William the Conqueror...

History re-written, and licensed today. The pub sign features William the Conqueror enjoying a refreshing, post-invasion pint of Shepherd Neame’s best bitter, at Rye Harbour, East Sussex… 

Egrets...

Another good day for waders, at Blacktoft Sands: purple sandpiper, curlew sandpiper, redshank, spotted redshank, greenshank, dunlin, ruff, snipe, lapwing, and another little stint (just possible to differentiate, in a tight group of dunlin, because of its diminutive size and hyperactive feeding habits). The waders were regularly scattered by the arrival of raptors: kestrel, buzzard, marsh harrier and sparrowhawk. When I first started to become interested in birds, almost 70 years ago, I never imagined I would one day see little egrets, cattle egrets and a great egret all together. But here they were, along with a heron.

Licensed today: a woman on mobility scooter in the market square, Boston, Lincolnshire…

Sycamore Gap...

I’ve just read that the iconic tree at Sycamore Gap, on Hadrian’s Wall, was cut down last night. Why would anyone go to the trouble of destroying one of the best-loved – and most photographed – trees in the land? Here’s my version… 

Southwell...

Licensed today: a couple of pix from Southwell in Nottinghamshire. The Saracens Head is an old coaching inn, and the house is Burgage Manor, the home of Lord Byron's mother…

Irton Green...

Licensed today: the 9th-century cross in the churchyard of St Paul's Church, Irton Green, in West Cumbria… 

Hen Harrier...

Had a couple of hours this afternoon at North Cave Wetlands, one junction from Howden, on the M62, in the direction of Hull. Half a dozen swallows were swooping over the water, before making their long flight south. There weren't many waders about today – just a few curlew, snipe and lapwing – but you never know what might turn up. A raptor separated itself from a flock of gulls, flying towards me with wings held in a shallow V-shape. Smaller than a buzzard, and slimmer than either a buzzard or a marsh harrier, with a more direct flight: it was a female hen harrier (pic via Creative Commons).…

Boats for sale...

Licensed last week...

Castleford...

In Castleford's high street, bookies like Coral are just about the only businesses opening up rather than closing down...

Townend...

“You have plenty of time to amuse yourself – to go walking, sailing, watching people play cricket, sitting in front of the television. You have plenty of time. Give some of that time to look at these problems. Which is, the nature and the structure of thought. Don’t learn from others – what you learn from others is not yours, it is theirs. If you learn from others, you remain second-hand, whereas if you learn from yourself by observing, a totally different kind of activity of life begins, at a different dimension altogether” (Krishnamurti, from a public talk in 1970).

Licensed today: a wide-angle view of Townend, a National Trust property in Troutbeck, Cumbria…

Little stint...

Back home after a wonderful session with the birds at Kilnsea Wetlands, from first light until my stomach starting grumbling at lunchtime. Such a lot of waders on the wetlands: scattered amongst the huge flock of redshank were dunlin, knot, ruff, avocet, spotted redshank, greenshank, green sandpiper, ringed plover, oystercatcher, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, lapwing and curlew sandpiper. A huge flock of golden plover filled the sky. The highlight was a pair of little stints, no bigger than the pied wagtail feeding nearby. The flock of waders was regularly scattered by the appearance of a buzzard, marsh harrier or peregrine (interesting to note that none of the wildfowl even looked up to see a kestrel hovering). A pair of spoonbills completed the scene.

Pic: little stint (Creative Commons)...

Waiting for the last bus...

Licensed today, for the best price this month: some old geezer waiting at a bus-stop on the Isle of Skye… 

Pet insurance...

An email, this morning, from the Co-op, has this subject line: “Treat your pets to the insurance they deserve, John”. What a treat that would be, for any pet: so much better than a rubber bone or a squeaky toy. And what kind of insurance, exactly? How would I break the news to my (imaginary) pet that “fully comp” insurance was out of my price range, and that Rover or Tiddles would only be covered for “third party, fire and theft”?

Another outing in print today for Howden’s postman… 

Needless procedures...

Here’s a screen-grab from the village’s FaceBook page. It’s unsettling to see the face of a beautiful young woman, who has no need whatesoever of that hypodermic needle and whatever it contains. As an advert for a local beauty parlour, it just looks creepy to me…

Wildfowl...

