DUCKS CAN DANCE BUT CAN A CONGER.....??

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  Hi All,
  
  I wrote the below article for the RSPB Community Form following a trip out with my 5ear old daughter to see and feed the waterfowl at Chew Valley lakes. Whilst she was busy feeding a group of a dozen ducks had me quite amused and I took a few snaps to remind me of it. When I got home I couldn't resist putting down on paper as I was sure it would be entertaining for others to so t through the mad eyes of Higgy!!!..
  
  Below is the story as it unfolded and the original post that I wrote on the RSPB forum pages...
  
  
  "Here I am suffering another bout of insomnia and sat here editing a few pictures that made me smile so I thought a little compilation was called for!!...
  Yes ducks can dance.....
  
  
  MILDRED - "Oh I'm so bored, no one's taking any notice of me, it must be that darn big Bird Of Prey they are all smitten on!"
  "So bored! Those birders wouldn't even noticed if us ducks started dancing! LOL"
  
  "Talking of dancing where's that music coming from!?..........."
  "HEY Brian come ere I want to dance with you!!"....
  
  MILDRED - "Come on Brian don't be shy you know you want to!!....."
  BRIAN - "HEEELLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!"....
  
  MILDRED - "Come on feel the beat"....
  BRIAN - "HEEEELLLPP Midred's gone mad!!"......
  
  DORIS - "Come on Brian be a sport, I've got the beat now also!.... Just stand still will you and let me get a grip on you!".....
  BRIAN - "HEEEEELLLLPPPP you've all gone mad, I don't want to dance!!!!....."
  
  DORIS "That's it I'm on now, what dance did you say it was?"
  MILDRED - "I'm not sure maybe the rumba? I know that your next though Ducky!....."
  DUCKY - "GULP!!"
  
  
  DUCKY - "No I'm not!!.... I'm OFFFFF......"
  
  MAL - "Over here Ducky"....
  
  DUCKY - "Oh thanks Mal, they've all gone mad dancing over there!!....."
  
  MAL - "I know it's that music.....OH OOOO OH AH I Like this track, it makes me want to break dance!"......
  
  MAL "Oh yeh do the robot!!...."
  
  DUCKY -"Oh no I'm off again!!!"
  
  
  BRIAN - "Oh I'm getting into this now! Come on Tom jump on"....
  TOM - "Oh what fun!!!"...
  
  
  TOM - "Turn up the volume! Come on Mildred this dancing lark is real fun!"
  
  BRIAN "Wayhey! La la la la, this is great!!!...."
  DORIS - "OWW CAREFUL WHERE YOU STICK THAT BILL PLEASE BRIAN!!!!"
  
  TUFTER - "Oh I can't believe what I'm watching here!"....
   
  
  VANESSA & VICTOR - "Oh how COMMON! We much prefer Ballet, It's much more sophisticated....."
  
  
  HANK - "HA HA HA Well I think it's hilarious! BURRP!....HA HA HA..."
  
  
  DORIS - "YES!! I've sussed it, I know what this music is, come on follow me....."
  DORIS - " It's THE CONGER!!"
  DORIS, MILDRED, BRIAN & TOM - "WE CAN DO THE CONGER"...
  
  .... "WE CAN DO......
  BRUCE - "HEY, HANG ON WAIT FOR MEEEE!!"....
  
  BRUCE - "Oh thank goodness thought I was going to miss the CONGER then!!!"....
  BRIAN - "Come on the Doris lead us away!... I CAN DO THE CONGER!...."
  
  DORIS, BRIAN, TOM, MILDRED & BRUCE......
  "DO, DO, DO WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO,DO,DO, LIKE SOME DUCKS ACROSS THE LAKE, DO, DO, DO WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO SPLASHING AS WE GO, DO, DO, DO WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER!!..."
  
  THE ROYAL SWAN BALLET TROUP - "OHHHY WAIT FOR US MUCKERS....."
  
  
  EVERYONE -
  "DO, DO, DO WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO LIKE SOME DUCKS AND SWANS ACROSS THE LAKE, DO,DO,DO, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO SPLASHING AS WE GO, DO, DO, DO WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, DO, DO, DO, WE CAN DO THE CONGER, WE CAN DO THE CONGER!!..."
  
