They're still around

Sunday 27th February 2011

No, not Waxwings, Chinese Lanterns. On a couple of local walks around Caldecote and Burton Hastings there seemed to be more than ever adorning the hedges and trees. I saw them for sale in Atherstone recently while I was doing a restock from Gales' pie shop ( I really do recommend their Pasties and Apple pies). The advertising claimed the Lanterns were 100% degradable. Fine, so why are they still decorating the countryside? Nuclear waste is degradable if you wait long enough, its the damage it does in the meantime thats the problem! I'm sorry if this blog sounds like the grumblings of a 60 something but we all have our off days. Yesterday was one of them: the weather, getting mown down by a mountain biker etc. and not too many birds. The high spot of the day, apart from England beating France at Twickenham and the Villa having a confidence boosting win, was an encounter with a Stoat. I was checking out game bird feeders for Buntings etc. When a Stoat appeared, the encounter went on for sometime as the inquisitive creature got closer and closer, frequently running back to cover but coming back to within a few feet and standing upright on its back legs. If only I'd had a camera. How many times have you heard that?
Birdwise generally quiet in the hedgerows but it was good to see so many Skylarks getting up and singing. I also had 5 Golden Plover fly over and small flocks of Redwing and Linnet feeding on the ground. So perhaps it wasn't such a bad day after all.