T’was The Night on Easter Weekend

  Q: How do bunnies stay healthy?
A: Egg-xercise!
~Author Unknown

We woke up to April with travel chaos after the country was battered by 100 mph overnight winds and Atlantic jet streams crashed in due to a low pressure system sweeping across. Roads were closed and public transport disrupted because of the dangerous winds and fallen tree across swathes of the UK. The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for winds remained. The extreme conditions had caused disruptions across roads and rail networks, causing misery for millions trying to get away for the Easter break. And the grim forecast came amid concerns of a host of road works and rail engineering works. The Highway Agency (which became Highways England on April 1) maintained 55 sets of road-works over the Bank Holiday weekend. Parts of the M1, M3, M4 and M^ were hit by lane closures or speed restrictions. Luckily, we have no plans to go anywhere.  

But I still managed to pop into the city centre to purchase a few bits and bobs to complete my Easter decorations. Any excuse to indulge to decorate the casa. In fact, I do it for any festival, occasion or celebration just because .... Life is too short to not enjoy the festive spirit. I checked out Primark but nothing caught my attention. At M&S, a tin of chocolate eggs for Babe came home with me. Then off to H&M for a shirt but a top with colourful moths caught my attention and they have my size. Woo..hoo. Then off for late lunch at my now favourite KoCo cafe. Again the place was buzzing. The proprietor, KN, greeted me and introduced me to a couple of Malaysians who were having a meal there. On the menu today was laksa which is a spicy-sour fish base noodle soup. Yummy. I didn’t stay long because I’ve a bus to catch and there was people waiting to be seated. I bid goodbye to KN with promises to attend her garden party.

On April Fool day, Babe pulled a joke on me saying that there was a mouse in the bin but I caught him out. In the bus on the way to work, one of the girl’s phone rand and all we could hear was “ What!!! The Uni’s on fire…” We went very quiet whilst the conversation went on for 5 minutes before we heard again “WTF …”. Her father pulled a fast one. We roared with laughter. At work, there was a campaign called “Study Happy” and the mascot was a penguin. A tweet was sent out about penguins in the library and you have to get a ticket to see one. It was amazing to see the number of people requesting tickets. That was brilliant.

“Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.

~Mark Twain~

To me, the weather was playing the April Fool joke. Just when you notice that spring had sprung, winter returned with a vengeance. It was freezing. To celebrate April and also to warm our cockles, HR and I met up for lunch at Bar Fusion. Thankfully, the students had gone home for their Easter break and the place was literally empty. We ordered our food and sat by the window facing the major building work for a bus station. Fingers-crossed, it would be ready when the new student intake arrive in September. I ordered a Thai green chicken curry while HR had the chicken massala and we’d it with rice. It was very spicy and really blew my head off. The only criticism was that it had no vegetables not even as a garnish. The eatery had a feedback form and I filled it in requesting to add salad to the meal and also to change the menu often. We’d been coming here for the past 5 years and they seemed to be serving the same food. Then it was a slow walk to the office.

On Good Friday, the heavens opened. The night before, there was a heavy shower of hailstones and the wind, cold and rain didn’t stop. Hail British Summer Time :-). To get away from the doom and gloom, Babe whisked me to the supermarket and I think the whole of Coventry was in there. We can barely move. Queues were snaking round the aisles that we decided to get out ASAP.

April, April…

Laugh thy golden laughter,

But…

the moment after,

Weep thy golden tears …

~Wm Watson~

 

So what do you do when its was miserable outside? Bake pretzels, of course. Babe loved pretzels and the ones that we bought in Tesco Arena cost £2.50 for the size of my palm. It was shockingly expensive. So I Googled for a simple Pretzel recipe and out of the hundreds, I chose this. It turned out ok and a bit bland because I omitted the sprinkle with salt part. It was also small as I couldn’t handle a bigger size. That was why, some of it during baking, the loop sort of fused together. Anyway, it still tasted great. The recipe had been altered to suit my cooking skills.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

