Ducka, ducka ducka!

The Urban Dictionary has more than 250 entries beginning with the word 'duck' including: duck, duck 'n' mumble, Duck and a half, duck and cover, duck and swoop, Duck and Tuck, Duck Arse, Duck Ass, duck ass nigga, Duck Away, duck batty, duck bear, duck billed platipus (sic), duck bomb, Duck Boy, duck bread, duck bunny, duck but, duck butt, duck butter, duck butter, duck butter brewery, duck butter pudding, Duck Butter Slap, Duck Call, duck cheese, Duck Coily, duck cream, Duck Day, duck dive, duck dodger, Duck Dodgers, duck dont lie, duck duck goose, Duck Duck Grayduck, duck duck moose, duck egg, duck eggs, Duck Face, duck farmer, duck fart, duck fat, Duck feeder, Duck Feet, duck feet hands, Duck Fight, duck fonkies, duck food, duck foot hand, duck fuck, duck fucker, duck funnel, duck head nerd, Duck Hunt, Duck Hunter, duck hunter dog, duck hunting, duck hunting permit, Duck Lips, duck ma sick, duck man, duck man drake, Duck Me, Duck Meat, Duck Monkey, duck mustard, Duck My Sick, Duck Nugget, Duck Nuggets, Duck Off, duck out, Duck Party, Duck Paste, duck phuck, duck pond, duck pond simulator, Duck Puke, duck race, Duck Roll, duck sauce, duck sausage, duck shit, duck shoe, duck shoe mentality, duck shoes, duck shot, duck shove, Duck Shunter, Duck Sick, DUCK SICKER, duck Skirt, Duck Slider, Duck Sludge, Duck Snort, duck soup, duck spit, Duck spot, duck status, Duck Tagged, duck tales, duck tape, duck tape on the windows, duck that meal, duck tour, duck tours, Duck Town, duck tuck, duck under, duck walk, duck weed, duck whore, duck wrap, Duck Xing, duck yee, duck you, Duck'ed, Duck's Ass, duck's breakfast, duck's guts, duck's nuts, Duck-bill kiss, Duck-butter, Duck-duck-goose, duck-goosed, duck-it, Ducka, ducka ducka ducka, duckaduck, Duckage, duckalicious, Duckaluckaphobia, duckary, duckbill, duckbill platapus (sic), duckboy, Duckbutt, author duckbutt, duckbutter, duckdoogan, duckdow, duckduckduck, Ducked, ducked off, ducked out, duckee, Duckeey, duckegg, duckel bucket, ducker, duckers, duckery, duckerz, duckes up, ducket, duckets, duckett, duckettes, ducketts, Duckey, Duckface cuntmuffin, duckfloat, duckfoot, duckfucker, duckfuckery, duckfudder, Duckhead, duckhog, Duckhook, Duckie, Duckiefroggiestinker, duckies, duckin, duckin my fuck, duckin, DuckInferno, ducking, ducking chubi, ducking fick head, ducking it, duckish, duckitude, duckjob, duckket, ducklady, Duckle Nuster, ducklefart, Duckles, Ducklet, duckling, ducklings, Ducklips, duckman, Duckmanton, duckmeat, duckmo, duckmonkey, ducknuts, ducko, duckoff, Duckoutdoors, duckpin, duckplucker, DuckPuke, Duckrabbitism, duckrider, duckroll, duckrunt, ducks, ducks and drakes, ducks and sings, ducks guts, Ducks in a row, ducks nuts, ducks on the pond, DUCKS!, ducksauce, Duckshag, Ducksick, Ducksicker, DuckSloth, ducksnort, Ducksnuts, Duckspeak, duckstyle, ducktail, Ducktales, Ducktape, Ducktard, ducktionary, ducktown, ducktreesha, ducku, duckwad, duckwalk, Duckwarrior, duckwater, Duckwork, Duckworth, ducky, author ducky, ducky butt rubber, Ducky Duck, Ducky Ducky, ducky fist, Ducky Inc, ducky shirt, Duckylike, duckys, duckysex, Ducky_Dan, Duckzilla and duck_k.

It just goes to show: a. how inspiring the Anatidae can be; and b. how much spare time modern humans have at their disposal.


"My name is Ducky. Yep, that is what it is, yep yep yep!" (Judith Barsi as 'Ducky' the Parasaurolophus in 'Land Before Time' [Amblin, 1988])

Psittaculatastic

Popped up to Surrey for the day, parakeets all over the shop, must smuggle one back across the bridge next time. There just aren't enough brightly coloured exotics over here. Did you know alien invasives are the most common contributory factor in recent avian extinctions? For more cheery news click here.

Even more random thought for the day: fire-eating is a skill not a magic trick; the real danger is not the burning but the poisoning (the fuel is not good for one's liver),... here endeth the lesson.

Sniffles and sleet

Despite a cold (it could be man flu, chocolates and grapes to the usual address thanks) and the weather, managed to nip out to Peterstone Gout this afternoon. The reported female/1st-winter Black Redstart and a flyby Dark-bellied Brent Goose were the highlights although a decent number of Pintail were also bobbing about just offshore.

