I ended up playing young man’s cricket with my club today. Amazingly I was asked to open the batting. It was a lively pitch and I had to fend off many deliveries. Still I stuck at and was run out by a superb piece of fielding. We won as well! I am aiming to open the batting for the Seniors on Tuesday up in Staffordshire.
On the Story Telling front bookings are beginning to come in for the Autumn in a variety of places and audiences!
This week has seen another cricket match – we had a friendly against the Seniors 50s (3rds and 4ths) which my more senior team won in the last over! We play our last league away to Staffordshire next Tuesday, I am also turning out on Saturday – where I will be the oldest by a country mile!
We pedalled down to WWT Slimbridge this morning. It is a quiet time of the year for seeing birds but a few pictures below. I did see a greenshank and a green sandpiper. We enjoyed seeing a a young crane with both parents. First picture is father and son( or possibly daughter).
Lapwings landing below!
Delighted to see an immature green woodpecker in our garden this morning. We haven’t seen one for a while in the garden (the great spotted is a much more frequent visitor) Some pictures of our visitor below. I do remember being thrilled when I first moved to Stroud seeing this bird regularly on a nearby school field. I had meant to put out a sign in the garden for them saying “Plenty of delicious ants here for yaffles!”
I have just finished reading Circe by Madeline Miller. An interesting and certainly different viewpoint on the Greek hero Odysseus . Not quite as good as her Song of Achilles but a good read and I was gripped reading it!
The classic Neil Young song is today’s title. Guess who the old man is? I played cricket today for my club. I was the oldest player by a country mile! We lost- it is my second heavy defeat in a week! The main thing is I didn’t disgrace myself! The good news is my son David scored 96 not out today.
I went to Wick Court story telling tonight. My goodness it was hot! and one lad fell asleep (it is the way I tell them!)
Well it has been hot few days! My week has been some time in the garden, a couple of medium distance rides and reading! I also played cricket yesterday and I did the first part right and won the toss- obviously with the heat we batted. We managed to post a decent score that was demolished by a powerful Oxfordshire batting side. It will be my last year as captain (I have done three years)- we have one league game left and then the cup competition.
I was at Wick Court this morning bird watching with a youth group from Walton in Liverpool – a wide range of ages! I am story telling for them tomorrow.
I had a thoroughly enjoyable day yesterday at the Test Match. Nothing beats live sport in the flesh, the crowd, the anticipation of moments, the drama and of course good company, The picture below is Joe Root (what a player) batting.
Off to Edgbaston tomorrow for the Test Match- game looks well poised after today. Looking forward to seeing Brook bat- a really talented player. Forecast looks ok!!!
Continuing the sporting theme my season ticket (well card) arrived last week but we have got some silly kick off times in the first two months! It disappointing how TV doesn’t take into account travelling fans. Ironically most of last season wasn’t too bad for kick off times.
On the bird front saw quite a few swifts flying over today.
I have my last story telling of the summer next week so really need to get down to both writing and learning new stories to tell.
One last photo from Bempton below- although you can’t see them on the rock there are thousands of gannets nesting on precarious ledges and there were many more rock faces with ledges full of birds.
Well the body has recovered here in North Yorkshire following my 3 days across country on my bike. It was an excellent Sustrans route and often didn’t see a vehicle or bike for many miles! In fact the quietest ride of the many I have tried.
Today we visited Bempton Cliffs one of the RSPB’s jewels in the crown. We last visited probably nearly 20 years ago. The sky was filled with seabirds – gannets, kittiwakes, fulmars everywhere as well as numerous puffins and guillemots. Also saw tree sparrows and at least one corn bunting. I took loads of pictures on my camera which I will put on the blog when I get home. A few pictures from my phone below. I also enjoyed watching two swallows in the nest being fed by their parents.