• 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (lukewarm, no need to take temperature)
• 1 packet active dry or instant yeast (2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon (8g) granulated sugar
• 3.75 - 4.25 cups (480-530g) all-purpose flour + more for the counter surface to knead
• 1 large egg, beaten
• coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir with a spoon until mixed, about 1 minute. Some clusters of yeast will remain. Add salt and sugar; stir until combined. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough is thick. Add 3/4 cup more flour until the dough is not sticky. If it is still sticky, add up to 1/2 cup more. Poke the dough with your finger - if it bounces back, it is ready to knead.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for 3 minutes and shape into a ball. With a sharp knife, cut ball of dough into 1/3 cup sections. This measurement does not have to be exact - use as much or little dough for each pretzel as you wish - the size of the pretzel is completely up to you.
4. Roll the dough into a rope with an even diameter. This measurement will depend how large you want the pretzels. Once you have your long rope, take the ends and draw them together so the dough forms a circle. Twist the ends, then bring them towards yourself and press them down into a pretzel shape.
5. In a small bowl, beat the egg and pour into a shallow bowl or pie dish. Dunk the shaped pretzel into the egg wash (both sides). Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
6. Bake for 10 minutes at 220C. Turn the oven to grill and bake for 5 more minutes to brown the tops. Watch closely to avoid burning.
7. Allow to cool and enjoy. Serve warm or at room temperature.                                http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/12/25/30-minute-whole-wheat-pretzels/

Outside, the Pulsatilla vulgaris was in full bloom. This plant was said to flower on Good Friday and was known as the Pasque flower which came from the Old French for Easter. It was quite creepy to see it blooming reliably around Easter, It was also known as Dane’s blood. The flower was ‘cloaked in myth’. One legend has it that the flowers sprang up in places that had been soaked by the blood of Romans or Danes because they often appeared on old barrows and boundary banks. They were the county flowers of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. Pusatilla were herbaceous perennials forming clumps of finely dissected leaves, with solitary, hairy bell-shaped flowers followed by silky-plumed seed heads.

On the first day of Passover, after a cloudy and drizzly night, we woke up to a dull and misty dawn. Thankfully, it began to get brighter and dryer in the afternoon. We went for a drive to Draycote Water to see the Black Neck Grebe for the last time before it departed back to Russia. It was also known as the Eared grebes. It was now in its breeding plumage with beautiful golden-red feathers which extended across the ear coverts and back over the cheeks. The name Rolling Pin which was used in Sussex to these grebes because they alluded to the habit of rolling nonchalantly on their sides to preen their silky white under-feathers. We were praying hard for it to get closer to the shore and our wish was granted. Thank you.

They say it escaped from a cunning-man’s coop,
dived into air one midwinter and left him
without spell or sight – to live unseen
in its own season behind the wind and water,
waiting for the right crack of light to make
its crystal feather – the black and rufous thing you see.

I once came close. Heard its whistle shear
off into the world that dogs can hear –
that brings them running or drives them mad.
What I’d give for a gold quill dropped
from its head, or what the old man heard it whisper.
On the Fal, in cold weather, they come to pan for its eyes.

~Black-necked grebe by Gregory Leadbetter~

We didn’t stay long because of flying ants and midges. If we don’t move, we’ll be literally eaten alive. Babe stopped by Toft Lane because on the way up, I saw a herd of alpacas feeding on the field. Unfortunately, they’d moved to the further end of the field. These alpacas came from the Toft Alpacas, a prize winning herd and stud farm which also produced yarns and other knitted products. Known for over 6K years as the ‘fibre of the Gods’ alpaca wool were warm, soft, light-weight and lustrous and very expensive. That was why I’m just content photographing them :-)

On Easter Sunday, after checking the weather forecast, we finally made the decision to check out the Festival of Power at Santa Pod Raceway in Podington, Northampton. In 1966, permission was obtained to use the Podington Airfield, which was formerly a wartime airbase used by the USAAF during WW2, as a drag racing complex with the 3/4 of a mile main runaway being used as a drag strip. The track was named Santa Pod after the Santa Ana strip in America, combined with the name of the local village, Podington. It was quite surreal to see Santa Pod opening its gates during the Easter weekend to successfully distract their fans from the Easter eggs and hot cross buns. What we saw and did deserved its own posting.

