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Saturday 28th June 2025

Y

yorick

Rookie
Joined
Mar 2, 2018
Messages
1,291
Just returned from a trip to Scotland, where we stayed very close to Loch Of Linlathen. ten days of utter relaxation in beautiful surroundings, needless to say.

My only regret was going to an RSPB reserve, waiting in the hide, looking out for an osprey. After twenty minutes, we left to go to another hide a bit further along, only to be told that, in our short journey, we'd missed an osprey doing its party piece, grabbing a fish from the loch. We had seen one earlier in our stay but not seeing its characteristic hunting dive. That's birds for you.

Another highlight was a visit to Glamis castle of Queen mother and Macbeth fame. I was reluctant to go in, at first, seeing that they charge £10 just for walking the grounds. To a republican- minded, tight wad like me, it was galling but we decided to pay since we'd travelled to get there and all.

I have to say that the grounds are absolutely magnificent in their own right, regardless of provenance and I was astonished by the Macbeth loop, where there are character statues from the play carved in wood: magnificent.
The V&A Dundee was really good, too and I saw something on the dockside in Dundee that brought back memories of my youth: Scott's ship The Discovery which has found a home in the city, where it was originally built, I learn. It reminds me of my childhood days, when it was moored on the Embankment in London, firing a young man's imagination with its evocation of historic travel, tragedy and heroism.

All in all, Scotland never lets me down.

So, back in Norwich and we see a Saturday which holds no real excitement for me. I've never liked the switch to the AW with the Pitman's Derby and do believe I've never backed the winner since it's switch to the cat litter. Still, it is, at least a staying race so that, in itself, will always attract me.

That said, the rest of the racing looks competitive, at the very least but should involve a 'danger' warning: A convoluted, complex conundrum, if alliteration is your thing.

If I was to restrict myself to just two today, they would be:

Artisan Dancer - 2.40 Newcastle 10/1 Ew

True, he ran no sort of race over the c/d in last year's plate but my reading of his form since that run leads me to think that he may be improving now and looks to have a good enough form profile to run a decent race here. The stable's in good form and Mr Spencer is up for a rare stable ride having had some success (+£2.50 from 14 rides) over the years.

Tailorman - 4.45 Chester 4/1 Ew

This is a low grade affair that wouldn't take a lot of winning and I think that Tailorman's run over the course in the Chester Cup behind Gibside looks standout. Also, he was checked in running last time out just as he was travelling into the race and looking dangerous.

Two Ew singles and an Ew double.

Elsewhere, it's a case of a good few noted horses who I've combined for insurance.

Global Skies - 1.55 York 80/1 Ew
27/1 6 places EW extra.

Churchella - 2.40 Newcastle 401 Ew
6/1 8 places Ew extra.

Imperial Sovereign - 3.15 Newcastle 40/1Ew
18/1 8 places Ew extra

3 x very small Ew singles
Ew trixie

Lastly, I'll have something on these alert horses of yore:

Squealer - 3.00 York 6/1 Ew
Lenny's Spirit - 5.00 Newcastle 7/1 Ew

2 x mini Ewsingles
Mini Ew double.

Good luck:)
 
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Haha!

Well, I am a Palace fan of over 60 years which, to be fair, has had its adventures, shall we say? Lol

Still glowing over our FA Cup victory. My dad would have been so proud, had he been alive to see it. Me and my bro shed a tear or two, I can tell you.

Now we'll have to endure half our squad being sold off. Same old, same old.
 
My Dad took me to Crystal Palace v Liverpool at Selhurst Park in the early 70s.

Palace, a yo-yo Club at the time, had recently got promoted again.

Palace actually went one up.

Then Emlyn Hughes equalised and the travelling Liverpool fans behind the goal, to the tune of an old song, started cheerfully chanting: "You're going down again, you're going down again, you going down, down, down, down, down again!"

It was, for sure, a different world back then.
 
yorick said:
Just returned from a trip to Scotland, where we stayed very close to Loch Of Linlathen. ten days of utter relaxation in beautiful surroundings, needless to say.

My only regret was going to an RSPB reserve, waiting in the hide, looking out for an osprey. After twenty minutes, we left to go to another hide a bit further along, only to be told that, in our short journey, we'd missed an osprey doing its party piece, grabbing a fish from the loch. We had seen one earlier in our stay but not seeing its characteristic hunting dive. That's birds for you.

Another highlight was a visit to Glamis castle of Queen mother and Macbeth fame. I was reluctant to go in, at first, seeing that they charge £10 just for walking the grounds. To a republican- minded, tight wad like me, it was galling but we decided to pay since we'd travelled to get there and all.

I have to say that the grounds are absolutely magnificent in their own right, regardless of provenance and I was astonished by the Macbeth loop, where there are character statues from the play carved in wood: magnificent.
The V&A Dundee was really good, too and I saw something on the dockside in Dundee that brought back memories of my youth: Scott's ship The Discovery which has found a home in the city, where it was originally built, I learn. It reminds me of my childhood days, when it was moored on the Embankment in London, firing a young man's imagination with its evocation of historic travel, tragedy and heroism.

All in all, Scotland never lets me down.

So, back in Norwich and we see a Saturday which holds no real excitement for me. I've never liked the switch to the AW with the Pitman's Derby and do believe I've never backed the winner since it's switch to the cat litter. Still, it is, at least a staying race so that, in itself, will always attract me.

