I’ve had a really nice week.

What’s been nice about it, you may well ask… Not a lot but I’ve been smiling all day. Turdy has been missing for about 5 days, presumed fledged and successively independent. I got some more good photo’s of her, from Jamie (visit Jamie’s photo’s – worth a click) - so I’ll have to show them, entitled “pity me” and “discovering the joy of slugs…).





I’ve had a call out today to a couple that have been rearing a damaged swallow chick. They’ve had it a week and it’s doing well. They should manage to get it off and flying in time for the migration.

I’ve been ringing birds on a “constant effort site”. We got 54 birds, including another tree-creeper.


I signed up some new land-owners to the corncrake protection scheme and they were overjoyed that they might have corncrake chicks on both small plots of wet-meadow that they’d recently purchased. They couldn’t have done more for us, (or for the corncrake). And all that despite the fact that hay has gone up from 12.5 euros a bail to 40 euros. Everyone apart from one has held true to their promise so far, god bless them all, or Allah, Jah, or whatever her name is…. The other spent an hour with me agreeing with everything, whilst her sons were cutting the hay. Tricky woman…..

I also found John Spillane on “My Space”, a cracking good singing song-writer that I know from Clonakilty, (writer of many of the number one records in Ireland- He jokingly refers to himself as “The Irish Hit-Factory…. And fair play to Me…”).

My blog is coming on well, and I’ve found out how to download web backgrounds, (see my space). The weather is rubbish so farmers can’t cut (that helps the corncrakes), apart from yesterday when the weather broke long enough for us to be ringing from 5.00 ‘til 12.00. I put in a claim for a very expensive bottle of Middleton (Very Rare) Irish Whiskey that went missing in transit to Chris (wedding present) today, just before Chris announced that it had arrived (24 days later).

A good day today… and I managed to sign up my last farmer to the corncrake protection scheme…. An “ummer-an-arrer”, signed up to the maximum that we could ask him. I’m happy.

I also got a promotion in Blackhawk Down – Extreme, Sergeant Major Second Tour
But I won't show you medals.....

The Rumble Club Not!

By popular demand, I post the words and tune to Davy's tribute to the King! To be sung to the tune of Don McLean, American Pie....

G D Em7
A long, long time ago...

Am C
I can just remember how

Em D
That music used to make me run a mile.

G D Em7
And I knew if I had my rings,

Am C
That I could make those birdies sing,

Em C D
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.

Em Am
That Force 10, it made me shiver,

Em Am
It chucked it down and formed a river,

C G Am
It flowed straight across my groundsheet,

C D
I couldn’t get a wink’s sleep.

G D Em
I can’t remember if I bawled,

Am7 D
When I heard they were to close the Halls,

G D Em7
But something made me scratch my balls,

C D7 G C
The day the spam got fried.

G
So…

G C G D
My, my, but that Maalie can fly,

G C G D
With the King at the helm and his flags flying high,

G C G D
And Gibby and Laura drinking whiskey and rye

Em A7 Em D7
Singing “Ballerinas and thighs, ballerinas and thighs”

(Verse 2)


G Am
Do you have “The Book of Doves”,

C Am
And “A Jar of Vaseline and Some Rubber Gloves”,

Em D
Well, return them please they’re overdue.

G D Em
Do you believe in “Drum and Base”?

Am7* G
On Friday nights get out your face?

Em A7
And can you show me how to flush the loo?

Em D
Well I know that you’re in lust with him,

Em D
‘Cos I saw you dancing with our Jim,

C G A7
You both slipped off your frocks,

C D7
Man, I dig those woolly socks.

G D Em
I was a “non-academic” birding chap,

Am C
With a pair of wellies and a Maalie Hat,

G D Em
And I knew that I was comin’ back,

C D7 G C
The day the spam got fried,

G
I started singing…


G Am
Now for three years we've been on our own,

C Am
And still Jim won’t leave us alone,

Em D
I guess that’s not how it’s meant to be.

G D Em
When the jester played for the Maalie King,

Am7* C
He made us dance and he made us sing,

Em A7
And he took the choice from you and me.

Em D
Oh, and whilst the King was lying down,

Em D
The pretender wore his feathered crown,

C G A7
The bangers were not turned.

C D7
And the bacon it got burned,

G D Em
And while Katie baited hooks for sharks,

Am C
I was fitting rings on Larks,

G D Em
And we rang “stormies” in the dark,

C D7 G C
The day the spam got fried.

G
We were singing……….

