Thanks fur the memories

It is with a heavy heart that I have to relay the sad news that Hodge, the guinea pig, who first featured on this blog back in the spring, sadly passed away earlier this evening. I arrived home to find two inconsolable children shedding great lumps of tears at his loss. In a cruel twist, it was the younger son's pet who perished, having jumped out of his older brother's hands and fallen from height in an ill-fated bid for freedom. So as well as the trauma, the seeds of fraternal resentment may also have been sown in that moment. I hope not, I never resented my own brother for anything worse than making my Lego at Christmas before I had the chance to. But that was years ago now, 2 or 3 anyway, so it's virtually forgotten.

Hodge: much loved, he will be sorely missed

The children were allowed to play on the Xbox this evening by their mother as a special treat. 'Do you think that will cheer you up?' I asked. 'No, but it might help take my mind off it a bit' sobbed one, craning his neck to peer over my shoulder and focus on his counter attack on FIFA 15, as I attempted to be a supportive dad. The other one didn't seem any happier by the end of the game, his World Legends XI having been soundly beaten by Arsenal. Probably not the best therapy, with hindsight, in his fragile emotional state.

As for Hodge, well, he has been lying in state on an armchair, wrapped in his favourite towel, almost too long for me to be entirely comfortable, though I daren't say so for fear of being accused of insensitivity. For similar reasons, options for the funeral have yet to be broached. The garden's a bit small, and it would really rub salt in if we got up one morning to find him excavated by a fox. The well travelled Steve Smith suggested a sky burial, Tibetan style. Thanks Steve, but with the Wareham vulture population being what it is, I think we'll pass on that. I would prefer interment on a grassy plain, in keeping with the natural habitat of his genetic ancestors, but pampas is a pretty scarce habitat in Dorset. Ultimately, of course, it won't be up to me, and I fear nothing less than a full gun carriage to Westminster Abbey will be contemplated by his bereaved owner.

To be perfectly honest, I never really wanted the kids to have pets, partly to protect them from this kind of upset, but to be fair they have looked after the little critters really well and showed no sign of getting bored of the daily slopping out and grooming routines as I had expected. So I really am feeling for them, despite having teased about their furry charges on occasion via this medium. And, after a suitable period of mourning, I hope eventually to be able to add to the photo year list again.

OK, mourning over.

What, too soon?

A twirl around the Radipole Lake car park on Sunday, visited after my pipit-bothering session, added some ballast to the photo year list: Common Gull #29

No Caspo, unlike my last visit, just a Herring Gull #30

Lesser Black-backed Gull #31

A reliable spot for Mediterranean Gull #32

Pied Wagtail-Gull #33

 

Gullable

It's been a busy few days with a visit to Kent (to see friends not Pond Herons) returning to Dorset via various south coast sites. Yesterday, after staying with extended family in Hampshire, the children and their mum wanted to go to Paulton's Park. I was given the choice of joining them, or going birding before picking them up at the end of the day. Hmm, a tricky one. A whole day birding versus a whole day at a theme park. Just give me a minute to think about that...In the end I forsook the log flume and thought I would see if I could see 10 species of Gull in 24 hours. The results:

Glaucous Gull, Littlehampton. A 2nd winter bird - a striking plumage. This bird dwarfed everything around it and even when distant among hundreds of other large gulls on the breakwater by the River Arun could be picked out by its gleaming rear end.

Kumlien's Gull, Littlehampton - generally regarded as a sub-species of Iceland Gull, this bird has been present for a couple of weeks. Infamously variable in juvenile plumage, the wing-tips could look very dusky when at rest but came into their own as the bird took flight.



Herring Gull was easy enough, as were Black-headed, Greater and Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Common Gull - also easy enough, this one was at Walpole Park, Gosport, also the home of...

...the long-staying Ring-billed Gull, which was looking good. Or perhaps Gosport just made it look good.

Med Gull - quite a few of these at various south coast sites

Well I managed 9 species on Wednesday, but first thing this morning this Little Gull at Cogden made it 10 - technically still within 24 hrs of my gull quest starting yesterday morning.

Kittiwake at Cogden was a bonus 11th species for my 24 hours. I ran out of time to get back to Middlebere for Yellow-legged Gull and a round dozen!

With plenty of other white-winged gulls around, a Bonaparte's in Devon and a Laughing Gull in Cornwall, I reckon it would have been possible to see 14 species of Gull in a day on the south coast this week - 15 if you were fortunate enough to come up with a Caspian. There have also been 5 more species in Britain and Ireland since the turn of the year (Ivory, Franklin's, Ross's, Slaty-backed and American Herring) so for big listers with a Tardis it's theoretically possible to have seen 20 gull species in 2014 alone. Fancy that.

Who ate all the Pieds?

A weekend in Brighton visiting family usually provides an opportunity to look for Purple Sandpipers on the walls of Brighton Marina. But bad weather saw the walls closed to the public leaving only park life to photograph. The sight of this Herring Gull stretching its gizzard reminded me of seeing a Lesser Black-back eat a Moorhen at Cley a few years ago. Quite disgusting. More than enough to make the local Pied Wagtails keep a nervous distance.