So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

Karmacat

Madvix, do you actually pod your peas, or pick them young enough so that they'll be like mangetout?  Shelling peas, sitting on the doorstep into the back yard, is definitely a memory from my childhood 😁

Sorry you had to cancel (and deal with a poorly mog) - hope the moggie's better.

EssexHebridean

Morning Vix - just had a nice little catch up on all your news - boo to strikes causing disruption and poorly puss cats - and I agree entirely about Virgin Media - we were with them very briefly (as in - for very precisely 12 months...to the day) some years ago and they well and truly earned their nickname of "Virgin Mediocre" - we certainly wouldn't go back! 

The Lodge RSPB is lovely - and would indeed be great for your Niece as there are so many different areas to explore. It's a bit of a favourite of ours as it's far enough away to feel like we've "gone somewhere" but not so far that the travelling takes up too much of the day - from our direction it's either a turn off the M11 and then a short drop south on the A1 or we can cut through Biggleswade and then down to Royston and join the A10 there, so lots of easy travel options. Of I remember rightly it's one where for the free parking you just need to display a membership card in the windscreen although that is worth making sure of as I know there are car park machines and some of those now require a zero-cost ticket to be displayed along with the card. 

themadvix

Karmacat said:

Madvix, do you actually pod your peas, or pick them young enough so that they'll be like mangetout?  Shelling peas, sitting on the doorstep into the back yard, is definitely a memory from my childhood 😁

Sorry you had to cancel (and deal with a poorly mog) - hope the moggie's better.

I grow them nice and fat in their pods KC - I tried mange tout or sugar snap last year and all that seemed to happen was we got a mouthful of stringy bits, regardless of what I did! Podding them is fun - more so this year as I've got mesh over them, which has stopped most of the pea moths getting their larvae in - nothing like a maggotty-looking thing having eaten your peas and wandering around in the pod! 😬

themadvix

EssexHebridean said:

Morning Vix - just had a nice little catch up on all your news - boo to strikes causing disruption and poorly puss cats. 

. Of I remember rightly it's one where for the free parking you just need to display a membership card in the windscreen although that is worth making sure of as I know there are car park machines and some of those now require a zero-cost ticket to be displayed along with the card. 

Puss cat has now had a half a pouch of very expensive upset-tummy food and the binding paste. Unfortunately he was straight back in the litter tray and is now avoiding me as he knows I'll want to clean him up (not unreasonably! (Sorry, TMI!)). £19 spent at the vets, but really hoping it'll do the trick as I've spent far too much time and money there recently.

Yes, I thought we just had to display the membership card, but fortunately Mr MV read the sign by the machine and printed a free ticket. We'll definitely be going back -  we only did one of the walks and didn't even get to the hide (Mr MV is not a bird watcher, he's all about the wider conservation and the walking, but I'd quite like to sit and watch the birds!). I also want to get back to Rye House as I remember seeing bitterns there when I was young (and there were only about 10 breeding males in the whole of the UK) - would be amazing to see them again.

Work going OK - the very urgent bit is done and good progress being made on the next bit. Hopefully I'll be able to send that off before lunch.

EssexHebridean

Rye Meads is my local! There are occasionally Bitterns there - also at Amwell which is HMWT rather than RSPB and isn't far away. Rye Meads big thing is the Kingfishers though - you can never quite guarantee seeing one but to be honest if you don't at least catch a glimpse you'll be fairly unlucky - and the new Kingfisher viewing space is brilliant. Sightings this summer have been slightly hindered by the fact that one of the local Herons has decided to spend a lot of time lingering about right in front of the Kingfisher nesting bank though!   

themadvix

Oooh, I'll have to go - a kingfisher might even make a birder of Mr MV! They are such stunning birds! A kingfisher viewing space sounds amazing - I think I might have read about that in the handbook - opposite the bank they nest in?

I didn't know that about Amwell - I've been there as it's not very far from here either.

EssexHebridean

Yep - there used to be a fairly standard hide there opposite the original bank, but just prior to covid they made a good case for funding for a new "Kingfisher Hub" as it's called now, and although Covid slowed everything down it is now fully open. A bit space at one end with a huge window for general viewing, then a more traditional hide setup at the other with benches and opening windows for photographers. They built a new nesting bank at the same time too but naturally the awkward little devils prefer to still use the old one!  Walk wise there is an out-and-back just within the reserve itself - which includes a loop round to the Kingfisher Hub. You can also go through a one-way turnstile and do an extra stretch back down to the road then back to the visitor centre and car park via the road which turns the whole thing into a circular walk - just under 3 miles for the whole thing I think. There are 5 proper hides there including the kingfisher one - Draper, Gadwall, Tern, Warbler and Kingfisher Hub)  although the Warbler Hide and the Tern Hide are currently closed for various reasons (the Warbler hide has a wasps next under one of the benches - eek!) plus a "sort of" hide looking out over the reedbed which is great for Reed Warblers and similar at this time of year. 

themadvix

Oh thanks for that excellent insight EH (especially the additional walking info for Mr MV) - I will try to get it on the agenda for the not too distant future, although presumably there'll be a point at which nesting is no longer the in thing for the kingfishers?! 

EssexHebridean

The kingfishers are about year round - although certainly through the spring and early summer (and later if they raise a second brood) you stand a better chance of good views as they are present in more predictable places. MrEH was there on Saturday, just walking along one of the paths, glanced to the side and was just in time to see one of the little turquoise bullets whizz past him! 



That was taken in October 2017 - sometimes out of breeding season they do spend more time just sitting still, which is nice! 

themadvix

Beautiful!! 😁😁😁