'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Spanish Student~

After yesterdays high adrenalin pursuit, we calmed down and chilled out at RSPB Middleton Lakes. Unfortunately, on such a beautiful day which happened to be the warmest day so far, everyone was there. The parking lot was full that we parked by the entrance. We were greeted by the drummings of a Lesser Woodpecker, heard but not seen. As we walked across the boardwalk, we watched the hustle and bustle of a heron colony. The adults were flying in and out of the woodland heronry, tucked in mature oak trees. Nearly all the 25 nests had a chick in it. We walked past the bird-feeder and the usual culprits were there.

On the farm, it was full of sheep with lambs. We stood watching the fluffy spring lambs gamboling and nuzzling. They also make the cutest little bleats. A spring birth was nature’s way of ensuring the lambs feed on the grass at their freshest, sweetest and most nutritious. It did struck my mind that these lambs were fattened up in the field and were then slaughtered towards the end of summer. That  meant the best time to eat grass-fed British lambs was from autumn onwards. The spring lamb that were purchased at Easter were either from New Zealand, or British lambs which had not been sniffing distance of fresh grass. And just imagine the heavy carbon footprint from the imported lamb!!!

The spring is coming by a many signs;
The trays are up, the hedges broken down,
That fenced the haystack, and the remnant shines
Like some old antique fragment weathered brown.

And where suns peep, in every sheltered place,
The little early buttercups unfold
A glittering star or two—till many trace
The edges of the blackthorn clumps in gold.
And then a little lamb bolts up behind
The hill and wags his tail to meet the yoe,

And then another, sheltered from the wind,
Lies all his length as dead—and lets me go
Close bye and never stirs but baking lies,
With legs stretched out as though he could not rise.

~Young lambs by John Clare~

We continued walking along the bridleway through the woodland. The rookeries were alive with rooks, their raucous caws were quite overwhelming. Below, the forest floor was covered with carpets of Lesser Celadines, Wood Anemones and Damsons or Wild Garlic. The aromatic smell of the later was so overpowering when I crushed the young shoots. My hand smelled of garlic the whole day :-) Bluebells were peeping out too. In a months time, they will carpet the forest floor with their magical blue and filling the air with their sweet aroma. Butterflies such as the Brimstone, Comma, Orange tip and Green veined whites fluttered past us, making the most of the warm spring sunshine.

We met 2 members from Brandon who’d been there since early morning. We’d a short chinwag before parting ways. We continued on and heard more drummings and warblings from the Cetti Warblers. The woodland was also ramping up the bird song volume. Unfortunately, everything had sprung and hidden from sight. From the Fisher’s Mill  bridge, canal boats were making their way leisurely through the Birmingham Fazley Canal canal. The pool was alive with Mallards, Canada Geese, Mute Swans, Tufted ducks  with the Black headed gulls being the noisiest and the most randy.

We stopped at the screen on the Jubilee wetlands and spotted Little Egrets feeding but unfortunately, too far away to photograph. A Buzzard was riding the waves. We decided to walk back to the car because the heat was getting on us. And there was so many people on the reserve that all the birds decided to stay away. We stopped by the small reed fringed pool where a flock of Long-tailed tits were feeding. But our attention was distracted by this toad slowly crawling along the reed beds. We took a bit of a breather before making our way to the car.

CC and I celebrated the Easter weekend with dinner at Cosmo. We were very surprised when we were informed that we’d to finish our dinner in 1.5 hours!!! WTF. Because it was all you can eat buffet, they wanted to have as many customers in as possible. It won’t take us that long to finish our dinner but I really resented that reminder. Now back to the food. We took turns to get our food because someone needed to look after our coats and bags. I went first and of course went straight for the sushi. I wished they had labels on the dishes of what the ingredients were. To be safe, I filled my plates with prawns and tuna. As soon as I sat down, it was CC’s turn. When she returned with hers, I was nearly finished and went for my second plate. We barely had time to talk :-)

While I was helping myself to the Thai mussels, spicy salmon balls, fried white calamari, butter prawns on top of a bed of crispy seaweed, there was a notice about no photography and video in the premises. What was going on !!! People come here for birthdays, parties, celebrations and off course they want to take photos and videos. That really pissed me off. I think this will be the last time I stepped in here. Finally, CC and I managed to have a conversation while having our meal. It was lovely catching up with things. My final meal, before dessert, was Singaporean noodles with braised tofu, Buddha’s delight, spicy king prawns and teppanyaki scallops. There were new live cooking stations dishing out global street food but I didn’t try any because the queue was far too long. Finally, for desserts I’d fresh melons with the creme brulee. We lingered until our 1.5 hours was up before we doddled slowly to the bus stop.

