Tuesday, 1 June 2021

Buntings and boozers...

Walked from Asselby to Goole yesterday, along field tracks. The birds were in good voice: skylarks ascending, buzzards ‘mewing’ and a whitethroat singing its scratchy summer song from a blossoming hawthorn hedge. I think I spotted a redstart at the edge of the woods. I’m more certain about a corn bunting, which landed, like a fat sparrow, at the top of a tree, and regaled me with its repetitive little song… which sounds like a bunch of keys being jangled. I’ve always thought of the corn bunting as a farmland bird of the southern counties; I can’t recall seeing - or hearing - one as far north as Yorkshire. Since numbers have declined throughout the country, due to changes in farming practice, it’s reassuring that they can still be found in the fields around Asselby. I’ll be looking out for them.


A wander round Goole offers fewer delights for the elderly flâneur. One pub wouldn’t serve me because I have neither a smartphone nor the requisite app. I had a warmer welcome in the Tom Pudding, a friendly micro-pub. I walked up Aire Street, toward the docks, counting the empty shops. It was almost as big a surprise as hearing a corn bunting to find that The Mackintosh, Goole’s best - and most characterful - pub is once again open for business. You don’t need an app to drink in the Mac: just a little spending money and - ideally - a facial tattoo. I’ll be back. 

Corn bunting (pic Creative Commons)...

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