Stressful Morning

Friday January 20 

We both needed some respite, birding is the best relaxant. After a sunny morning, we turned right at the end of our road to see a dark grey sky and a rainbow.. The rain was heavy and almost immediate. A lovely result of the recent spells of rain and sun is the frequent rainbows. Seldom complete arches, to-day's was almost excellent, the spectrum fading in the centre of the complete bow. I can understand how in most folk lore and religions, they play a mystical role.

We started roadside at Rollesby, looking over the western  part of the Broad.. Yet again, part of the large parking area has been coned off preventing us from driving to view the far reaches. Why? We are finding thus all over the county. A few Goldeneye and Tufted Duck, one Great Crested Grebe, and remarkably, over a hundred Pochard. We've only seen this number before at Welney on the WWF lagoons. No sign of any Smew. 

After a recce around the cafe grounds, we drove to St Benets. Three large Broads Authority vehicles taking up an inordinate amount of parking space, two was bad enough. We soon added a Barn Owl and a Short-eared Owl to the day list. I could see any owl every day and still rejoice. The Barn Owl kept appearing and disappearing behind the reeds on the far marsh, or behind the bushes on the river bank. I was so hoping for a photograph for the year folder. Constantly teasing, it would seem to be flying nearer - and then veer away. Eventually I managed some less than acceptable images of it on the ground, mantling its catch, and one flying photo which was almost sharp.

 




 


 

Stressful morning?

Phillips sent me a questionnaire to complete, which entailed reading the recorded information on my S-Box (mask attached for nightly use to deal with sleep apnoeia). Despite much perusing of the extensive instruction book, I had been unable to access any information. As I told them by phone, all the pages were correctly accessed but the digits were all zeros. I was asked to phone back and someone would talk me through it. So, sitting on my shower stool in the narrow gap between bed and wardrobe, pen poised, I phoned. To add to the difficulty I had been unable to use the machine last night - first time in 3 months - as I kept getting mask fault notice. I gave up at midnight having checked all leads and connections umpteen times. This morning, we found that a side panel was not quite tight - I didn't know that it came off.

So...... the man talked me through it. Same result, a load of zeros. A relief for me and a puzzle for him. He was going to have to refer it to someone higher up the chain.

When I got downstairs, Adrian was waiting for me to assist with setting up blue tooth speakers and connecting a turntable. Enough said. I eventually sent him home.

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