There have been a couple of slightly odd happenings at Peterstone lately. News of the Black Redstart took two days to 'get out' and a sighting of Grey Phalarope took two days and two observers before seeing the light of day. Does Peterstone have it's own time-zone? Is news disseminated by wayward racing pigeons? Is it Gwent's answer to the Bermuda Triangle? As Toyah Ann Willcox (apparently writing, recording and co-producing new solo material as we speak,... oh dear) was once heard to exclaim "It's a mystery".

Jumpers for goal-posts

Whilst watching the footy tonight, I couldn't help thinking there is a passing resemblance between Miroslav Klose (you know, the Polish-born German striker,... the only player to have scored 5 goals in consecutive World Cups,... yeah, him) and a certain Mr. Lee G.R. Evans circa 1990 (you know, that bloke who... [add personal diatribe/love-in regarding LGRE here]). Anyway, obviously I thought this was just a product of random chance when, on being substituted...

It couldn't be true,... could it? Next time your path crosses Lee's try asking "Haben Sie ein Bruder?"

Spoobis

Just when you thought hybrids couldn't get any more interesting,... click here to see the 'Spoobis'. It would appear the Po Delta also has an Eurasian x African Spoonbill hybrid knocking about too (anyone up for a twitch?).

Once more unto the larid, dear friends, once more

Popped along to Lamby this morning, the gull performed admirably on air, land (well boardwalk) and sea (well lake). Also had a decent number of Woodpigeon and Redwing/Fieldfare, a few Siskin and a Peregrine over; plus 3 Water Rail, 2 Cetti's Warbler and a Treecreeper around the eastern end but couldn't quite bring myself to do a complete circuit.

Checked the hedgerows around Peterstone church on the way back but couldn't come up with anything better than a Chiffchaff and a Coal Tit or two.

Team Firecrest

Another pootle around a few likely levels locations (Sudbrook, Magor Marsh, Redwick, Whitson and Goldcliff village) produced another Firecrest, that's two in two weeks, that's a 100% hit-rate,... oh yeah! This one popped up in front of us at Redwick (just NE of the church) and then proceeded to drop into brambles six feet away before giving yet more stonking views within a few yards. Much better than last week. It showed again later, rather more briefly, much to the relief of 'Mr. Weekend Birder' the soon-to-be newly crowned Gwent year-list record holder.

Other sightings, bordering on interesting, included: Water Rail and Stonechat at Sudbrook; 100 Snipe and 2 Stonechat at Magor; Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 2 Coal Tit and Treecreeper at Redwick; Green Sand at Goldcliff; and hundreds of Redwing and Fieldfare all over the shop.

Bit of botany

The much-overlooked Dangleberry (Bartleberry in the US), the seeds of which are known, in these parts, by the local name 'clagnut'.

Where is Europe?

This month's Birding World appeared on the mat today. Having wrestled it from the jaws of the dog, I settled down to read it cover to cover (as is my wont). There are about 40 pages in a regular edition, so I usually allocate about 40 seconds for a read through: first I skip over the UK and WP photos/records sections (it's all been on the net for weeks by the time I see it in print); then I eagerly turn to the 'How I found the [enter rare bird here]' section and read the first paragraph or two of each article, the ones that cover the finder's moment of panic/euphoria; and, finally, I sometimes glance at whatever other random article has made it into the mag (often linked to whichever country Mr. Gantlett has just got back from). I then give it back to the dog to 'play' with. Well worth the money I think you'll agree (the mutt certainly thinks so).

This month's perusal was different mind, firstly I couldn't help but notice the editorial team had decided Corvo was far too quiet this year, so had randomly added all kinds of birds to our tally. One Common Nighthawk had become two, two Yellowthroats were boosted to five(!), the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had found a friend, and likewise the Yellow-throated Vireo had also doubled in number. They have also reported that five REVs were present, it was probably, a slightly less impressive two. God knows who was to blame but, if you want a better idea of the status of yanks on the Azores, click here and check out the pretty darn accurate database.

As if the burgeoning of Corvo's rarity tally wasn't enough, I noticed that Birding World (presumably in an effort to make flipping rare birds sound even flipping rarer), are reporting the Little Blue Heron as "a new European bird". As if being a fourth for the WP isn't good enough! Of course, this now begs the question, where are the boundaries of Europe? The Azores are obviously excluded (that's where the last three LBHs have turned up), is Iceland? What about Scandinavia or Cyprus? I'm guessing Turkey is way out. I need to know,... in fact, I demand to know! Oh, wait up,... no,... I've just realised, I couldn't give a toss.

By the way, Ian Lewington's Goshawk cover and Amur/Red-footed Falcon plate are superb, is he the greatest bird illustrator of all time? Discuss.

Meat 'n veg

Got a bonus from Riverford; curled up in the bottom of my organic, locally-sourced, fairly-traded, totally guilt-free cauliflower was this little fella...


Last time I found a moth in my greens it was a first for Newport. Unfortunately, this chubby little, cauliflower stuffed, guy looks like a Large Yellow Underwing.