Tag: starlings

Two Very Different Matches

A look at two of the matches in this round of championship fixtures that have already finished and their implications for the table, plus a photo gallery.

There is a round of county championship matches in progress with today officially day three of four. The two matches in which I had most interest, Surrey v Yorkshire and Somerset v Glamorgan are both now finished. This post looks at what has been going on.

AN INNINGS WIN

This morning at decision time I opted to listen to Surrey v Yorkshire, since I thought that one was probably going to end before Somerset v Glamorgan. I had failed to account for just how spineless Glamorgan would prove to be. They slumped to 183 all out in their second innings, which gave Somerset a win by an innings and 64. The scores there were Glamorgan 194, Somerset 441, Glamorgan 183. This puts Somerset at the top of the championship table, and although they were one of the eight sides involved in the first properly organized county championship in 1891 they have never won it. Scorecard here.

A LOW SCORING THRILLER

Surrey won the toss and opted to bowl. When they had Yorkshire all out for 185 they would have felt reasonably good about that. They themselves then sank for 83, conceding a first innings deficit of 102. They then rebounded by bowling Yorkshire out for 82, leaving themselves to match Yorkshire’s first innings score in the final innings of the match to win it. When Burns and Sibley reached 40 still together it looked on. Then Jack White pinned Sibley LBW. Surrey now gambled, sending Rahul Chahar in at number three. The gamble failed, the Indian being bowled for a five ball duck. Not long after that Burns was also out, caught by Dom Bess off George Hill and it was 52-3. Wickets continued to fall regularly by Josh Blake dug in and held firm. Even so, when Tom Lawes was seventh out a further 70 runs were still needed to win, which looked a tall order on that surface. However Matthew Fisher, who had already claimed eight wickets in the match, including 6-25 in the 82 all out, now provided Josh Blake with excellent support and the pair clawed their way towards the target. They had got to 170, 15 short of winning, when Fisher edged a ball from Hill to Will Luxton to fall for 33. Auqib Nabi, an Indian seamer who can bat a bit – he has a List A century in his native land – now joined Blake. Nabi had just hit a six to move Surrey to within two of the target when he tried to go big again and sent the ball pretty much straight upwards and James Wharton got underneath it to make it 183-9. Dan Worrall, the sort of old style tail ender who does not bother to take guard when he arrives at the crease, now joined the fray. He survived the last two balls of Ben Coad’s over, and then Blake negotiated a very good over from George Hill, but could do no more than survive it. The next over started with another dot, but then Worrall got the second away for four and Surrey had sneaked home by one wicket. The match had seen an aggregate of 537 runs for 39 wickets. This is not even close to a record – in 1878 when The MCC faced off against An Australian XI at Lord’s the match aggregate was 105 runs for 31 wickets (MCC 33 and 19, Australians 41 and 12-1). Josh Blake in the final innings had scored 43 not out from 183 balls. It is a result that somewhat eases Surrey’s relegation worries, but everyone from fourth place downwards is under threat, so tight is it at the bottom. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (periodic reminder, you can view images at larger size by clicking on them)…

A hummingbird hawkmoth
Flowring ivy plays a vital role at this time of year. This head has attracted two pollinators at the same time.
I got this 50p in change at Morrison’s today.

England in Command at Lord’s

A look at what is happening in the test match at Lord’s when the rain relents enough for anything to be happening, and a photo gallery.

The second test match of a three match series between the England and Pakistan men’s teams is in progress at Lord’s. Today is the third day, and even with some quite significant disruption by the weather it is against the odds that this game will reach day five. This post looks at what has happened so far.

DAY ONE

I had expected to miss pretty much the whole of day one due to work, but weather interruptions meant that I got to hear some of it once I was home from work. England reached 248-9 in difficult conditions, which looked pretty respectable especially given the known frailty of the Pakistan batting.

