Hope

After watching the BBC Horizon programme a couple of years ago about the installation of the new blue whale exhibit at the Natural History Museum I really wanted to pay a second visit to see it. The last time I went (mum you will have to remind me) it was a bit smaller!!

Well we finally got round to sorting it out and went down to London last weekend. Getting into London is pretty straightforward for us and within 2hrs we were at Kings Cross. After dropping our bags at the hotel we headed back to the museum.

Thankfully the weather was good for queuing outside and it wasn't long before we were inside to the main hall. I only vaguely remember seeing 'Dippy' but the new whale Hope really did have a WOW factor. The way the skeleton has been suspended to look at though it is diving towards you was very impressive. The only downside was that it is so big it is very hard to photograph the whole thing!! It wasn't until you were right underneath that you got a sense of the size of the head.

Having taken lots of pictures and marveled at the whale from all angles we headed off round the rest of the museum.
Now I am sure I will get into trouble with my views but I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. Many of the interpretation is now very dated and probably the same as when I last went. I know that you can't go out into the environment and collect new specimens for a museum but many of the mammals especially were looking very old, faded and tired. They did at least give us a good laugh as we walked around.

The marine dinosaurs display was excellent but the main dinosaur exhibition was too dark. I know that it was meant to be like that to create an atmosphere but for me, it didn't really work.

By the time we had got back to the whale, it had clouded over outside to the main  hall was much darker. This meant that subtle blue lighting used on the whale showed up even better creating a fantastic effect. Although the museum didn't really impress me too much, if was definitely worth going to see the whale along.

 We decided to walk back to King's Cross, rather than taking the tube, which turned out to be a good idea. We walked past the Lords cricket ground, managing a glimpse of the hallowed turf through a fire escape stairs and then a walk through part of Regents Park. A real oasis of green within all the madness of the city with countless amateur football matches going on and even nesting grey herons!!

It was definitely worth going but the noise, traffic and pollution are not for me!

Escaping the Beast...

With the weather forecast looking decidedly dodgy we thought we were the lucky ones heading to the SW for a week of visiting family and a bit of birding. It turned out we didn't escape.

First stop was a couple of days in Dorset. With no news on the Ross's gull on the whole journey from Norfolk we skipped a detour to Weymouth and headed straight for Poole.
With nothing reported after lunch we headed to the churchyard in Lychett Matravers on the search for hawfinch.

It didn't take long as a bird was calling in the yew trees as soon as we got out of the car but it stayed hidden until Jan picked up a bird sat in the top of the tree just outside the churchyard. It showed well but only briefly.
We never got very good views again but I did manage one record shot from underneath in the end.

It was interesting to visit the church as my grandad was the vicar there many moons ago. Although I didn't recognise the church, I did remember the walk to it and the house they lived in.

The next day we had to head across to the Weymouth area in the hope the Ross's gull would turn up. Sadly there was no sign of it at Lodmoor but despite the biting cold wind there was plenty to see in the circular walk around the site. 2 spoonbill, 2 marsh harrier, 2 summer plumage med gull and several Cetti's warbler were the highlights.

A showy robin made a nice subject to practice with my camera.

Onto Radipole with fingers crossed for the gull. The reserve was pretty quiet but I am finding that if you have a camera with you there is plenty to see. Common birds, nice an close make ideal subjects.

Still no gull so we decided to grab lunch and spend the rest of our time left on the parking ticket in the visitor centre praying. With about 30mins left there was a call of 'there it is' and the bird appeared over the pool in front of the centre. Everyone rushed outside to see the bird land at the end of the pool with the black headed gulls. For the next 20mins is spent its time bathing, preening and snoozing before heading out over Weymouth town centre!

Although I had seen the juv at Cley a few years ago, to see an adult was something else. The necklace was just starting to moult through and in the winter sunshine you could see a hint of pink starting to show.
Perfect timing as our ticket ran out of time and we headed back to Poole.

Wednesday was change over time but before going we had a quick walk around Canford Heath. A biting wind made the -4 air temperature feel much colder and the birds were keeping low as a consequence. We did manage a pair of dartford warblers but everything else was staying out of the wind.

By now, the Beast from the East was making itself known back home and we were happy that we were out of the way as be drove between Dorset and Somerset in the sun. A brief detour near the county boundary for some more hawfinch at Cattistock with another 8 birds feeing in the churchyard.

With a change in the weather predictions and the Beast meeting Storm Emma we headed out around the village for a stomp before things got any worse. Light overnight snow meant a lot of the birds were feeding in the shelter of the large trees that still had uncovered ground. Loads of thrushes and finches, marsh tit and a grey wagtail on the ponds were the highlights.

With the weather getting worse, the patio windows were the best place to sit and watch the birds in the garden. With freezing rain and snow overnight we were going nowhere on the Friday so I set myself up with plenty of coffee and the camera to see what shots I could get.
The garden was full of thrushes and going though the apples and pears that were being thrown out for them. At one stage, 50 fieldfare filled the garden all fighting over the fruit. Added to that were 20 blackbird, 2 mistle thrush and several redwing. Over the 2 days we recorded 30 species in the garden including snipe, lesser redpoll, siskin, 3 pied wagtails, male bullfinch, blackcap and a female reed
bunting.

 

Thankfully the weather eased a bit on the Saturday allowing us to visit the last part of the family before heading home a day later than expected.

The rare sight of a snowplough working through the village showed that despite thinking we'd escaped, Mother Nature managed to catch up with us in the end.