The star of this post is a beetle I spotted watching the Nar Outfall from a very precarious perch at the apex of a concrete wall overlooking the Nar Outfall. There are three pictures of the beetle.
This is a whimsical little post from this morning’s walk.
A BONUS FIND
I was on the bridge over the Nar Outfall, with the Great Ouse, which the Nar joins, about 20 yards away. My attention was principally directed at the structure I have dubbed ‘Cormorant platform’ because those birds make such frequent use of it. One such was on the platform and in full display mode (these pictures will feature in my next post). While I was photographing this bird my eye was caught by something on the very apex of the concrete wall that protects pedestrians on the bridge from falling into the Nar Outfall. Closer inspection confirmed that it was a beetle, enjoying the sun and apparently the view of the water from its somewhat precarious perch.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are the pictures I took of the beetle.
The first shotA second improved pictureThe third and final picture. This picture and its immediate predecessor convinced me when I edited them that the grooved carapace which I had originally though to be black was actually a very dark green.
An account of a walk, some final thoughts on the IDS resignation, some very brief comments about the six nations and some stuff about the World T20
INTRODUCTION
With my parents and my aunt away I have been left to my own devices this Sunday. So I am producing this post which features the World T20, a short section on the most despised British minister in living memory (yesterday I posted to links to pieces here and here), and today I am making my last comments on him, and what I shall be starting with…
A SUNDAY STROLL
The live commentary from the World T20 having finished and it being sunny outside I set off for a long walk, starting as so often by heading to the river via the Purfleet.
Captain Vancouver
Not designed as a bird perch but clearly works well!
The river front, from the Purfleet to the Millfleet was, as one would expect on a Sunday, quiet, although the survey boats were still in evidence.
A cormorant in flight – although they fly low they fly very fast, so capturing them using this mode of travel is difficult.
The cormorant in flight above leads on to my efforts to capture a swimming cormorant (even more of a challenge, because if they are in the water they are usually looking for food, so surface only briefly between dives but…)
After this shot where I caught the dive…
Came this one where I got the timing exactly right.
Old Boal Quay provided nothing of interest, but ‘cormorant platform’, the Nar outfall and the stretch of the Great Ouse adjoining Hardings Pits did…
I had thought there would be no ‘cormorant platform’ shot, but just before leaving the river I got this one.
We have lift off!
A second capture of a swimming cormorant in one day.
Neither Harding’s Pits nor the area around St John’s Walk offered very much, but I did get these pictures between the river and hitting the path along Bawsey Drain to to the town centre…
I walked about halfway along the path that follows Bawsey Drain before crossing a bridge and heading through a field and round the edge of another to a couple of ponds, from the second of which a path leads to Littleport Street, and thence a cut a know well that brings on to the train station and finally home.
The new cycle park at King’s Lynn station.
THE END OF THE
INHUMANE DESPICABLE SOCIOPATH
Yesterday morning I woke up to news of the resignation of the most hated of all British government Ministers. His resignation statement was obviously bogus since it mentioned conscience (which he has never possessed). The most popular explanation was that it was a kind of ‘IDS of March’ act with Osborne’s being the back into which the dagger was being plunged. Others thought that it was to enable him to concentrate on campaigning for a ‘Brexit’ vote.
Signs are not encouraging as regards his replacement – Mr Crabb (for he it is – a sideways move from his previous position of Welsh Secretary – sorry about the pun) has a voting record similar to that of the man he replaces. Mr Crabb can hardly fail to be an improvement (that is not so much setting the bar low as not setting a bar at all) but he may very well not be much of one.
I will conclude this section with some of twitter highlights about the man…
The resignation picture
His voting record on Welfare – a hint as to why this resignation was a matter for celebration
Mike Sivier of Vox Political produced this offering.
One view of the real reason for the resignation.
The best epitaph for IDS’s political career – this excoriation from Salma Yaqoob on Question Time was bang on the money.#
SPORT SUPPLEMENT
Sport usually occupies the back pages of print media, so I have put it at the back of this post. First a brief congratulation to England for completing their six nations grand slam (as with Wales’ obliteration of Italy – 67-14 – and Ireland’s win over Scotland the result was no great surprise). The rest of this section is dedicated to the
WORLD T20
This is going be longer than such a section would usually be because of this post which appeared on whyevolutionistrue yesterday. As you will see, this attempt at an explanation is too long to submit as a comment to someone else’s blog. We start with a glossary of a few important terms:
Innings: can either apply to an individual performance or to the team performance. In a cricket context the singular and plural are spelled the same way – ‘inning’ has no meaning.
Over: A fixed number of legal balls (these days six, though at various times in cricket’s long history four, five and eight have been favoured) that the bowler delivers before the action switches to the other end and another bowler.
Run: The unit in which a team score is measured. It is based on running the length of the cricket pitch, which is worth one. Balls that reach the boundary score four (if they bounce before doing so) or six (if they cross on the full).
Wicket: The construction, comprising three stumps and two bails that the batter defends. Cricket is generally an eleven-a-side game, so each side has ten wickets to defend (as there have be two batsman together).
