Wheatear | quercuscommunity

Although I spent yesterday’s post moaning, I actually did a few things for the first time this week Yes, at the age of 64 I can still find new things to do.

We travelled amongst some upland meadows on Wednesday in our attempt to entertain No 2 Son’s girlfriend, who wanted to see things she wouldn’t see in Canada. We saw several Skylarks close up, and another Wheatear. To travel on roads I’d never travelled before and see a completely different eco-system was quite strange, considering that it was less than an hour from home.

Yesterday I ordered food from Whoosh. It is a subsidiary of TESCO. You have the ordinary delivery service which, even at off-peak times, costs £2.50 and you have to book three or four days in advance, at least. You also have click and collect, which costs next to nothing at off-peak times. Whoosh costs £5 and you have your goods within an hour.

It feels a bit decadent, but we were tired and didn’t feel like going out, and we needed a few groceries because Julia has been fussing over tonight’s meal and arranging breakfast for people tomorrow. It was mainly bread and bacon to feed people before they set off home, but I wanted razorblades to tidy my hair.

It cost £2.50 more than a regular delivery but it come by bike, so it is more climate-friendly than regular delivery or collection. I have no greta desire to use it again, but it was interesting to try.

I also ordered a new pen from eBay and some cartridges from another store. The cartridges arrived, as did a large, soft well-padded package.

“My new pen.” I thought as I ripped it open.

“What is THAT?” asked Julia as a large, gaudy bra dropped in my lap.

The pen arrived a day later, and the bra, sent in error by the people sending the cartridges, is still waiting to be returned. I don’t want it, and they have given me a return address. They just haven’t told me how they intend paying for the return. I’m a nice man, despite my tendency to rant, but I don’t like being taken for granted. They want it back, they pay the postage.

The pen is a Parker Beta, it’s a cheaply made Parker that is supposedly only for sale in India and Nepal. They are very cheap over there, but as expensive as a Vector over here. I tried it as the last Vector I bought, the orange one in the photo, turned out to be quite shoddy in manufacture and the barrel has a number of small cracks in it.

I keep hoping parker will take me on as a pen reviewer but dspite many mentions, they ignore me. After this, I may well look for a different pen supplier. The only problem is that they have to be cheap as I carry them round wherever I go, and they have a hard life.

Orange Parker Pen

“It’s a Wheatear.” said the elderly gent with all the gear (who may actually have been younger than me). He was right, it was a Wheatear, and he was standing about ten yards away from it. There was absolutely no need for him to walk any closer, as he was already about forty yards closer than me. He had binoculars and I had my eyes. As I pointed the bird out to Julia he spooked it and scared it away.

I like Wheatears and would have liked to get a better view. I was not pleased. Fortunately it bobbed up again and we were able to view it properly. This time the elderly gent, who may well have heard what I said about him earlier, just stood and watched.

Wheatear

After five minutes of bobbing about and displaying the white rump from which it gets its name (it’s from the Anglo-Saxon “white arse”) It flew away. Fortunately, I manged to get a few shots.

The whalebones we have seen before were still there, but now mounted in a framework to make them into a sort of sculpture. It’s probably better for them than just lying on the grass, like they used to do.

There were a lot of blue butterflies out in the yellow flowers. Can anyone recognise the flowers from the photos? I’m rubbish with flower ID.

As an interesting sidelight – the Trustpilot photos for Gibraltar Point contain some great photos, but unfortunately contain several that include rocky outcrops, summer clothing and Barbary Apes – this is Gibraltar, and not Gibraltar Point. The two things are very different.

This is written on Day 139. I will now write a post for Day 139 and in the near future will write about the cake at the4 tearoom. I may even reflect on my dietary sins of the day. But then again, I may not.