That said, the rest of the racing looks competitive, at the very least but should involve a 'danger' warning: A convoluted, complex conundrum, if alliteration is your thing.

If I was to restrict myself to just two today, they would be:

Artisan Dancer - 2.40 Newcastle 10/1 Ew

True, he ran no sort of race over the c/d in last year's plate but my reading of his form since that run leads me to think that he may be improving now and looks to have a good enough form profile to run a decent race here. The stable's in good form and Mr Spencer is up for a rare stable ride having had some success (+£2.50 from 14 rides) over the years.

Tailorman - 4.45 Chester 4/1 Ew

This is a low grade affair that wouldn't take a lot of winning and I think that Tailorman's run over the course in the Chester Cup behind Gibside looks standout. Also, he was checked in running last time out just as he was travelling into the race and looking dangerous.

Two Ew singles and an Ew double.

Elsewhere, it's a case of a good few noted horses who I've combined for insurance.

Global Skies - 1.55 York 80/1 Ew
27/1 6 places EW extra.

Churchella - 2.40 Newcastle 401 Ew
6/1 8 places Ew extra.

Imperial Sovereign - 3.15 Newcastle 40/1Ew
18/1 8 places Ew extra

3 x very small Ew singles
Ew trixie

Lastly, I'll have something on these alert horses of yore:

Squealer - 3.00 York 6/1 Ew
Lenny's Spirit - 5.00 Newcastle 7/1 Ew

2 x mini Ewsingles
Mini Ew double.

Good luck:)
Click to expand...
Ah! Memories, memories. Ospreys were brought to Loch Garten in 1954 (can’t remember if they bred that year or not) and they were under 24 hour watch to guard against egg collectors. That went on for some years and I did a month long stint in 1959 (if memory serves) ensconced overnight in a tiny hut not far from the nest. The dawn was magic, not only the ospreys to look at, but a full notebook of birds and animals. Birding has always been a passion, but I hung up my scope a few years ago and I’m mostly confined to what’s out of the window nowadays. Mind you, that includes a lot of Red Kites which is a treat.
 
Last week on my walk down to the bus stop I heard a bird cry overhead that I realised I hadn't heard since I was a child. I had to think for a while what it was and then the memories came flooding back. Again I head the call and looked up to see the silhouette against the alabaster clouds. Definitely not a hawk or any other bird of prey but wondered if my memory was playing tricks with me.

The bus stop overlooks an open field and there the bird landed, about twenty yards in front of me with its distinctive plume. We call it a peeweet up here. I think its Sunday name is a lapwing.

It is honestly the first time I've seen one since I was a primary school kid and my father used to take us walks along the country/farm roads to feed horses and cows. He seemed to know every bird out there.

He would check in all the hedges looking for nests and could identify the various eggs by their markings. I don't imagine many kids could (or would want to) do that nowadays.

(In those days collecting eggs was not regarded as a beastly pastime.)
 
Late to the post but yes it’s a green plover or lapwing but often called peewit due to their distinctive call. Wagtails are much smaller. We have a family of grey (which are confusingly very yellow but not to be confused with the actual yellow wagtail.....who names these?) wagtails which nested last year in our paint shed amongst the weed killers. This year they moved their nest but a juvenile magpie found them and kept taking eggs from their second brood (they have two per year). So they cleverly relocated and built a nest on the inside of the spare tyre of our horse trailer so the magpies can’t get in. They have reared another three.

Ruddy magpie then sets its sights on our swallows who also were forced to relocate to a safer spot in the stables.
 
I remember being told we don't see wagtails up here until August but in all our years here (Strathaven (pronounced 'Straven'), South Lanarkshire) we've had plenty of wagtails from about April all the way through to late autumn. We get loads of them in our garden.
 
I used to like magpies until about five years ago.

I found a fledgling blue tit in the garage, obviously separated from the family. I managed to collect it and put it in a wide-necked jar which I laid on its side underneath where the nest was, waiting for the parents to find it, which they did. I stood well back as the wee one gradually ventured out of the jar while the parents came to feed it.

Then in a flash a big fkng magpie swooped down and grabbed the wee soul and headed up into the trees with the blue tit's parents chasing after it squealing in what seemed great distress.

It took me days to get over that and it still upsets me when I think about it but I suppose that's nature.
 
I remember when I first moved to East Anglia in '79, there would be hundreds of lapwings/peewits on the farmers' ploughed fields. Now, it seems, most lapwing activity is on estuaries , marshland, on the coast. I've no idea what precipitated the change but it's noticeable.
 
Saw a dipper and a grey wagtail, working the rocky fast flowing burn, if that's the correct Scottish term.
 
The change to planting wheat in Autumn as opposed to Spring means lots of birds that relied on the plough turning up insects to feed their young has had an effect on numbers.
 
walsworth said:
The change to planting wheat in Autumn as opposed to Spring means lots of birds that relied on the plough turning up insects to feed their young has had an effect on numbers.
Click to expand...
Oh. There you go. I never knew. Thanks for that, mate.
 
Amusing to relate that about 5 years ago I managed to get to the top of Ben Nevis. When I arrived back at the bottom, my overriding feeling was not so much pride over the achievement but the excitement of sharing my cheese sandwich at the summit with snow buntings.

Sad but true.
 
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