26/10/2011 by Aileen.

First the birds are enticed into a large netted area.

They are then put into bags and taken inside for weighing and ringing.

Within minutes they are set free through a hatch in the wall.

 We saw a goldcrest being ringed.

We also saw a robin, blackbird, redpoll and lots of tree sparrows being ringed.

‘We’ were all birders who had signed up for seeing members of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust ringing birds at Spurn Point. We’ve been there before, and I’ve also been there with Viewfinders, but it’s never been so crowded. We think it was a mixture of lovely weather, half term, and Autumn Watch. Because of the crowds we didn’t see many waders on the beach, and there was no chance of seeing the firecrest that was reported first thing in the morning, but we had fantastic views of the black redstart. In fact, two black redstarts. Here are a few more photos - memories of a lovely day.

Posted in birds | Print | No Comments »

07/07/2011 by Aileen.

Busy day today getting ready for Ali, Eric and the boys who are arriving very late tonight. A & E staying until Sunday and we have Liam and Kieran until next Saturday. So - beds to get ready, shopping to do, and for some reason I feel impelled to get the house spick and span. Probably so at least I start from a good base!

Got my replacement iPad yesterday, this time straight from Apple. I got a full refund from the firm who sent me a used ‘new’ one.  Birding yesterday was good. Saw spoonbills, egrets, herons and various wader. (So guess what habitat we were at!) I forgot to send Micahel some photos for his blog.

http://www.eybirdwatching.blogspot.com/

I might put some on here, but might be a bit busy all week! Best photo, not technically, but amusing, was a heron being mobbed by gulls.

Bye, peeps. Shower calls and it’s gone 8.30am.

Oh, nearly forgot. John had his first assignment for OU course back. 85%! Well done that man.

Posted in family, birds, Open University | Print | No Comments »

13/03/2011 by Aileen.

Well, we had an absolutely unbelievably wonderful time on our silent retreat at St Beuno’s. It is honestly too personal for me to talk about, but I feel a changed person, and John has changed in his beliefs too. Wonderful memories.

One of the little things that changed for me is that I have decided to spend less time on t’internet. I haven’t been posting as I have been wondering what to give up and what to keep. I’m keeping this blog as it’s a sort of diary for me, and I like reading back occasionally. Also, I just like recording my life. Paradoxically I have started another anonymous Blogger blog. My first one is religious based, and has turned out to be mostly thoughts (rather than feelings) My new one is linked, and I am recording my dreams on it, and trying to interpret them from a Christian point of view. But I’ve cut out a lot of aimless surfing. When I get up, sometimes around 6am, I used to turn on the news, open up the laptop and have breakfastall at the same time. I am trying to listen to the news single-mindedly now, and just having a quick glance at Facebook and other sites later.

Another thing that isn’t too personal is that I said to my spiritual guide that  I was very happy with my life, thank you very much, and I didn’t want anything to change. At the same time I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t be doing something a bit more active in the church. Anyway, Fr Neville is still recuperating from his two operations, and the visiting priest challenged the parish to sort out Stations of the Cross for ourselves. So I offered to do Friday evenings during Lent. I have done one so far. Made it up myself, as I wanted to do something really relevant to our lives, and not the old Victorian stuff we are used to. About 8 people turned up, which is wonderful as people would have been to the Ash Wednesday service on the Wednesday, and there was a funeral for someone well known to the parish on the Friday morning. And our parish is tiny. 40 newsletters printed each week. The church is only 10 pews deep and we only have one Mass a week. Just to blow my own trumpet a bit - Douglas asked for a copy of the Stations as he said it was the most devotional one he had ever heard. Also, I was amazed that the woman who had buried her husband turned up, and thanked me after. She said it had ‘just finished her day’!!! (She meant it in a good way)

I drove Fr Neville to hospital on Thursday for his post op. checkup and he had good news. No followup radiotherapy or chemo. He read the gospel at Mass this morning, and was walking a bit quicker than he was on Thursday. Hopefully he’s really on the mend now.

Good birding session this week when we had really close-up and prolonged views of a goldcrest, and saw a peregrine falcon, and a flock of bullfinches. Good creative writing sessions too. Everything good. Full stop

.        

Posted in blogs, birds, church, website | Print | No Comments »

04/11/2010 by Aileen.

Regular readers of this column will realise that I spend Mondays tidying, cleaning, and generally working hard. Not this Monday. I wasn’t lazy. Perish the thought. I emptied and sorted two kitchen cupboards. Picked up a repeat prescription. I must have done more, but what exactly escapes me at the moment.

But I didn’t do any hooving and dustering.

Today the place looks decidedly neglected, so out came the hoover this morning. Notice I’m not doing it yet - I’m having a delicious coffee. But my intentions are firm and honourable.

Other plans. Might do a big shop today, so I can load the car up with cardboard for recycling tomorrow. (I go past a recycling place on my way to Hedon for Creative Writing, and I do so like to synchronise car journeys) ((if you know what I mean))

I might have missed the best of the autumn leaves. It’s been so windy, and many leaves have gone. I did intend to go up to Thorpe Perrow, but might give it a miss this year. I can conentrate on close-ups nearer to home. Norma suggested the arboretum at Castle Howard, but it’s some distance still, and after last night’s wind it might not be worth it. Also, the light isn’t very good at the moment.

