Bank holiday jaunts

[earthdragon64]

The weather up here isn't looking brilliant for tomorrow, unlike today. We've rain forecast, so will load the car with wet weather gear and dry weather gear and hope for the best.

We'll avoid the real hot-spots like the RSPB Loch Garten reserve, that's usually packed on holiday weekends, and I'm not over-fond of crowds. There are a few local places we could go, but will wait to see what the weather does before deciding. It will be somewhere with a good chance of seeing wildlife anyway.

Regards, Audrey.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

'newting' (not a technical term ;-) ) survey of ponds to see if there are newts breeding in them and if so, which species.

....Thx Gill - I learn something new everyday.

This is about wildlife so please read on: I got a free upgrade to a Nokia C3 mobile yesterday (I only need simple features on a phone) and discovered I could use it as an alarm clock and also that I could record! I just tested it on a singing Blackbird and was amazed at the quality considering it's just a phone - It cut out all the background sounds I could hear with my human ear. Transferring such recordings to my Mac is possibly a problem but once there I can edit and sling into any Logic track as part of creating a song.

I've got plenty of recording gear for studio work but not anything for the field.

Kate Bush did an awesome recording with a Blackbird (and Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd) called "Aerial": YouTube - Kate Bush - Aerial < Pump it up and enjoy! The Blackbird 'solo' is at about 2:20 and beyond. Dave Gilmour's solo from about 4:40 is pretty hot too

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Deb London

Now Robin, how many people do you pack into your 'fast car' on a typical journey? And are any of them requited to walk several streets to get to their destination?

....Seeing as you ask: Usually/occasionally one passenger but has to be slim for the sake of the bucket seats and not with huge hips!

On topic, I'm possibly going to buy a French Lavender and a Scabacious perhaps this weekend from a nursery I know which is just a big field in the depth of southern Somerset with no electricity or shop. Really nice guy runs it with just his wife and daughter and he gives a lot of travelling lectures and knows his onions. I offered to take a good friend of mine who has a pond on her allotment and who wants some plants. But now I have suddenly realised that she's 'quite a' (spelt 'very') large lady in the hip department! Ooops!

[shenk1]

Walk to the pub - along the canal and enjoy the wildlife both ways

Coach trip to Whitby and see the seagulls - again from pub window but seeing as this is what re-ignited my enjoyment of birding (turnstones from the window of the Duke Of York) I feel its a sacrifice worth making

[Kreacha]

Originally Posted by shenk1

Walk to the pub - along the canal both ways

Don't forget your man-version of the she-wee for the walk back

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Red Robin

....Thx Gill - I learn something new everyday.

This is about wildlife so please read on: I got a free upgrade to a Nokia C3 mobile yesterday (I only need simple features on a phone) and discovered I could use it as an alarm clock and also that I could record! I just tested it on a singing Blackbird and was amazed at the quality considering it's just a phone - It cut out all the background sounds I could hear with my human ear. Transferring such recordings to my Mac is possibly a problem but once there I can edit and sling into any Logic track as part of creating a song.

I've got plenty of recording gear for studio work but not anything for the field.

Kate Bush did an awesome recording with a Blackbird (and Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd) called "Aerial": YouTube - Kate Bush - Aerial < Pump it up and enjoy! The Blackbird 'solo' is at about 2:20 and beyond. Dave Gilmour's solo from about 4:40 is pretty hot too

I know what you mean. I was lucky enough to go to Madagascar a few years ago and it was only towards the end of the trip I realised I could record the sounds I was hearing as well as the views I was seeing. I have to say the few recordings I made of frogs calling, indri singing and rainforest sounds are sooo wonderfully atmospheric that they take me straight back there far more than the photos.

And I still do it now - though less so for ID purposes as I have an excellent app on my phone with birdsong on so if I'm stuck I can check on the spot.

Oh and regarding your plant purchase for bees, I'd also recommend marjoram or oregano for flowering in June/ July, bees love it, hoverflies love it, butterflies love it and possibly best of all you can put it in your pasta or on your pizza :-)