The World T20 is genuinely a world tournament (unlike some sports, cricket only uses international designations when they are genuinely appropriate!), with the full member nations of the ICC qualifying automatically, and the ‘associate members’ playing a pre-qualifying tournament from which some make it to the main event. The T20 part of the format refers to the format of the matches, where each side gets 20 overs to bat, and bowlers are limited to four overs each (so you better have at least five folk in your team who can bowl decently). Scoring in these matches is generally fast, though the England v South Africa match of a few days ago in which a South Africa tally of 229-4 proved insufficient was exceptional even for this format. The India v Pakistan match that provoked the google doodle which in turn provoked the WEIT post had extra spice because of the political situation which also means that those two countries only ever play each other in global tournaments, never in bilateral series. For the record India won, not without a few scares along the way. This morning GB time there was a match between South Africa and Afghanistan, won by South Africa but with the Afghans giving a very good account of themselves.
The fourth in my series of posts about Heritage Open Day, featuring the Red Mount Chapel, The Guildhall, “Cormorant Platform”, the South Gate and the Bandstand.
INTRODUCTION
This is the fourth post in my Heritage Open Day series (there will be one more small post to finish the series) and features several classic sites, starting with…
THE RED MOUNT CHAPEL
I have shown pictures of the outside of this building in many previous posts, so therefore I am concentrating my attentions on the inside, which a little like that of the South Gate contains more than you would believe from looking at the outside. The only windows most of the building possesses are tiny slits, while the uppermost level has fleur-de-lys windows which are not visible from the ground. At various stages of this buildings history its true purpose had to be concealed, because it was not safe to be known to be a centre of Catholic worship (n.b. the danger was never from unbelievers such as me, who also could not declare themselves at the time I am writing about – it was from those whose interpretation of Christianity differed from that of the Catholics). Now for some pictures…
A prettied up fleur-de-lus window
An original fleur-de-lys window
After this we spent a bit of time outside waiting for signs of the spitfire fly past but none materialised, and we had to buy bread as a contribution to lunch, which thanks to my aunt was a feast. After lunch we started by paying a visit to the…
GUILDHALL
This is the second most iconic building in Lynn (behind the Custom House), due to its possessing this frontage…
This pic was taken yesterday – i got none of the outside on the day itself.
Heritage Open Day however represented an opportunity to check out the inside of the building, including a ceiling that definitely dates from at the latest the early 1420s…
Decorative stonework in the Guildhall.
The 1420s ceiling (maybe even older)
The plan was to visit the South Gate, and then go back to the park to catch some of the live music at the bandstand. A special tour bus (think routemasters of yesteryear!) caught our eyes but it was full, and it definitely was not worth waiting 20 minutes for the next. The walk to the South Gate needed little tweaking to take in one of my favourite minor attractions, which I have dubbed…
CORMORANT PLATFORM
Thankfully, the cormorants did me proud, and I was not required to provide any explanation as to my name for the structure…
There were no further diversions before arriving at the…
SOUTH GATE
No external picture of this – I have shown many in the past, and on this day it was all about the inside of such buildings. Suffice to say that my companions for the day, my cousin Edward and his partner Rachael endorsed my earlier description of this building as a ‘medieval TARDIS’ – there is much more inside than you would believe possible from the outside…
Following a short cut well-known to me to not to that many others (at least when it comes it King’s Lynn I can say echoing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings that “My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong”) we arrived in the parkland area via the Seven Sisters gate, walking past the Walks Stadium (home of the mighty Linnets, a.k.a King’s Lynn Town FC – just another five promotions would see them in the premier league!) and the Guanock Gate to arrive at our last attraction of the day…
THE BANDSTAND
The Bandstand dates from 1904 and regularly hosts live music. For Heritage Open Day we had a brass band who produced some excellent music for us…
An account of a walk yesterday morning, the journeys to and from East Rudham, and Sunday lunch in East Rudham, with a subsection devoted to bees enjoying wild marjoram.
INTRODUCTION
This post concerns yesterday, and us set part in King’s Lynn and part in my parents village, East Rudham. A running theme is nature. I hope you will enjoy it and that some at least of you will choose to share it.
PART 1: KING’S LYNN, MORNING
It was a beautiful sunny morning, so I decided to take a long walk from my flat, planned to finish at the bus station in time to catch the 11:55 bus to arrive in East Rudham for Sunday lunch. Right at the start, the upper Purfleet yielded these pictures…
South Quay then yielded a few more good pictures…
A gull swimming in the Great Ouse
A few minutes later came one of the regular highlights –
CORMORANT PLATFORM
The set of pictures I have this time indicate precisely why I have given this structure which sits at the meeting point of the Nar and the Great Ouse the name I have…
Before leaving the river there was just time for a couple of shots looking back at the town…
On leaving the river I headed through Harding’s Pits, which at this time of year means…
BUTTERFLIES
It is difficult to capture butterflies on camera, but I got a few pics…
After this, the next pictures worth sharing came from near the end of the walk, along a stretch of river near Morrison’s…
My photographic comment on Australia’s recent batting performances!
