Flat Batteries Day (Tuesday 16th April 2024)

The day nearly didn't happen at all when Archie's battery was discovered to be flat, having not been used since early January, but fortunately my jump starter saved the day. I was delayed leaving by 35 minutes but met up with my brother the Spotlight Kid at the Sheppey Inn on the Somerset Levels in time for an extravagant lunch, a venue we had discovered and enjoyed just over a year earlier.

As before, from there we travelled to RSPB Ham Wall to visit the Avalon Hide. I'd have liked to find out how many steps I'd walked but my smart watch, having been monitoring my sleep patterns overnight, didn't have enough charge and died at the start of the walk, but from Geoff's device it was probably around 6,500 steps. My Nikon P900's battery also conked out, but I was carrying a spare.

Glossy ibises had been spotted there but remained hidden, but we saw great white egrets, gadwalls, garganey, shoveler, great crested grebes, herons, tufted ducks, and so forth, and throughout could hear the distinctive ghetto-blaster bass boom of three or four bitterns, dotted around the reserve.

For Blip I have chosen this image of one of the marsh harriers that we saw. This one was seen hunting from the Avalon Hide (Glastonbury Tor is visible in the background) and I'm told it was a young male.

Surprisingly I don't remember seeing any mute swans at Ham Wall, but I had paused momentarily on the way at the Westhay Moor SWT reserve and seen one swan gracefully grazing on one of the channels there.

My journey home was broken by a visit to C. in Trowbridge and some time spent over cups of tea with Loki nearby.

L.
Wednesday 17.4.2024 (2010 hr)

Blip #4071 (#3821 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #005
Blips/Extras In 2024 #055/266 + #018/100 Extras
Day #5135 (1257 gaps from 26.3.2010)
Lozarithm's Lozarhythm Of The Day #3210 (#3050 + 160 in archived blips)

A Visit To The Somerset Levels, 16 April 2024 (Flickr album of 11 photos)

Taken with Nikon Coolpix P900 (24-2000mm equivalent bridge camera)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Temptations - Ball of confusion (That's what the world is today) (completed 14 April 1970, Hitsville Studio A and Golden World Studio B, Detroit MI)
Temptations: Dennis Edwards (ld ten vcl), Eddie Kendricks (ld ten vcl), Paul Williams (ld bar vcl), Melvin Franklin (ld bass vcl)
with the Funk Brothers featuring Dennis Coffey (ld wah-wah gtr), Bob Babbitt (bass), Jamie Jamieson (stand-up bass) and twin drums
There was an interesting non-stop mix of tunes being played at the Sheppey which we had fun trying to identify. From the opening bass lines by Jamie Jamerson this was obviously the Temptations, one of the great Norman Whitfield productions, but until the vocal came in I was thinking of Papa Was A Rolling Stone, from the same period. I'm still puzzling over some I think I should have known and maybe even have myself.

One year ago:
Chippenham