1st August
After a couple of days in north Glos, I'm now heading to London for the night before going on to Spain. Thankfully I don't have to go in by train etc as a friend (who is also going to Spain) happens to be not too far away at the moment and can give me a lift.
Over the weekend the temperature reach a sweltering 23 degrees here in the Cotswolds (it was by Shetland standards anyway ). I managed to meet up with relations as well as a number of close friends which was really great. On Sunday I was lucky to spend several hours just sitting and talking and at one place I saw 4 (possibly 5) raptor species - buzzard, kestrel, sparrowhawk and several hobbies in less than an hour. The 5th 'possible' was most likely a 'probable' (I didn't get my bins' on it in time) and that was a distant Red Kite - one had passed over an hour before I'd got there. Despite the fact that for a number of bird species that I'd not seen or heard for several years, their calls were still thankfully instantly recognisable.
Leaving for London around midday it was now getting really warm. Travelling down the M4 and then the M40 I soon caught up with the raptor I missed yesterday - Red Kite - and saw literally dozens of them along the roadside.
It didn't seem to take too long to reach north London ( as I wasn't driving it didn't seem too long) arriving at the house at just before 3pm, it was now a blistering 30 degrees - 17 degrees warmer than when I left Unst around 4 days ago .
I was now a world away from Unst (some might say in the 'real world', but I'd disagree) . There were still helicopters overhead, but now they were police ones and not ones off to re-supply the north sea oil rigs that I'm used to.
Tomorrow we have a 4am start so I probably won't update for a few days.
Robbie
Midwinter
8 years ago
2 comments:
Have a great holiday.
The "real" world; well being able to leave your car open is a start to a real world. Helicopters, on the other hand are a pain in the ---, especially when trying to record.
Bird song, recognisable or not, is sometimes awkward to pin down when being drowned out by trains, cars, loud this & that - and to me Unst is the real world & London is totally alien!
That's my rant...........
Sounds as if your break started well with the raptors & many more to come in Spain I trust, enjoy!
Hi Mark, thanks for that. I really do appritiate where I live but am now finding it more and more stressful visiting 'down south'. Well, I'm back in good old 'Blitey' and heading home in the next few days.
Robbie
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