Babe and I ended the Easter weekend with another outing and this time, we checked out Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I took Friday off to avoid the weekend crowds. Oh … was I wrong. It was still the school break here and the car-park was rammed full that we’d to park at the end of a the overspill. We’d to walk along very dusty paths on one of the hottest day of the week. What a start eh. I wished they had provided a bus service to carry the customers  to the entrance.  We were nearing the complex when we were greeted by a mighty roar from inside of the compound. What a welcoming. We spent a whole fantastic day here and again, it deserved its own posting. We’d a wonderful, fulfilling Easter break and I hoped you’d too.

Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal and new life

~Janine di Giovanni~

♫Total Eclipse of the Heart♫

It had been a neck breaking 2 weeks as stargazers spent the time looking up to the skies and being treated to a whole host of cosmic and rare celestial events. I was very excited when the Lancaster University’s AuroraWatch UK issued its second highest alert for the sightings of the Aurora Borealis or commonly known as the Northern Lights. According to these boffins, the rare natural phenomenon might be visible in the sky as far south as the Midlands. Whoo …hoo. It was in my list of 100 things to see/do. I was in and out of the casa in the freezing cold from 10 pm checking the skies. Disappointingly, there was extensive cloud cover and also too much light pollution.  But still, incredible views were seen in Gloucestershire.  The Aurora Borealis was a natural light display caused by charged particles colliding in the Earth's atmosphere and seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemisphere. I guess a trip to one of the Scandinavian countries is in the card.

The Spring Equinox was regarded by astronomers as the start of spring and was when hours of daylight have lengthened enough to be equal to the hours of night. So all over the world, at this special moment, day and night were of equal length hence the word equinox which meant ‘equal night’. It was a turning point to the start of longer days as we headed towards summer. As the Vernal Equinox heralds the arrival of spring, it was a time of renewal in both nature and the home, so it was time for some spring-cleaning. Hopefully, it will also help to remove any old or negative energies accumulated over the dark, heavy winter months and preparing the way for the positive growing energy of spring and summer.

 

Then another phenomenon appeared , Supermoon or perigee moon, referring to the moment when the moon orbits at its closest to the Earth, making it look bigger than it normally does.  It was the nickname for the coincidence between either a full or a new moon. An increase in size of around 15 per cent was seen. Again the skies above our casa was blanketed by thick clouds.  The Supermoon occurred on the evening of Thursday, March 19th and the next day we all saw that extra-close new moon pass in front of the sun and caused Europe’s biggest solar eclipse for 16 years. According to timeanddatecom, there hadn’t been a solar eclipse on either a March or September equinox since 1662.

“Nothing there is beyond hope,

nothing that can be sworn impossible,

nothing wonderful, since Zeus,

father of the Olympians,

made night from midday,

hiding the light of the shining sun,

and sore fear came upon men.”

~Archilochus (c680-645BCE)~

When I left the house for work, the sun was already shining brightly in the sky. It was a beautiful morning as the big red ball of fire emerged bathing the skies around it with a soft orangey glow. It was so hard not to look at it. As soon as we arrived at work, AM and I headed to the Piazza to join the rest of the university community there. We walked past a large group by the Arts Centre under the guidance of the Astronomical Society. A few wispy clouds had appeared, drifting across the sky, and the red glow had disappeared. The lunar phenomenon was expected to start in the Midlands at around 8.45am, and peak about 45 minutes later, so everyone was hoping  of a break in the clouds by then. We sat by the steps watching both the sun and the live event televised on the big screen. There were quite a few Blue Peter style contraptions being used to look at the eclipse. I made a pin-hole and also looked through JW’s camera which had a filter on it.

