The Spring Chasers

Having decided to visit the Gower Peninsula in mid February, the Tense Towers team opted to travel light and not take too many ID books on the trip. 'Odonata of Britain and Ireland'? Unnecessary! 'Insects of Great Britain'? Nah. 'Wild flowers of the British Isles'? Don't be daft! 'Birds of Britain and Europe'? Oh, go on then, just the one. In a week when most of the UK was still dealing with sub zero temperatures and snow, this didn't seem like a bad call.

Whilst South Wales was a little warmer than MK, it was most definitely much wetter. After five days, it finally stopped raining and we felt a little like Noah must have done when the dove returned with a bit of greenery. Mind you, the weather hadn't curtailed our excursions, it's just that there was a soggy trend. Wet sand on the beach. Wet bracken/gorse on the heaths. Wet grass in the fields. Wet mud/grass/trees in the woods. In fact, the sea might have been drier.

However, there's beauty in all landscapes, even if it is just grey skies, grey seas, grey mud and grey rocks.

Fifty shades?

Now, in all the time that we've been visiting the Gower, we had never so much as set foot in the Worm's Head Hotel to soak up the stunning view of Rhossili Bay from the bar and dining room. This year we decided to right that wrong and booked ourselves in for a Sunday lunch at a window table.

Oh yes, bring it on.

Oh no.

With a lessening in the precipitation, we spent another morning walking from Caswell Bay to Pwlldu Bay, along a coast that has seen its fair share of smuggling in times past. Whilst Caswell is sandy and beloved of holiday makers and newbie surfers...

Pwlldu is a much more secluded and inaccessible bay, perfect for trying to outfox the Revenue.

However, en route between the two, on a muddy coastal path between gorse bushes and the short but steep drop to the rocky shore below, we did find the odd spot of colour.

And when I say "odd", I do mean O.D.D.

This is Tremella mesenterica, Yellow Brain Fungus, growing on gorse stems. In the second photo, there are also several small invertebrates which appeared to be feeding on it.

In a few sheltered spots, there was also evidence of the vanguard of Spring flowers, in the form of Primrose, Milkwort, Dog Violet and Barren Strawberry.

The only other real colours of note were provided by the geology, where veins of minerals had forced their way between the vertical bedding planes.

Obliging partner shown for scale

My knowledge of rock is sadly limited to the more wacky  prog bands... sorry.

The weather during the first half of our stay on the Gower was neatly summed up by the sign displayed outside the National Trust shop at Rhossili...

Open brackets, S-i-g-h, close brackets

Sometimes Life can be downright miserable.

For a number of reasons, Tense Towers isn't a whole bundle of joy at the mo, but we will eventually come out of the other side of this dark cloud and find ourselves older and wiser.

Ok, just older then.

However, in recent days, on two separate occasions, I have felt very privileged to share in the roller coaster ride of others' lives. Or perhaps it was just my emotions that were sent on the roller coaster ride? See what you think.

One of Our Lass' Facebook friends put up a link to this Youtube film about a baby being bathed. It is a wondrous and tranquil experience, and if that is your only reaction then I take my hat off to you. Because watching it as a parent, it also scared the sh*t out of me, so that my adrenalin levels were probably the polar opposite of the wee bairn's. Roller coaster, indeed. 

The other example was whilst reading Inspector Gadget's Police Inspector Blog. This particular post is a story which cries out for a "to be continued..." follow up, but either way, it brought a smile to my face and made me glad to be able to share the planet with such decent folk.

[Sigh]

Thursday's threesome solution

And so to the answers to the question posed on Tuesday...

Face 1

The Child Catcher (played by Australian ballet dancer, Sir Robert Helpmann, in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).

Favourite colour: Black;

Mode of transport: Horse drawn caravan (with metal bars);

Politics: The Child Catcher operated a fairly strict regime. Class sizes were limited only by the size of the dungeon.

Face 2

David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Favourite colour: Blue;

Mode of transport: Reputedly a bicycle, but occasionally someone else's horse;

Politics: Perhaps not as far to the right as the first gentleman, but his government are introducing proposals on nursery numbers to cut costs.

Face 3

Michael Schumacher, seven times Formula 1 world champion driver.

Favourite colour: The majority of his world championships were won in Red;

Mode of transport: Ferrari F1 car;

Politics: Occasional sudden shifts to the right (Benetton 1994,  Ferrari 1997).


Now that my Foot It campaign is over, I may return to normal blogging.

Tuesday's tricky trio

"There's no connection between the people in these three cropped photographs."

Or so it says in the statement that my legal representatives have sent me. Any resemblances or notional similarities, whether in looks or any other characteristic or lifestyle choice, are purely coincidental.

So, from left to right, who are these feisty faces?

That wasn't a clue, by the way.

An "Oh... My... God..." bird

Think Friends.

Think Chandler's on-again, off-again girlfriend in the first few seasons.

Think Janice (Litman Goralnick, née Hosenstein), played by Maggie Wheeler.

Photo courtesy of http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=55268

No, I didn't mean her.

In fact, this could be more described as an OMFG bird.

Our Lass and I were having lunch at home, when all the birds on our feeders suddenly took to the air in alarm.

Neighbour's cat?

Nope.

Sparrowhawk?

Nope.

Woodpigeons having a handbag moment?

Nope.

With soup spoon halfway to my mouth, I registered that every bird in the neighbourhood had also taken to the air.

No fireworks, no shotgun blast, no explosion. Hmmm.

When Jackdaws, Carrion Crows and Gulls take wing in fright, it's something major.

Scanning the sky, I spotted several crows harassing a larger bird, and as realisation dawned, there was suddenly soup and bread crumbs everywhere.

We raced upstairs for a better view, Our Lass to the window, me towards my camera kit. Damn, the small lens was still fitted. Trailing caps, covers and bags, I hurried to the window whilst attaching a larger lens and watched as a Red Kite swooped and dived into the garden of a house several plots away.

Seen through the branches of the Ash tree in our neighbour's garden

Crow in hot pursuit!

It rather begs the question, "What the heck are they putting on their bird table?!"

Little things...

Sorry, but this report from the BBC News website did make me chuckle...

"An inflatable zeppelin used by Buckinghamshire protestors to show the height of a planned wind turbine has been blown away in strong gusts.

Campaigners gathered at the site in Ford, near Aylesbury to release the airship-shaped "blimp" to the turbine's 99m height.

They had previously said one of the reasons they opposed the turbine was the lack of wind to power it."

OK, so we're not supposed to be at home to Mr Schadenfreude.

Football News

Today, at the Riverside, Middlesbrough hosted non-league Hastings United in the third round of the FA Cup.

Ian Dennis, the Senior Football Reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live tweeted...

Hastings away support is 1068. If only 2 had not made it!!@Iandennisbbc 52 minutes ago

Classic!

Oh, and we won 4-1, which makes a nice change, eh?