Hi folks! I decided to make a change at the last minute and reorder our posts. After looking at the topics, decided the one I had worked up would align better to the upcoming smoochie holiday than the one that was scheduled to fall on said smoochie holiday. The original one didn’t seem the best fit symbolically, plague mask and all ha. Easy fix, just push that one to the front – you’ll understand as you get to the body of the post. This switch also gives me a chance to get fully caught up on the Average Year reporting. Managed to get all the previous years wrapped up (final charts, trip reports, etc. link here) and all the graphs updated for this year (link here). Still working on updating the trip reports, but now current up to at least 1/17/2025. Officially at 243 species for the year which is a great start! Enough about me, time to get you to Brad’s latest adventure – this one from across the pond (and possibly a catalyst for a new haunted trail theme).
Take it away Brad…
I’m never quite sure which order I will finish the stories for Wildlife Intrigued. Let me give you a brief setup before I begin. Jan and I were fortunate enough to be visiting her English relatives in England. We were staying with Jan’s cousin Louise and her husband Steve. Louise’s parents Margaret and John lived a few minutes away. The extended family, including pups Finn and Red, elected to take a 3-day holiday to Dorset on the coast of the English Channel. In October. The temperatures were about what you would expect being that far north on the globe. While there, we all decided to check out a few of the many seaside villages along The Channel.
Now to rejoin the rest of the story already in progress . . .
The sun was still hanging high in the sky when we arrived at Lulworth Cove in Dorset, southern England. I was amazed at how many people were seaside during October. Temps were in the 40’s F (or single digits Celsius) with more than a breeze but not quite a wind. Jan and I had just gotten out of the car and were walking to the seaside with her cousin Louise’s husband Steve and Louise’s mum Margaret (John elected to stay warm in the thatched cottage). Louise had taken the Jaaaaaaaaag (I didn’t’ use the appropriate amount of letter “a’s” in my prior story from England link here) to visit a friend who lived nearby in Dorset. That meant Steve was going to chauffeur us in the Land Rover because I don’t think the relatives were ready for my driving on the other side of the road yet.
Lulworth Cove is known for some unique geology and a protected beach with some very nice blue water. Obviously, no one was playing in the water except for a few seabirds. In fact, I was one of the very few people wandering along the sand at water’s edge. The scenery was magnificent. However, recent landslides onto the beach kept most visitors away from the base of the high cliffs.
We were all getting a bit chilly and decided to walk back through the shops on the way to the car park in hopes of finding a warm drink.
Soon enough, one of us had gone to look for a coffee. Jan had wandered away to look for me because I started looking for her. Steve, the smart one in the group, was holding the dogs (Red and Finn) waiting for all of us to wander back to the car park. After all, he had the keys to the Land Rover.
Waiting for the group to coalesce again, I noticed this black bird sort of stalking the passersby.
Quite Nevermorish eh!?! Hit the jump to read more about this eerie bird.
Continue reading Queen to Rook 4…by Brad Marks
Wildlife Intrigued 