Birding has taken a bit of a back seat recently as I have many tasks to complete before our holiday. As Janis and Andy were away on Friday night the girls stayed with us. Amber said she was concerned that a photo of her I placed on this blog last September appears every time anyone does an image search for Purbeck School! I said that ‘there are many photos of you on the internet, many posted by your Mum’. She answered that was ‘before I had a social life’!
September 2011: Amber arriving at school, ‘before she had a social life’.
Amber taking over our PC last Friday (now having gained a social life).
Kara on the other hand, commandeers the telly in our bedroom to watch cartoons.
Downstairs we watched ‘Have I Got News For You’ chaired by none other than William Shatner. As Star Trek fans, we weren’t sure whether this was good entertainment or just a little embarrassing. However messers Hislop and Merton got some good puns about politicians who managed to ‘cling-on’ to power!
I have just bought a new pocket camera which has got a lovely wide-angle lens, a 10x zoom and megapixels galore. It can do weird things like producing this line drawing of Margaret watching telly.
On the 26th the Barclay House Choir put on a performance of the music from the Queen’s Coronation. Margaret was busy for most of the day with rehearsals etc. In the evening Janis, Andy, Amber (Kara was at a sleep over) and I joined Janis’ friends Helen and Suzanne at St Peter’s Church in Parkstone. This was by far the best concert they have given. A double sized choir, a treble chorister from Winchester Cathedral and a full-sized orchestra sounded superb. The only downside was that scenes from the actual Coronation was projected onto a screen above the choir but the projector didn’t always work and the sound was so poor that you couldn’t make out what was going on.
The choir at a packed St Peter’s.
The Barclay House Choir at St Peter’s.
Later we went for a drink across the road. L-R: Amber, Andy, Janis, Helen and Suzanne. Is this Amber’s social life?
On Sunday Janis, Andy, Helen and the girls came round for an extended breakfast which took the whole morning. In the afternoon Margaret and I popped down to the beach and in the evening I joined fellow ringer John Dowling at Kingston Lacy House where he has permission to ring chicks (or pulli to use the correct term) in nest boxes.
The permission to ring pulli is included in my ringing license however it is many years since I have done so. I need a bit more practice so asked to join him when it was convenient. Ringing pulli is particularly useful technique as it fixes the origin of the birds concerned. No fledged bird can be proven to originate in the area it is ringed. Putting rings on pulli is no different to ringing adults, but judging the time to ring is critical, too young and the ring can slip over the toes and cause damage, too late and the birds can ‘explode’ from the nest, i.e fledge prematurely.
Kingston Lacy during the evening when all the tourists have gone home.
John checking nest boxes.
This Blue Tit pullus is at the upper age limit for ringing for a nest box breeder and would be too old to ring if it was a cup nest breeder (where the risk of exploding is much higher).
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