Brrrr – that is cold!

Mark 7 Comments

By Hans Hillewaert (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Hans Hillewaert (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
This morning I went out for a walk.  I usually do on the Monday before the Cheltenham Festival to get some healthy exercise and to see whether I can see any spring migrants before I disappear to the far side of the Cotswolds for four days of escapism.

But today was so cold. So very cold.  My car told me that it was -2C but with the easterly wind it felt much colder.  The start of my walk was into the teeth of the wind.  The bared and sharpened teeth of the wind.  The icy, biting teeth of the wind.  A wind colder than the indifference to the environment of the ‘greenest government ever’, colder than unkindness from a trusted friend, almost as marrow-chillingly cold as the fear that your children are in danger.  Yes, that cold.

It was ivory gull or Ross’s gull cold, though I couldn’t even find a glaucous or Iceland gull.  It was snow bunting and Lapland bunting cold, and the reed buntings had shut up their dull ditties of songs. It was smew or Barrow’s goldeneye cold although there were not even any goosander but there were some common goldeneyes.

So I chickened out after a while and went to get a cup of coffee and to peruse the Racing Post in the warmth of a cafe.

On the way home, at 10am and in a bit of sunshine, I had a lovely view of a barn owl. A beautiful bird who warmed up my day.  A bird of great memories and a sight to warm the cockles of any heart.

By Edd deane from Swaffham, England (Barn owl) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Edd deane from Swaffham, England (Barn owl) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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7 Replies to “Brrrr – that is cold!”

  1. Mark, better stick to veggie? I suppose you heard about the man who went into a fast food outlet and ordered a burger. The assistant asked what he would like on it and he replied £5 each way.

  2. Here’s a random question about Barnies for you, I was asked by a passer by as I was photographing a Barnie. “Is the Barn Owl an introduced species by the Romans”, my intial answer was NO. But I got thinking what a random question, so started researching it. And I got varied answers from various “experts”, only one said No, 6 said Not Sure but 4 said Yes. One elaborated by saying they were viewed by Romans as being Godly etc and came over in the invasion of the UK (where was UKIP?). Any ideas Mark or anyone else?

    2. Barn Owls were here at least 10,000 years before the Romans. The summary list in Derek Yalden’s The History of British Birds for Barn Owl says ‘Well represented archaeologically with records from Late Glacial caves and numerous Neolithic, Roman and later sites’.

  3. I was quite surprised to see a Barn Owl in San Jose the capital of Costa Rica. It is not something you would expect to see in the tropics. I have subsequently found out that it’s range in the Americas is from Canada down to Tierra del Fuego

    1. I should point out my original answer was no to the question, but oddly out the 4 that said yes to the question 2 were organisations!? other 2 being individuals so it makes you wonder were some get their answers from when the bird in question isn’t an introducded species etc.

  4. I was surprised to see two dead barn owls by the Cirencester – Birdlip road at Daglingworth today. Never seen that before – they stood out among the pheasants and badgers

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