Greenham Common Fire Plane

Decided to get up early (well for a bank holiday) and get out before the weather got any worse. We headed off to Greenham Common again to do some more exploring. Hardly any dog walkers around this morning and the ponies and cattle seemed to be taking shelter from the cold wind with just a hint of drizzle.

We went in search of this Fire Plane - one of the few structures left (apart from the huge silos) from the US airbase time. The plane was used to train fire crews. Apparently they used to put kerosine in the pool surrounding the plane and light it to give extra authenticity. The fence surrounding it has lots of holes in it and it looks as if kids have been inside the plane. We saw an unusual yellow/green bird drinking from the edge of the pool - husband managed to find it with the binoculars and was confused as it looked like a parrot! We are now wondering if it was a crossbill - it looks as if they do turn up round the common. Unfortunately it did not hang around so we didn't get chance to have a good look.

Nearly all the pools that were around earlier in the year (January) have now dried up. While we were looking round the edge of one of the remaining ponds, we saw a kestel being mobbed by a large black and white bird. We think there were nesting Lapwings in some of the gravelly areas around the ponds (cordoned off by the wildlife reserve rangers). We saw the birds very well with their long crests and greeny black plumage. They saw off some crows too while we watched. I took some pictures of one of the Lapwings but they were still a long way off.

Half watching the football while I write this - local club Reading were 3:0 down when I started and are now 3:2. Don't really follow the Royals but it is a big chance for the team to get back to the premier league. We saw lots of supporters on their way to Wembley as we headed out to Greenham this morning. Downside to a Reading win would be traffic gridlock on match days again.....