It’s still grey, still cold and there’s not a lot to write home about

……..but seeing as how we think about you heaps, this is a good way to keep in touch. We recently visited Slimbridge, which is a World Wild Life bird preservation wetlands - a bit of a ‘birders’ paradise. Let me make it clear from the outset – we are not getting weird and into ‘birding’ - whatever it is they do! But we do “ohh and ahrrrr” over the odd bird. I can see why a lot of Brits do get into ‘bird watching’ because it is lovely to see the migratory birds marking the seasons. Also Britain does have some wonderful garden variety birds – robin red breasts, colourful finches, nut hatches, willy wagtails, blackbirds, tomtits, warblers, wrens, a lot of birds of prey – just to name a few. Anyway back to Slimbridge. One of the surprising things was that they have flocks of flamingoes to assist with breeding programmes around the world. They are wonderful and it is possible to get really up close and personal.
Around the reserve are masses of hides, where the serious birders take their gear and watch and do whatever they do for hours, it’s very serious with a lot of note taking! The equipment required for this kind of watching is phenomenal (and probably expensive!). I have a good camera, with a couple of good lenses, but I must say one could suffer seriously from “lens envy” if you were into size – fortunately I’m of the opinion that “size doesn’t matter”
A friend loaned us a pair of very good binoculars and this morning we walked the Thames path and got a really good look at a ‘buzzard’ which up until now we have only seen in the distance. Buzzards are making their way back into Britain, I don’t know where from??????? We also got a sighting of a flock of rare sky divers!!!! Why you would jump out of plane in this (or any other) weather unless it was absolutely necessary one can’t imagine??? Meanwhile, although it’s still freezing cold, with a dusting of snow on the ground, the days are getting longer and we are beginning to plan some trips to look forward to………miss you all very much …..still……xxx