Frozen Brooks

Fallow Deer

Frozen bog

Winter sunlight

Snipe - from a hide

Today was apparently World Wetland Day and the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks offered free entrance, with volunteer experts on hand to answer questions. Alas, it was literally freezing and while there did seem to be quite a number of visitors, all but the geeky, 'scope-bedecked, beardy few were squeezed into the warm-looking cafe.




We were made of sterner stuff however and although barely able to move owing to the large number of layers of clothing, we set off past the frozen brooks and ponds on what was a gloriously sunny day with a crystal clear winter light and not a cloud in the sky. One or two birds had elected to stay behind too, although many had clearly headed towards the warmer coast where the water hadn't become so inhospitably hard.

A warmer corner out of the icy wind

There was a merry throng of bluetits, great tits and sparrows around the feeders, where we also saw chaffinch, coal tit and pied wagtail. Later, in some chilly hides and over our icy picnic, we saw Canada, greylag and a few whitefronted geese, dunlin, black-tailed godwit and a number of snipe. Occasionally, risking frostbitten flippers, a big group of wigeon took to the water amongst whom were also the odd mallard and shelduck.

On the return stroll we came across a female kestrel sharing a fence with a green woodpecker and back outside the entrance we saw a low pass by a beautiful buzzard.

Crossbill country

Before heading home we ventured into the common area and found one of the things we had come for: crossbills. The tops of the conifers were quite busy with finches, in particular goldfinches but we also saw both male and female crossbills amongst them and the chaffinches and greenfinches. The final birds of the day arrived in a large flock as we returned to the car: redwings.

Deer and Duck

As well as birds there were a few mammals in evidence: a large herd of fallow deer was quite close to the hides at times, a water vole could be seen from the viewing window at the entrance and a few highland cattle with impressive handlebars were also to be seen.

Nice Handlebars

A beautiful day and one to lift the heart in the depths of winter - but, by jingo, that wind was c-cold.

Icy water, wigeon and waders

Minecinebinge

Image via WikipediaI only managed two films yesterday: The Grey and J. Edgar. It was such a freezing cold day that I wanted to get the journey overwith and did not stay for a third film despite there  being more I would like to see.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

The Grey was rather a foolish choice for a cold day given that it takes place in the Alaskan wilderness surrounded by snow and ice in blizzards and frozen rivers.

Based on a short story by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers called Ghost Walker and also co-scripted by him, it stars Liam Neeson as a lost man in a community of lost human beings. One might say he starts the film suicidal and goes down from there.




Clearly no-one in their right mind would live in this hellish place although given that it is some kind of oilfield perhaps the money is very good. Liam though is there because it was that or the Foreign Legion. His great love has left his life and he no longer cares much about anything. By profession he is a killer of wolves, keeping them away from the oil workers. After the howl of one of these creatures distracts him from putting his rifle to another use we then join him and more of this misfit brotherhood on a 'plane out to Anchorage albeit in conditions that would shut down Heathrow in a minute.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The 'plane goes down in the middle of nowhere and the film begins proper with the small group of survivors having angered a pack of wolves simply by being in their territory. Just surviving the cold and lack of food would have been bad enough probably but the film becomes just about which of the two packs is going to whittle away the other to nothing. It is clear that that is what the humans become - a rival pack and just as the wolves see an unsuccessful challenge to their alpha male so the humans have a similar confrontation with Otway (Neeson), who has become more and more wolf-like, as the successful alpha of the human pack.

The harrowing constant jeopardy and the photography of the wolves and weather (by Misanobu Takayanagi) is very well done and if it had been the kind of film I really wanted to see I'm sure I would rate it higher. I quickly realised that I'd have liked something less cold and cheerless on the day though and felt a bit cheated by the ending too. [Later edit] I have warmed (ha) to this film a little since and in considering the various possibilities for the ending I am now rather in favour of the way it was done. I have also now heard the theory that Ottway actually DOES commit suicide at the beginning, meaning that the rest of the film is some kind of struggle for his soul to find rest I suppose. I quite like this theory but I'm not terribly convinced.

