Tuesday 2 January 2018

The Greater Spotted Apple Bird.



Lady M: Cro, come quickly, there's a strange looking bird in the Bramley tree.

Cro: Where?

Lady M: There, on the middle of that branch; it's sort of pale reddish brown.

Cro: That's not a bird.

Lady M: Of course it is, I just saw it fly in and land.

Cro: You're bonkers.

Lady M: Have a look through the binoculars.

Cro: No, I'm too busy.

Lady M: I think it could be a baby Hoopoe; it's chest is cinnamon colour.

Cro: It's just an old apple.

Lady M: Old apples don't fly.

Cro: Yours do.

Lady M: Come and have a look with the binoculars.

Cro: Come outside, and I'll show you.

Lady M: You'll disturb it.

Cro: Old apples don't get 'disturbed'.

Lady M: Walk quietly.... let's see how close we can get to it..... Oh, OK; it is an old apple; I did think it might have been!

Cro: Yeah, sure.



34 comments:

  1. Ah! The problems of identification.... my wife was certain that a Brambling visiting the feeders was a Hawfinch... despite the fact the Brambling was with identically sized Chaffinches and lacked the huge beak and bully-boy look.
    And I keep catching sight of the Greater Ashflapper, a bunch of ash keys reluctant to fall.... the keys move enough to seem like a perched bird.... and catch the light differently during the day.
    In our old walnut, made stag-headed by the 2012 freeze, we had until fairly recently.... the Woodentop Finch... perfectly shaped when viewed from the lounge windows. But, we no longer can use it as an indicator species... the branch, of which it was part, came down to earth with a thump during a recent blow.
    Until then we could say the bird we were looking at was to the left/right/above/below/near, etc... Woodentop.
    But he again used to catch the eye and make either of us lift our binos to check...
    so I’m with your good Lady M on this one... it still has wings that flap!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Personally I blame her contact lenses. Leaves become Parrots, sleeping Horses are always 'deceased', and (on one occasion) even the top of a gas bottle became a Rat. Any advice about what to do with such a woman would be carefully considered!

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  2. Maybe it's the full moon. It was up in the west this morning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was almost like daylight here last night.

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  3. I'm pretty sure I saw one of those birds last year, they are quite rare. I grieved over a dead cardboard box at the side of the road recently.

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    Replies
    1. I hope you gave it a decent Christian burial. Cardboard boxes have souls too!

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  4. Maybe some glasses might help. But she did see it fly!!!

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  5. I am with you Lady M. Don't take any notice of him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew she'd have some crazy supporters somewhere!

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  6. We have a bird on a wire that I think is something to do with the telephones. It's not Orange.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the Greater Spotted Wiretap; they're listening to you!

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  7. Good to hear you are right about some things occasionally.

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    Replies
    1. If 'occasionally' means 99.9% of the time; then you are spot on.

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  8. This made me chuckle because it sounds familiar; I'm certain of something but ever so often it turns out I'm wrong! :)
    Greetings Maria x

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    Replies
    1. I think we're all the same Maria; this time it just happened to be Lady M.

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  9. This is a true story. One slightly misty day we were on top of a hill overlooking Bath when I spotted a huge bird on top of the spire of a church, and pointed it out to H.I. She looked at me to see if I was serious. It was the weather cock.

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    Replies
    1. A perfectly reasonable mistake; especially if viewed from the Beer Garden at 'The Horse and Bucket'.

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  10. Arhhh the crap conversations of the long term married

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  11. Haha! Cro was right for once....mark down the date, Lady M!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Life wouldn't be worth living if I wasn't right occasionally.

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  12. I am sure that you got some satisfaction from being right. I know (from experience) that my Retired Man would have. On the other hand, this is something that you two can laugh at.

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    Replies
    1. ALWAYS being right can become tedious, but otherwise....

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  13. I think Lady M was right .... it had just flown away and there just happened to be an old apple in the same place ! XXXX

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    Replies
    1. If SHE had said that, I might have believed her!

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  14. For the past fortnight I have been thinking there were blue tits in a tree in my back garden. Today it is windy and I realise that the 'blue tit' is actually a bit of plastic.

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  15. Lady M was using creative license. Nothing wrong with that.

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    Replies
    1. And my life would be so much duller, if she didn't.

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  16. Apples are so easily mistaken for birds. It's well known.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup. It's that exact same shape that confuses.

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  17. Oh dear...we've all been there....a new pair of specs/contact lenses soon?

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  18. Very nice your blog and article. I like this blog thank for sharing.

    soy'vvow]oN

    ReplyDelete

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