A bird almost in the hand.......

Each winter siskins arrive at the feeders late - reaching a peak in early March. This year has been no exception. They are lively, acrobatic and inquisitive birds. This one was filmed at Gibraltar Point in Lincolnshire last year and is obviously a migrant just arrived after a clear, starry night. The bird was so hungry, and exhausted, that it fed on dandelion seed heads at the side of the path literally within touching distance and did not seem bothered by our presence at all.

What geography teachers really do.......

What geography teachers really do.......

What the public thinks geography teachers do......

What the public thinks geography teachers do...

What geography teachers think we do.......

What geography teachers think we do.......

Talking toilet door........

I have just spent twenty minutes locked in the 'executive wash room' aka the blokes' bog on the Humanities corridor. Bloody latch would not budge and I had to call when I heard a cleaner arrive. 'Excuse me, can you help me'? Initially I think she thought I was a talking toilet door and then she thought I was asking for more toilet paper and offered to go and find some but eventually we overcame our communication barrier - the door - and between us we managed to get the thing open - when I emerged I could see fear in her face, mainly because I think she thought I had been in there all night.......

Test Your Awareness: Do The Test

This is absolutely brilliant - I use it with my classes to see if they are paying attention......

Polar Bear Versus Walrus Colony - BBC Planet Earth

This cameo has everything - and is not about happy endings either. I can just imagine the smell of the walrus colony - you can see the steam rising off it! Students are transfixed whenever I show this....

The exuberance of Spring and light evenings......

I can't wait for the lighter, warmer evenings. Last April, whilst looking for Ring Ouzels at the top of Ivinghoe Beacon, I stood at the gate to a large sheep field. These lambs could not keep still and kept running towards me inquisitively before running away again, almost inviting me to join in.

Take another look at that sparrow......

Not every small, streaky brown bird is a sparrow. This evening a reed bunting was feeding at our bird table - they invariably seem to arrive towards the end of winter. This male is starting to acquire its summer plumage when it will have a lovely black head and a white collar. It was filmed at Wilstone Reservoir a couple of miles from my home exactly a year ago. Not a great vocalist but top marks for enthusiasm and persistence......!

Man coughs up fur ball......

Going to bed with a sore throat and stuffed nose on a Saturday night is never a good thing, and more than a little galling when you have felt fine all week at work. A glass of water by the bed is a sensible idea but a word of caution.....check before you take a swig that there is not a leggy house spider in it doing the breast stroke in circles. I have just spat the poor creature out from the bedroom window- not in itself a major incident, but I am not sure what the woman walking her dog past the house made of a half-naked man doing an impression of a cat trying to cough up something resembling a fur ball on to the roof........

The Apartment - Cookie-wise

From the depths of darkness there is always a glimpse of hope.....

What a gorgeous afternoon yesterday! Found these Winter Aconites growing around an old discarded tyre. Not a great photo because taken with my phone but evidence that nature will always find a way and after a long, dark winter, there will be light again.......

PS a fox has done a poo on the tyre.

Crossing the mid-Atlantic ridge...

If we get a light dusting of snow in the UK, the whole country grinds to a halt. Our driver showed great skill driving on ice and snow....this was a typical view from the front of the bus crossing the mid-Atlantic ridge........

Iceland 2012.....

A truly stunning country... I will return.

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More footage of the fantastic seascape along Iceland's South Coast. The quality of the video is a little shaky as it was so windy it was almost too windy to stand up. The white swash contrasts beautifully with the black beach of volcanic ash......

Awesome........

A hugelyover-used word, but surely this is a location for which the word 'awesome' was truly invented.........just breathtaking. The sound of the wind, the huge Atlantic waves, the black beach and white snow. I will return to this place........

Geyser.........

It is hard to believe that this is boiling water and people get so close. Spectacular....and a little unsettling if you dwell too long on the activity going on just beneath your feet.......

Video of Stunning Scandinavian bird...

This fieldfare dropped in yesterday morning and began to consume all the ornamental crab apples - incredible how can swallow them whole. Love these birds - their sound, their beauty and their reliability...they return each winter from their Scandinavian breeding grounds to gorge themselves on our berry harvest........ Stunning

Half man, half condom.......