DAY TWO

Yesterday began with the last England pair, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue, batting entertainingly. They advanced the score by 42 at pretty much a run a minute before Atkinson was last out for 45. Imam-ul-Haq had picked up a calf strain, and somewhat surprisingly did not bat at all. With the exception of Azan Awais, who fought hard, and got into the 40s, no one batted at all well for Pakistan in the face of some excellent England bowling. Ollie Robinson was almost unhittably accurate, recording figures of 13-6-11-4, while Jofra Archer bowled with lightning speed to record 11.2.-1-26-3. Josh Tongue picked up a couple of wickets, while Atkinson was wicketless. Pakistan had managed a beggarly 110 all out giving England a first innings lead of 180. By the close England were 81-3, 261 ahead, and the match already looked beyond Pakistan’s reach.

TODAY

Rain against disrupted things, and it was not until 2:20PM that play that could underway. Emilio Gay, unbeaten on 30 overnight, got an unplayable ball from Mohammad Abbas – it shot straight along the ground to pin him LBW. Abbas has since then added the wickets of Brook for 34, and Jamie Smith for 7, but Lawrence is batting well on 37, and Atkinson has just started his innings, on 7 not out, with a nice four off Abbas. England are 162-6, a lead of 342 overall, and certainly more than they are likely to need. England will be hoping there aren’t too many more interruptions, while Pakistan need something Noachian to save them. As I type rain has just intervened again.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

I saw this dead fish in the pond nearest to my house.
A ruddy darter
A ‘hornet hoverfly’.
A painted lady
A close up of a ruddy darter

A Comprehensive Win for Somerset

A look back at the portion of Somerset v Essex that I was able to follow after the test match concluded so early, and a photo gallery.

Today is the final day of a round of county championship fixtures. With the test match at Headingley between England and Pakistan failing to go the distance (see here) I have been focussing instead on Somerset v Essex at Taunton.

AN INTERESTING DECISION

I started to follow this match when Somerset, having produced a mighty first innings score, were bowling Essex out cheaply in their first innings. As always when such a possibility arises there was speculation over whether or not the follow-on should be enforced. I felt, as did veteran Somerset commentator Anthony Gibson, that they should do so. I thought their best chance of winning was to bowl Essex out again, and I did not think that Essex with a deficit of 311 to overturn were remotely likely to be able build a winning lead and have time to bowl Somerset out a second time. In the event Somerset themselves also reckoned that putting Essex back in was the right thing to do.

A HUGE PARTNERSHIP

Essex lost their third wicket at 127, still 184 short of avoiding the innings defeat. At that point Charlie Allison and Matt Critchley joined forces for what proved to be a very long partnership. At the close of day three Essex were 314-3, three runs ahead overall, with the pair still in occupation. Although Essex had done superbly to get into that position I still felt only two results were on, a draw if Essex kept batting well and a win if they did not. In the event Jack Leach had a magnificent morning for Somerset, gaining the reward that his hard graft through the Essex innings had earned him. By lunch he had figures of 53-21-77-5, four of those wickets in the morning session. Essex were 394-7, 83 ahead, and their best remaining hope was Simon Harmer, mainly an off spinner but also a very useful lower order batter.

THE CLOSING STAGES

Leach, the hero of the fourth morning, left the field injured early in the afternoon, but young off spinner Archie Vaughan claimed the last three wickets, clean bowling Shane Snater, having Harmer inside edge one into the stumps for another ‘bowled’ in the scorebook and finally pinning Porter, a genuine number 11 (FC batting average 6.39) LBW to end the Essex second innings on 412, a lead of 101. Smaller totals than that have been defended over the years – way back in the 1930s Essex themselves once defended 54, bowling Yorkshire out for 33, to give just one example, but Essex would need to strike hard and early to win. They got one thing right, giving Harmer, their best hope on this fourth day pitch, the new ball. However their field setting for their star off spinner was awry – the fielder on the boundary square of the wicket on the offside was wasted, since they could only come into play if Harmer bowled short, which he was never likely to do. Harmer himself should probably have insisted on that fielder being deployed elsewhere. Somerset started the chase very brightly, having 50 on the board before the end of the seventh over. Harmer did pick up the wickets of Josh Thomas for 31 and Lewis Goldsworthy for 6 but Kiwi international Henry Nicholls ensured that there would be no nonsense, scoring an unbeaten 18 and staying with Tom Lammonby (39 not out) while the winning runs were scored. Scorecard here. This very impressive win means that Somerset are now third in the table behind Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

You will need to look close due to excellence of the camouflage, but there is a small green creature on the leaf.
A Little Egret with its wings fully spread out in flight, low over the Nar outfall.
The Egret, now wading in the water of the Nar Outfall.
Possibly a Ruddy Darter or possibly some other species of damsel or dragonfly perched on a big green leaf overlooking the Gaywood river.

