I have been to London and back since Wednesday night. Landed Thursday a.m., worked 2 days then flew out Friday night and home Saturday evening. My body is complaining. I slept most of the morning asleep and whilst my wife was lunching with the girls I watched 2 programmes from the Beeb.
I received my new DVD with 6 episodes of BBC natural history at its best. I found this thanks to Craig who tipped me off when I mentioned a programme about otters. The episode in question is indeed on this disc and its wonderful. Just the thing to curl up to watch when its dull outside and you can't be bothered to do much anyway.
For me the bonus was a programme on The Wye Valley. Why Wye? Because I grew up in Herefordshire. The Wye runs through Hereford and I lived in a village, 4 miles from the City, where The Wye meets The Lugg. It has so many memories for me. The programme covers 4 interwoven stories through the seasons: cider production, bee-keeping, fishing and of course, especially for Fumie, sheep farming. Get down Shep! Wonderfully idyllic stuff, gorgeously filmed. Peaceful, radiating affection (not just the sheep), a true antidote to the noisy, violent, disturbing balderdash that hallmarks so much of TV these days.
The picture today is a Black kite, taken from my home here in HK. I chose it because I don't have any photos of Red kite, my favourite bird (known in Welsh as barcud). The Wye Valley programme featured shots of this iconic bird, brought back from the brink of extirpation in Britain. Ah well, lazy days aren't always bad.
8 comments:
I hate to be so predictable but - wow! Did a spot of bird watching myself yesterday... sadly I only managed to get some blurry shots of a kite in flight.
Andrew, can you help me out? We were on a pedalo on Wong Nai Chung Gap Reservoir yesterday (it's an exciting life we lead) and my daughter spotted a bird perching on a branch. We pedalled over to get a closer look and now follows the description from which you are meant to i.d. it(!):
chunkier than an egret, with a chunkier bill, a dirty white breast and lower head, grey head (cap) and wings...
Aha. Sounds like a Black-crowned night heron.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-crowned_Night_Heron
Try this link for size, Huge.
ANdrew
Fantastic photographs! - SK
That's it! Many thanks.
how lucky you are to have grown up in the countryside! Tell me, as one who has experienced it, do you think it is preferable to have a countryside childhood, or a city one?
Phiz, I would elect to grow up in the countryside every time but that doesn't mean cities are bad. I think growing up in village or small market town is better for children - they have a quality of life that they can't get in a big city. There are fewer temptations to lead them astray. They can do 'the city thing' later as I did and then choose. Living in HK but off the Island gives me the best of both worlds. I love the proximity of the wildlife but I love the buzz of Central and Causeway Bay too. Its a balance thing but for children, give them a healthy, unspoilt upbringing and a chance to appreciate a rural heritage.
Sheep "farming", say no more.
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