A caller on a TV phone-in programme this morning reported that either his friend or relative had been attacked when a seagull lacerated his shaven head with its talons. This was in a discussion with a strong bias against gulls, coming from seaside holidaymaker's experiences of food being intercepted and pets attacked by these birds, over hearsay plans for culling as a possible solution. I thought seagulls had webbed paddle feet, like ducks? If so, it would be their powerful beaks that would be the danger.
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Gulls' feet are indeed webbed, but they still have claws and these are well capable of causing lacerations.
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... I have never before seen so many cormorants all together in one place - this morning, with a rapid incoming tide, on a pier of some rotting wooden piles downstream from Hammersmith Bridge, there were twelve of them : spaced out with about a yard between each, a couple of them heraldically drying their wings. An amazing sight...
.Last edited by vinteuil; 28-08-19, 11:57.Comment
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... cos no paper bags in evidence - and no wandering bears in Hammersmith.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostHow do you know they weren't shags!
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I’m sure that there are more shags than cormorants but who will say ....Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostHow do you know they weren't shags!Comment
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Since I've never birded the Thames it's probably rash of me to offer an opinion, but I wouldn't expect to see Shags so far from the open sea. In my experience Shags are happy enough to come a short way up a wide, open estuary, but they rarely venture further from the sea unless storm-driven. Cormorants, on the other hand, are more than happy to do so and often nest on inland lakes (where they often turn out to be the Continental race).Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostHow do you know they weren't shags!Comment
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I've known the poem for nearly 60 years but have only just discovered it's by Christopher Isherwood
- I first came across it in the Penguin Book of Comic and Curious Verse, and could have sworn it was credited to Anon.
Two slightly differing versions here - I'm sure one of them is wrong:
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I first came across it in Arnold Silcocks's collection Verse and Worse, which was published in the same year as the Penguin collection (1952). There it is also attributed to Anon and the text agrees with your first link.Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View PostI've known the poem for nearly 60 years but have only just discovered it's by Christopher Isherwood - I first came across it in the Penguin Book of Comic and Curious Verse, and could have sworn it was credited to Anon.
Two slightly differing versions here - I'm sure one of them is wrong:
https://www.blueridgejournal.com/poems/ci-corm.htmComment
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Late this afternoon a coloratura performance from what I think was a Robin in next door's Holly tree. I couldn't quite pick him/her out but I saw a profile that very likely belonged to the singer.Comment
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Could also be a wren, they have an amazingly loud voice and they like holly bushes. 'My' wren likes to sing from on top of the cotoneaster bush, waking me up at 5am!Originally posted by gradus View PostComment
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Indeed, whoever was responsible had quite a voice for such a small frame.Originally posted by LezLee View PostComment
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