5th November 2018 Too grey.

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Monday 5th 48-50F, heavy grey overcast, misty and damp with light winds. Light rain possible.

My walk was without drama except for teasing the mink gulls. Even from 200 yards away I seem to have that effect on them. They settle back down as soon as I move on.

Tuesday 6th 48F, another grey, damp and misty day with light winds. Too busy for a ride and very unsafe in such thick mist.

Wednesday 7th 46-50F, grey, damp, misty with light winds. Again. The birds are having a mad week. My walk was severely delayed by pheasants wandering in the drive. Zigzagging back and forth only 6' away from me on my way out and when I returned later.

A male sparrow literally landed at my feet while I was walking along the road. Then it walked slowly ahead of me as I took a few steps and had to stop again while it pecked at the road. It only left when a noisy lorry approached. I had a blackbird land right beside me on a post yesterday. It just sat there staring for a while before leaving. What is going on? Do they think I'm unusually tame? No ride today.

Thursday 8th 47F, early mist has cleared to rather cloudy with light rain possible. I was remote teasing the mink gulls again. The nearest of the huge flock was a couple of hundred yards away. But they all took off in a panic when I lifted my arm to chest height and gave a little wave. 

After that the sky was full of loud roaring but I couldn't see anything through the cloud. Then four vapour trails appeared in a blue patch. They must have been extremely noisy because it only very rarely we ever hear the literally hundreds of big passenger jets going over.

These four must have been at high altitude because they were too small to see clearly even through my binoculars. Several minute passed before the racket finally subsided. I always wonder why the police can prosecute motorists or  motorcyclists with noisy exhausts but would have to pause their discussion with the perp while jets went over.

A female pheasant was sitting on top of the garden gate as I returned home. It dropped over the other side and hid under a hedge. The tame males were absent today.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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