  May be I should go to bed now!!! LOL
  
  DUCKS CAN DANCE BUT CAN A CONGER.....?? was originally posted on 30th March 2013 and proved quite popular the RSPB Community Forum pages, with some great comments and replies! The whole thread including all the comments can be viewed here...
  http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/99443.aspx
  
  I hope that this post makes you smile also and demonstrates what fun watching wildlife can be. Watching the behaviour of ducks whilst feeding them at the local pond is certainly a great way to introduce children in to the wonder of our natural world and lots of fun too!!.
  
  Catch you next time for more 'madcap' wildlife adventures with Higgy...
  
  Best
  
  Higgy

HELP! I've got myself embroiled so deep.... with banana sandwiches and video cameras!!...

Hello All,

Now I have to confess that I've got myself into a bit of a 'situation' again! At this point I can hear you all saying that only I could do this to myself! As you know that disaster and mayhem does seem to follow me around for some reason!!...

The story started when I let my dog Choco out into the garden the other night for his late night 'drain out'. Whilst Choco was doing his business I thought it appropriate to do mine (sorry!). Well there I am 'minding my own business' when I can hear this awful din coming from the garden, Choco was going bananas outside barking and growling that I thought we must have an intruder or something! In a state of half undress I dashed outside to find he had cornered a badger in the garden and this badger was going flipping mad hissing and growling whilst Choco stood his ground barking from about 1ft away from it!!!!! As you can imagine I was now in a bit of a dilemma! Do I intervene and risk the badger attacking us both or do nothing and risk it killing Choco!!??...

This was a nightmare situation although laughable when looked back on, so I later reported about it on the RSPB Community Forum....

To see how this situation mapped out, you can visit the Forum and read the whole thread through this link...

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/99454.aspx

The story then became a saga as I decided that it would be fun to 'stake out' this badger in the hope of getting some photographs of it!

I set about the task of setting up a light as our garden is pitch dark at night and then I set up our spare bedroom as a hide from where I could switch the light on and get the picture!...

Once again I reported this on the RSPB Community forum and somehow started a stampede of people wanting to get involved and see how my plan worked out!!!

Read about it here....

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/99733.aspx 

I have now somehow managed to volunteer myself into a late night 'online live stake out' this Friday night!! It sounds as if there will be lots of people on the forum following events as they unfold!!! I'm really not sure what I've started here but the latest request is to have live video on the evening!!!...

If I'm not already in deep enough! I haven't ever used video on the net before so I'm desperately attempting to get myself up to speed with all the technical bits before tomorrow night!!...

As an initial practice of taking some video and then getting it on line I've come up with this piece of completely rubbish film....

https://picasaweb.google.com/101024199318149635275/HiggyS1stTestVideo?authkey=Gv1sRgCObvqM_IqPuPTA#5863022274054737778

If you watched that please do note that I said it was rubbish and to say it's a bit 'wobbly' would be a massive understatement!!! LOL

So now that I've actually figured out how to get the video from my computer and onto the RSPB Community Forum site the scene is set for tomorrows 'Live Watch!!' It actually took me the whole day today figuring out exactly how to do it!!...

The last piece of video that I posted was my preparation and what food I've put out tonight to try and encourage the badger to visit again tomorrow night! This includes BANANA SANDWICHES that I'm reliably informed badgers love!!!...

Here is the last video and most recent update....

picasaweb.google.com/.../20130404BadgerStakeOut1

Now if you have come to this blog from my website, which is a serious site, you are probably wondering what on earth is going on here!!? I do apologise for my madness but please note that there is a warning saying that this blog is a 'tongue in cheek' look at my wildlife adventures!!!...

Please do log into the relevant thread on the RSPB Forum tomorrow and join in the fun, it might be quite entertaining!!!....

'WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO NOW!!!!!!!'.....

Best

Higgy

Ospreys & blackmail!!.....

Hi All,

It certainly has been a long time since I last posted some of my 'mad cap' wildlife adventures on here! Unfortunately time has been against me and my back and hip injury have been somewhat restricting over recent months limiting both my time out and my concentration for posting about it on here!

This week I have returned from a two week break at a rehabilitation centre where I received extensive physio and treatment for my injury. This seems to have worked quite well and at least given me a little more range of movement.

Many of you will be well aware of the Ospreys that have suddenly turned up at Blagdon and Chew Valley Lakes. These birds have cause quite a stir and present a very interesting story of where they originally come from etc. Perthshire is one location with this bird being a very mature specimen! (Further details about their history can be found through the link below)

I obviously had to see these birds as I hadn't had the pleasure of an Osprey before and certainly not on my home patch of North Somerset!!

