I am going to succumb to the lure of the sea, or at least of the coast, today. Given the weather forecast, this is also my plan for the weekend.
The last couple of months have been extremely hard work. I'm not complaining. I have complete control over what I do, so if I work hard, that is by my own choice.
That said, over the last couple of weeks, my forthcoming book has entered the production process with the publisher, and this is always the stage that I find hardest when it comes to a book. In this case, the inclusion of around 30 infographics has complicated the whole process.
The fact that James, in our team, has also been putting together a first edition book of our infographics, which has also required some work from me, as well as the social media work I have been doing of late, means that I need a few days watching birds.
The lure of Holme, Titchwell, Holkham, Blakeney, Cley, Salthouse and more is very strong at the moment, fuelled by daily reports of interesting sightings from each of these.
This does not mean the blog will go quiet. It does mean that moderation might take quite a long time. Even now, internet connections on the Norfolk coast are not always the most reliable, and I will be absent during the daytime most of this weekend.
I apologise, but not that much.
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Knock yourself out Richard, as they say.
I am sure that things will be much better for your time off.
I took a day off yesterday to visit something else that flies – Navy Wings, the RN Historic Flight and feel better for it so if I can have a day off so can you.
🙂
You’re sounding like John Masefield there, Richard. I hope you have a star to steer you there. Enjoy.
More Spike Milligan…..
Enjoy!
I am.
Enjoy the break. May I suggest that if you get the chance pop into a local RNLI shop and pick up a pack of their Christmas cards. I intend to do so and send some to Nigel Farage and his lot with a simple message: Stop the Bigots!
Hunstanton, or Wells.
Forget Holme, Titchwell, Holkham, Blakeney, Cley and Salthouse and travel across the pond to Sanibel Island, Florida. The wifi-internet services are first rate as are the beaches, food, wildlife and people. I can pick you up at RSW airport with no problems at all. Just tell me when! LOL! LOL!
You think ICE would let me in?
I have to apply for visas these days and had an extended interview last time.
Now I think there is no chance. And the visa has expired.
My wife and I cancelled a cruise from Sydney to Hawaii planned for our 25th wedding anniversary next year when we saw how intrusive the immigration requirements were. It’s just not worth the risk of being picked up for some Facebook comment you made 5 years ago. The USA is a no-go area for sane people right now.
It would not be hard for ICE to find me on social media…
On a sunny day, I haven’t found anywhere better than the top of Incleborough Hill, West Runton. Lots of birds on the heathland of Cromer Ridge.
Cley, today.
Amazing views of pink foot geese in their many thousands.
and 2 days ago 2 whooper swans touched down on the boating lake in Buxton (in High Peak) – maybe enroute from Iceland to slightly warmer surroundings (Buxton is cold!) – they only stayed here for a few hours.
Enjoy your birding and have a restful few days.
Some photos later. Coffee break now….
Amazing weather, even if about 1 degrees and a northerly wind
Virgil – Aeneid – on the subject of swans! – I did it for ‘O’ level Latin in 1961 and never to be forgotten! I, at one time, even knew the translation — something about their raucous cry in/by Pedusa’s fish filled rivers? He wrote a lot about birds – – and the Gallic wars, Troyjans/Trojans ?? and probably much more that I choose to forget except that ‘all Gaul is divided into 3 parts and the Belgians and Celts inhabited 2 of them.
‘flent maesti mussantque patres. hic undique clamor dissensu vario magnus se tollit in auras, haud secus atque alto in luco cum forte catervae consedere avium, piscosove amne Padusae dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cycni.’
🙂
We succumbed too. Got in the car and headed west on the M4. Never knew Porthcawl had so much beach nor that there was a place with as much coastal walking as Ogmore by Sea. Seems you can’t run out of new places to discover even having lived on these islands for over 70 years.
That’s why we increasingly ask ourselves whether we will ever go on holiday abroad again.