A VARIATION ON THE USUAL BUS JOURNEY
A combination of a spectacular day and herd mentality increased the journey time to Hunstanton and the sea to two hours and rendered the Knight’s Hill junction with the A148 effectively unusable for buses, so the X8 towards Fakenham went by way of Leziate, Ashwicken and Roydon joining the A148 just short of Hillington and its first out of town stop. Thanks to this intelligent alteration of the route the bus was only a couple of minutes late arriving at East Rudham.
PART TWO: EAST RUDHAM
Following a delicious lunch of roast beef the afternoon was spent sitting out in the courtyard outside my parents house, until it was time for me to get the bus home. I was reading the book by Robert Bakker that I mentioned in a previous post – keep an eye for a review in the near future – and also endeavouring to do photographic justice to…
THE BEES
As well as being useful for bringing out the full flavour of lamb, the wild marjoram that grows in abundance just outside my parents door is much appreciated by bees. Bees are a vitally important part of the ecosystem and are under ever increasing threat from the combination of the insensate greed of pesticide companies and the cravenness of governments (the latter do not have the guts to stand up to the former). Their activities so close to where I was sitting were an irresistable opportunity for the only sort of shooting I am interested in – that done with my trusty Nikon Coolpix P530!
THE RETURN JOURNEY
The bus turned up precisely when it was scheduled to, and until it hit the now customary traffic jam on Gaywood Road (at which point I decided to get out and walk the rest of the way) it ran exactly to schedule all the way.
PART THREE: KING’S LYNN AGAIN
In this last section I am going to share some pictures from yesterday evening and also the pictures I got of the bus station immediately before setting out…
The new London Connections map, one of the many things that can be obtained from the visitor’s centre at King’s Lynn Bus Station.
On the reverse side the whole of the South East.
The front of the vistor’s centre and the Lynn museum
Focus on the visitor’s centre
The clock, courtesy of King’s Lynn Civic Society.
The barrier at stand C – interleaving Captain Vancouver and the Custom House.
An account, complete with a fine haul of photos, of a walk around King’s Lynn. This is followed by some important links and some interesting infographics. Please share widely.
INTRODUCTION
Being up bright and early this morning and noting the sunny weather I headed off for a walk. The body of this post is devoted to sharing the best sights from that walk. After that I have some links and infographics to share. I hope you enjoy this post and will be encouraged to share it.
THE WALK
My first ports of call were…
THE TUESDAY MARKET PLACE AND ST NICHOLAS CHAPEL
These places looked very fine in the sun. The extensive restoration work on the chapel is now nearly complete.
From there I headed to…
BAWSEY DRAIN
This is a far more significant waterway than that name may suggest, and was rewarded with a clutch of fine pictures in that section of the walk…
Watching and waiting in the undergrowth…
I left Bawsey drain part way along it’s length to head towards the Great Ouse by means of a nice route that I know, but I am briefly going to diverge from strict geographical recounting for a subsection on…
BUTTERFLIES
The butterflies were out in force, but it is always difficult to photograph them due to their speed. Nevertheless, I did get some good pics to share…
This was the last butterfly I got, while walking through Hardings Pits
This was the first butterfly pic I got today.
The only non-animal flyer I got today – a helicopter (Helico- = spiral, pteron = wing)
This one had its wings folded.
ARRIVING AT THE GREAT OUSE
Just a few pics here, but it was a delight to see the river at very high tide…
My next set of pictures are themed around a small but (to me) very significant little landmark which I have dubbed…
CORMORANT PLATFORM
The very high tide meant that most of the structure was submerged, and the presence of boats and the river and West Lynn Church on the far bank also contributed to a great set of pictures…
A brilliant piece of photobombing by the flying gull!
Multiple species of bird coexisting peacefully.
The platform and a boat.
The church contributing to the scene.
Two cormorants took wing in my direction.
Not all of the boats i saw on the river were there for leisure purposes – there was also a…
RESEARCH VESSEL
Four pics showing the boat and website details…
From here all that was left was…
THE HOME STRETCH
The pictures I took in these final few minutes are very varied…
One last boat pic.
The Custom House.
Looking north from the Lower Purfleet.
An adult moorhen in the Upper Purfleet
The smallest baby moorhen I have ever seen.
We have reached the end of my walk, but I do hope some of you stay for the…
LINKS
I have a shed load of important links to share, starting with some on…
Although it was a universally revered lion whose demise sparked this activity they are not the only species targeted by noxious individuals, and my next link is to a take part petition on behalf of the elephant.
Finally in this subsection, from Mark Avery comes a story about hen harriers which was written in response to a piece in the Telegraph that was shockingly inaccurate even by the “standards” of that detestable rag.
I mentioned this yesterday, and the story has moved on since then. My source today is Socialist Worker with a piece giving great detail, including the fact that the museum which got planning permission on false pretences did not open yesterday as planned – let us hope that in it’s current incarnation as a musuem dedicated to Jack the Ripper it never does open its doors. here are the two links:
aspiblog 