Tag Archives: birds

Good day for birds

We’ve already had a good day for birds, with a flock of 30 Fieldfares on the fields down Lodge Lane,  a Green Woodpecker on the cherry trees by the centre and  a pair of Robins on the willow archway. You can tell they are a pair because they aren’t trying to kill each other – they really are unpleasantly aggressive birds despite the cute depictions on Christmas cards.

Sorry the picture isn’t more relevant but I don’t have many bird pictures to select from.

It’s the Big Garden Birdwatch on the weekend of 30-31 January, followed by the Big Farmland Bird Count two weeks later. We will be doing both though our garden isn’t very good for birds at the moment – more work needed. We will be making fat balls from lard and paper cups later today, so it’s a start. We must also get the second bird-feeder rigged up to provide more variety. I suspect that’s one of the benefits of the bird counts – not just getting data but reminding people to feed birds.

Thinking of birds naturally leads on to worms – so check these out. It’s just the thing to help get over “Blue Monday” though how anyone could be depressed on a day like today, I’m not sure. I suppose if you don’t have  a job that allows you to see woodpeckers it’s harder to be cheerful.

Of course, when you read that made “Blue Monday” is up by a holiday company without proper evidence things start to fall into place. For me, it’s the first happy day I’ve had since Christmas. I don’t like my routine being disrupted, and I don’t like the short days. Now that I’m back in a routine (or a rut as some people would describe it) and the days are getting significantly lighter I’m happy

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The art of relaxation

There are going to be two posts today – there was going to be one last night but the meeting over-ran and by the time I’d had tea it was midnight. I did try to write the post but I fell asleep in my chair and the laptop fell off my lap. I took the hint and went to bed.

Bird news of the day was that we saw a lapwing displaying by the side of the A46 as we turned off and found pied wagtails at the top of the lane. There were more wagtails in the yard and during the day we noticed the swallows were back in force after a couple of weeks of showing up in ones and twos. Finally, around 5pm, I looked up and saw something unusual on the bird table – a great spotted woodpecker. I know they do visit feeding stations, but this is a first fior us, though we have seen one on trees around the yard.

However, the main part of the day was getting ready for the evening meeting. The  centre scrubbed up well and we got the 56 chairs out without a problem. The kitchen looked good too, particulalrly when we opened the double doors and set the tables up outside.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The film was mainly about people recovering from serious illness by the use of meditation. There’s obviously more to it than that, including diet and medication, but the film was centred on the relaxation response so that was what was emphasised.

I’ve always believed in the power of relaxation, and in not taking things too seriously, and was grateful that the film gave me plenty of opportunity to practice. Julia actually dug me in the ribs several times when  she thought I was becoming too relaxed. We also did some official meditation and a bit of Qi Gong.

It’s World Tai Chi and Qi Gong day on Saturday 25th April. If you happen to be near West Bridgford it’s at the park, opposite Fire and Ice at 10.00 am. Contact Ian for more details.

That’s it for yeasterday. Today will follow in a few hours. Who would hav ethought that blogging could be so frantic?