Well, on Wednesday when I wrote up my last blog posting it was raining hard and as I write up this one its raining hard again. OK, we've had a couple of half decent days in between but in reality this February must go down as a pretty rubbish month.
Talking of the last posting, which took me some considerable time to write up, I received one comment on that, which if comments are the measure of how well received or interesting a blog is, must mean that I'm posting the wrong stuff.
Perhaps I should only be making sugary nature postings with pretty wildlife pictures that get people ooh-arring all the time, but I can't be that consistently false as some blogs are - guess if I'm to be true to myself I'll have to carry on as I am, even if I'm only writing to myself.
"I've heard you say many times
that you're better 'n no one
and no one is better 'n you
if you really believe that
you know you got
nothing to win and nothing to lose"...........To Ramona - Bob Dylan
Driving back along the Harty Road yesterday I came across a guy in a van from Kent Highways who was marking each pothole with a paint can, for future filling in by his team - he would need hundreds of spray cans to mark every pothole along there, the road is so bad. He also advised that as well as pothole repairing, long stretches of the road will be properly re-surfaced this summer. A much welcomed event but a total waste of time, as he agreed, given the size of the farm vehicles that use the road and affectively damage it so badly. It is after all, only a soft-based cart track totally unsuitable for the vehicles that now use it - perhaps if the farmers were made to help pay for the repairs we might get somewhere.
Whilst on the reserve yesterday I managed to have a chat with one of the guys who is leasing the new duck shooting ponds on the farm side of the reserve boundary. I have reported on these ponds in previous postings and was not at all happy at their being sited there last summer. We had a lengthy and amiable chat about all things shooting and I have to say that I was both impressed with his attitude and future intentions. Let's face it, the ponds are there now and will be shot, regardless what we on the reserve think, so much better that we stay friendly and obtain the best options for both sides. Apparently his syndicate will shoot the ponds in a limited and controlled manner with low bird bags per shoot and shooting will not take place in adverse weather. All in all, a far better outcome than causing aggravation that will see excess birds being shot out of revenge.
Also whilst out there yesterday I noticed that one of the neighbouring farms has commenced pest control measures, i.e. they were shooting Wood Pigeons and Carrion Crows. Both will be shot for the next month in order to reduce their numbers to a less damaging level, certainly a flock of 130+ crows wandering the reserve at the start of the breeding season is something that is not desirable.
I hear on the grape-line that Bob Gomes at Dungeness RSPB reserve is set to retire. I got to know Bob while he was managing Elmley RSPB and always found him to be an excellent and friendly person and if the rumours are true then I wish him a successful retirement.
Hi Derek, It does sound like the farmers should bear some responsibility for the upkeep of the road.
ReplyDeleteI for one read your previous post but as aviation is something I know absolutely nothing about I didn't feel qualified to make any constructive and informed comments although I did enjoy seeing the old photos and particularly liked the one of the people sitting on the hillside.
As for your comment about 'sugary nature postings with pretty wildlife pictures that get people ooh-arring all the time', some blogs are specifically intended to be about Nature sightings and nothing else and if they are perceived by some readers as 'sugary' surely that must be a fault in the reader rather than the author. I'm sure that some people are put off my own blog by my inclusion of poetry and quotes and for that reason I have been very touched by the fact that the seasoned 'birders' and well informed Nature lovers who visit and comment on my blog and who I am sure have no interest whatsoever in poetry, see past that and recognise the one thing we have in common...a deep love of Nature. I don't think that makes any of us 'sugary' and I definitely can't see how it makes us false!
Jan,
ReplyDeleteThat comment was not an opinion of your blog, which I have always admired, but there are others that I feel are more about pleasing a particular audience than being constructive in what they say. Entirely up to them and their audience but not my cup of tea.
Here here Songbird!!! :-)
ReplyDelete( thats 2 comments on this post already Derek :-)
Oh dear, a lesson I've now learnt from yesterday, don't have too many drinks prior to the England/France rugby match and while you're waiting for it to start, go on your PC and write whinging, rambling crap.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to get that sort of thing out of your system in order to watch the game, Derek ! - imagine what you might have put after the game & a few more drinks!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are plenty of regular readers like me here who are always entertained and interested but usually remain silent on the comments. Personally I love the history posts as much as the reserve ones. Keep 'em coming is what I say!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike, common sense tells me that, I just had a "woe is me" moment fuelled by some excellent Rioja. Sometimes what you think is not what you should speak.
ReplyDelete