J. Edgar is of course a biopic of one of the towering figures of 20th century American history - John Edgar Hoover.

I am a big fan of Clint Eastwood's directorial work but I must say that, while there is much that is impressive, this isn't my favourite of his work. Leonardo di Caprio plays Hoover and I find it increasingly hard to believe that I used to dismiss him as a lightweight who had lucked into the big time. Once again he does a laudable job, as he plays the complex and rather unpleasant Hoover at all stages of his life, at times of necessity from behind a mask of make up and prosthetics.

While it is a fascinating insight into the ugly face of U.S. politics and paranoia it doesn't really come down on either side of the fence in its attempt to show the various facets of Hoover's character. It fails to make him either entirely a monster though you would not want to make an enemy of the spider in his web of surveilance and secret files or a wholly sympathetic human being. In some ways the film is a love story and at times the relationship between Hoover and his deputy Clyde Tolson (well-played by Arnie Hammer) is touchingly portrayed as is the relationship between Hoover and his Personal Assistant.

 Image via Wikipedia

There is only a fleeting reference to Hoover's alleged cross-dressing fetish but we do see quite a bit of his overpowering relationship with his mother (strangely, yet somehow inevitably, played by the old lady's old lady: Dame Judy).

Along the way we meet all kinds of other quickly sketched in characters from Ginger Rogers to Richard Nixon via Shirley Temple. In the end, though I found it engrossing and interesting, it suffers from trying to be objective and, for me, from being about a thoroughly unpleasant man we are probably better off without. Perhaps like the recent Iron Lady it will just have to do until the proper biopic comes out.

Belgian Steam

Back to Tuesday games this week as Crabro had got rid of his cold. Not surprisingly, given how much he likes this game and railway games in general, he arrived with a box full of extra maps for Steam.

We quickly decided to play the intriguing looking Belgium two-player map and absorbed the few extra rules with no trouble (we thought).

To my utter surprise I found myself the winner, which is probably the first time I've beaten Crabro at this kind of game and just to prove it was not a fluke, after lunch I did it again. My pleasure at this was only slightly mitigated by finding out that we had in fact unintentionally ignored one of the rules. Hard to say how much this would have affected the result since both of us were making the same mistake but anyway I'm happy to have even been competitive.

These games having been surprisingly quick to finish we looked for something to finish the day that we could get into fairly fast. Alhambra fitted the bill as we both knew the rules and enjoy the game. 

Despite Crabro's seemingly useful strategy of building a large flexible hand of money cards and then going on a multi-buy spending spree, I eventually also won this with a fairly balanced Alhambra and longish wall. Crabro finished third behind "Dirk", the dummy player used to balance two-player games. I'm not sure where Crabro went wrong but he claims that, despite really liking Alhambra, he has never won a game, so at least he is consistent.

London Wetland

Unusually there was Sunday birdwatching this week as I was very kindly taken, by my birding mentor and his family, to the London Wetland Centre.

This was a day full of delights from start to finish with the sight and sound of the Ring-Necked Parakeet to start with and beautiful views of all kinds of birds both captive and wild from an assortment of well-designed hides and viewing areas including one, unusually several stories high.

As well as enjoying unusually close views of some of my favourite ducks, geese and herons I also saw my first Water Rail of the year, my second Snipe and many other things from Egyptian Geese and American Black Ducks to Foxes and a sadly now rare Water Vole. There were smaller birds competing with the fat Grey Squirrels and the pushy Parakeets around the feeders and these included Stonechat and Long-tailed Tits in addition to the usual Bluetit, Great Tit, Robin etc.

I was able eat my lunch (of rather splendid cold roast beef and horseradish jam sandwiches, fruit and tea) while watching Little Grebes just in front of me having their own meal of rather stubborn sticklebacks.

The venue has been cleverly constructed to give natural views of genuinely wild birds along with artificial versions of various types of habitat with an idea of the type of wildlife to be expected there. In addition there is a very useful shop for birding books, binoculars and 'scopes unfortunately a bit out of my league, and a warm indoor observation area complete with 'scopes available for the use of anybody.

It was a splendid way to spend a Sunday and I'm still enjoying it as I run over the sights and sounds in my mind today.

Dunge revisited

On Friday I was taken for another visit to the Dungeness area for some birding. It was a beautiful day and a very pleasant stroll round to the various hides. It was however fairly empty as far as the birds were concerned.