As I was looking after my 5yr old daughter on the day of my planned visit I ended up with a few 'conditions!' Below is a copy of my post on the RSPB Community Forum site. As it was so well received so I thought I'd share my mad ramblings on here with you also!...

My first OSPREY! On my patch!.. OH and 'blackmailed' by a 5yr old!!!

Hi All,

I had one of those moments today where I seen one of those 'must see' birds and even better it was on my own patch!! (thought I'd gone to heaven!!)

Yesterday I got that email we all dream of from a friend telling me that there were three Ospreys showing well at Blagdon & Chew Valley Lakes! Typically I couldn't get down there yesterday due to work commitments! (that just about guarantees that they will have moved on by today!!) 

Today I had the day off work to look after my 5yr old daughter, so after some gentle persuasion we set off on an 'adventure' loaded with feed for the swans and ducks and lots of camera gear!

The bucket load of feed (please note proper feed mix not bread) was part of my daughters 'blackmail' to allow me out to try and see the Osprey!

The rest of the 'blackmail' included:

• A lunch time break at a cafe of her choice for 'jammy toast' & warm milk! Oh and a large slab of cake of her choice!!! 
• A packet of crisps for the journey
• A bag of chocolate buttons for mid morning snack
• Trips to two different play parks between viewings
• Permanent use of my spare pair of binoculars
• And finally one of my made up 'Flossy the Dog' stories at bedtime, but it had to last at least half an hour apparently!!

I am beginning to wonder what she is learning at school!!! No wonder she loves it so much, last term must have been 'how to trade and broker the best deal with your parents' I reckon!!!!!!.... 

Anyway despite being bullied by a five year old we eventually arrived at the damn wall on Blagdon Lake just as an Osprey headed straight at the car! You can guess what happened next!?.... it was 'abandon the car' time and then just enough time to grab the camera and shoot on whatever settings it was on before the bird slipped out of view behind some trees!

You guessed it looking back through the screen the pictures were way too dark and I imagined unusable, drat!!

We wandered along the damn wall, me in my drab colours and camo and Chloe in bright pink hat, scarf, gloves and coat!! I'm sure another part of the bribe!

Chatting to a few other birders (who were now donning dark sunglasses to block out the shine from Chloe's almost florescent pink 'gear') and they informed us that the Osprey had been about a lot during the morning and this was the 'key' place to stand and get a shot at it!

Luckily our new (now blinded) best buddies were right and the bird came straight at us and then over head before disappearing down the valley on the other side of the hedge behind us! What a sight that was, my first proper detailed view of this magnificent bird!

I think that this was probably the best view of the day and although not the greatest pictures the best of a bad bunch, but cracking to me just for the record and memory if nothing else!....

1.

2.

3.

4.

So there you have it lots of 'bribery' and a great sighting!

Was it worth it??...

Well I reckon the day cost me about £20, a bucket full of feed and a pair of binoculars!!!

What I gained? A great sighting, A really enjoyable day out, watching my daughter not only enjoy what she wanted to do but being completely thrilled by the Osprey also!

OH Yes, it was worth every second & every penny!!

OH, I almost forgot.....

What did 'Flossy the Dog' do in the bedtime story?.....

Well 'Flossy the Dog' had a great adventure out with his dad (Mr Flossy!) and they went to a magic hill top and watched magic birds flying around in the valley below them!..... He also took his three best friends along (Spot, Fluffy & Floppy)..... And there was a magic fairy in there somewhere also!!

Funny but she was really tired after all that fresh air and went to sleep with a great big smile on here face! PRICELESS!!!...

Best

Higgy

'My first OSPREY! On my patch!.. OH and 'blackmailed' by a 5yr old!!!' was originally posted on the RSPB Communty forum. You can read the original post and all comments by clicking HERE. 

On a serious note this really was a great sighting and I feel so privileged to have got some snaps of these magnificent birds! Please do read the original post and comments by clicking on the above link as it will take you to other links giving the history of these birds which is extremely interesting.

That's about it for now, it's good be back!! I do now intend to maintain this blog as I do my garden blog. Hopefully as time goes on I will brig you my own 'tongue and cheek' view of my wildlife adventures within this beautiful part of North Somerset.

Thanks for reading and see you next time....

Best

Higgy