Ferr-eeeeeeee, Cross the Mers-eeeeee!

BH weekend and off the NW for a tad of family time and soupcon of maritime heritage in the form of Cunard's 175th berrrrf-dee! Billed as the Three Queens Festival (no, not Messrs Walliams, Norvelle and Clary), the Queen Mary 2, Elizabeth and Victoria were in town for three days. Above - QM2 leaves the Pier Head to meet the other two in the mouth of the Mersey. Below - QE and QV arrive. And some more views of the arriving duo: And all three: Crosby beach Baywatch? Not quite...... And one of Anthony Gormley's Another Place statues (made of left-over Angel of the North bits):

A Smile (or may be a few)

The first ever brood of Shelduck ever arrived yesterday at Arcot (I know they're not Mega BUT they are cute; all nine of them!). I was told by SWMBO (think about it) that I should take a few snaps and so, with the camera in the wrong setting (nob!) here we go: And then there's the never-ending drip drip of fly-tipped $h1te. That said, given the essence of fly-tipping, I did have a grin at the livery on the right hand cannister (recycle, my ar$e!!!):

One! Point?

Well, here goes; a slight spleen ventilation follows. I have been birding 'seriously' for nine years, next to no time compared with many others but we all have to start at some time. In the near-decade that followed my initial scope / bins / Birdguides expenditure, I have developed a reasonable grasp of the politics in upper and lower cased letters. An aspect of this great pursuit that still frustrates immensely is the often lack of detail on web-based facilities that are surely intended to assist the viewer to see what's about and then act, or not. I realise that each service provider may gather intelligence from others, and so the detail in their notification is only as good as that which was provided originally. The onus must, therefore, be on the submitter to be specific. Birds do move (unless it's the B-w P at Bothal who has clearly been watching those street statue artists in Amsterdam's Dam Square!) and so there may be nowt to gain by stating the quarry is '...in the 3rd bush from the left if viewing from the gate' etc. But it's a good start. Let me decide if I want to watch an empty bush, don't decide for me; after all, it's my time I'm wasting! The opposite end of the spectrum of an almost worthless 'one today' or similar is equally futile, especially if the area is substantial, such as Holy Island or Cramlington. Whilst there may have been a Honey Buzzard over Cramlington yesterday morning, give those who may want to go and see if it's going to repeat the journey a chance to have a look by adding some value; my town's a big place! The Black Kite of May 2013 returned to Wessie H twice after the initial sighting and to keep the Bothal thread running, the G-b Tern came back once more (as those who were waiting on night no. 3 will vouch). The rantings of this mad man will not change anything, but the cathartic aspect of this narrative has benefited me enormously. Thanks for reading this far.