries and megalithic stones. Their next few holidays are now sorted: Rotherham, Sheffield and a field in the middle of Brittany. Clearly exhausted by all the chatter, and looming rain, they were inclined not to go up, but turned down a track where Tali and Bob found an empty crisp packet to share. Obviously, they took their litter home.

Either Tali has shrunk or the spiders are taking back control!

Why these two did not take a photo of each other is a mystery but they obviously had fun trying to take a selfie.  

We're ok Jo, it only took 14 minutes, we have 60 seconds spare but I have touched Bob's lead!

Meanwhile, across the borders, and keeping a very respectful distance from each other (138 miles-ish) a very well co-ordinated collaboration was taking place

C: I've done more washing up than you!

J: And I told you to wear yellow marigolds! 

And the one we have all been waiting for!  An exciting new venture.  A video! It is wonderful but may not work on this blog, so you will have to 

guess who! (it will be shared on WhatsApp if the published video doesn't work)

Not content with sending a video, a Powerpoint with several slides was also sent. Here are a few of them.  

Wonderful view from wherever your imagination takes you!

Ahh... ...pointing out where they might be!

But, has Julia gone to Paris ?

or maybe to Brittany with Jo?

No....she's with Pam and they've been shopping for Breton tops!

Of course, we knew who it was really and where they went. Alport Heights, a good choice in normal conditions but at least the mist and clouds lifted to reveal the sun.  There was lots of chat  around the joys and woes of lockdown and the importance of mealtimes (or just eating and drinking!)🤣.  They also claimed to have seen birds in the mist but were not sure if they were seeing a gull or a buzzard.

However, all the other birds seen do get on the blog and in a reverse of previous lockdown lists, if there is a number beside the listed bird it is because other birders saw these as well as Maggie and Alison and our mystery guest... well done, Carsington did you proud. 

43 is probably the highest number on a single day! 

Barnacle goose

Blackbird(3)

Black headed gull (2)

Blue Tit (2)

Bullfinch

Buzzard

Canada Goose

Carrion crow (2)

Chaffinch

Chiffchaff (2)

Coal Tit

Coot

Cormorant

Curlew

Dunnock(2)

Goldfinch

Great Crested grebe

Great Tit (20

Greylag

House Martin

Jackdaw(3)

Lapwing

Linnet

Little grebe

Long tailed Tit

Magpie (2)

Mallard

Mute swan

Nuthatch

Oystercatcher

Pied Wagtail

Redshank

Robin(3)

Song thrush (2)

Starling

Swallow

Swift (2)

Teal

Tree sparrow

Tufted duck

Willow Tit

Wood pigeon(3)

Wren (3)

And finally, the mystery guest is revealed.  Well, her name is in the title...

Bet you thought I was someone else! 

Mayday! Mayday!

Maycation Mess

Wednesday 13th May 2020

chaotic rumblings

from number 10 confuses

clarification

1😕

R we or R we

not meeting depends on who

you Rsk, crystal clear?
R

Stay alert, stay home

Wear a mask if you made one

and keep your distance

😷

We stick to Plan A

Write our haiku, see some birds,

There is no Plan B 

Published on 1st May, a task relished by some, possibly worried others but as you will see from our postings, a challenge dutifully responded to with excellent outcomes.  These are posted in the order of arrival reflecting the development of the natural month and the crazy stuff.

2nd May

First past the post

4th May

Today a cuckoo

 and swifts dive-bombing my car
Tomorrow swallows?

.5 of the task...I wonder where the second part is?

10th May 

She eats shoots and leaves😅

11th May

Her stylishness might just give this away

12th May

Obviously someone enjoyed this task!

13th May at 15:07

A beauty spot, now open to all

13th May at 15:25

Makes a change from sanitiser

13th May at 16:36 

Another one with artistic talent then!

13th May at 16:36 

A sign of the times and magically appears with the blackbird.

13th May at 16:38

Bluebells, flowers of the month

13th May at 18:06

Does anyone claim to know this person?

13th May at 19:08

and here's the other .5 which now =1.5!