Surrey v Essex

A look at the early stages of Surrey v Essex in the fourth round of County Championship matches of 2026 and a photo gallery which features a damselfly, the first such sighting for me in 2026.

Another round of county championship matches got underway at 11 o’clock this morning. This post looks at the first two sessions (the latter of which has just ended) at The Oval where Surrey are hosting Essex.

THE PLAY SO FAR

The big news for Surrey was that Gus Atkinson was in the side for his first game of the season. They won the toss and opted to bowl first, so Atkinson was in action straight away. During the course of the morning session there was exactly one moment of trouble for Essex and that was self inflicted – a piece of running so poor that had the throw hit Paul Walter would not even have been in the frame. A rare lapse from Walter saw a return chance offered to Sean Abbott, but the Aussie seamer was unable to hold on to it. Finally, with 183 runs on the board and Elgar looking nailed for a ton Jordan Clark found an edge and Ben Foakes accepted the chance. The former South Africa test opener had scored 92, and had been largely untroubled. Tom Westley, returning from injury, cane in at number three. He struggled to 1 from 27 balls before Tom Lawes bowled him, probably almost as much of a relief to him given his lack of form as it was to the rest of us. That was 194-2. Charlie Allison joined Paul Walter, and pair carried Essex through to tea at 229-2, Walter 95 not out, Allison 23 not out. Play has resumed since I started work on this post, and Walter has moved into three figures, which he has by and large earned, though he did benefit from a couple of fortunate moments as detailed.

QUESTIONING RECEIVED WISDOM

It seems nowadays to be hardwired into captains minds that if you win the toss at The Oval you opt to bowl. However it is put it mildly not a policy with a stellar success rate. Relatively recent instances include Surrey racking up 820-9 declared against Durham, Surrey in their most recent match of this season topping 500 against Leicestershire, and now Essex headed for a huge total against Surrey. I also think the Surrey ground staff might well have questions to answer about the sheer weight of runs their surface is offering up – none of the other matches in action today look in great danger of degenerating into runfests with no real hope of a result, whereas that is a very obvious possibility in this match.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Before showing the full gallery I have an extract from it, a close up of a splendid insect from today…

Until today I had not seen a dragonfly or a damselfly in 2026. This is definitely a type of damselfly. Its mainly red body, with a black tail section that itself has four red bands can be clearly seen below the outlines of the four folded wings, while the thorax section features two bands of yellow and some yellow spots behind it. The head is quite shiny, with two large red compound eyes, and all six of the creatures limbs are clearly visible as it basks on a green leaf near Kettlewell Lane.

Now for the gallery…

Warwickshire Take 216 Run First Innings Lead

A look at the latest developments in Warwickshire v Surrey and a photo gallery.

Today is day three of the opening round of county championship fixtures for the 2026 season. This post looks at what has been happening between Warwickshire and Surrey.

THE DAYS EVENTS

Sam Hain was the first to fall on day three, trapped LBW by Matt Fisher for 94. Mousley continued his impressive play of the previous day until he fell for 144, caught by Rory Burns off James Taylor. That was 394-4. Warwickshire skipper Ed Barnard looked in magnificent form until Burns caught him off Fisher for 25. Aussie Beau Webster became the fifth Warwickshire player to top 50 in the innings before being pinned LBW by Tom Lawes. Numbers 7,8 and 9 in the Warwickshire order, Kai Smith, Chris Woakes and Jordan Thompson, all fell to 18 year old left arm spin bowling all rounder Ralphie Albert, Smith to a catch by Foakes, Woakes clean bowled and Thompson caught by Fisher. Thompson’s dismissal ended the innings, with Ethan Bamber having been LBW to Taylor for 11. Warwickshire thus ended on 544, a first innings advantage of 216. Albert’s figures were 20.3-1-80-3, splendid in such a huge total. The only Surrey bowler to be more economical than Albert was Australian veteran Sean Abbott, whose right arm seam yielded 25-4-74-1.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Stories From the T20 World Cup

A look at developments in the men’s T20 world cup, including a major elimination and a great individual effort by a Canadian.

