I spent the weekend catching up on my reading for my book-club. This will be my first attendance this year which was very bad. I’m very selective about the books that I wanted to discuss. I don’t read historical romance or fiction, autobiographies and western. We Need New Names was the debut novel of expatriate Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo and was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize. The coming-of-age story gripped me from the start, as ten-year old Darling narrated her life with her friends Godknows, Stina, Sbho, pregnant Chipo and Bastard in a soul-crushing ghetto called Paradise. Through unconventional and smartly written dialogue, these characters came to life and the pace was set from the first page. There was a palpable anxiety to cover every "African" topic such as child soldiers, genocide, child prostitution, female genital mutilation, political violence, police brutality, dictatorships, predatory preachers, dead bodies on the roadside and even the Chinese take-over was mentioned. 
In between readings, Babe and I checked out Coombe Abbey Country Park because there was several sightings of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker near the hides. After grudgingly paying the exorbitant parking fee, we made our way to the hide walking past clumps of spent Snowdrops. It was surprisingly very quiet that we managed to disrupt an amorous couple :-). Hmmm…they left ASAP. There was plenty of activity at the Heronry. We saw Cormorants and Herons ferrying in sticks for nest-building. We waited and waited and waited but except for a few Blue and Great Tits, the woodpecker forgot to turn up. After about an hour, we left. 
As we walked on the causeway past the main lake, we spotted a delightful performance of an albino male pigeon courting a female. It was one of those beautiful things that happened all around us and we often hear the cooing of a male pigeon in his courtship but we seldom see the display. It was quite comical to watch. Usually the female was busy eating or minding her own business when a male comes over to her and started fanning his tail and dancing around her. It seemed very pushy and desperate – especially when the female ignored him. Among pigeons it was the female who does the choosing. 
First, the male strutted around the female spreading his tail and dragging his tail on the ground, a process called tail-dragging. Then he puffed out his neck feathers, bowed several times while circling around the female. He ran closely behind her to move her away from other males. And then came the interesting bit when she put her beak (bill) inside the male’s beak (bill). Then the two birds moved together in rhythm, bobbing their heads up and down. Billing happened just before mating. The female bend down and the male hopped on top of her and flapped his wings to keep his balance. 
We’d a good laugh because it was unsuccessful for the first time. After the 2nd successful try, the female came closer to the male and tried to put her beak inside the male again but he doesn’t want to know. I guess he already has done his bit :-). We waited for the display flight where after mating, the male will fly up and clap his wings together over his back which make a clapping sound. But he was more interested in eating. Typical … 
Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'll be the one, if you want me to
Anywhere, I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you
And I am feeling so small
It was over my head
I know nothing at all
And I will stumble and fall
I'm still learning to love
Just starting to crawl
Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
Anywhere, I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you
And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye
Say something, I'm giving up on you
And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
And anywhere, I would have followed you
Oh-oh-oh-oh say something, I'm giving up on you
Say something, I'm giving up on you
Say something
~Great Big World & Christina Aguilera~
At the car-park, we spent a bit of time checking out the many ancient oaks for Little Owls which had been spotted roosting in the hollowed trunks. We walked up and down straining our necks, but to no avail. Instead, we came across quite a large flock of Redwings resting on one of the trees. I think they were bidding time to fly back to their northern breeding territories, where they nest low down in boggy woodland and birch forests. We could hear their continuous chatter of squeaks and warbles as they argued the best time to depart.
“Birds of the same feathers flock together, and when they flock together they fly so high”
~Cecil Thounaojam~
We later made a pit stop at our favourite playground to see what the natives were up to. The Clarke’s mining bees were very busy on the sandy slope by the path to Baldwin Hide. Also referred to as digger bees, these black and yellow flying insects were solitary bees which nests in burrows in the ground. Unlike many social wasps and bees controlled by a queen, each female dug an individual burrow to rear her own young. Although they were solitary bees, if soil conditions were ideal, many bees nest near to each other. I wished the Trust fenced up the area to stop people from stepping on them.
We were so caught up with the mining bees that we decided just to stay at Baldwin Hide. At first, it looked very quiet when suddenly we heard the piercing cry and then a flash of blue whizzing past the hide straight under the bushes. It was just too far for a good photograph. A pair of Shelducks were bobbing up and down in the middle of the lake. Then a flock of Canada Geese flew in with their V-formation, honking loudly, disrupting the peace. As we watched them landing gracefully on the lake, we spotted an odd-looking one. Hang-on, it was a Barnacle Goose. Whoop…whoop.
We also checked a new reserve, the RSPB Sandwell Valley, just down the M6 motorway. I wanted to see the Ring-Necked parakeets that had made the reserve their home. We stopped at the temporary visitor centre by the entrance to ask for information and off course, where can I find the parakeets. We parked beside the severely damaged burnt-down visitor centre and headed towards the railway line where the parakeets were supposed to be. Unfortunately, they knew we were coming and went AWOL. Grr… Thankfully, this Greenfinch kept me busy.
We walked back to the car-park and scanned the bird-feeder situated at the back of the burnt-building. By the way, the Trust had received funding and a new visitor centre will be built soon. The bird-feeder was buzzing with at least a dozen Bullfinches and more feeding on the ground. The males were looking their best at the moment with their pink chests and jet black heads. A male brambling was sighted earlier during the week but not today. A wood-pecker was drumming in the woods but stopped as we got closer. We have been spotted.
