It has been interesting seeing all the fuss about the new film The Dig about the fantastic discovery of the  Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. I have read quite a bit about the discovery and we will take the chance to visit the site whenever we are in the Suffolk area, I always go to the Sutton Hoo collection when visiting the British Museum  even if I am there to  see a specific exhibition. The pictures below was from our last visit and there was re-enactment group running stalls on the site. I do play with the ship burial idea with some of my Story Telling although I transport my story  to Gloucestershire and our Saxon links. I  hope to see the film at some point hopefully it will come onto mainstream T.V.

This weekend is the annual RSPB census of garden birds   We have been doing it for over 20 years. The Blackcap obliged by appearing after being absent for a week! We also do a weekly count in our garden for the BTO.

In my last few years in school we would do the RSPB School Watch. I would meet the children at school early morning and send them out in pairs around the site. It generated a wealth of data over the years which I used with my maths groups. Even doing % increases and decreases! When we finished our watch we would have Breakfast together! Highlights over the years included a Tawny Owl, Siskin, Sparrowhawk and a Brambling. A member of staff one morning commented to me that she had overhead two young people debating with each other about one bird- “I’m sure its a Parrot!” ” No I don’t think so, have a look at this picture of a Chaffinch.” “That’s it a Parrot!”

Yesterday’s Quiz on Crime  (no quiz today it is Sunday)

a) Robert Peel is known as the Father of Policing   b) Dactyloscopy is Fingerprint Identification  c) Lyon is Interpol HQ  d) Great Train Robbery in 1963 took place at Bridego Bridge  e) Sweeney is the Cockney Rhyming Slang

My goodness there are plenty of puddles around at the moment. I think if I was three in an all in one with wellies I’d be in seventh heaven! Part of the skill cycling at the moment is trying to anticipate when a car is near you know where the puddles are – I have speeded up on occasions to avoid a soaking and slowed right down!

Bitterly disappointed with the football today . We was robbed! Just need to put the ball in the net!

Yesterday Collective Nouns Quiz

a) A Cackle of Hyenas is what I was looking for but Witches, Crows and Geese are OK  b) A Bloat of Hippos c) A Shiver of Sharks   d) A Crash of Rhinos e) A Squabble of Seagulls

Today’s Quiz following on from the football daylight robbery is loosely based on crime!

a) Which Prime Minister is regarded as the father of modern British Policing?  b) What is dactyloscopy?   c) In which French City are the headquarters of Interpol?  d) What infamous crime took place at Bridego Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore, Buckinghamshire?  e) Which cockney rhyming slang is often used for the Metropolitan Police Force Flying Squad?

Delighted to see a Charm of 30+ Goldfinches all in a couple of trees while out on my walk this afternoon. I think it is one of my favourite collective nouns it so appropriate! If you get the chance listen to Charm on Goldfinch from Spell Songs (music based on the wonderful Lost Words book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris) it captures the beautiful essence of the bird. We had booked to see a concert of Spell Songs last April in Cardiff with Jackie Morris painting on stage but of course that didn’t happen. Look forward to the day we get the chance to see live music again safely.

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on films

a) Jane’s surname was Parker in the books it was Porter   b) Casablanca (my favourite film), An American in Paris  Chicago were the three films   c) Ned Kelly was the outlaw  d) Toy Story   e) Birds was set in Bodega Bay – I hitchhiked through there as a young teacher.

Following on from Charm of Goldfinches today’s Quiz is all on Collective Nouns! Some of my favourite ones fill in the blanks.

a)  A Cackle of .____________   b) A Bloat of _________________

c)  A _____________of Sharks      d)  A _____________of Rhinoceros

e) A _____________of Seagulls 

Just came off zoom from our Quiz League Match we finished second. The way it works is you get two points for getting your individual question right and a one point if the team answers it. Sadly the last round was all on films and the wheels came off! So guess what quiz I am setting at the bottom (might serve as revision for me!)

It was more work on the tree today and with a cycle I had to have a nap late afternoon-is that an age thing?

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on Trees

a) Dendrochronology is aging a tree by counting the growth rings   b) Mountain Ash is the other name for Rowan   c) The General Sherman is the sequoia tree   d) The Stereophonics sang A Thousand Trees   e) The Garden of Eden Tree is The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Today’s Film Quiz (sic)

a) In Tarzan films what is Jane’s last name?    b) Name three films that have won an Oscar with the name of a city in the film title?   c) In film both Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger  have played the role of which famous outlaw?  d) Sid Phillips is an evil bully in which Disney Film?  e) Which famous 1963 horror film took place in the sleepy coastal town of Bodega Bay?

Steve our wonderful gardening friend came to start trimming our Crab Apple and tomorrow it is our Bramley. I was shredder man at a distance! Always amazed at how quickly things grow – it only seemed like yesterday when we last did them!

Apologies that I’ve forgotten to give a couple of blogs recently no title, maybe the isolation has got to me! Today I did the title before the blog to make sure It has a title!

Managed to get a ride in the first day for a while where I didn’t have to consider where ice might be on roads. Having said that it was mucky so will have to clean the bike yet again and oil it! Seem to be doing that a lot frequently!

