Funky bird

Funny looker
Originally uploaded by framboise.

Tabloid story in Guardian Unlimited's Newsblog today: Birds of a feather. An interloper male osprey has taken up residence in a love nest belonging to long-term partners, Green XS (f) and NoRing (m). This is a story far more gripping than the other headlines lately (PJPII, C&C, 05-05-05...). The BBC is hosting an opsrey webcam and providing the latest updates in this love-triangle.

I don't have any opsprey photos, but here's one of a punk bird I took on Islay last March. It has green plummage down its sides (colouring similar to a wood pigeon), and a wee tuft on its heid. Have just uploaded some of the other photos I took on Islay on Flickr. As with all my other Scotland photos, they're rather dreich (dull) due to cloudy skies. But amongst these were the odd two or three in dazzling sunshine. It's unfair to say that it's always cold, wet and windy in Scotland. Some days are better than others, but you have to judge the weather over a period longer than most tourists' holidays of a week or two. For instance, the last week has been positively sunny, with the odd spell of high wind or rain. True, we're headed to a cold and wet weekend, but the weather will swing around again.

My pet hypothesis about Scottish Spring is that it's all tied into the lambing season. Almost all farmers arrange matters so that lambs are born sometime in April, around the Easter period, as threat of frosty weather should have dissipated by then. This, however, conflicts strongly with a natural law that states that the birth of vulnerable animals MUST be accompanied by the worst possible weather. So, every Spring, there is a pull-me-pull-you fight between the common sense timing of lambs, and the all-powerful Sod's/Murphy's/narrative Law for bad weather, resulting in the freaky weather we have every April. So, next time you curse and swear at the lashing rain, think of the poor wee lambies who not only get drenched and muddy, but have to grow up with the knowledge that the very act of their birth ruined everyone's Spring holidays.

No shots of any of this year's lambs yet. For some agricultural photos, have a look at the Bed and Breakfast website I set up. It's very basic and amateurish, but will be updated when I can think of a better way to present the information.

I'm also trying to work my way through GU's many quizzes. This one fits in with my spring lamb hypothesis: Are you a diehard townie? My result:

Ah, those darling cuds of hay
You are truly in touch with nature, so well done - this is probably your first time on a computer.

Clearly, the last 5 years of agriculture-by-proxy have turned me from a cosmopolitan chick into a hick from the sticks...