The first stage of the 2026 men’s T20 world cup is now well advanced. This post looks at a couple of major stories.

ADIOS AUSTRALIA

Australia having already been beaten by Zimbabwe faced Sri Lanka on Monday. When the folks from down under passed the hundred mark in eight overs they looked unstoppable. However Sri Lanka fought back, and as wickets fell Australia’s scoring faltered. In the end Australia managed 181, and were all out just before the end of the 20th over. That total was on the face of it still defensible, but now Pathum Nissanka, well supported by Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake proceeded to play an absolute blinder of an innings, racking up 100 not out from 52 balls with 10 fours and five sixes. Sri Lanka won by eight wickets with two whole overs to spare, and the mighty Aussies were looking straight at the exit door from the tournament. This was officially confirmed yesterday when the match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe was washed out without a ball being bowled. The truth is that after the two defeats they had sustained, both of which were strictly merited Australia would have needed a massive helping of good fortune to qualify and they deserved not to receive such good fortune. I also reckon that a really big name falling at the first hurdle is good news for the tournament.

A GREAT INNINGS

When the first match yesterday, between Canada and New Zealand got under way, no one playing for an associate nation had ever score a century at a T20 world cup. Yuvraj Samra, named in honour of former India international Yuvraj Singh, and like him a left handed batter, scored 110 off 65 balls with 11 fours and six sixes for Canada to become the first such player. Unfortunately for him he did not receive enough support from his team mates – Canada still only managed 173 from their 20 overs, and they then bowled so appallingly that New Zealand reached the target with 4.5 overs and eight wickets to spare.

TODAY SO FAR

Pakistan battered Namibia by 102 runs in the first game of the day to secure their qualification, and South Africa beat the UAE by six wickets with almost seven overs to spare to finish this stage of the tournament with a 100% record – played four, won four. India and the Netherlands are currently doing battle, and an upset does not currently look terribly likely.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

One Classic and Two Upsets

A look back at three matches at the T20 world cup that were each in their way remarkable, and a photo gallery.

The 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup is continuing – as I type the USA are facing off against the Netherlands. This post looks back briefly at three very different fixtures.

WHEN ONE SUPER OVER DOES NOT SUFFICE

The match between Afghanistan and South Africa had more twists and turns than a mountain road. At various stages each side looked like winning but at the end of regular play the scores were tied- 187 each. Afghanistan looked in control of the first Super Over but a spectacular finish by South Africa saw that one tied. South Africa batted first in the second Super Over and score 23 from their over. When the first two balls of the reply were a dot and wicket it looked all over, but then Ramanullah Gurbaz hit three successive sixes to bring Afghanistan back into contention. A wide then reduced the ask to five, but off the final ball Gurbaz’s luck finally ran out as he was caught in the deep, and South Africa took the points.

TWO UPSETS

Italy do not have any great reputation as a cricketing nation, while Nepal had given England an almighty scare in their previous outing and are generally considered only just outside the elite. Yet when these sides met Italy won by ten wickets with an absurd amount of time to spare.