G Am
Dissention, tension, at the ringing station,

C Am
The birds flew off on a “sooth” migration,

Em D
Eight inches high and skimming waves,

G D Em
The “lits” all tried for a weekend rave,

Am7* C
Jim put the blame on Dave

Em A7 D
I’d have settled for some leisure and a decent shave,

Em D
Now the shower room was sweet perfume,

Em D
Our Leige, he sang his rousing tunes,

C G A7
They got dressed up to dance,

C D7
Oh, but they never got the chance,

G D Em
‘Cos the ringers, well they claimed the van,

Am C
(And our Maalie King, well he’s the man,)

G D Em
And he’s said we’ll be ringing if we can...

C D7 G C
The day the spam got fried…

G
We started singing,

G Am
And there we were all in one tent,

C Am
A expedition all worn and spent,

Em D
With no spirits left to start again

G D Em
So come on Jim be nimble Jim be quick

Am7* C
Outside his tent was a puddle of sick

Em A7
'Cause fire-water is the devil's only friend

Em D
And as I watched him on his throne

Em D
Sending texts on his portable phone.

C G A7
No lecturer spawned in hell

C D7
Could break that satan's spell

G D A7
And as that red tinny climbed high into the night,

Am C
In fright it put those crows to flight

G D Em
I saw our king laughing with delight

C D7 G C
The day the spam got fried.

G
He was singing
G D Em
I met a girl who played the fiddle

Am C
Jim fell doon, but he made her giggle

Em D
But she was divine and turned away

G D Em
I went down to see Andy Mann

Am C
We had a chat and we had a dram,

Em C D
But our Mann there said video wouldn’t play

Em Am
And Inga’s bairns, they laughed and screamed,

Em Am
The cooks all cooked and the cleaners cleaned,

C G Am
But not a word was spoken

C D
But “red tinnies” they were opened

G D Em
And the two men of whom I’m I fan

Am7 C D7
Jim Fowler and Albert Mann,

G D Em
They set off in a 3-wheeled van,

Pause, (Off to Gibbies, I think, for a dram)

Am7 D7 G C
The day the spam got fried
G
And they were singing...

G C G D
My, my, but that Maalie can fly,

G C G D
Jim hit a lorry that he couldn’t get by,

G C G D
And with his neck in a collar, I heard him sigh…

Em A7
“There’s a little hoose by the sea I can buy”

Em D7
There’s a little hoose by the sea I can buy”

We said goodbye this week to the girls. They'd been working on the waders (birds that wade.... We had a Bar-B-Q on the river. A beautiful night, shooting stars, the milkyway in full view, and I was able to show the world a couple of stars that I knew... including Arcturus... you can find that by following the handle of the Plough (the cup points towards the north star).



Jan (seen here) was doing strange things to the dog....



I just love this photo, I don't know why they coming out blurred, but hey it's only a phone. Left to right, Brian Caffrey, Kathryn Finney, Alex Copland, Jamie Durrant.



The whole team, the couple at the back are soon to marry, David Rockett, Eileen Power. Rocket-Power? The dog is Podge (Paraigh?) and is seen behaving here. But was otherwise having sex all evening... A good night was had by all...

Tory Island, Donegal.

Hiya all, I,ve just got back from Tory Island, off the coast of Donegal.
Tory is an Island and I collect Islands. My collection includes the Shetland group. The most southern tip of the Island group at Sumburgh head (where I helped to ring most of the cliff-nesting birds), the most northern tip of the most northern Island (where we took it turns being the mostly northerly person in the UK), where we were ringing the chicks of the Great Skua. Now I live in Ireland. I went with Jim Fowler to the most southwest point, around the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse last year, and today I’ve just returned from the most northern island Tory. It’s just one of those things we do. I was there for a team meeting with the corncrake fieldworkers of Mayo and Donegal, and Tory has a lot of corncrakes. They were calling by day, and are often visible. I didn’t see one. I’ve got a species list for the last 36 hours which includes:………………


1. Puffin. 2. Guillemot. 3. Razorbill. 4. Black Guillemot (Taystie). 5. Black-headed Gull. 6. Herring Gull. 7. Common Gull. 8. Lesser Black-backed Gull. 9 Great Black-backed Gull. 10. Redshank. 11. Oyster-catcher. 12. Dunlin. 13. Ringed Plover. 14. Curlew. 15. Lapwing. 16. Raven. 17. Jackdaw. 18. Rook. 19. Hooded Crow. 20. Chough. 21. Rock Pipit. 22. Meadow Pipit. 23. Wheatear. 24. Swallow. 25. Cormorant. 26. Shag. 27. Eider. 28. Mallard. 29. Manx Shearwater. 30. Sooty Shearwater. 31 Stormpetrel. 32. Gannet. 33. Fulmar. 34. Peregrine. 35. Housemartin. 36. House Sparrow. 37. Tree Sparrow. 38. Wren. 39. Starling. 40. Corncrake. 41.Redpoll, 42.Arctic Skua. 43. Some Terns.... I didn't bother with the rest... Besides's having sooty's and stormy's flying around the boat was enough. I didn't need my bins either... They were bow-riding us..