Shortly before 9.30am, there was a definite eerie atmosphere descending across the Piazza. The light had definitely reduced and there was a chill in the air. The whole event only lasted minutes before things began to return to normality but what an amazing experience. The eclipse produced a 100-mile-wide “totality” shadow path that crossed the North Atlantic and covered only two land masses, the Faroe Islands between Scotland and Iceland and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Coventry saw a 91 per cent eclipse, beginning at 8.26am, peaking at 9.31am and finishing at 10.41am. I’m so glad to have seen it because the next eclipse will be on 12th  August 2026.

You can’t help humming to Bonnie Tyler’s during the eclipse.

Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit lonely
And you're never coming round
Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit tired
Of listening to the sound of my tears
Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit nervous

 

 
That the best of all the years have gone by
Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit terrified
And then I see the look in your eyes
Turnaround bright eyes, but every now and then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right

'Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
And there's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart

Turnaround bright eyes, every now and then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight (And I need you now)
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight (And if you only)
We'll be holding on forever

And we'll only be making it right ('Cause we'll never be wrong)
'Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line

Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
And there's nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart
A total eclipse of the heart
A total eclipse of the heart
Turn around bright eyes

~Bonnie Tyler ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart~

The photographs above were taken by Babe at our favourite playground. I hadn’t been there for ages because the weekend was taken by other projects and stuff. At this time of year, there was a great number of territorial disputes as pairs attempted to mate and establish themselves. The natives had paired up now and I’m so looking forward to see fluffy chicks when I’m there.

Then we got back to work for a session on “RDA in many metadata formats or RIMMF” conducted by WFP who’d attended a session on Linked Data organised by CILIP in London. In comparison to MARC this looked fantastic but RIMMF wasn’t a tool for cataloguing but a tool for training and visualising RDA. WFP demonstrated the ways fields were pre-populated with content, media and carrier depending on the template chosen. The drop-down menus that appeared each time a field was typed into enabling to select the text that had already been entered into the dataset was helpful. For each new authorised access points included, a link to the relevant section in the RDA was added and, unlike MARC, could generate effective retrieval based on the relationships between works. It looked very promising and I really needed to find the time to test it out.

At the weekend, after months of planning HR and I finally had our outing in the city centre. We’d planned this since last September but just couldn’t synchronise our diaries. Both of us were very busy women :-). It was also a post-birthday treat. I was in town early because I’d a few errands to run. I purchased a new battery for my watch, used the Holland and Barrett voucher and popped into the market for a wreath base. We met  at Cheylesmore Manor House which was having an open day after refurbishment and restoration works.

Located in a large stone flagged courtyard through an alleyway and squirreled away behind sixties concrete, it was the home of Coventry’s Register Office since 1965. It was thought to had been built for the Earl of Arundel in 1237. By 1320, the magnificent timber building belonged to Queen Isabella, the she-wolf of France, and wife of Edward II and in 1338 was passed to her grandson, Edward the Black Prince.  Edward was known as the Black Prince due to the black armour that he wore. The manor was described as ‘somewhat in ruin’ in the 16th century and suffered from Coventry’s lack of royal support in the Civil war period.

The beautiful Grade 2 listed building today with its distinct Tudor character was only the gatehouse and two parts of two cross wings to the original manor house. It was divided into 3 rooms called the Black Prince Room, the Manor Room and Statutory Register Office Ceremony Room. The Black Prince Room retained a wealth of original features with an impressive stone fireplace and medieval chandeliers. When we were there, we were very lucky to have witnessed a mock medieval wedding in this room. The building used to be the only unfortified royal palace outside London. The Register Office, held all the original birth, marriage and death registers from 1837 to the present day, was the oldest building in the country to hold these function.

Then a slow walk to the latest development in Coventry called Fargo Village, a new shopping, event and arts centre in Far Gosford Street.  Billed as “the destination for independent shopping and creative arts “ it was inspired by Camden Lock in London and just a stone’s throw away from the lovely timber-framed buildings on the main street that had been restored and brought back to use.  The village itself was a collection of refurbished buildings, a large event/market hall, and a fascinating lane of steel shipping containers, converted into  independent stores, speciality small shops and foodie businesses. The eclectic mix ranges from jewellery, video games to shabby-chic furniture, even a Lambretta scooter dealer and workshop.

