Giving You T. Rex ~ Telegram Sam

Bringing you an old 1972 retro clip from YouTube. T-Rex singing Telegram Sam when Glam Rock reached its height. Marc Bolan was made for this type of glitzy stage. He released and performed to several glam rock songs when he went more commercialised from his original 1967 act.

I have some great memories of him and he faded from the scene around 1974. However, he was beginning to make a comeback in 1977 when tragically he was killed in a car crash aged just 29.

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Would the Kingfisher Make an Appearance?

Once again, my wife and I decided to go over the bird hide at Mania in Cambridgeshire. It was a pleasant day and we had our coffee flask all made up. With camera, binoculars and a telescope, we set off.

On the way, we saw a Red Kite but could not photo it because we were moving along a country lane with a car close behind.

Upon reaching Manea we parked the car by the lock gates and began to walk along the bridle path to the hide. The one my wife always enjoys sitting in. As we entered the hide we were welcomed by a retired gentleman from the Yorkshire/Lancashire border. He said he was a Yorkshireman from West Riding. But back in the early 1970s, the local government decided that his village was now in Lancashire. Something he was not keen on and was quick to say the council or government was thinking of putting the original boundaries back to make his village, once again, in Yorkshire. He was a very sociable man and had obviously travelled far from his northern home to come to the Manea bird hides. He was on holiday with his wife and another couple who were keen country walkers or ramblers. He also told us that his village was next to the very place where Last of the Summer Wine TV sitcom was made.

He asked us about Welney bird centre and when it was that the floodplain would be allowed to flood for the winter. This is because it brings in flocks of various migratory wet warbler type birds.

We replied that we did not know exactly when the floodgates would open for the floodplain, but Welney, which is about 5 miles away, had staff at their bird watching complex. They would know. He seemed excited by this and asked more questions about the various wet birds he might see there.

We spoke at length and of the various raptors, we see at the fen in front of our bird hide. We also spoke of a vibrant blue Kingfisher that we had seen. The man seemed very interested in the Kingfisher and asked when and where we had seen it. We replied that it was in the very hide we were all in and it was roughly in the afternoon time. Again he got excited because he said that kingfishers were territorial and would have a set pattern of flight.

I did not hold out much hope of this but after about half an hour the man spotted the kingfisher and alerted my wife and me to the creature’s presence. I managed a few shots at a distance and selected a couple for the blog.

The man chatted for about another hour in which we saw raptors in flight. He then decided to give Welney a try as he was down on holiday. His wife and friends were still out and about rambling allowing him more time for further bird watching. He had a few hours to go before collecting his walker companions so he bade us goodbye and went off to his car along the bridal path and presumably off to Welney, where we hoped he would find an abundance of the wet birds he was looking for.

What Happened On the Way to the Bird Hides? (A result along the way)

This morning, my wife (Carole) and I were driving along the country lane towards a small village called Manea. There is an RSPB sanctuary there that looks out across the marshy fenland towards the town of Ely, where the Cathedral towers stand out in the summer haze. It is also the place where Oliver Cromwell was born.

It is a place we often go to just to while away a good few hours in the bird hides. We take a picnic box filled with coffee sandwiches and a few goodies on top. We also have binoculars and the Nikon D3100 camera with the 55m to 200m lens. This is inadequate for what I like to photograph, but I’m learning this slowly and surely.

I’ve sent off for a new zoom lens of 420m to 800m. It is, of course, a cheapy and I’ll have to use manual setting upon a sturdy tripod. This is because the camera adjustments don’t work with the particular zoom lens. I’ll have to learn by hand. If I can do this, I’ll think about a more expensive one with better connections between camera and lens during automatic adjustment setting.

In the meantime, we are making do with the max 200m on the Nikon and as we were driving along, Carole spotted a bird of prey circling majestically above the fields whilst travelling through the farmland fen. Good fortune had a gravel layby close at hand so I pulled in and got the camera ready. I took a string of shots but the hawk was high up. I could not make out if it was a marsh harrier or a common buzzard.

The under wing seems to look like that of a marsh harrier and the head seems white. I was so pleased to get this bird before even arriving at the hide. What a fabulous start. Carole has eyes as good as any hawk. I would have completely missed that sight as I drove along the country lane.

Most of the shots are at distance but with the new zoom lens, I’ve ordered; I’m sure I’ll get better quality pictures. However, the snaps were still pleasing to me.

I got back into the car and proceeded towards the hides. I was saying to Carole that this was a perfect start. I was harking on about it as we travelled through the village of Manea. We turned down a country lane that led towards the bird sanctuary when she told me to stop the car suddenly. It was a deserted lane going through the farmland towards the canals, marshlands and hides, with reeds growing high along the dyke that ran next to the lane.

“What is it?” I asked excitedly. Carole’s eyes never miss much. I often say she could spot a pimple on an elephant’s backside at two miles.

“Just slowly reverse the car,” she instructed.

I complied and then she said. “Stop.”

On a fence post, looking straight at us was a kestrel. I think it was a male and how the heck she spotted it was beyond me. We were close up and the kestrel was staring straight back. I knew I’d have to be quick before it got spooked. However, I had time to lower the window and, for once, get a good few shots at close range. I was thrilled we still had not arrived at the bird hides and already we had got a few nice results.

Once we got to the hides we saw marsh harriers and many other types of bird. The marsh harriers were circling high with Ely Cathedral in the background. Our binoculars focused in on them, but they were too far for the 200m lens. Still, can’t get too spoilt, we still had a great morning in the hides and walked along the dyke to try out several locations. 

There was also other types of bird, but I'm more switched on by the birds of prey. It's what I like about fenland. I've never seen so many raptors since moving to this place.  

Wildflowers in Fenland Garden.

Last year, my wife scattered a mixture of wildflower seeds. We had acquired bags of horse manure for the strawberry and rhubarb plants and there was a spare section of earth where these wildflower seeds were scattered, along with some of the horse manure.

Not being one for gardens, at that time, I paid little attention to my wife’s toil where this endeavour was concerned. However, when the next year’s spring came along I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the seeds had taken. There was an abundance of cornflower blue with other types of flower growing within the sea of blue. As the summer came about, the other coloured flowers took and became so wonderfully more vibrant.

I’m very taken by the way the wildflowers look. They seem wonderfully unconventional with an attack of untamed growth, consisting of exciting colour mixes.

I spoke to my wife Carole, about how unexpectedly surprised I was by the floral explosion. We have a raised decking platform right by it all and look out at them on the summer evening.

I have now got more wildflower seeds and scattered them in the front garden amid bark chippings. I’m hoping the same thing will happen around the Red Hot Pokers and the Curry plant rockery.

As I grow older, I’m beginning to realise that I’ve never noticed the wood for the trees where gardens are concerned. It’s like I’ve had this wonderful awakening to it all. I think it is because I bought a camera to do my blog. I thought I might photograph a few things and use it to write blogs whilst searching for subjects of interest. I can’t believe where it has taken me.

Are Nuclear Space Ships the Way? (Mission to Mars on Orion Nuclear Space Ship)

CGI impression of a maned Orion nuclear space ship going to Mars. NASA are working towards this goal with private enterprise investment. Such an achievement would be excellent. The future is space and the sky is no where near the limit when we are thinking of Mars.

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