That’ll do for now. We did stop for a break on the way back and saw a pod of maybe 8 Risso’s Dolphin, before having to help a Frenchman who had made a little mistake with his Volkeswagon. “Der Vorsprung in-a-ditch”, as we say in Ireland……

Chris and Adele Beeby's wedding

I have been honoured recently having been granted the opportunity to represent Chris as his best man, at his wedding. I’ve known Chris since before he knew me. There is a path between his house and mine that was probably scraped clear of grass by his own knees. He does have both the scars and the memories to support this. He can remember the toys that I owned, toys that were evoked by the moon landing in 1969. Major Matt Mason. I was 7 and he’s younger than me. He’s my Goddy, my double Goddy. I could give you a link to my best man speech but my speech didn’t go completely to plan. Mostly it was upset due to the failure of England to progress in the world cup due to an Injury that Beckham received and Rooney getting sent off due to professional provocation by Ronaldo, which I will not forgive easily.

The highlight of the wedding for me, personally, was standing with Chris when his bride appeared. We looked at each other, and we cried briefly for a second or two. ‘Dell is beautiful, but in that moment she was so much more. She had some of the most beautiful girls in the world as her bridesmaids, and I don’t want to single anyone of them out at all, especially her sister Camilla (who is everything that you want to take home and then take home to you mother….would it be wrong to propose on-blogg?), but the truth is that I didn’t notice the bridesmaids until well into the wedding and probably not until after the “I does” . Personally, I don’t want to marry until I can do that myself.

It was a classy affair, with beautiful weather and we just looked so good.

Turdy

Hi world…..

I’m just sitting down to write my first entry, an introduction to my Blog. I’m wondering how to go about it, so I’ll just start with the scene around me, it’ll give you some idea about me and my life.

I’m sitting outside, in my the back yard, which is a part of a farm. The sun is setting, and it’s a beautiful summer’s evening in Ireland. Most nights, recently, I’ve been able to hear the calls of 3 corncrakes from where I’m sitting. Those 3 crakes are 3 out of the only 17 birds in the whole of mainland Ireland, if you omit those around Donegal and Mayo. I’m privileged to work with them.

While I’m writing this I’m constantly making little contact calls with a little Mistle Thrush who is sitting on the windowsill next to me. Turdy. She’s named after the genus for the thrush family, Turdus, and her/his propensity for the production of faecal matter. I communicate with her through little whistling noises made between my teeth and tongue, seep-seep-soop, soop-soop-seep, and she replies with similar little trills. Over the last 5 days she has finally refused to accept food from me, only returning to roost and chat with me through these little trilling noises.

I raised her, having found her on a road that was being widened. She’d had her hedge destroyed, lost her nest and siblings. She was around 7 or 8 days old, probably, and approaching death having perhaps spent 5 hours covered in road resurfacing dust on a hot summer’s day on a road. She spent a couple of weeks with me before being released outside. When I say a couple of weeks, probably three, and all of the time, except when I was out during the night listening for calling corncrakes. I’d get in at first light and she’d want breakfast, four or five worms and a little chat. An hour later she’d want to do it again. Every hour and every time that I left her and returned again, she’d want to go through the same process. Now we don’t have to do the worm thing, but the contact is still nice. She just calls in for a chat before I go to work and another when the sun goes down. It’s nice, it saves me having to go to the pub to talk to strangers in order to justify my existence and get human contact. It saves me money now, compared with the 5 to 10 euros a day that it has cost me since I first found her.

A sparrowhawk just flew past being harried by swallows. The swallows have just returned, full of pride at there achievement. I’m grateful for there vigilance. Turdy would be at great risk, perhaps, due to the lack of training that I have been unable to provide. The swallows have raised there young in our outhouse, by the back door. They don’t know what to make of me. I paid to much interest in there nesting, and surprised them with a torch on the first night that the both of the pair arrived, causing one of them to fly out during darkness, something that is never good for birds which are night-blind. They raised 4. They’re chuntering at me now, and don’t know what to make of my relationship with Turdy. For an ornithologist I anthropomorphise far too much. Ask the Maalie King.

The Maalie King was here last week to visit. Or to use the rhetorical language of the Maalie Court, “His Highness, King Fowler (Rex), inspected the outer reaches of the Royal Maalie Kingdom, to the great pleasure of his loyal subjects and one esteemed Knight of the Court”. You’ll have to follow the link to that one.

Little Doggy........

Little Sally looking good

Wet Saturday

This was my first Blog. Jim Fowler came to visit me in Ireland, and showed me how to start a blog. The opening words were "Took Jim to see farmers around the Shannon Callows on Corncrake business."

I'd write a full report on the visit, but Jim is so much more elequent so I'll just send you the link for now. Jim Fowler (The Maalie King).