Gardening, post and packing.

Spent the morning in the garden, cutting the grass (left a 'meadow' of buttercups), planting the tomatoes in the veg patch, put a piece of trellis behind shed for Ivy to grow along, also cut back some of the plants growing up against the shed from next door.

Posted CTC subs renewal by direct debit and sent in entry for NSRA 50 Championship on 11th- 12th June (1st choice is Friday at 16:25, 2nd Sat at 18:15, 3rd Sat at 16:25)

Packing for Gib trip. Henry picking me up from home at 03:30 for journey to Luton.

Taking my Panasonic FZ7 camera again as it is a good compromise of performance over size. Both batteries charged. The trick will be find some alternative shots to give variety over previous years.

Early morning trip to Wraysbury with 400mm of Sigma lens

Arrived at 5:40, sun shining and not a soul about.  Walked along lake to level crossing and round to scrub. Good views of Sedge Warbler and two swans feeding on the lake.

Initially no damsel flies about but as the temperature got up they appeared. No sign of any mayflies.

Peregrine taking it easy on the pylon by the level crossing. Tried taking photos but more or less into the sun.

Finished up at about 09:00 one chap walked by as I sat on the wooden bench, that is all I saw.
On the way backed looked at the shrub that was infested by larvae last year and sure enough they are back. Only small numbers at the moment so it will be interesting to see how they develop. Last year the shrub was covered in web and all leaves eaten on 10th May.

Meet with Rosie in Richmond

A very warm day and perfect evening to meet up for a drink with Rosie at the Slug & Lettuce. I arrived earlier and walked around Richmond Green and the river. Took a few photos of the bridge and ladybirds by the river.

Met up with Rosie for a drink then moved onto Zizzi's for a meal.

Water Meter Survey due this morning

He has been. It will be a simple job to install a water meter and should be done in the next 2-3 weeks. All the work is outside so I don't need to be around. The meter will include a 1/4 turn stop tap so I can turn off the water to the house using that. (Job reference WMIS 2234206 Engineer G. Wardle

GreenBee Car Insurance documents arrived.

Bugs

As the weather was overcast but warm I thought it would be worth going to Wraysbury to look for Damsel flies waiting to warm up. Sure enough the plants close to the stream had many demoiselles laying about waiting for the sun. Took plenty of photos but as light was low level shutter speeds were quite long so I increased the ISO on the Canon 450D to 800. Took lots of time wandering up usual route towards level crossing and over the metal bridge to the scrub. Walked on to the metal barrier prior to the British Airways sailing club. Took a left turn to see where the path went and after a while expected to arrive back by the bridge but in fact ended up back where I left the bike, which was a surprise. Lots of mayfly resting on the plants close to the water. Saw two Orange Tip butterflies but they were fairly distant and almost constantly on the move.
The birds are difficult to see now the leaves are really coming through, they are in good voice and species heard were
Blackbird, song thrush, chiff chaff, blackcap, whitethroat, great spotted and green woodpecker,
On the water there were GC grebes, swan, coot, mallard, bh gull and common tern

The undergrowth is growing well too.
Plants identified

• Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)
• Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
• Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)
• Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

River & Rowing Museum

A warm sunny day so went to Henley on Thames to see the River & Rowing Museum.

http://www.rrm.co.uk/

Plenty to see here. The Wind in the Willows display uses a hand held media player to tell the main elements of the story and many key moments are realised in the display alongs with sound effects and atmospheric music. A great display. The models are based on the famous E H Shepard drawings.
The bulk of the museum covers the history of Henley and the regatta, history of rowing, from iron age dugouts through Grecian Triemes to Steve Redgrave & co's Olympic rowing boat.
There is also a gallery dedicated to the Thames, history, natural history and notable events. Outside there is a garden area aimed to encourage wildlife including 'ratty' aka the Water Vole.

Once finished at the museum walked along the river, past the weir and on to Bolney Court. A private house with a model railway in the garden with a large model of St Moritz station to serve it. A very impressive model! The garden (visible from the public footpath) includes a sunken garden and tennis court.

Camera Club

http://www.ashfordcameraclub.org.uk/index.php

Car Insurance renewal

Car insurance due for renewal with Admiral but have gone with Greenbee this year. 10% Partner discount and free legal cover. Cover starts on 23rd May


Sorted out latest cards for JLPRC to post

Leeds Castle to meet up with JLPPC

Trip to Leeds Castle to meet up with JLPPC

Weather mostly overcast with some light showers

Abby, Richard, Brian,. Alicia

Fabulous flying display of birds by 'A World of Wings' http://www.aworldofwings.com/index.html

Grass cut and shopping

no more to add really!

Exciting new PC kit

Installed Netgear DGN 2000 wireless router and LG 22" monitor on PC.
The Smart wizard failed when I tried to install using it, firstly it just crashed the PC to power off, not even a failure message and secondly it reported that the wizard only support the DGN 2000. This is the model I have! So, set the router up manually and now all working fine.

The 22" screen was ordered on Tuesday from Novatech and arrived mid morning today, Thursday.
Now it is installed and I have wide open spaces on the screen - marvelous.

Trophies finally collected and JLPRC

Collected last few trophies for CRPC from Heritage and then on to JLPRC. Keith and Kim were there and they managed to get the Noptel trainer working. (Version Sport 2000).

I need to get some money for Darren for repairing the stop cock last week. The bill comes to £50.

Pick up CRPC trophies then onto JLPRC.

LWT @ Barnes, still cold

Trip to London Wetlands Centre at Barnes. Started off sunny but clouded over and was quite chilly. Lots of typical sightings plus Redshank, Little Ringed Plover and Sand Martin. Arrived at 11:00 and home by 15:30. Tomato soup and bread roll in the cafe was most welcome.

In the evening went to monthly book club meeting at Waterstones, Staines. The book was Stephan Benatar's "Wish Her Safe at Home" and the author was present to chat about the book and himself.
Look out for a film adaptation ?  Currently an option with Emma Thompson.

No trophies and no plumber

To spoil my plans even more I called Alan Tullet to see if the trophies for CRPC were ready to pick up and they weren't, a last minute rush of urgent work has bumped mine down the queue. I'll pick them up next Wednesday. As part of the journey I was going to drop off some 100Y A/S cards to Ian Pettett so I have posted them instead.

Unfortunately the plumber couldn't get to me this afternoon so he is calling round tomorrow morning. After much searching I found the external stopcock in the front garden. A very old rusty cover with a broken edge was covering a piece of paving slab, below which was a thick tile. This covered a 4" pipe leading to the stop cock. Using Dean's key I could turn the stopcock but even when fully closed some water came through to the mains taps? Hopefully, this will reduce the flow and I won't have to get up every few hours tonight to empty the pans, catching the drips.

I have called Kim to let him know I cannot make it to the range today.

eek a leak, missing out on RAF trip

Discovered water leak in stop cock leading into the house. This has caused water to seep into the carpet, underlay and floor in the corner of the living room. Unfortunately, the plumbing insurance I have with British Gas (Home Care 400) does not cover the main stop cock.

I have had a word with Dean next door and he has arranged for Darren to call in tomorrow afternoon, phew!

That does mean I'll have to forget about the trip to RAF Welford with the Waitrose Military History Group.

ESSU 50 Metre championships at Bisley.

ESSU 50 Metre championships at Bisley.

10:45 detail, very cold for May and quite windy. Scored 567 so didn't make it past the first stage.

See here for the results: http://www.essu.org.uk/Sub%20Pages/2010%20Results/50mMenElim2.pdf