I love it!

An old folk legend tells of a young Cornish boy bravely venturing to the border to see this land known as England. Upon reaching the border he met a Watchman named James Ayferty (Who would later go on to have a road named after him). The boy, bedazzled by James medals asked him what they were made of. Of course in these days, a watchman of the CornWatch would have had medals of Gold, but James’ wonderful wit got the better of him and he replied “Tin, they are made of tin. Now hurry along before I have you locked up”. And off he ran to tell the other Cornish what he had learned.
Even today, the Cornish still bury deep into the ground to find their precious metal. Bless.

This is a traditional song written by Sir Edward German that i think really sums up Devon. Sir Edward was born in Shropshire of Welsh descent who spend lots of time in wales and the westcountry. He seems to still consider Devon to be the greatest place on earth though! (see verse 3) There’s just something about the place. I love Aberystwyth and Wales but Devon always has an attraction!

Combe and tor,
green meadow and lane,
birds on the waving bough.
Beetling cliffs by the surging main,
rich red loam for the plough.
Devon’s the font of the finest blood
that braces England’s breed.
Her maidens fair as the apple bud
and her men are men indeed.

When Adam and Eve were dispossed
of the garden, hard by Heaven,
they planted another one down in the West -
’twas Devon, ‘Twas Devon, glorious Devon.

Spirits to old world heroes wake
by river and cove and hoe.
Grenville, Hawkins, Raleigh, Drake
and a thousand more we know.
To every land the wide World oer
some slips of the old stock roam.
Leal friends in peace,
dread foe in war,
with hearts still true to home.

Old England’s Counties, by the sea,
from East to West are seven.
But the gem to that fair galaxy
’tis Devon, ’tis Devon, glorious Devon.

Dorset, Somerset, Corn’all, Wales
may envy the likes of we.
For the flower of the West,
the first, the best,
the pick o’ the bunch us be.
Squab pie, junket and cider brew,
richest of cream from the cow.
What’d old England wi’out ‘em do,
and where’d un be to now?

As crumpy as a lump o’ lead
be a loaf wi’out good leaven.
But the yeast mother England
did use for her bread
be Devon, be Devon, glorious Devon.

Awesome!

The grey phalaropes we’ve got here at the moment are causing quite a stir, people are coming from miles to sit in the freezing cold on the seafront watching these fantastic birds!! what a joy to have them right on my doorstep.  A quick walk this morning certainly woke me up. it’s blustery as anything here today but the purple sands don’t seem to mind about the raging storm. I’m going to try and get some photos up soon of various things around aberystwyth, birding sites, nice views, interesting places etc.. so wait with baited breath for your virtual guided tour.

My parents phoned me up from Devon the other day to tell me they’d seen a penduline tit, great northern diver, cirl bunting, red necked grebe and a velvet scoter all in one day just a week after seeing the snowy owl down in cornwall. To say I was jealous is an understatement. But then I realised that maybe i should just be grateful for the beautiful town (aberystwyth) that i get to live in where great wildlife and beautiful views are right on the doorstep. I suppose we should be grateful for what we have rather than jealous of what we don’t. Snowy owl would still have been good though!

So I’m planning to gear this more towards being a birding blog with occasional remarks on politics and free speech and presidency and the trinity and other things.

First bird entry.. Quick walk along aberystwyth seafront this morning got me 13 purple sandpiper on college rocks, a superb male black redstart was at the castle  and best of all two grey phalarope (life ticks) were just off south beach.

Met a few birders who are gradually eroding my idea that all birdwatchers are snobs.

For the first time in ages there has actually been some sun in Aberystwyth so yesterday I went out for a lovely walk with my friend the camera around the seafront and managed to get some arty shots..

Also saw a really cool snakelocks anenome which looks like a magic eye puzzle.

It was quite a short walk with no binoculars but bird sightings for the day were.. Greater black backed, lesser black backed, herring and black headed gulls, cormorant, turnstone, oystercatcher, ringed plover, gannet and sandwich tern.. as well as the usual.

I’ve decided I’m going to post more stuff on this blog because my wife has forced me to. So.. watch this space, all kinds of things will be covered in my new blog posting frenzy. From Poverty to hoverflies to playing the blues and everything in between..

I’m now back in beautiful sunny Devon ready to start my dissertation tomorrow. The journey down was quite eventful and I eventually arrived about 2hours later than expected. I would love to travel on the trains for a week. They are such easy places to start conversations with people and just show kindness to others by helping them with their bags and things. What an oppurtunity it is for us all whenever we travel on public transport. Going on trains gives us great oppurtunity to show love to others but can also be a pretty depressing place. A few things I noticed today that really saddened me were; The fact that signs need to be put up saying ‘please give up your seat for elderly passengers’ Surely we should just do this anyway? why don’t things like this come to us naturally anymore? , the fact that even on the train there is a tv on with news and sports and things, can’t we escape from this and just hold a conversation even for five minutes, And the fact that at just gone midday some people who looked like they had just passed there eighteenth birthdays were buying lager from the in-train buffet. When you look into a teenagers eyes when they are drinking at midday you see nothing. No joy. Well that’s cheered you all up! I will be posting some exciting info about my diss tomorrow and will also add some photos so check back and you’ll be cheered

We’ve all heard in the news this week about the taking of nine British and American diplomats at gunpoint in Harare, Zimbabwe. They were reportedly stopped in the road by an unmarked van and attacked by war veterans loyal to President Mugabe.  They have since all been released unharmed. In the same week it was revealed that the British taxpayer is paying millions of pounds to fund a Somali police force full of militiamen and led by one of the country’s most nototrious warlords Abdi Hasan Awale Qaybdib. Though these two things seem similarly news worthy (and terrible) only one of them has been widely broadcast. Only one of them Shows Britain in a poor light. So only the other one reaches the news. How willing are we to look beyond ‘the news’ to see the real news of hundreds of thousands of people being exploited day by day that go unnoticed. Do we really know (or want to know where our taxes go.) Let’s not allow the media to control our view of the world, be prepared to search a little deeper and be shocked by some of things you find.

I have eventually been persuaded to start a blog. We’ll see what happens from here..I shouldn’t actually be writing this at all as I’m meant to be out working on my dissertation. Weather like this really makes me miss Devon and the swan inn in lympstone. really good cider!