Blood Moon Rising

We did checked the night skies if we could see a glimpse of the first “Tetrad” which were a series of lunar eclipses. It coincided with an alignment of Earth, Mars and the sun where 4 successive total ‘blood-red’ lunar eclipses each followed by 6 full moons. A lunar eclipse occurred when the moon past in the shadow of Earth. This was an area known as umbra, where light from Sun was blocked by Earth. The light refracted differently in the atmosphere and, as it hit the moon, it appeared red. This gave rise to its ‘blood red’ appearance during a total eclipse, when the entire moon was in shadow. Unfortunately, the phenomenon can only be sighted from North and South America. ‘Blood moon’ were associated with omens and dark prophecy but thankfully,  no apocalypse noted.

Then is made full the circle of her light

And as she grows, her beams more bright and bright

Are poured from Heaven, where she is hovering then,

A wonder and a sign to mortal men.

~ Homer, “Hymn to the Moon”, translated by Percy Bysshe Shelley~

But still, Britain’s air quality plummeted due to a perfect storm of Saharan dust, emissions from the Continent, low south-easterly winds and local pollution. A ‘coincidence of climatic and meteorological influences’ had led to the Saharan sand being whirled high into the sky and whisked across Africa and mainland Europe before coming down. The South/South-East winds carried the sand over the UK and light persistent rain brought it down to earth. When the rain dried, it left sand as a visible residue on cars and buildings. It was quite unpleasant and you can feel it in the air.

The balmy spell was driven by tropical winds arriving from Africa, making temperatures across the UK higher than average for this time of year. Temperatures climbed to a summery 20.9C. This year’s higher temperatures had tricked some flowers and trees into blossoming early. Gardens were now full of colour from blooming  tulips, peach blossoms, blackthorn and the May tree, which usually only erupted into white flowers in time for May. These stunning tulips greeted anyone approaching our drive.

Although T. S Elliot wrote that April is the cruellest month, the month danced into town with scenes billowing with the flowering cherry trees in every shade from white to the deepest crimson. She arrived like a white sailed galleon, adrift before the winds upon a restless sea, a fair and graceful thing. Petals floated and danced merrily in the air, carried by the gentle breath of the fresh spring breeze, falling like confetti on to the pavements.  Outside my office, the trees were laden with clusters of pure white and pink blossoms. I loved standing in the snow-drifts of pink and white petals that had fallen on to the ground.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
       Twenty will not come again,

And take from seventy springs a score,

It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,    

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung with snow

~A. E. Housman (1859–1936)~

At work, the Library Working Group for International Students asked me to conduct a library tour for the pre-sessional students from the Kansai University. It will be my first induction of the year. It was a short tour because quite a few floors were out of bounds due to the examination season. It was unfortunate that the piece de resistance, the mobile shelving, was situated in the quiet study area and I didn’t want to disturb the students who were revising for their examinations. I checked the floors first and they were all packed. I was glad that I’d a group of 12 very eager and attentive students. I also had a very nice surprise when I received a lovely personal feedback from the Director of Studies, Kansai University Orientation Programme,

We’d another long departmental meeting. EK  updated us about the ENCORE and MILLENIUM upgrade and we were required to attend further training. There will be another new shelf-ready trial and this time it will be with Dawson. I am not against shelf-ready but I am against correcting ‘bad’ records supplied by them. EK mentioned that we’ve to correct 1K 050 fields records created by BSLW. I guess that will be another mini project. There was a brief introduction on the Warwick Digital Collection which was part of the Warwick Digital Library. Last but not least, we were reminded of our annual review, to the groans of everyone :-0.

Babe and I started the weekend by checking out another new RSPB site, the Blacktoft Sands nature reserve, about 8 miles from Goole and the M62 J36. It was 10C in the car and the journey took us about 2 hours and we drove through the motorways flanked by miles and miles of stunning rapeseed fields. The air was filled with the sickly smells of the blooming flowers. Babe was complaining of itchy eyes and sore throat but, fingers-crossed, I was spared. Unfortunately, there was no safe place for us to stop and take photographs. The roads were busy because it was the school break. There were more road-works on the M1 to install new road barriers.