The task of adding your postings in whatever shape or form you did it in has challenged me but at least I now know how to do a lot more technical stuff on my computer!  

How wonderful that we have all come together, whilst keeping our distancing. So brilliant too that Jane could join us on a day trip all the way from Wales!

(c) shared by a Silversurfer (my sister)

Our bird list for the day.  38 different varieties including lbj (little brown jobbies), most of which will make it onto our annual list.  I declare the greater spotted woodpecker as bird of the day as this was also identified by sound only.  As last time if there is no number beside the bird it means you were the only one who saw it, so well done! 

blackbird (7)

chaffinch (2)

chicken

chiffchaff (3)

coal tit (2)

collared dove

coot

crow (4)

ducks

dunnock (5)

gadwall

goldfinch (2)

great tit (5)

greater spotted woodpecker (4)

house martin

house sparrow (4)

jay (2)

lapwing

lbj.. (possible skylarks, stonechat, little birds!!)

lesser black backed gull

linnet

magpie (3)

moorhen

mute swan

nuthatch

peacock

pheasant (2)

raven

robin (6)

rook

songthrush (2)

starling (2)

swallow (4)

swift

treecreeper

whitethroat

woodpigeon (5)

wren

Obviously we really do not know what our June task will be as it rather depends on whether we are still easing our way out of or have placed ourselves back in lockdown!  I have several ideas but we can choose nearer the date. Dressed up with nowhere to go?  Wish I was there? Social bubbling? 

And finally, just in case you want inspiration for another one...

where I should be next week😥

Keeping Our Distance

April Activities

8th April 2020

A most beautiful April day, perfect weather for meeting up! Covid 19 had other ideas though and here we are under lockdown. So one photograph from each of us to reflect our day - at least we were all able to take part as no one is a way on their travels or working.
Sadly no gossip or tall tales to add but we will have lots to talk about when we can reconvene.

Some of the photographs have clues in them so it will be easy to guess who they belong to!

 Is there a clue in the title?

Someone’s ready for a walk.

 Ready for a good crop of raspberries

 Taking a break

 All clean and ready to go

 All the news safely delivered

 No prizes for guessing this one!

Looks like a big job

Blue sky thinking

Our bird list:

blackbird (7)

blue tit (5)

bob thrush*

buzzard(4)

canada geese (2)

chaffinch (2)

chicken!

chiffchaff (3)

coal tit

collared dove

Coot

crow (6)

duck!

dunnock (7)

goldcrest (3)

goldfinch (3)

great tit (8)

greater spotted woodpecker (2)

Greenfinch

Guineafowl*

house sparrow (4)

jackdaw (4)

Jay

long-tailed tit (4)

magpie (5)

Mallard

Nuthatch

owl…?!

Peacock*

pheasant (2)

Piedwagtail

robin (6)

rook (3)

song thrush

sparrowhawk (2)

starling (2)

tree creeper

wood pigeon (7)

wren (3)

39 different varieties of birds as a collective group is very impressive, Most of which will make it onto our annual list. Obviously the high count is down to two things. (1) You have all been paying attention! (2) wildlife are reclaiming the environment, and who knows with global warming some of these marked *may even make a future list. The number beside the bird indicates how many of us saw the bird; those without a number means you can give yourself a pat on the back if you were the only one who saw it!  Plus we saw squirrels, rats and bats!

And finally a taste of what is to come next month courtesy of Helen J - get practising your haiku girls!

Attenborough Activities

There's something in the air at Attenborough!

11th March 2020

Pam, Maggie, Jo and Helen J met at the cafe, but how should the babes greet under the new regime? We waved and toe-tapped but a Jane Austen curtsey felt just right and we could do it at a distance too!  And, to all our other babes, we sent a virtual wave, as this was as close as we dare get, especially to Alison practising her Italian for:

'I'm a Gelly Babe, get me out of here!'

and Helen M, who had averted the problem, but had still managed to find a way to do an Italian job 

But this is all that remains...

As it was so lovely outside, we decided to sit out on the terrace where it wasn't really possible to observe the space rule unless one was the photographer. Pity we forgot our sunglasses but

Our knees got very toastie! 

