Weathermen got it wrong again

We were up and out quite early yesterday morning as the weatherman had promised us a sunny day with mild temperatures and a 12 knot wind. None of that materialised. Barbara was up at the crack of dawn putting a load in the washing machine. It did get dry through the day so we shouldn't complain.


We did regret our choice of destination. We went up to Filey and went for a walk on the Brigg. The wind was from the SouthWest and quite biting. It wasn't really the best place to go for a walk and a spot of bird-watching. Still we did a circular walk and so were ready for our lunch. Once we'd had that, a picnic in the car overlooking Filey Bay, we headed for Top Hill Low to do a bit of serious bird watching.

As we were parking at Top Hill Low, we were told that there were some Smew on Watton Borrow Pit so that was where we headed first. I took my Nikon telescope with me in case there was a chance for some digiscoping. Hope springs eternal but the birds rarely co-operate. The Smew were quite distant so I could have done with the zoom on my Kowa scope. There was a Curlew giving itself a good shower right in front of the Smew pair so a photograph was out of the question even though it was out of range. The wind had begun to drop but Barbara had had enough and headed back to the car to read the paper. I moved on to the South Marsh Hide and had better luck with the camera. I took quite a lot of photos but the birds are in continual movement so many of them are slightly blurred. They are only for my personal enjoyment anyhow but I will post some on here now and again. The one on the left is a pair of Gadwall and on the right is an Oystercatcher. On the way back to the car park, I met up with a couple from York. We chatted about things as we called in at all the hides on the way, just in case there was something worth seeing. They gave me a few tips on this retirement lark.

The drive home was enlivened by commentary on the Hull City vs Preston match. I always take an interest in Hull City and Leeds Uniteds score. They have taken on quite a significance recently as they battle stay in the Championship. They both won yesterday and although Leeds remain on the bottom, other results meant there is further bunching at the bottom of the league.

I finally finished the book I have been reading for a while. Not much on TV again so I cracked on. A bit of a tame ending to it. I started a David Eddings book, the Elder Gods trilogy. I have gone off him recently and found that after about 50 pages I couldn't really care less what happened next so I will try something else from the growing library of books we have acquired.
Rev. David was preaching today. He continued the theme of Jonah. Brian, Andrew, Mary and Carl spoke about their experiences on the Disciple course. Sounds like just the job for me but I fear that I won't have an evening free. Apparently it will another Rev. David who does it so I'll have to keep an eye out for the venue and time.