I will be pleased when the weather finally gets milder. As a (proud) bald man I am condemned to wear a hat it seems at all times of the year. In summer if I venture out in the sun for more than a few minutes the top end of my head erupts in a flurry of freckles that would suggest I had been too close to the rear of a flatulent cow. Within minutes I could serve as a human griddle. In winter the wind literally whistles around my ears and snow has been known to settle on my chilled cranium. But what I really dislike is the way in which wearing a tight, thick-knit bobble hat transforms the top of my face into a cross between a Klingon's forehead (could be worse...) and a ribbed condom. Please...bring on Spring and at least a temporary release from this curse....

'Fat' robin....

While I was at Marsworth reservoir this morning I had a strange feeling I was being watched. Turning around, this individual was sitting expectantly on a post just a few feet from me. As I had nothing to offer, I apologised. The temperature at the time was -10 and you can see this individual is really puffed up and keeps lifting one leg under its feathers. It is not 'fat' as many people presume and a long, frozen night could be fatal if it can't find enough food.

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Light was fading and the bitterns had flown to roost in their usual spot opposite the hide when two foxes appeared. One stayed a while and seemed to enjoy the snow before taking advantage of the frozen reed bed. I watched it stalk and then chase (unsuccessfully) a water rail before disappearing into the reeds.

As the sun set last night the sky cleared and the temperature began to drop markedly. I popped along the road to see if the bitterns were preparing to roost and noticed in the sheep field opposite the entrance to the reservoir, the old ridge and furrow farming pattern had led to differential melting of the snow, creating a striking striped sequence of ice and grass looking back towards the Chiltern escarpment. Still pinch myself sometimes that this is where I live.....

Hitler's reaction to a school ofsted inspection

It's always the geography teacher's fault.......

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The prolonged cold spell has meant that species that would normally spend their time hidden deep in the reeds have to become adventurous in order to find food. This bittern was one of two that were showing really well at Marsworth reservoir this weekend. Only a brief record clip, this bird was venturing uncharacteristically out on the ice, motivated probably by hunger.

The Day After Tomorrow - Chopper's Freezing

Never known it so cold without snow. -10 when I got in the car this morning. Apparently likely to snow over the weekend. Watched a couple of roe deer at Green Park last night - how do they survive such low temperatures? It is incredible. Also observed a roost of goldfinches that numbered at least one hundred congregate in a laurel bush. They were very animated and then then all of a sudden went completely quiet - perhaps to avoid raising the awareness of nocturnal predators. I wonder if they roost alongside eachother ot share/conserve heat or keep a respectful distance like starlings. Might invest in an infra-red camera and find out....

http://www.alansenitt.org/
Teaching is in so many ways a privilege and today I have spent the day with a group of students from Nower Hill and four other schools at Immanuel College Bushey. They are all embarking on a leadership training scheme in memory of Alan Senitt, who I had the honour of teaching between 1991-5. To see such bright, positive and engaged students collaborating with others of different faiths and backgrounds and enjoying their learning is a great tribute to Alan and the work of his family in establishing the programme. In our target-driven, grades-are-everything educational culture it is refreshing to spend time focussing on real learning and development for a change.

How to deal with the cold...dunk your backside in freezing cold water.....

Minus two this morning...and apparently set to get colder. We certainly have been lulled into a false sense of security by the mild winter so far. Yesterday evening I visited Wilstone Reservoir to view the gull roost and as usual several thousand mainly black-headed and common gulls had congregated to sleep on the water. How do they do it?!!! It was SOOOO cold and very still - beautiful in many respects - but to sit in that water for an entire night is an incredible feat. Feathers do indeed offer fantastic insulation and waterproofing, and the blood flow to the legs is restricted to reduce heat loss but even so. Roosting on the water does provide protection from predators such as foxes (unless of course it freezes!).
In this sort of weather I always put fresh water out regularly - breaking the ice on the bird bath to do so - and the birds are straight down not only to drink it but to bathe on it. Despite the eye-watering cold they need to keep their feathers in good condition. I have seen blackbirds eat snow but thirst can be a real problem during prolonged freezing spells. We are fortunate to have a stream opposite the house so not such an issue for our local birds. However, if we get some snow, the birdtable is likely to get busy, but that's for another post......