We walked towards the hide and was disgusted by plastics of dog mess hung on tree branches. Why??? That really bugged us. And it made worse when we came to the most noisiest hide we’d ever stepped in. We tolerated the noise and looked out the windows to see the usual culprits. There were Galdwall, Teal, Shoveler, Mallard, Tufted ducks, Lapwings, Black-headed gulls and Great Crested Grebes. Unfortunately, the sun was shining straight into the hide. We left when the volume was so unbearable that we couldn’t even hear each other. We walked a bit further to see more of the 660 acres of woodlands, meadows, pools and streams. For about half an hour, we didn’t see anything at all except for this Comma fluttering past us, that we decided to turn back and go home. We will come again, most probably in winter or when a rare sighting was alerted.
We went back to our favourite reserve again to see what was about and we were glad we did. We met Kay and Andy on the path towards Baldwin Hide. We didn’t have time for any chinwags because a Tree-creeper was flying in and out of the reed-borders. I made myself comfortable and all you could hear was our cameras rattling away. We think that it was building a nest here because it had nested here before. And presto, it flew in carrying a tiny, weeny stick, oblivious to the lens focusing on it.
The tree-creeper hustles
Up fir’s rusty bark;
All silent be bustles;
We needen’td say hark.
There’s no song in the forest, in field, or in wood,
Yet the sun gilds the grass as though come in for good.
~John Clare~
Then we headed to East Marsh Hide. Peacocks, freshly emerged from hibernation, were basking along the path. Cetti Warblers were singing from the undergrowth, as usual heard but not seen. The hide was packed but thankfully, we managed to find a seat. A Great Crested Grebe was cruising along the lake. We spotted 2 pairs of Oyster-Catchers flying around the reserve with their cackling calls trailing behind them. Little Ring Plovers were busy feeding along the mudbanks. A Redshank flew in and was immediately chased away by the Lapwings. We left as more people poured in.
We continued to Carlton Hide where most of the Brandon regulars were making themselves at home. They were waiting for the Marsh harriers where a pair was sighted earlier during the day. The Harriers didn’t turn up but a Kestrel hovering very close to the hide took their attention. It was like being at war as cameras with impressive lens were poking out of the hides and rattling hundreds of shots. The Kestrel wasn’t too bothered by all these attention and continued to hover with its speckled red-brown back grey head perfectly still as it continued searching the ground below for signs of small mammals, a vole perhaps.
While the big boys were busy trying to out do each other to get the best angle of the Kestrel, a water snake was slowly making its way through the pool towards the hide. No one spotted it except for moi. Sometimes called grass snakes, they fed in or near water, and often leave their aquatic environments only to bask in the sun or to mate. They were at the mercy of the thermal environment and needed to overwinter in areas which weren’t subject to freezing. That was why I’m not impressed with the Conservation team clearing an area where they were known to hibernate.
Long tailed tits kept us entertained as they flitted in the reed-beds. We could hear the loud whining courting trill of the Little Grebes but we can’t see them. We scanned along the reed-beds and one emerged from under the kingfisher pool. Smallest of the grebes, the Little Grebe or dabchick was rounder and dumpier than their congeners. It was in its breeding colours, with a bright chestnut throat and cheeks and a pale colour gap patch. Then another one skulked out from the undergrowth. They pair were swimming buoyantly before disappearing back into the reeds.
Their abrupt departure into the reeds flushed out the very secretive and difficult to observe water rail. We have heard the pig-like squealing, grunting and screaming from deep in the reed-beds and we knew they were around. Their slender legs and toes were adapted for walking on floating pond weeds, allowing them to slip quickly through the marshy vegetation without being seen. It made a very brief appearance before fluttering off with its actively jerking tail and trailing legs back into the reed-beds.
The piercing cry of a Kingfisher whizzed past the hide. So far, I’d never seen it perched on the pole. I think this was because the dreaded New Zealand pygmy weed had begun to spread again. The Conservation team had cleared the pool in October last year but I think it might need to be done again. Another Brandon regular came in and told us that he’d seen a ruff at East Marsh pool. Since we were leaving, we made a brief stop and spotted it feeding among the redshanks on the mudbanks of Willow Island.
I had the most wonderful surprise during the week when I was informed that I got through my risk assessment tests. I was awarded a Level 2 Award in Risk assessment from the British Safety Council. I had attended a very intensive one day course which provided knowledge and understanding of the risk assessment process and the skills required to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. After completing the course, I’d to submit an assessment task on a specific workplace and test the application of learning. I’d been working on it for a month, tweaking here and there and finally submitted on the day when I’d the most awful headache. Frankly, I expected to re-sit it again. After receiving my certificate, I volunteered to be one of the library’s risk-assessor. That should be exciting. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 required every employer and self-employed person to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of health and safety risks. 
One of my colleagues, SLA, is a vegetarian and she was complaining that she’d not found any decent restaurant that caters to her needs. So we were on a mission to find one and we thought of Browns which was now under a new ownership and management, the Alan Edward Higgs charity. In 2012, this restaurant caused national outrage after turning away two grieving soldiers because they were wearing their military uniforms. The 4 of us descended on this quirky restaurant after a day of thunder, lightning and hail. We climbed up the stairs and took a table with impressive views of the Coventry Cathedral. SLA was delighted with the menu that she had a hard time to decide which one she wanted to try first. I guess it was a hit then. I chose the spinach, mushroom and smoked cheddar lasagne, cauliflower cheese and courgette provencal with new potatoes. Nom…nom..nom. What a lovely way to end a working week.
How did you celebrate Earth Hour? What were you thinking about during your moment of darkness? I switched off the tv and the lights. A candle smelling of sweet lime wafted around the room. It was pleasantly warm and the patio door was opened. A blackbird was still singing its heart out on top of the tree. It was time to contemplate and join in the big switch off as part of the annual green campaign. It was coordinated by the WWF to raise awareness of climate change and other environmental causes. It was time to switch off, turn off and tune out. 
“Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not just bothering.”
~Pooh’s Little instruction Book~