North Cave Wetlands may not be everyone’s destination of choice for a lazy Sunday afternoon… but it suits me fine. I saw a bittern in flight, a hobby chasing after dragonflies, kites and buzzards catching the thermals and a kestrel catching a mouse. I heard a cetti’s warbler’s explosive ‘song', and a water rail (it sounds like a pig being slaughtered with a rusty machete). A lot of the waders had left, but I still saw snipe,  common and green sandpipers, a family of dunlin, both ringed and little ringed plover, a single curlew and a juvenile avocet (a count of wildfowl on the Humber today included a flock of 1,800 avocets: amazing).

Licensed yesterday: a delivery van in the market square, Uppingham...

Goole Marina...

Had a pint the other day at the North Star Marina Club, a modest little shack next to Goole’s marina. If you half close your eyes you could be in St Tropez. There’s a bustling little scene happening down there, as modest as the club itself: no big, fancy boats… just a bunch of enthusiastic people enjoying themselves. There’s plenty of room to move; the one amenity Goole has, in abundance, is open water…

Bishop Wilton...

A few small repairs, in Bishop Wilton, this evening...

Goole...

Licensed today: the new Greenways housing development, by Beal Homes, on Rawcliffe Road in Goole. The new developments – domestic and industrial – occupy a huge area of land between Goole town and the motorway. One day Goole will be a boom town, especially if they dismantle the place brick by brick and rebuild it somewhere more salubrious… like the Cotswolds…

Funeral wish...

As a Co-op member I get plenty of emails about member-only price deals. Now, since the Co-op is aware of my date of birth, I seem to have reached some kind of time-related threshhold, because the emails now seem to be mostly about my “funeral wishes”.

A little premature, perhaps? My stated desire, to live for ever, is still on track, though maybe not for much longer. My one funeral wish is to be given the cheapest possible funeral, while meeting current legal requirements (ie not just waiting for rigor mortis to set in, then leaving me propped up in an isolated and little-used telephone box)…

Licensed today: a construction site for a new school in Hull… 

Drax power station...

Licensed today: Drax power station, just over the border in North Yorkshire…

Our moral compass...

A seldom-heard noise has just broken the silence of a Sunday morning in Asselby: a siren belonging to one of our emergency services… probably the police. Last summer it was fire engines. I remember sitting in the Black Swan, on one of the blazing hot days, when, in the time it took to drink a pint of chilled lager, a total of seven fire engines, under siren, had raced through the village. It was so hot and dry that fields of wheat, near Barmby, had gone up in flames.

Just spotted this pic of mine in the Guardian, to illustrate an article about whether it’s possible to be moral without belief. Spoiler alert: it is… 

Neighbours from Hull...

No compromise when choosing paint colours for these Hull neighbours...

Camilla's Bookshop...

Having wandered, by chance, into Camilla's Bookshop, in Eastbourne, I raced back to the van for my camera and tripod. I’ve never seen such a profusion of books. The shop, just a bog-standard three or four story building, must have been structurally compromised by the weight of all these tomes, especially when they were piled up in the middle of each room, as well as around the walls. I asked permission to take some photographs, before Camilla headed out, on the seemingly needless quest “to buy some more books”…

Humber Street...

The Barbie aesthetic spotted on Humber Street in Hull...

Top Withens...

Licensed today: the ruined farmhouse of Top Withens, possibly the inspiration for Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, on Haworth Moor, West Yorkshire… 

Red necked pharalope...

What a treat! I spent the afternoon at North Cave Wetlands, hoping to see the reported juvenile red necked pharalope (I’ve only seen this rare migrant twice before, at Rutland Water and Blacktoft Sands). Though no bigger than a skylark, the tiny wader was easy to find: swimming around in circles on the main lake. The photo is via Creative Commons…

Patrington Van Hire...

“You hire out vans, you say? Well, let me have the van parked out back, by the bins”…

Amy Howson...

“Religions, dogmas, knowledge, imitation, following and setting up authority of any kind psychologically, do not bring a rich, full life that is beyond the transient, surface life in which there is a constant battle, constant competition, constant travail of anxiety. So what does? Have you ever asked that question for yourself” (Krishnamurti, from a public talk in 1966)…

Some old 'working boats' have been on show this weekend, at Goole Marina. I met a guy whose great grandmother inspired the name of this boat...

Broughton Mills...

Another pub, licensed today: the Blacksmiths Arms, in the Cumbrian village of Broughton Mills. It's the perfect spot to sit, nursing a pint, and survey the comings and goings. On one particularly idle occasion, I watched a local farmer bring load after load of hay-bales to this barn, and fill it to the top...

Witham Friary,...

Licensed today: the bar of the Seymour Arms, in Witham Friary, Somerset…