What a great Night out, well it was for me. Not that I haven't done this before. Not a good turnout but the five that turned up besides me must have thought it was worthwhile. A bit different from our usual get together especially as we had to cross the river and some of "us" have had to do a days work, but it was friday, and friday always starts the weekend, relax , do something different. Actually I was slightly worried, because the city and the eastend were mentioned as to where we might end up drinking for a change, and when south london came up I thought' all that way, would it be worth it, well it was, it took Russ and I, 45 minutes to get from my house to The Tower, brilliant connections. We arrived at The Bridge House at 6.50 and Jon, Dave B and Rob turned up in quick succession with Dave Mo a little later and we unintentionally got into sampling the different beers; Ghost Ship, Southwold and a number of others, some of which were £8 a pint, which we decided to dispatch in half pints, mainly because we didn't know what they might taste like, as it was they all tasted good. We eventually moved on to The Dean Swift tucked away 2 minutes round the back streets, again, well supplied with beers, I can't remember what we drank here, I know we had some sort of IPA, There were some strange names, I don't think we touched "Goose Island". The barman was very willing to give out more samples. Under some pressure from a couple of the guys we went back onto pints. Eventually Jono floated out of the front door and went home. We stayed until Russell and I had to stumble across the bridge to catch the train home. What a pleasant evening, mind you, although we didn't cane it, it took most of saturday for me to get back to normal. Can't wait to see where we are going next, Hmmm.
Pied Wagtail, Half a hour along the river to see if any Snipe were there because of the frozen lakes and scrapes, visibility was way down due to the snow and cloud, but with the iso up and my collar up managed to catch up with these few residents.
Grey Wagtail
Little Egret
What a murky foggy day it was and never lifted
Stonechat
Corn Buntings
Misty Bar-Tailed Godwit
Lapwings on ice. Other birds seen, Bullfinch, Snipe, Wildfowl, Rock and Meadow Pipits., Song Thrushes.
Some of the 205 Fieldfares at Belhus tuesday 15-1-13
Ross's returns to the Ingrebourne from Rainham.
I was working hard this morning getting the Christmas lights down, sorting out more stuff for the charity shops and the dump when Steve Smith pulled up and told me he was filling up with diesel then off to check out 31 Waxwings reported by Phil at Collier Row opposite where he lives. Ah! said I, can I join you. So grabbing the usual gear I promised to be back in one hour, and we were. Anyway when we arrived at the said place, there they were, 31 Waxwings doing their stuff, back and forewards from a tree to hawthorns on the other side of the road, great views again. It always amazes me, with all the hawberries in the country they stop for a few hawthorn bushes at a busy place with people walking past .
