Tuesday 30 November 2010

Before the snow.

Good grief! It's been nearly a week since I posted something so I thought I'd better put a blog in before they scramble the air sea rescue of find me or give my job to somebody else. It's been a quiet time off, which on a national basis can be divided up into time of before the snow and time off after the snow and on a personal basis, time off before I hurt my back hoovering and time off after I hurt my back hoovering. A week last Sunday, I went for a wee walk along the coast to the lifeboat station.


The island in the middle of the above picture is Ross Island. Below it is a little bigger by the magic of technology. The lighthouse was first lit up in 1843 and is designed by Thomas Stevenson of the famous lighthouse building Stevenson family and incidentally his son Bob wrote Treasure Island and a host of other goodies you might have heard off. Lord Kelvin, he of the very cold temperatures, said it was one of the 3 best revolving lighthouses in the world. I'm sure most of the locals don't know that but they have no bother telling you that in 1960 one of the lighthouse keepers on Ross Island Murdered the other one - suspects 1, alibi poor.


A herd of lapwings I think. (and probably an oyster catcher wandering about in the top of the picture)


There would seem to be some argument as to whether the pheasant was introduced by the Romans or later on, either way it's here. Actually it was almost extinct from most areas of the country by the 17th century and is only common now because they have been reared by gamekeepers since sometime in the 1830s to take advantage of the birds disposition to leap out of hedges shouting, "Here I am!! Here I am!!" during the shooting season. In certain areas they seem to be everywhere and are certainly the most likely cause of orange feathers in your cars radiator grill.


You can get them in this rather fetching darker colour scheme too.


Since the last time I wandered out this was, somebodies grand design has spring up.


It might look like it's made from three big paint tins from the back but round the front it's all window. I should imagine that it's a lovely place to sit with your pre dinner G&T, admiring the sunset over Kirkcudbright Bay.


We all like to help our feathered friends in winter, but as payback we tend to put our feeders outside our kitchen windows so we can admire the dinners and feel a little smug about doing our bit without having to leave our central heating. Some kind person has put this well stocked bird town on a tree by the shore, a good 100 yards from the nearest house.


Concrete, boxy and absolutely practical - The RNLI collect money to fish folk out the water and not to put up architectural wonders - that such an essential service is can be run as a charity and with volunteers is much credit to all involved.



A last look over the bay before wandering off home.

10 comments:

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

It would bother me trying to get right-angled furniture to fit and look correct in a round home. A lot of waste in carpeting too. For the life of me I cannot come up with one good point of living in a round home. There must be at least one. I liked the history on Ross island and the sunset photo. Good post.

Becky said...

I enjoyed reading your post very much. The view must be amazing from the glass side of the paint cans.

Tommy said...

I'm a feeder out of the window man myself. I like to get value for peanuts.

I enjoyed the views very much.

Crafty Green Poet said...

this is a very entertaining and informative post. i like your comments about pheasants, not the brightest birds and eomewhat reluctant to fly which makes them ideal targets for hunters

Sandy's witterings said...

Thank you for your comments - it makes posting worth while. Keep warm and wrapped up out their.
Becky and Sinbad and you - perhaps in Califonia and Florida there's not quite the need for wrapping up although being winter it's perhaps not to hot either - in which case, Keep ambient.

The Glebe Blog said...

Sandy,I wonder if they're as lax with the planning laws in the Stewartry as they are in Wigtownshire.
Here they build first then get planning permission afterwards.
Nothing ever gets torn down.

Michael (Light-In-A-Box) said...

Hey Sandy, I would like to see inside the paint can place, very interesting! The design just might work for my round head! Your pheasants out there are much more colorful than the ones we have, we must be just plain dull...
Anywho, great post Sandy!
Michael

Unknown said...

Interesting read, my friend, and that last shot is nothing less than spectacular!

Shundo said...

Thank you for the lovely wintry photos and for making me laugh about pheasants. It is a little chilly here by California standards, and it does insist on raining over the weekends...

Sandy's witterings said...

This is a bit of a tardy reply - I've been away from blogger for a few days trying to get to work - actually I got here on Sunday but it's called work for a reason and they do get first shout on how I spend my time.

Jim, I'd imaging the Wigtownshire and the Stewartry all have their planning permission done from the same place but I could easily be wrong on that one.

Michael, you're pheasants have obviously mastered the art of camoflage (any idea how you spell that) which our certainly haven't.

Why thank you Mr Rocket.

Shundo - winterier photos coming up soon, just whenever I can find the time to blog them (it's been about as unCalifonian as it could be over here)