May 2023:Quickfire A to Z of anything/everything

[NewcastleFalcon]

Yes indeed it is G-Day

...and this is one of the finest of the many bits of superb Pub Sign Art by Peter J Oldreive, and it features bold and colourful our Bird of the Day. I'll wager that no-one will see one today, they are not common but not unknown to feature in town parks and gardens as well as broadleaved woodland. There are some hereabouts but a very infrequent sight. Kingfisher-esque in that respect, but always a joy to spot.

The old name for them is the Yaffle, relating to its distinctive voice, that's if you are tuned in to what it sounds like.

G-day bird of the day the Green Woodpecker. Tell you what wonder if it still appears on bottles of cider...apart from this very post on the FCF, maybe the most likely place of spotting one!

Sign Artist: Peter J Oldreive by Ray Scarfe, on Flickr

Neil

[myglaren]

G'day to you too.

[mickthemaverick]

As it happens Neil we have a pair of them which occasionally visit the bird banquet which SWMBO maintains in the garden. I'll see if I can get a picture the next time one of them appears. Our daily visitors consist of Starlings, Robins, Blue Tits, Dunnets, Sparrows, Jackdaws, Magpies, a pair of Doves, Rooks and the obligatory Pigeons.
The occasional visits spotted are Blackbirds, Thrushes, Woodpeckers, both Green and Lesser Spotted, Green Finches, Bull Finches, Yellow Wagtails, Grey Wagtails, Sparrow Hawk.
In additional the Red Kites circle above and we get annual visits from Redstarts.

If I spot any of the Gs today I'll post them up!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Lets hope your pair of Green Woodpeckers are familiar with the FCF spooky and make a special appearance on today of all days

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

We are off to Benenden again this afternoon for SWMBO's discharge assessment so they need to drop in this morning if they are going to!! Don't hold your breath!!

[Gibbo2286]

At my last place I used lie in bed and watch them pecking away at the oak tree in the garden.

[Gibbo2286]

Yesterday's G for me would have been 'Good grief!' at the hailstones burying my newly planted seedlings two inches deep in ice.

[myglaren]

Yesterday's G for me would have been 'Good grief!' at the hailstones burying my newly planted seedlings two inches deep in ice.

Mine is just Grrrrrr at the slugs eating them all. Nothing seems safe from them.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Surely there will be some more entries coming in for G-day. In the meantime, here's another one from me.

Today produced one of the most memorable "G's" I have managed to photograph/video. Not that the actual photography/video was any great shakes, but the event was recorded. The animals are elusive and a rare sight, preferring the most isolated of environments and you rarely see them, and few people do.

the Northumberland Feral Goat.

Falcon Original 10/05/2023 Whitelee Moor
Carter Bar-ish
Video Screenshot
There were two adult females and four kids.

Falcon Original
the One Camera Photo I took
Reckoned the video was the better option to capture the scene

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Great Spotted Woodpecker

morceau de gateau

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

G is for Grub, and this is my sort of menu:

Own work

Find out where here!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Time for the thread to live up to its name and speed up a bit.

It involves a simple but hopefully enjoyable task of posting a few characteristically random contributions with a connection however loose it may be with the "Letter of the Day"

Today is H-day. Here is my "start the ball-rolling" contribution....and oo-er, apologies, its words not pictures...

From the Journals of "Triple H", Bishop of Durham Herbert Hensley Henson's comprehensive journals from the early 20th Century. On this Day

Monday, May 11th, 1931.

Charles & I motored to Hartlepool, where I celebrated the Holy Communion at 11 a.m. in S. Hilda's and addressed the clergy of the Rural Deanery. There were about 25 of them present. We returned to Auckland (castle) after the service.

Mr Bainbridge, the bank manager, brought me some yellow forms to sign, and I wrote a cheque for £ 400 for ‘National Savings Certificate'. In six years time, this will bring me £ 500.

Then I had a brief and painful interview with a bibulously minded curate. "Do you think I look that I like drinking?" he asked indignantly: to which I replied, "Well, since you ask me: "I cannot honestly say that your countenance provides a final disproof of the suggestion." He was a heavy, fat fellow, with a rather bloated face, decorated with pimples!!

Then I shifted books to fill the bookcase which Ella gave me "as my birthday present", sending me the bill from the shop! Also, I wrote letters, & had an interview with the doctor. Thus was another day frittered away, mostly in futilities, & my mass of work is still unattempted!

Yes nice conclusion Triple "H", and thus the FCF congregation are invited to do likewise on this May 11th 2023, and contribute to the thread!

Neil

[myglaren]

[NewcastleFalcon]

May 1st 2014 saw the Launch of the I Spy Citroen H vans thread on the FCF.

with this post...

viewtopic.php?p=407180#p407180

Now then, anyone who was a child in the 1950's or 1960's will well remember Big Chief I-Spy and those little books which sold in their hundreds of thousands. There was even a bit of a revival when Michelin started churning them out when my girls were growing up. I think the I spy Classic Cars actually has a Morris Marina in it now! (edit-not quite but it does have a Ford Sierra/ Austin Maxi and Austin Allegro in it )

If you fancy joining in this thread is "I-Spy Citroen H Vans" Claim your own 50 points

So I am claiming 50 points for an unusual spot



This is Dumbo, the Soup Van of the "Union of Genius" Soup Café , Forest Road, Edinburgh.

Read the review of the black pudding, chorizo, butterbeans and tomato soup

odhu ntingo

NewcastleFalcon

Neil

[MattBLancs]

Think I did post this picture of "a fake H" previously

Own work, van on Southport pier