The reserve was hidden on the south bank of the River Ouse where it widened to become the Humber Estuary. The tidal reed-bed was the largest in England and was important for its breeding bearded tits, bitterns and marsh harriers. But I was more interested in getting a glimpse of the Twites which was reported feeding on the nearby fields. As usual. they heard we were coming and had flown back to their nesting grounds on the Scottish coast and highlands, and the Pennines. Typical!!! We paid our admission charge at the reception and from here we could see the Marsh Harriers gliding low over the reeds. Whoop…whoop.

These amazing birds of prey were the reserve’s piece de resistance. We rushed to the aptly named First hide, and managed to squeeze ourselves among those already present. We watched a pair flew over the reeds with characteristic harrier glides, long tails and distinctive V silhouette of the wings. They reeled high above us before tumbling earthwards in spectacular dives, during which they twisted violently from side to side. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to witness one of the most breathtaking sights in summer were pairs of marsh harriers passing food from one to the other in mid-air during their acrobatic courtship display.

Their shadow dims the sunshine of our day,
As they go lumbering across the sky,
Squawking in joy of feeling safe on high,
Beating their heavy wings of owlish gray.
They scare the singing birds of earth away
As, greed-impelled, they circle threateningly,
Watching the toilers with malignant eye,
From their exclusive haven--birds of prey.

They swoop down for the spoil in certain might,
And fasten in our bleeding flesh their claws.
They beat us to surrender weak with fright,
And tugging and tearing without let or pause,
They flap their hideous wings in grim delight,
And stuff our gory hearts into their maws.

~Claude McKay ‘Birds of Prey’~

After having our fill with the harriers, we made our way to the Townend Hide. The reeds were alive with chirpings and twitterings but the warblers were very well-hidden. From here, we could still see the birds-of-prey gliding above the reed-beds with their squawking calls. Avocets were flying in but they disappeared into the lagoon well hidden by the reeds. The whirring cries of the Little Grebes were heard but they were no where to be seen.  A pair of Greylags with 2 young, fluffy chicks were grazing along the banks. And then, we were amazed to see a Bittern flying in front of the hide. The head was tucked in because it was doing such a long flight. We’d never seen a Bittern flying for quite a long distance.

Then we popped into the Singleton Hide where a Common Crane flew in and disappeared among the reed-beds. We didn’t stay long because there wasn’t much going on. We made our way to the furthest hide, the Ousefleet Hide and watched these Konik ponies grazing along the wetlands. They helped management of habitats by controlling scrub encroachment, creating a mosaic of different vegetation types. These hardy Polish-bred brought more to nature conservation and were were cheaper to maintain.

From the hide, we spotted a dozen swifts swooping in. A pair of Avocets flew in with their liquid melodious call trailing behind them. A symbol of the RSPB, they were highly social birds with impressive displays as the male circled the female, getting closer and closer. This was followed by a lot of dipping and shaking of the bills in the water. The nest will be a shallow scrape on bare mud or in sparse vegetation and composed of short pieces of stems, roots and leaves of vegetation.

The elegant Avocet

Tows a line of silk,

Holds her pose like a ballerina

~Daphne Schiller~

But the serenity was broken by a large flock of Black headed gulls that dominated the rock islands. These very sociable, quarrelsome and noisy birds were having some sort of disagreements.  Among the ruckus, we spotted a few pairs were busy mating. We noticed that the head posture played an important role in giving out the right signals. Some were already incubating eggs in a shallow scrape lined with pieces of sticks.

Then a pit stop at Marshland Hide where a Marsh Harrier was very well camouflaged in the reed-beds. Its presence had alerted the regulars and they stayed well-hidden. Last but not least was the Xerox Hide where the highlight was a sleeping Green-winged teal. Common Snipes were feeding along the mudbanks. A very handsome pheasant slowly gaited within sight and gave a very explosive ‘gercock’ call followed by a very impressive wing flapping which Babe managed to capture. Then it was a slow walk back to the car for refreshments and then a long drive home.