This morning Zimbabwe faced Australia. Zimbabwe have a good record against Australia in World Cup matches, stretching back to 1983 when Zimbabwe won the first match they ever played at a world cup by beating Australia. Therefore an upset was always a live possibility. A Zimbabwe total of 169-2 meant that they were certainly in the game going into the second half of the contest. Brian Bennett, a hugely impressive young opener, had anchored the Zimbabwe innings with 64 not out, while Tadiwanashe Marumani and Ryan Burl each scored 35, and Sikandar Raza hit 25 not off 13 balls at the end. Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans bowled superbly and soon had Australia right on the ropes at 29-4. Glenn Maxwell and Matt Renshaw launched a fightback, but then Maxwell was out, and Stoinis lasted only four balls before being well caught. Zimbabwe looked in control for most of this innings, but the moment that effectively killed any chance of a miraculous recovery came with a mere eight further balls to come – Renshaw was caught by Burl of Muzurabani to make it 139-8, 31 needed off eight and only tail enders left. Adam Zampa scored two off the fifth ball of the 19th over, but then Muzurabani bowled him to make 141-9 after 19 overs, 29 needed off the last over with numbers 9 and 11 together. Muzurabani had the extraordinary figures of 4-0-17-4. Three balls and five runs later it was all over, Matthew Kuhnemann being run out to end proceedings. Zimbabwe had won by 23 runs, and had looked in charge for most of the match. This result has created the intriguing possibility of the cricketing superpower that is Australia failing to make the final eight.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – Detective Fiction

An all time XI of players who have namesakes in detective stories and a photo gallery.

Today I select an XI of players who are namesakes of characters in detective fiction.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Percy Holmes (right handed opening batter, Yorkshire and England). In most eras other than the one he played in he would have been one of the first names on the England team sheet, especially given what a great partnership he formed with Herbert Sutcliffe. As it was he generally missed out due to the presence of Jack Hobbs. His record for Yorkshire was outstanding, and at the time of his retirement included five of the ten highest individual scores made for the county. His fictional alter ego is of course the one and only Sherlock Holmes.
  2. Herbert Sutcliffe (right handed opening batter, Yorkshire and England). One of the greatest opening batters ever to play the game, and shared 69 first class century opening stands with Holmes. He gets in by way of Magda Josza’s “Sherlock Holmes and the Femmes Fatales”, which features among others Lady Elizabeth Sutcliffe and her uncle Sir Vincent Sutcliffe.
  3. Fred Bakewell (right handed top order batter, Northamptonshire and England). By the time a car crash brought his career to a premature close he had done more than enough to establish himself as a great batter. His fictional equivalent is Diana Bakewell, heroine of the Rachel McLean/ Millie Ravensworth series of London cosy mysteries of which I have read three thus far.
  4. Jack Ryder (Australia, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). One of the finer batters of the 1920s, his credits include a test match double century. He was also a useful enough bowler to occasionally be entrusted with the new ball. His namesake is James Ryder, villain in “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”.
  5. *Warwick Armstrong (Australia, right handed batter, leg spinner, captain). A magnificent all rounder, and a ruthlessly effective leader. The eight successive Ashes match victories he presided over (a 5-0 sweep in Australia in 1920-1, and the first three matches of the series in England in 1921) remains an all time record. His alter ego is Superintendent Armstrong from the Museum Detectives series.
  6. Vallance Jupp (Sussex, Northamptonshire, England, right handed batter, off spinner). In the 1920s he achieved the double feat of 1,000+ runs and 100+ wickets in FC matches eight times in consecutive seasons. I have slipped him in by means of a small piece of sleight of hand – one of The Railway Detective, inspector Robert Colbeck’s colleagues is an inspector Vallence, and by altering one letter I got in a link to my favourite of all detective series.
  7. +Adam Gilchrist (Australia, wicket keeper, left handed batter). |One of the all time greats of the game, although his legacy could be considered tarnished by the fact that a number sides nowadays blatantly sacrifice keeping quality for better batting from the keeper. One of the three students in the Holmes story of that title is named Gilchrist.
  8. Gus Atkinson (Surrey, England, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). He has had a superb start to his England career, though like too many of his team mates he had a poor time on the recent tour of Australia. Gus the cat is a character in the London cosy mysteries that also gave us a Bakewell.
  9. Don Wilson (Yorkshire, England, left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). Though his England record was not great he took his first class wickets at 21 a piece. His alter ego is of course Daniel Wilson, one half of the Museum Detectives.
  10. Ted McDonald (Australia, Lancashire, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One half of the first great fast bowling pair to operate at test level along with Jack Gregory, he later became one the spearheads of Lancashire’s most successful ever period. Though I have to add a letter to his surname to do it, I have two very different alter egos for him: Alec MacDonald, one of the few Scotland Yarders Holmes actually treats with respect (see “The Valley of Fear”) and Kylie MacDonald, one of the pair of detectives in the elite NYPD Red unit that features in a series of books with that title, the first six by James Patterson and Marshall Karp, and the seventh by Marshall Karp.
  11. William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Took over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece in his career. With one Holmes brother sharing his name with an opening batter this XI ends with the other, Mycroft, sharing his name with an opening bowler.

