Which Outfit For My Interview?
Jobs & Education2 mins ago
MM Links July 2012 Week 4
46 Answers
This is King John 11 (aka Rockfirdill) here with my 4th (and final) attempt at being the MM setter.
I know now how careful one must be with these preambles! All must be triple checked etc. etc. 'cos you are such a highly intelligent bunch that any slight aberration from accuracy will be pounced upon! I refer to last week's effort on archery when Strix was absolutely right in pointing out that three fingers draw back a bow string, two under the arrow and one, the index finger, over the arrow. This allows for a slight holding of the arrow if needed before it is loosed.
I referred last week to my great love of birdwatching and all things to do with the animal kingdom. I must say that the great drop in some sections of the bird population is very worrying. I cannot believe that these days I am actually pleased to see a house sparrow. When my father acted as a bird recorder for Kensington Gardens in London I remember a survey then back in the fifties revealed about 6,000 sparrows. The last count a couple of years ago found 6! Does anyone remember the dawn choruses of that period - they were delightfully deafening. Just about every garden had its song thrush and blackbird,(therefore no slugs and snails), plus robins, wrens etc. etc. They all sang together and it was a serious dawn chorus. Talking about sparrows, we have three in the UK and one of those isn't a real sparrow (the hedge sparrow or dunnock is an accentor). In my second home, the USA, we had about 50 different sparrows about 10 of which I was able to record in my own Rockford garden over the years.
I know now how careful one must be with these preambles! All must be triple checked etc. etc. 'cos you are such a highly intelligent bunch that any slight aberration from accuracy will be pounced upon! I refer to last week's effort on archery when Strix was absolutely right in pointing out that three fingers draw back a bow string, two under the arrow and one, the index finger, over the arrow. This allows for a slight holding of the arrow if needed before it is loosed.
I referred last week to my great love of birdwatching and all things to do with the animal kingdom. I must say that the great drop in some sections of the bird population is very worrying. I cannot believe that these days I am actually pleased to see a house sparrow. When my father acted as a bird recorder for Kensington Gardens in London I remember a survey then back in the fifties revealed about 6,000 sparrows. The last count a couple of years ago found 6! Does anyone remember the dawn choruses of that period - they were delightfully deafening. Just about every garden had its song thrush and blackbird,(therefore no slugs and snails), plus robins, wrens etc. etc. They all sang together and it was a serious dawn chorus. Talking about sparrows, we have three in the UK and one of those isn't a real sparrow (the hedge sparrow or dunnock is an accentor). In my second home, the USA, we had about 50 different sparrows about 10 of which I was able to record in my own Rockford garden over the years.
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by rockfordill. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
rockfordill
I am totally with you about magpies (and Robin Page and his last piece about buzzards). As to the plainly bonkers animal-rights activists I am pleased to say that one of our friends is the Master of a pack of Mink (ex-Otter) hounds and my brother-in-law is an MFH and Huntsman as were his great-uncle, his great-grandfather and his father and grandfather.
Grannydi - sterling work - I shoot magpies when I can but they are devious sharp customers.
I am totally with you about magpies (and Robin Page and his last piece about buzzards). As to the plainly bonkers animal-rights activists I am pleased to say that one of our friends is the Master of a pack of Mink (ex-Otter) hounds and my brother-in-law is an MFH and Huntsman as were his great-uncle, his great-grandfather and his father and grandfather.
Grannydi - sterling work - I shoot magpies when I can but they are devious sharp customers.
RockfordIll: We have lots of house sparrows and no magpies. I don't think magpies reside in these here parts, but we have problems with hawks so we have built some birdhouses hidden in trees and the feeder for the birds is inside our pergola. This year the only casualty to a hawk has been a mourning dove which didn't have the sense to hide and sat in the open picking at the sparrows' leftovers. Now its mate comes daily, alone, looking for it and is a sad sight. Morning chorus is a bit too early for my liking but would rather have it than silence.