‘…And to see ‘mid the growth of all lovely things,

The joyous pheasant unfolds his wings

And then cower down, as if to screen

His gorgeous purple, gold and green’

~Mary Howitt~

After the previous day adventure, we stretched the kinks in our legs by taking a leisure walk around the city-centre. We went on a peregrine falcon watch around the ruins of Coventry Cathedral. We were quite confused by the parking regulations at our favourite car-park. Since the car-park above the market was full, we parked above the City Arcade. As we slowly made our way towards the Cathedral, we heard someone calling Babe’s name. We turned around and a lady who introduced us as Mrs G. She then led us to Mr G who’d his camera focused on the peregrine at the base of the spire of the Holy Trinity

Although they were traditionally seen on sea-cliffs, urban environments such as man-made quarries and high rise building were increasingly being populated by these beautiful birds. Tall buildings provided the height needed for diving and the bounty of pigeons was a plentiful food source.The name peregrine was derived from the word peregrinatory, which meant to wander. The first sighting of these agile and powerful birds of prey in the city-centre was in 2006. As usual, as I was busy taking photographs, I wa s suddenly surrounded by people asking questions. Aah…I must have librarian stamped on my forehead. Thankfully, Babe and Mr G came to assist. Phew…

We made a trip to our favourite playground and found the place buzzing. Visitors were taking advantage of the free vouchers in local newspapers. I don’t blame them. It' was a good opportunity to take the children out and enjoy nature and the countryside. As we walked through the courtyard, we noticed a Blue tit flying in and out of a nesting box. We didn’t want to attract too much attention and continued walking towards the hides. Brightly coloured Peacocks were basking along the path. But, the highlight was trying to photograph the beautiful Orange tips fluttering in the warm sunshine. The colourful orange  tips on the wings of the male were warnings to predators that this butterfly was highly unpalatable.

“Flowers and butterflies drift in color,

illuminating spring”

~Unknown~

Our first stop was Baldwin Hide. A Canada Goose was nesting right outside the window with her partner hissing at anything that came closer. This pair had nested here before and we hoped that they would be successful again. A pair of Great Crested Grebe swam past the hide. A Red Shank and a pair of Little Ringed-plovers were feeding on the mudbanks of the main island. It was lovely seeing dozens of Sand-martins flying in and out of the man-made nesting structure. They were quite vocal as they twittered away on the wings.

Along the path towards East Marsh Hide, we came across more Peacocks basking in the sun. We think they have just emerged from hibernation. Long Tailed tits were busy chattering from the undergrowth. From the hide, we saw a pair of Shelducks having a snooze, a dozen Wigeons grazing on the bank, Common snipes well-camouflaged among the reed-beds, a lone Dunlin and then a pair of Redshanks announced themselves with their melancholic, fluting calls. The male began flapping his wings and started following the female. Ahem …We’d our cameras trained on them and all you could hear were our cameras rattling away.

Outside the hide, by the path the irregular repetitions of two notes of a Chiffchaff attracted my attention. I went out and found this noisy warbler singing its heart out perching on the tree-top. It was actively flitting through the trees with a distinctive tail-wagging movements. From time to time, it flew out to snap insects in flight. The bird’s name was onomatopoeic, named in honour of its “chiff-chaff” song. We left the bird still singing and trotted towards the Horsetail Glade in search of the Lesser spotted woodpecker. A few twitchers and photographers who were already there told us that it had not been since they were there. By this time, Babe was too exhausted to stay and we made our way home.

“The uncrested wren, called in this place chif-chaf is very loud … It does only two piercing notes,”

~Gilbert White~

This week too, during my lunch break, I went out to check out a pair of mute swans that made into the local papers. It was the breeding season and they had made a nest near the footbridge at Lakeside. The cob had turned aggressive in defence of their nest and started hissing and chasing after the students who were using the footbridge. This footbridge was a main route between accommodation and university buildings. The funny thing was that this 4 feet tall bird which boasted an 8 feet wingspan appeared only to target students from ethnic minorities. The University had erected a fence around the the nesting site to stop the spate of attacks. I’m glad because it was a criminal offense to interfere with nesting swans in any way. They can’t be moved if the location of the nest was inconvenient for whatever reason. When I was there, the cob was enjoying a swim in the lake.

I continued on and spotted cowslips blooming profusely along Radcliffe blanks. They have a variety of country names such as Fairy caps, Key flowers, St. Peter’s keys, Our Lady’s Cushion, Galligaskins and Jackanapes on Horses. They really brightened up the dull, wet day. Because they were native wildflowers that had evolved alongside native British insects over thousands of years, I have planted a few in my garden. They seeded themselves around and I’m looking forward to masses of flowers next spring.

Shakespeare referred to Cowslips in this fairy song from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

“The cowslips tall her pensioners be;

In their gold coats, spots you see

Those be rubies,fairy flavours,

In those freckles live their savours…

I must go seek some dew-drops here,

And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear,”