The Mantis

Cormorant last week

Barn door? Surely you’ve got banjos and coos erses in Fife like everybody else?

Used to read a lot of forums on this but not recently, but surely the argument is they have to prove that you watch it. ( Which is why I’m saving the letters up as the tone of them assumes you’re guilty). Another argument is if you only use your tv to listen to the radio which is free. Maybe you can manually tune it to receive only radio. IMO what @strichener says lends weight to the argument against cutting/disabling etc.

I started filling in the online form in 2014 but you have to do it every 2 years. Eventually I just stopped as I thought ‘f**k them’. Now I get letters addressed to ’the occupier’ . Think I’ve got about 8 now and I’m just dying for Capita to come to the door so I can tell them to stick them up their erse. Also that I don’t want to support an organisation that shelters paedophiles. Btw you don’t have to cut your cable or anything like that. You might want to start watching (watching is the actual offence, nothing else) in the future. There’s a fair bit of scaremongering involved so people think they can’t even own a tv and so on. Worth checking the masses of material online about what’s legal etc. The bottom line is that Capita are just a cowboy outfit who get a cut for selling you a license, but they have about the same rights as somebody trying to sell you double glazing.

Surely we're making progress if there's only one loony

Found this wee Moorhen climbing trees the other day.

3rd one's a Treecreeper.

Have to confess to borrowing this for Facebook

Too early in the morning to come up with a witty caption...

They're usually quite predictable though and happy to sit on an overhanging branch for ages. Once you scout out the likely spots on a river bank you just need to hang around for a bit. A couple of years ago there was one at Peebles near the swimming pool and you could rely on it. I went down one afternoon from Midlothian and got good shots. There's one on a pond near me and I got some reasonable shots last week as there's really only one tree it can use. In flight? That's another ball game

I think the mods will be moving this to NSFW.

Excellent stuff. Got some hot Mallard action at Musselburgh today plus a square go between a Mallard male and a female Goosander.

A Grey Wagtail down the River Esk a couple of days ago. Expected to see a Dipper on the shitey boulder and waited about an hour and a half but you can't have everything...

McCann might simply drop him for those games. He’s not renowned for taking any shit.

Went to Rum with the mates in 92. Been looking at it again with a view to taking the missus. Looks a bigger choice of accommodation now. When we went, firstly you needed permission off the Nature Conservancy Council to actually stay. At that time you could stay in the upmarket NCC bothies in Kinloch, or the hostel wing at the castle, or the posh bit in the castle. Also a couple of MBA bothies at Dibidil and Guirdil. Not sure of camping was allowed. The deer research area north of Kinloch was closed (this was before the right to roam). There was an old phone box with button A and B and I tried to call Edinburgh and get the operator to reverse the charges as I had no change. The Calmac boat was the Lochmor which was passengers only, and there was a flit boat which came out to meet you, as there wasn't a proper pier. We came back out on a Saturday. The conditions were bad, so they got us and the Eigg folk out, but at Muck they had to turn the flit boat away, so they were stuck there till Monday, and if they were anything like us, they had scoffed all their food and drink the night before

Cormorant at Lithgae this time last year. No allowed to travel that far right now, shame as I've been looking forward to catching the Great Crested Grebes.

This kind of thing...

The most noticeable thing for me is that in the Merganser, the beak is thinner and tilts slightly upwards. You can see this even at a distance. The Goosander’s bill has a definite downward hook on the end.

Are you determined to go at Easter? I was the same (see post above) but went in September. May or June maybe? We’re lucky that we can go any time as the missus has the parents’ house. Could have been Feb, could have been April, but confident we’ll get there sometime this year.

Great Tit yesterday

Wee Wren the other day. Not in the garden, like. We get feck all but Magpies and sparrows and pigeons.

Just check the QoS thread from Wednesday for the answer Who's Lauren? She must have some playing experience, thought she was excellent.

Exactly. Away fans find it amusing because for them it’s a one off. For us who’ve sat through it since day one with the baldy linesman, complained to the club and been ignored, we’re fucking angry.