A Good Read

Let me start by saying this has nothing to do with nature or photography. One type of book I really enjoy reading is autobiographies of people who have travelled the world. Not your everyday tourist type of person but those who have set out on an adventure making a leap into unknown territory for them.

Many years ago I had a proof edition of 'The Autobiography of an Old Drifter' which I read many times. It is the story of Percy Clark of  Victoria Falls who drifted around Africa in the early 1900's. Having seen how much the first editions of the book can fetch at auction I am peeved at having lost my copy though I have found a reasonably priced used reprint on Amazon.

Another book I found enthralling was 'The Long Walk', The story of Slavomir Rawicz who was sentenced to hard labour in a Russian Siberian Gulag, escaped and walked for a year covering 4000 miles to reach freedom. I wish I could remember in which country it was considered bad manners to eat everything from the plate. Eating it all told the provider that they hadn't given you enough. Not the thing to do when a poor villager is sharing their own scarce food stores with a complete stranger. Good manners was to let out a loud belch to show you were full and how much you had enjoyed the meal.

Recently I have found a book to go with those: 'You've Gone Too Far This Time, Sir'. The autobiography of a British junior school teacher (Danny Bent) who decided to cycle to India. I haven't read it all yet but like the previous books mentioned it gives fascinating glimpses of the people he meets on his journey, their lifestyles, customs and the hazards he has to overcome on the way. Though not the best prose and sometimes superficial and disjointed I have found it difficult to put down. I couldn't help laughing at the part where he had lost the visa which would allow him to leave Russia at any border. The border guard told him he would have to go back the way he entered or for a consideration the guard could help though it would take a lot of effort, time and money to bribe all the people needed to smooth his passage. As soon as Danny handed over $50 the guard immediately waved him through! His first lesson in the art of bribery.

The ebook edition is free, at the moment anyway. It is a Kindle edition from Amazon, free on Amazon.co.uk and I assume the same will go for Amazon.com. If you have a Kindle ereader - no problem. If not, no worries as there are apps for the iPad and Android devices as well as a reader for the PC (and probably for the Mac) These are free to download. Once installed you use the app / reader to access Amazon's Kindle store, sign in if you have an Amazon account, create one if not, find and download the book. You 'buy' the book though the price is £0.00. There are other zero priced Kindle ebooks on Amazon so you may find something of interest to you.

If you have read and enjoyed a book on a similar theme to those above please let me know so I can build up my store of reading for next Winter.

Wings for Wednesday

It has been abysmal lighting conditions here for photography for most of the past couple of weeks or so. Thick dark clouds have meant having to up the ISO rating to Winter levels so may recent photos are very grainy. This is a pity as so many young birds have been visiting the garden recently.

Amongst the corvids visiting have been this young Magpie


and for the first time Carrion Crows.


Great to see a group of young Blue Tits regularly visiting the nut feeder:


Of course there have been plenty of young Starlings about:


I haven't spotted any young Goldfinches as yet but there are about five adult regulars:

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Congratulations and virtual Gold Stars to Frank, Adrian and Keith for identifying last week's subject as a Blue-tailed Damselfly. To Matron a Silver Star for identifying it as a Damselfly. It was one which had somehow flown into the kitchen in spite of all the mesh I have over the two doors it had to negotiate.

   

This week the part to be identified is in the large picture, top left.
The other photos act as a clue.

Guess what:


No prizes, just for fun.

Friday at the Flicks - Night Visitors

Very little of note going on here recently though I must admit I haven't really been in the mood to notice. Been feeling weary with life not helped by being in a bad temper a lot of the time.

Hedgehogs continue to visit nightly.



This one from earlier in the year when there were frequent visits by a mouse.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Well done and virtual gold stars to Adrian and Matron for identifying last week's mystery object as being a wasp. Not exactly one of my favourite creatures.

   

Once again I have put together three views of parts of the same object. These are crops from the same photograph.

Guess what:


 Good luck. No prizes, just for fun.

Friday at the Flicks - Great Tit Family

It is quite a while since the Great Tit youngsters left the nest. I saw an adult and three fledglings two days after that first flight and then they disappeared until last Friday afternoon. I can't be sure they were the same family but there they were - one adult and three youngsters. The first part of the video was shot through an area of the kitchen window with strong reflections but things got better when they moved to a feeder close by.



Since then they have been spotted around the garden on most days.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

A Wednesday of Wings

It's that time of year when the air is busy with insects. Some times too many for comfort. Sunday was a good day for lazing in the garden but that idea didn't last very long as everything was soon covered by an invasion of greenfly and those tiny thunder flies. At least one spider must have been happy when its web filled up with breakfast, lunch and dinner for days ahead.



There is a bush growing just over the fence though most of it seems to be my side. Over the past week it has been a constant attraction for scores of bumble bees.



It is also the start of the Crane Fly season here. They often stay in the same place on a window for hours on end. (That is not a sting but a back leg in line with its body)



Finally it is also the damselfly season on my garden pond. There have been several males and a few female Bluetailed Damselflies.