We stopped off at the gravel pit to start with and then headed down to the beach in search of the Glaucous Gull. Although we were not certain for a while, it did become clear that none of the assembled gulls were the bird in question. There was a Caspian Gull about we were told, but even my birding mentor was not confident he would be able to identify it if we saw it.

On the beach itself it was fishing day and the long line of men fishing off the beach was clearly deterring any birds from staying on the shoreline. Further out to sea there were some Auks and Guillemots about as well as Kittiwakes and a Grebe.

There's a Snipe at the base of the reeds...

We headed back to the entrance and round the reserves many hides, having our lunch on the way and were rewarded with some very nice views of Marsh Harriers hunting low over the reed-beds and a mid-air disagreement between a Green Woodpecker and a Peregrine. The falcon soon resumed its hunt and the Woodpecker its undulating flight with neither the worst for their argument.

During the course of the afternoon we also came across a very well camouflage Snipe resting at the foot of some reeds almost invisible until he turned his head and long beak. I was happy to see my first Smew, or at least the first that I am aware of and some nice views of other ducks, geese and swans which I much enjoyed for all their lack of rarity.

As we departed we had a brief view of a white bird by the water. Was it just another Little Egret or was it the Great White Egret? Unfortunately, I was the only one who saw it standing relatively clear and I'm pretty convinced. My birding mentor only glimpsed it as it was obscured by reeds and the bank of the pond. In my mind I see a heron-like stance and size and a flash of a yellow beak. No ticks for probables though.

Tutti Frutti From The Terrace

Image via WikipediaFriday film night unexpectedly took place despite Arthur's car "Gladstone" being a bit poorly. This week we continued the Paul Newman season together with another episode of the comedy drama Tutti Frutti.

I was surprised but highly delighted when the doorbell rang and I found Arthur standing outside clutchin two bottles of beer, a large pork pie and a handful of Paul Newman's early work. The delight was not misplaced as it proved to be a top film night in every respect. The antics of Clocherty, McGlone, Kettles and co had not lost any of their charm and put us in a very good mood as we broke out the pie and the pint glasses were issued. The usual SPOILER WARNING should appear here I suppose.
From the Terrace (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)


The Newman film this week was something of a soapy drama on an epic scale. From the Terrace is big in every way, as it is 149 minutes of De Luxe color, Cinemascope and overheated husbands and wives.

Relishable scenes of confrontation between Newman and his real life wife Joanne Woodward ensue as Newman pursues his career goals at the cost of his marriage, only to find redemption at the last. He is on the brink of achieving his goal and being given a partnership in the firm to which he has dedicated so much of his time, only to realise that the love of a good women is more important.

Cracking stuff from 1960 with a hint of the luridly-covered paperbacks of the era and a whiff of Peyton Place.

Plus or Minus by Fair Means or Foul

Thursday games began with three player Uptown, a little tile placement game. When the others (Petra Pan and mrwendell) arrived they requested a game that either we already knew or was light and easy to learn because it had been a long hard day at the coalface and synapses were frazzled.






After a bit of a discussion in the hobbies room and some exploration of the games shelves Crabro and I emerged with an twenty year old Klaus Teuber "race" game which has been published under various names such as Hoity Toity and Adel Verplichtet, my own copy being the Gibsons-published Fair Means or Foul.

At first glance this is more complicated than it looks but each turn breaks down into the choice of a card in each of two phases. The intermediate object is to build collections to exhibit in various stately homes but the overall object is simply moving round the track. Light but enjoyable, it passed quickly enough that we had to look for a third light game to finish the evening. I suggested to Crabro we might try Plus and Minus again while it was fresh in our minds.

This worked fine even though the venerable game is a symphony of browns and pastel colours muted by the fading of time. Clearly it was old but still fun. Petra Pan, the youngest of our merry band thought it was so old that it might date from...the seventies! At this point I felt particularly old, as the 1970s were arguably the Rooftrouser heyday when I was a schoolboy then a student, with all that implies. I couldn't, however, remember the games at that time being particularly brown or wooden. In fact we were mostly playing Risk, Diplomacy, Speed Circuit and Kingmaker at the time. As I think I've mentioned before I do not know how old Plus and Minus is but I suspect it is from the 1930s or 1940s although it would not look out of place a decade or two earlier still.

 A not too taxing evening of light, fun games but as to the results I think I will say that the younger elements were on form and draw a veil over my own performance.