And with Bob being left at home to dog-sit, it was a case of...

doggie bowl-y no-mates! 

As the main activity of the day was walking whilst birding, it felt incumbent on Helen J to get our annual bird list up-to-speed very quickly.  With no January birds and a vague listing of the February ones, she had started before the others had even thought about getting their binoculars out.  Then  Pam realised that she had left hers at home, but fortunately some birds are quite big, were quite close and easily identifiable. 

When 'mutes' become 'mates'.

A quick shout of there's  'corvus corone corone' in the air, led to some consternation until it was revealed that a carrion crow was doing a fly past, a member of the 'corvid' family, not to be confused with the other harbinger of doom. However, one can't be too careful and it was with relief that we  only saw the one far, far away. 

Our chat lightened and quickly turned to managing our holiday budgets but some of us were not quite so sure about house-sitting in far flung places. And, it is probably best not to repeat what some owners had left lying about....

Topped up with vitamin D and having been sheltered from the weather we set off on our walk only to do battle with the wind and a very noisy railway line!  

Whooooshhhhh

Look what the floods left behind...

Whilst the walk wasn't that pretty and the birds had  generally hunkered down out of view or were flitting about in crazy unidentifiable flight patterns, we did come across scenes of domesticity

little egret pretending to be a cattle egret

How did ewe manage such un-identical twins? 

a well-fed grass snake

Excited by an albeit very grubby map, Pam started planning her next adventure involving a train, her bike and a coastal walk somewhere 'up north'. But she is unlikely to go for the speciality dish of the region "a bit of Scarborough 'woof 'n' chips'," well... maybe the chips'll be ok. 

Despite the map, we found ourselves another path and Jo's route-finding across the largest muddy patch was helped by a slightly sun-dried part and bit of old blue rope.

And finally, we were back on track with water in all the right places

Mr Goosander looking very smart

Pam and Maggie waited very patiently for Jo and Helen who were attempting to  identify a 'Little Brown Jobbie' which turned out to be two different birds: one reed bunting and one stonechat.  Jo definitely knows her stonechats and has succeeded in seeing the first one since records began. 

Maggie: There might be signs of spring, but it'll be summer before those two catch up!

Pam: Chillax, Maggie, and just admire super-fast running brown river.

We then went into hiding and added quite a few birds to our list.  Not many about, but it is quality, not quantity which counts. 

Lovely sky, but no sky-larks. 

Now, whilst Pam admits that birding can sometimes be a bit of challenge, she might be more successful if she chose a better vantage point

Nope, can only see the plank bird! 

We ended up back at the cafe, with its super-clean tables, for afternoon tea and a return to familiar chit-chat: the rise of the refillable stores and fall of stocks in our ever-dwindling shelves, ailing but perfectly capable parents plus a report back on the hustings and the future of a shadow not shady leader. 

An attempt to spot a flying LBJ in the sand martin hide was a little premature as they are not due until 25th March exactly.  The timing was good though, as we sheltered from a little bit of rain but then emerged to a lovely rainbow. 

How does she do it?

It was now time for our final Jane Austen curtsey but not before a delivery of another secret santa pressie. Hope it isn't next xmas before Charlotte receives hers? 😉

Wonder how will Jo react if I give her a cheeky peck? 

So, here is our bird list for the day which won't go where I want it to!  38 for the day, bringing our total for the year to 39 (it might be 40, but no-one confirmed the tit list from February). We now have a rolling number of 103!

black-headed gull

blackbird

blue tit

canada geese

cetti's warbler (heard)

chaffinch

coot

cormorant

crow

dunnock

egyptian goose

gadwal

goldeneye

goldfinch

goosander

great crested grebe

great tit

green woodpecker (heard)

grey heron

greylag geese

jackdaw

jay

kestrel

kingfisher

little egret

long-tailed tit

magpie

mallard

moorhen

mute swan

pochard

reed bunting

robin

stonechat*

teal

tufted duck

wigeon

wood pigeon

Here are some other signs of spring...

I am not an LBJ, I am a female reed bunting

I am definitely a sign of spring

So, am I this year!!

.