Yesterday’s Quiz Answers on Doctors

a) Boris Pasternak wrote Dr. Zhivago   b) Dr. Victor Frankenstein was crated by Mary Shelley   c) Doctor Dolittle could speak to the animals  d) Doctor Jekyll had the split personality  e) Hippocrates is known as the Father of Medicine (think Hippocratic Oath)

Another Trees Quiz for today (I think they are all new questions!)

a) What is Dendrochronology ?   b) What is the alternative name for Rowan?  c) A giant sequoia located in Sequoia National Park California is by volume the largest known living single stem tree on Earth; is named after which American Civil War general?  d) Which rock band released the single A Thousand Trees  e) What was the tree in the Garden of Eden called?

A sombre day with the news that 100,000 people have died now with Covid. The one thing in all this is the admiration for all those wonderful people in the NHS, public services and support workers (sure I’ve forgotten others).

I managed to do a voluntary job today (on my own for obvious reasons) sorting out the area around some ponds. It was muddy and raining. Someone has to do it!

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on Snow and Ice

a) The music for the Snow Maiden was written by Rimsky Korsakov   b) George R. R. Martin wrote Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)  c) Snow has to fall on the Met Office roof in London on the 25th December to be declared an official White Christmas  d) Torvill and Dean are the famous ice dancers  e) Ptarmigan is the bird that turns white in winter.

Today’s Quiz is on Doctors

a) Who wrote Doctor Zhivago?    b) He created a monster in Mary Shelley’s classic?    c) Which Doctor can talk to the animals?   d) Who had a “split personality” ? e) Who is the Greek Physician is  known as the “Father of Medicine?”

Well I think we all had some white stuff over the weekend some more than others! It was bitterly cold Sunday night here and the roads were dodgy this morning. I did do a tentative ride this afternoon virtually sticking to main roads which I normally avoid but I thought it was a safer option!

The cricket was a welcome tonic and Joe Root was superb as was the Sri Lankan left arm bowler. I think India will be a much tougher test but looking forward to it.

Football was disappointing yesterday and it didn’t help the ref made an awful mistake early on that hurt the Mighty Hatters. Still think the boys acquitted themselves well . We will now concentrate on the league!

Today’s Quiz is all vaguely connected with Ice and Snow!

a) Which composer wrote the music for the opera The Snow Maiden?   b) Who wrote the series of books Song of ice and Fire?   c) Where does snow have to fall for there to be an official declaration of a White Christmas?   d) Which British couple dominated the world of ice dancing in the 1980s?  e) Which bird turns white in Winter?

Today’s title refers to the distinctive throaty cry of the Raven. I heard it this afternoon at the reed bed near Splatt Bridge. I soon spotted the massive black bird with it’s distinctive wedge shaped tail. I always used to associate them with upland areas, I remember one time when climbing up through the mist on Cader Idris and visibility was poor and hearing that other worldly call resonating all around, that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It was just me in the mist on a mountain of legend and that unearthly sound! At that moment you could understand why they are bird of legend and mythology from different cultures!  I do  know many stories with the Raven in! One Arthurian legend has him not dying but being transformed into a Raven and of course Odin was accompanied by two Ravens.

Great birds and I know I mentioned upland areas is where you often see or hear them but we do hear and see them here in flat Frampton!

Look at those throat feathers! (not my picture)

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on a walking theme. (no quiz today)

a) Alfred Wainwright wrote Lakeland Fells and also a guide to walking the Pennine Way which everyone takes with them on the walk. I think I mentioned previously he talks about rain throughout the guide whereas when I walked it during the 76 drought I only had rain on the last day!  b) Helen Shapiro sang “Walking Back to Happiness”   c) Lou Reed sang “Walk on the Wild Side”   d) Pennine Way is 268 miles long  e) The Milford Track is the famous trail in New Zealand.

What a belter of a cold January day! We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and literally just a few yards from our door and we are into countryside. So we went for regular walk around the lakes. It is a well worn track for us! It was a slow walk because we kept meeting people for socially distanced chats! Caught a glimpse of a Treecreeper and we had the snoozing Tawny Owl pointed out to us. We wait to see if we have the forecasted snow tomorrow!

Yesterday’s Quiz answers

a) A Hare’s home is called a Form    b) A Slug has 4 noses   c) There are 7 species of amphibians in UK 3 species of newt, two frogs and two toads   d) A Dipper is the aquatic song bird  e) There are 18 species of bat in Britain 17 breed here.

Today’s quiz on walks  of course!

(I will maybe write something tomorrow of the world famous trail we walked 17 years ago)

a) Who wrote the famous guide to the Lakeland Fells?    b) Who sang “Walking Back To Happiness?        c) Complete the Lou Reed song title  “Walk on………………..”     d) How long is the Pennine Way?        e) What is the name of the famous trail on New Zealand’s South Island through Fiord land?

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on Storms

a) a Tornado over water is a waterspout    b) Texas is the state that has the most tornados c) Thor is the god of thunder and I often tell stories from the Norse myths and of course Thor appears in quite a few!  d) St Elmo’s Fire is the electrical charge seen on aircraft  e) Tornados are funnel shaped.

Today’s quiz is all on British Wild Life

a) What is a Hare’s home called?    b) How many noses does a slug have?   c) How many species of amphibian in the British Isles?  d) What is the only aquatic song bird in the British Isles (I saw one today) ?  e) How many species of bat are found in the UK?