England #3

I wish Japanese Robins were as common and tame as European ones.





2 very different chuches.........St Marys in Penwortham and the Minster in York.

Well I made it back to Japan. 27 hours door to door involving a lift, 3 flights covering 5 airports, 1 bus and 1 taxi. I didn't get much sleep but at least the long flight this time featured those little entertainment systems (though if the person in front leans back you can't see all the screen). I watched 'I am Legend' which was nothing special and 'No country for old men' which was rather good.

The last few days in England were quiet after the hectic first week. We did make it out to York, ther first time I'd been there since my early 20's. Unlike me the city hasn't changed so much.





Birding was also very lacklustre. The first Swallows of the year and a Great Crested grebe up the river plus lots of singing Chiffchaff were around last Monday and on Wednesday (my last day in England!) I took a short walk up the lane near yards from my parents' house where I started birding all those years ago. I was surprised to see a pair of Nuthatch (I'd never seen any there before) and amazed to see not one but five Common Buzzard.....it even looks like they might be nesting in a small wood nearby too.......

Here are some of the commoner birds on that very same small lane.....







A bit of a wrench to leave England, 2 weeks seemed way too short. I enjoyed the food I have to say and the beer it goes without saying. British food getsa bit of a bad press but it appears to get better every time I go home. Western staples like fresh bread and decent cheese and stuff like ready cooked Indian stuff from the supermarket helped me pile on the pounds sure enough.

The local birds have changed too. Some common birds are scarcer (House Sparrow) or appear to have gone altogether (I didn't see any Linnet for example), are much commoner (Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Mallard, Goldfinch) or have appeared from nowhere (the aforementioned Nuthatch and Buzzard). Avocet and Little Egret are also apparently well established in the northwest, 2 species I would have considered extremely exotic when I lived in the region.

I didn't see much live footie at all..........except The Liverpool v Arsenal game in the Champion's League. Which was certainly worth watching.

Shall I stay up and watch some rather dull Premier League fixtures tonight? Or should I go to bed and sleep off that horendous journey? I'll decide after my last taste of England..........a bottle of Marston's Pedigree I brought back now safely in the fridge......

Some more common birds.........

A wintry view of Onuma this afternoon.






A couple of close-ups of some of the flock of Whooper Swan at Onuma. Every year a small tame flock of about 70 overwinters in a small unfrozen corner of the lake. They are fed by the local council as a matter of fact. Just about the whole lake is frozen now so they are beginning to congregate. My close-ups weren't entirely successful (I think a normal point and shoot camera would have done the job just as well as the 100-400mm) but I have all winter to get it right. There were also lots of Mallards, a few Tufted Ducks, 3 Coot (relatively uncommon in Japan compared to the UK), sveral teal and a lone Goldeneye.









Lots of common birds in the forest. Jay, Siskin and Hawfinch and the usual common Tits and Woodpeckers. I got my first Treecreeper picture.........which wasn't so great actually. The other usual photogenic species compensated.









Not much new around in Hakodate the last couple of days. This was just outside Kamiso this morning. Not a very good picture but an interesting scene of a distant White tailed Eagle being argy-bargied by some of the local crows.



Over the festive period we should be heading up to Yakumo to hopefully get some decent pictures of Eagles (both Stellers and White tailed).

The 'festive period' in Japan is a bit of a joke. They have christmas decorations and carols in the shops but that's as far as it goes. It's not a holiday and there's none of this 'good will to all men' stuff going on here. It's just an excuse for the shops to con a bit of cash from their customers by inventing an artificial 'festival'. Actually put like that it's not so different. At least we have the pretence of it being vaguely spiritual.

They have a big New Year's thing here anyway which is exactly like christmas back home. Meaningless annual visit to the shrine, time spent eating and drinking with family, cards sent to vast legions of acquaintances who you have no other contact with except sending these cards, a week or so off work (a long time in Japan), absolute mindless drivel on TV (even more so than usual), everything closed or over priced............

Just to show the Japanese have no idea of christmas and have just half-arsededly copied it from the west..............they buy Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas day. Turkey is a bird right? KFC is western food isn't it? And they are amazed when I tell them nobody does this in the UK (is KFC even open on the 25th?) and I'm pretty sure nobody does it anywhere except in Japan. The ads are on TV already. Have a Kentucky Christmas.

Here's an interesting article from snopes talking about this kind of stuff. It's pretty funny. I talks about that urban myth (which may actually be true) about the crucified Santa.

I watched an absolute stinker of a movie yesterday. 'Reign of Fire'. A post apocalyptic story (I usually like those). Christian Bale (I think he's a great actor but he must cringe when he watches this). That Scottish actor who always plays sarcastic macho Scotsmen (I forget his name but he was in '300' and 'Timeline'-2 other preposterous movies). Dragons. Crazy American soldiers. Plot holes you could drive a military convoy through. Don't watch it. Trust me on this one.