Oh, and the house needs doing, doesn’t it?

Before I go - we had a great morning at Potteric Carr yeserday. (Couldn’t stay longer as the rear window was being fitted in the afternoon. Anyway, the weather changed)

Here are some photos.

Posted in housework, birds, photos | Print | No Comments »

02/11/2010 by Aileen.

Feel very relaxed. Well, it’a 11.10pm and I’m tired. Had a good few days.

Well, Sunday morning wasn’t so good. Woke up to the back window of the car shattered. Autoglass Repair (hate that ad) said it could easily happen by a passing car. Twice in the past drunks have gone along the lane after the pub has shut, and damaged several properties (garden posts etc) but there was no other damage in the road, so I presume it was an accident.

Still waiting for the final  repair. It’s being done tomorrow afternoon, which is a bit of a nuisance, as we’re going to Potteric Carr for birding tomorrow, and I quite like staying on there for a bit.

I did my Speed Awareness course. Can’t speed anyway at the moment, as the back window is all polythened up and I’m not allowed to go over 50mph. Good course. Still learnt new stuff, although I did the course four years ago lol. It was more interactive this time, with notebooks we had to fill in after discussing the questions in groups. I found one in the ladies’ loo afterwards. Shame.

Gave two of our grass  moss plots the last cutting of the year this afternoon. At last! Two more to go.

Got Redemptorist worksheets in on time.

Better go to bed, but first - I forgot to report that I went to North Cave Wetlands on Saturday and took several photos. Here are (in  particular order) pochard, coot, tufted duck, cormorants, shoveller and snipe.

Posted in gardening, birds | Print | No Comments »

19/10/2010 by Aileen.

Second posting today. Didn’t do any gardening, didn’t really diet.

Read a lot, and did some tutorials on clothes making for Second Life, as I’ve forgotten loads.

Heron on opposite bank of the lake today, so took photo. Thought it looked set iin for a while, so I came indoors, although I really wanted to snap it flying. Got to the French windows, turned around, and there it was, GONE.

Posted in birds | Print | No Comments »

13/10/2010 by Aileen.

All the little birdies had flown over from Scandinavia and landed in Spurn today. Poor little siskins were under our feet, exhausted, eating whatever seeds they could find in the grass. There were robins everywhere. Cocky robins, goldcrest, redwings, an Egyptian goose, a black redstart which we didn’t see (although I met Sue and Mike later, having stayed on for a while, and they had seen a redstart)

I’ve come home with the sun/wind burning my face. Great day.

This evening the Viewfinders committee are coming round to look at the new website and discuss it.

Here are some photos. I’ll report on our lovely weekend another time.

Posted in birds | Print | No Comments »

05/10/2010 by Aileen.

I decided I had cropped the swan photo too much, as part of its appeal to me was the row of swans. So here it is again. I increased the saturation too. Maybe too much.

Posted in birds | Print | No Comments »

15/09/2010 by Aileen.

Really pleased as I got the results of my Website Design course back. 87%. Can’t upload the site as it’s not a proper one. Ony uploaded to the Open University.

Church cleaning was okay yesterday, but I probably damned myself in Fr Neville’s eyes with my jaundiced views of the institutional church.  Pope arrives tomorrow. That’s what started the discussion. I’m sure he has lots of good points as a human being, but when oh when is the church going to drag itself into the 21st century?

Good birding today at Tophill Low. Not that much there really, but a pleasant walk and we had good views of a kingfisher.

Posted in birds, church | Print | No Comments »

09/09/2010 by Aileen.

Oh I was without the internet from Sunday, and most of Saturday, until Tuesday. It doesn’t sound a tragedy, but it was for me. I kept wanting to Google to find out what was going wrong. Virgin were no help. We don’t have their router and after a while fobbed me off and said I should buy their router to get their assistance. Martin was sure the router wasn’t broken, so I kept trying to reset it. Eventually, when I came to a certain option (click yes if ‘fixed IP address’, or cancel if not) I tried clicking cancel. Suddenly - online. Yay.

Back to the weekend. Don and Chris came up with daughter Charley, and they relieved me of my car, which I never use as I prefer John’s. We’re rarely out to different places at the same time, so a second car is unnecessary,

Anyway, They treated us to a slap-up meal at Skidby Mill House Restaurant, and we had a great time.

Birding started yesterday, and we saw lots of unusual waders, including Little Stint

.

 Today is going to be hectic, as I have to print and mount ten photos for our photo exhibition. (At Skidby again by coincidence) It’s already gone one and we haven’t eaten. I went to PC World to top up on printer ink and get some good paper. Then did a big shop at Morrisons.

I am committed to a science experiment with the OU in Second Life, but daren’t log in until my photos are done. They need to be set up tomorrow. I also need to make refreshments for the exhibition opening.

Then, on Saturday, my Children’s Literature course is open online, and we can see the questions we need to answer.

So after kicking my heels all August, things are beginning to happen. Come back August, all is forgiven!

Posted in computer, Second Life, family, birds, photos, Open University | Print | No Comments »