Another Sunrise

The rains of yesterday subsided and it cleared up overnight. This morning we were greeted by a thick blanket of mist. I took this photo at 8am this morning. Since then the mist has now cleared and we have a lovely sunny day.

Cows

Not exactly the most likely things to see flying, but following yesterdays reference to the moon, who knows! Besides which there is actually a case of a cow flying, vertically, at least (although I think I am using some poetic licence by using the term "flying"...falling would be more appropriate!). This happened some years back when one fell out the back of a Russian cargo aircraft flying accross the Pacific...apparently the cargo door somehow came unlocked and during a period of air turbulence a prize bull literally fell out the aircraft! Allegedly the said bull hit and sunk a ship, although I am not sure how much truth there is to that....it does seem rather unlikely....mind you a bull falling from 30,000 ft is pretty unlikely too! Anyway here are some with their feet definitely on the ground which have just moved in to the field at the back of our house. You can also see that the fine weather has finally broken....a very damp and dismal day today.

The Moon

With partly clear skies last night and a full moon, it was time to experiment with camera and tripod again. Here are a couple of photo's I managed before the moon became obscured.

Bathtime

Activity at the bird bath this morning. Here we have a bunch of Sparrows stopping off for a wash and brush-up this morning. Then it was a case of basking in the morning sunshine to dry off.

Nuthatch

Like the Great Spotted Woodpecker, the Nuthatch was another regular Spring visitor to our peanut feeders. Recent appearances have been rare, but I managed this photo the other day, and actually captured the subject the right way up. I say that since normally they are upside down when seen on the feeder!

BAe Bribery Claims

It seems that the SFO are going to keep their teeth well and truly sunk into BAe Systems. Just when it had all calmed down after the much publicised Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, now BAe are accused of bribery to secure deals in South Africa, Tanzania, Czech Republic and Romania.

When is someone going to wake up to the fact that if you deal with the authorities in such countries, somewhere along the line, the wheels will need to be oiled. Just because we have a cleancut approach (supposedly) to such contracts, why do we expect other countries, particular in Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe, to do the same? On the contrary, to merely do business in some of these countries requires a middle man, who will not only want his share, but will also need to offer financial encouragement to the decision maker (or the person who has the necessary influence on the decision process) to come a favourable agreement with the company who is bidding for the business. We are naive if we really believe that contracts can be won in these places by simply offering the most competive deal. In fact having dealt in 2 of the aforementioned countries I can totally support BAe's position.

Now the question I suppose is, that being the case, should BAe simply not bother? Well I hate to say it but if they don't the contracts will be awarded to those organisations who make the necessary effort to secure the deals. So, the end result would inevitably be that BAe (and hence the UK) loose out on multi million pound contracts, which in turn results in laying off staff, and so it goes on...and the questions then get asked, why did BAe loose out to say Lockheed Martin, or Boeing, etc etc? I think the powers that be and the SFO need a serious dose of reality....after all this is how business is done in these countries!

Another Sunset

The sky cleared in the early evening today and we were treated to a spectacular sunset...so it was time for some more photos!

Raindrops

The other morning we actually saw our first rain for a couple of weeks. Being a just a light drizzle and virtually no wind, I managed to take this photo of our Sweet Peas through the conservatory window (didn't want to get wet!). The water droplets look almost glued to the stems.

Whats flying over your head: 2

Just following on from my previous comments, yesterday saw a few "participants" flying over for the G20 Summit in Pittsburg. These included Czech and Italian Government Airbus A319CJ (corporate jet conversions of the standard twin engined A319 passenger aircraft) and a German Government Airbus A310 widebody aircraft. Now with so called "Green" issues on the agenda, and being ever concious of ones carbon-footprint one wonders if these people should have travelled by more regular means? Not that it bothers me, on the contrary, it mean't I got to see a few aircraft that are far from regular in the airports of the UK. But it is a little hypocritical to jump up and down and insist the Chinese (as an example) reduce their emmissions when a President/Prime Minister has flown 4,000 miles to the meeting in his or her own private airliner!

Yesterday also saw a reappearance of N54PA, the Learjet I mentioned. This time it was heading eastbound after making a refueling stop in Shannon. I wonder where its next stop was?

The images above show a Lufthansa Airbus A340 (left) and Delta Air Lines Boeing 767, both heading westbound towards the US or Canada.

Sunset

I do like to take photo's at sunset. The colours always seem that much more richer and vibrant than at sunrise. And generally I am awake when the sun sets, but not necessarily when it rises, particularly during the Summer months! So here are a couple of photo's I have taken recently.

Autumn Morning

Its now officially Autumn, and to set the scene, we were surrounded by a low carpet of mist this morning. It was cold too, just under 5 degrees. This was the view looking to the north west just after 7 this morning.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Certainly one of the most colourful visitors to the peanut feeders, more active during the Spring than now, but even so, they still show up from time to time. We have seen both male and female as well as fledglings (see photo below) this year.

So whats flying over your head?

I doubt many people realise how many aircraft are passing over or near their houses particularly when they are no where near an airport. Arguably few people probably want to know, but I'm going to give you an insight anyway! Typically where I live, which is close to several busy airways, if the weather is clear you could easily see 200-300 aircraft in a day. These are not noisy or obtrusive, on the contrary many people would not even notice them, but there again my interests are perhaps different to many! Most of these aircraft are flying between North America and Europe and between the UK, mainland Europe and Ireland. Amongst the usual transatlantic airliners are more interesting offerings, such as US military transports (5 to 10 per day is normal), civil operated aircraft on trooping flights (10-20 per day), private jets (anything from 20-40 per day), which on Sunday included this Bombardier Global Express, owned by a South African company. This is one of the largest private jets (the size of a smallish airliner), easily capable of flying from London to Tokyo non-stop.

There are also supposedly "clandestine" flights one of which is a certain Learjet (a mid size 6 seat executive jet), registered in the US as N54PA (see photo below), which has been allegedly used on rendition flights. This aircraft continues to operate with some regularity (I have seen it overflying twice this year) despite claims in the press of its association with such activities. A quick internet search on this aircraft will show it turning up all over the world, with sightings as diverse as Guantanamo Bay, Shannon, Peking, Ponta Delgada, Thule (Greenland) to name but a few.

Blue Tit

Well this fellow needs no introduction. We have been supporting numerous families of these cheeky little birds for the last two years. I have counted 6 of them on the feeder on more than one occassion with more waiting their turn in the neighbouring shrubs. They are certainly the most frequent visitors to our peanut feeders, and together with Great Tits and the less common Coal Tit's collectively they can typically get through a feeders worth of peanuts in 4 or 5 days!

Meadow Brown

One of the most common butterflies in our neck of the woods albeit less noticeable than those I've previously mentioned. These have been active all Summer and should continue to be seen throughout September, particularly if the fine weather continues. They are amongst the easiest to photograph largely because they appear to be more lethargic, spending less time on the wing than other varieties.