The main courtyard was decorated with urban art and graffiti. An iconic sculpture of the Loch Ness Monster which was the centre piece of the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow caught my attention. The Speyside sculptor, Stuart Murdoch, made the 3 metre high and 9 metre long sculpture from Caithness stone, Scots Elm, grey stone from the north east of Scotland and Clashach Sandstone from Moray with a bench incorporated onto the back of the mythical beast. Known across the globe as the Loch Ness Monster, the creature was also referred to by its Gaelic name “Each Uisge” or water horse. Parts of the sculpture were inscribed in Ogham Script, which was known as the alphabet of the Pictish people.

We checked out the market area as it was holding a vintage fair where shoppers were able to take advantage of about 30 stalls selling affordable clothing dated from the 1940’s to 1990’s, with accessories, collectibles, furniture and jewellery all on offer. There were also re-worked and handmade stalls all hand-picked by Judy’s Affordable Vintage fair which had been hailed by the national press as a ‘shopping phenomenon’. We’d a wonderful time perusing all the different stalls and I walked home with a Vintage Easter decoration while HR bought a lovely brooch. It was lovely seeing the stall holders dressed in vintage clothing and there were even some shoppers who dressed up to suit the occasion.

“It was easily overlooked that what is now called vintage was once brand new”

~Tony Visconti~

All this walking and window-shopping made us hungry. Unfortunately, everywhere was packed and we were too famish to queue. So we walked back into town and I suggested lunch at a newly opened KoCo Cafe whose proprietors were Malaysian. I introduced HR and myself to the couple and I’d a lovely, quick chat before we sat down. The menu was written on the wall and I explained to HR what they were. I ordered nasi lemak and ayam masak merah with sambal goreng petai . It was simply out of this world to have the last dish here in Coventry.  HR had nasi goreng kampung with chicken khurma. All were authentic Malay food. This was the first time HR had eaten Malay food and she seemed to enjoy it. We washed all this with tall glasses of cold lime juice with lychee. It was delicious. I also bought a takeaway for Babe to try which he enjoyed very much.

The Cafe was very small and very busy. The customers were mostly South-East Asian students (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand) and from the Muslim countries because they served halal food. I think they had found a new niche here in Coventry. They needed to publicise it more and have a bigger premise. Unfortunately, the Cafe won’t be here much longer because the Cathedral Lanes will be renovated again to accommodate  big high streets restaurants like Wagamama and Las Iguanas. Although I’m looking forward to Wagamama, I hoped KoCo cafe will able to find another premise and wherever they go, I’ll always patronise it.

Later, Babe and I made a pit stop at Ashlawn Cuttings to see what the frogs had been up to. The volunteers had done a lot of work in clearing the reserve but during the nesting season??? We checked out Ashlawn Pool and found out that the frogs had already left leaving their spawn to develop. Spawn and tadpoles needed lots of light and warmth to develop properly and there were plenty here. We continued on walking towards the Pytchley Road Bridge being serenaded by bird-songs. It was a shame that the path here was strewn with rubbish as it was surrounded by a housing estate. And then we’d to walk along a very flooded path where we came across Reservoir pond which was full of marsh marigold, Bull rushes and carpets and carpets of frog spawn. Just wow!!! Imagine the activities and the croaking during the mating season. We will definitely check this place again.

“Across the road, tadpoles are dancing on the quarter thumbnail of the moon. They can’t see, not yet.”

~James Wright~

We also checked out Draycote Water and it was surprisingly quiet. There was only a few yachts in the water and I think because there was a lack of wind. The fishing season was back and there were a few people signed up to learn how to fish. There were plenty of opportunities for the novice to take up fly fishing or the intermediate looking to improve their casting and overall fishing skills here. The reservoir with its varying depths offer a variety of fishing skills from the bank or the boat. I don’t think I’ve the patience and I do get sea sick if the boat was not moving. I guess I preferred to be on dry land and photograph them fishing, instead.

