Breezy ....

22nd March 2023 (Wednesday)   08.30....There’s a frisky wind but the rain has


moved away;  though there is a threat of showers.   Actually it’s a bonnie morning, albeit a bit breezy for the bike.  However the wind is slowly moderating so I might get out (on the bike) after lunch time.   In the meantime ‘slight flap on’;  got a bit o’ ooverin’ and dustin’ to do.   Change o’ plan;  the ‘flap’ is on hold until after a mug o coffee.

15.45    I don’t know what was in the air today, but it wasn’t oxygen;  so this has been a ‘rest day’.  and the ‘ooverin and dustin’ has been ... er.... put off until later.   It was too windy for me to go biking so I had a run up to Kinneuchar in the car:  I planed to potter my way along Main Street but ended up having a wander round the kirkyard.    Kinneuchar was extremely quiet ...the only folk I saw were in the top deck of a’95’ bus.   When I got back to Ivy Derek was at his van, so I ended up chatting to him about the world in general.... mostly Colinsburgh.


20.15   The ‘Can we still save the Planet’ programme (Judith Ralston) the other evening is still on my mind;  and brought to mind a recent wildlife change to Elie and Earlsferry: The demise of our local Swift (Apus Apus) population.   It must be 7 or 8 years since I last heard the sound of a ‘screaming party’ of Swifts over Earlsferry on a balmy summer evening, at dusk.  Maggie and I used to take our chocolate up to the Hutte to enjoy that especial summer treat.... in those days a ‘screaming party’ would consist of 40 – 50 individuals before they migrated south to warmer climes.  Will they ever come back to the villages?.... I would love them to come back to Elie and Earlsferry but it’s unlikely.   Swifts mate for life, and return to the same nest site every year, and for whatever reason that routine has been broken, they have to move elsewhere.  Swifts have been ‘Red Listed’ because of a decline in numbers (51%) since 1995.   This has mostly been caused by the destruction of nesting sites....and lack of insects (food).

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going out with Alice, her daughter ‘Izzie’ and son in law Alan.... to


celebrate my 85th birthday.... oops ... I think the numbers are the wrong way round.

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