This side has a more than adequate batting line up, and a stellar array of bowling talent – McDonald, Mycroft and Atkinson as front line pacers, with Ryder available as fourth seamer if needed, and Wilson, Jupp and Armstrong covering all the spin bases. I will not do honourable mentions for this one – there are a vast range of possibilities. Feel free to comment with your own ideas.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Scorchers Win BBL15

A brief account of today’s BBL Final and a photo gallery.

Today saw the final of the 15th edition of the men’s Big Bash League. The match featured the two most successful franchises in the history of the competition, Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers, at the former’s home ground since they had won the league stage of the tournament.

ONE WAY TRAFFIC

Scorchers won the bat flip, put Sixers in to bat and went about things utterly ruthlessly thereafter. Other than Steve Smith early on with 24 from 13 balls none of the Sixers batters really got going against some fine Scorchers bowling. David Payne, an English left arm seamer, was the star with 3-18 from his four overs, and he was a little unlucky those figures weren’t even better – Joel Davies was saved from becoming his fourth victim when a replay indicated that a diving catch in the deep had not in fact been cleanly taken. Sixers had only managed 132-9 from their 20 overs. Scorchers never looked in any danger of not scoring the runs. Although they made slightly heavy weather of finishing the job they still had six wickets and 2.3 overs in hand when Josh Inglis finished things with a six off Ben Dwarshuis, which is a thrashing in anyone’s language. Scorchers have now won six of the 15 editions of this tournament.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This Egret provided lots of pictures, as you will see…
…ending with this one.

England Win in Sri Lanka

An account of Sri Lanka v England at Colombo today and a photo gallery.

With a world cup in India approaching England are currently engaged in an away ODI series in Sri Lanka. Today saw the second match of that series.

A CONTRAST IN APPROACHES

While both sides were spin heavy (anything else would be ludicrous in Colombo) there was nevertheless a significant difference in the make up of the sides. Sri Lanka had four specialist bowlers, a genuine all rounder and two batting all rounders in their side, while England had only one player selected purely as a bowler (and even that player, Adil Rashid, has a better FC batting average than current test opener Zak Crawley) and a fistful of all rounders – Jamie Overton, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed, Jacob Bethell, and a batter who bowls, Joe Root. With Crawley injured Rehan Ahmed was asked to open (his regular county slot is number three) alongside Ben Duckett. Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first.

THE PLAY

England bowled very well, with a total of six spin options wheeling down 40.3 overs, a national record for a 50 over innings, between them. Root somewhat bizarrely ended up bowling the final over of the innings, and was gifted two wickets, first Wellalage holing out to Sam Curran for 20, and then number 11 Asitha Fernando taking on a big hit and succeeding only in toe-ending the ball straight back to the bowler. Sri Lanka were all out for 219, which looked a good 20 below par even on that tricky pitch.

Rehan Ahmed did not do terribly well as makeshift opener, though Joe Root had made his way to the middle with less than 2o (the Ahmed/ Duckett opening stand) on the board on many occasions in his illustrious career. It was Root who ensured that no defence of that 219 would be possible. First he and Duckett added 68 for the second wicket, and then after Bethell had gone cheaply he was joined by Harry Brook for a fourth wicket stand that yielded 81 before Root finally fell for a 75 that was easily the equal of any 200 on a flat track. Buttler injected some late speed to proceedings, rattling up 33 not out from 21 balls, and it was Jacks who eventually scored the winning runs, a boundary off seamer Pramod Madushan with 3.4 overs remaining. England had won by five wickets, ending a sequence of 12 ODI away losses. With 2-12, two catches and that splendid 75 Joe Root was the only candidate for Player of the Match.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Three pictures of a raptor flying overhead
This one is probably the clearest of the three.