We continued on towards Farborough Spit keeping an eye on the lake. Noisy Gulls were practicing their fishing skills with varying degrees of success with their harsh calls echoing around us.  Coots were being territorial swimming menacingly towards any intruders in their path. When they took off from the water, they looked like they were running along the surface. But what caught our attention was seeing a Great Crested Grebe diving underwater. The water was so clear that we could see it fishing. It was an amazing sight.

Pirate-eyed,

Dragon-ruffed,

Lion-maned,

Pharaoh-masked:

I am water Gypsy –

Diver of the

Deep Truth Lakes.

~Water gypsy @beeseeker.wordpress.com~

 

We also came across dozens of Little Grebes or dabchicks bobbing up and down in the lake. From time to time, a distinctive whinnying trill could be heard. They were beginning to develop the bright chestnut throat and cheeks for the breeding season. We scanned the water carefully and finally spotted the Black-Necked Grebe. It was lovely seeing this grebe again with its dusky grey neck and beautiful golden tufts of feathers on its face. And the eyes, the striking Dracula red eyes. They were very rare nesting birds in the UK and were mainly passage migrants from Russia. They were almost flightless for around 9 months of the year, the longest period of any flying bird. A bit of a contradiction since they managed mammoth migrations to and from their breeding grounds each year.

As it swam further away from us, we decided to turn back and walked back to the car. The delightful Pied wagtails were frantically wagging their tails up and down while dashing about between rocks in search of food. They frequently called during their undulating flights. When we got closer to the visitor centre, someone waved at us and it was Mrs Greenman. She’d just completed the 6 miles walk around the reservoir while hubby was stuck in the bird hide. We’d done the walk only once and it nearly killed Babe so we’d not done it since. While we were talking, a wren popped up to say hello and goodbye, before disappearing in between the rocks to hunt for food.

Twice a year the country goes through the panic of resetting its timepiece as the clock jumps forwards (and backwards) by an hour. This year the clocks sprung forward, signalling the start of the British summertime (BST) on 29th March. Sometimes also known as Daylight Saving Time (DST), it signalled longer and hopefully sunnier days and warmer temperatures.  It was a longed-for signal that the gloom and doom of winter was on its way out. Debate over the effects of turning the clocks back (and forth) had been a British pastime for more than a century, when the first DS Bill was brought before the House of Commons. Plans had been mooted to move to Central European Time which meant lighter winter evenings which claimed cut road deaths, boost tourism and reduce energy use. Unfortunately the proposals faced strong opposition from the Scots who don’t relish the extra hour of darkness in the morning. To me, this was one of the quirkiness of British life.

At home, the hedgehogs had woken up from their hibernation and was seen puttering about in the garden. I’ve put mashed dog food mixed with mealworms out but hadn’t taken any videos or photograph them yet. It was still too cold to leave the patio doors open. I’m so please to see them back again. Apart from them, the Goldfinches were back at the feeder too. Whoop…whoop. In the early mornings, I am often awakened by their delightful liquid twittering. My very own personal natural alarm clock. It was so hard not to have a little peep to see these very highly coloured finches with their blood red ‘face’, the black and white head and the signature lemon-yellow wing patch. The red around the beak allowed Christian Europe to entwine the bird’s story with the passion. Goldfinches were said to have their faces dipped in Jesus blood as they tried to pull those thorns out of his crown.

“Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop
From low hung branches; little space they stop;
But sip, and twitter, and their feathers sleek;
Then off at once, as in a wanton freak:
Or perhaps, to show their black, and golden wings
Pausing upon their yellow flutterings.”
~John Keats~

They have been flying in often and I think a pair was nesting in a fir tree overlooking our garden. Ooh… I’m so excited because they might bring the juveniles to feed here. One thing, I noticed were they were not restful birds. When they were feeding, they will continually look around checking for threats and the same ‘conversational’ twittering goes on as they fed together. According to Garden Birdwatch “Improved foods and feeder designs, coupled with feeding pressures in the wider countryside, appear to be driving (the rise of the Goldfinch) and other farmland species … into gardens.” And I think anyone who has a feeder in their garden will always welcome a Goldfinch. One to know a secret? Put nyjer seeds out and they will definitely come flying.