Here is a poor swedish squirrel probable with his tail bitten by a European pine marten!

Hattie Tram under our recently blooming Hawthorne tree.

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Lovely pic.
A warning though.
If you go to Russia, don't drink anything that smells like Hawthorn.

Google says tailless squirrels are quite common and that it's almost definitely due to an attack by a predator.
As far as anyone knows, squirrels are never born without a tail.

I'm not so sure about that.
Both cats and squirrels usually have tails.
But not all of them.
I have met some cats without a tail.
And they was definitely not due to an attack by a predator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelle_Svansl%C3%B6s

I didn't say anything about cats.

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~Sue~

Google says tailless squirrels are quite common and that it's almost definitely due to an attack by a predator.
As far as anyone knows, squirrels are never born without a tail.

I'm not so sure about that.
Both cats and squirrels usually have tails.
But not all of them.
I have met some cats without a tail.
And they was definitely not due to an attack by a predator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelle_Svansl%C3%B6s

I didn't say anything about cats.

No, I did.
Quoting myself.

Both cats and squirrels usually have tails.
But not all of them.
I have met some cats without a tail.

Meow:)

btw. Haven't heard from Kittyman for a long time...

I was over on Facebook and one video Daily flicks and picks had about 20 hummingbird feeders and about 30 or so hummingbirds at one time. I never seen that many before at one time.

I was over on Facebook and one video Daily flicks and picks had about 20 hummingbird feeders and about 30 or so hummingbirds at one time. I never seen that many before at one time.

Try this link for above hummer video.
https://www.facebook.com/dailypicksandflicks/videos/1054293001257430/

Sorry for off topic but this is too neat to pass up..

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Yup that's the one, if you watch of some other ones there they are pretty good too

You would wonder what they put in the punch bowl. LOL.

I don't know how many different videos they have but I just got done watching a bunch.

Seen a Killdeer today, the first one in about 20 years, growing up we had fields of them everywhere.

I went back looking at those hummingbirds again, I can't believe so many of them.

I think I will post a few pics here now.

The weather has been quite good for the last few days.

My dad has several bird feeders he used to keep full of seed, unfortunately he is no longer able to do it, so I have taken over.

I however have taken to also distributing a few handfuls of suet pellets, this has caused me to become popular with the local bird community.

Most mornings I have a varied selection of the local avians waiting.

This pic is not very high quality, I had to take it quickly



It looks like the ducks are laughing, just quacking loudly, the herring gull has that "haughty look" and you can just seen the pheasant to the left.

Staying on an animal theme, I went to the fort yesterday evening and whist on the top I happen to see movement down in the grass.



Young rabbits. Possibly this years.

I took this yesterday, a local pleasure boat the Ramblin' Rose passing Hurst Castle.



I think this is my favourite from the last few days,

Taken from the end of Yarmouth pier looking west down the Solent, you can just see Hurst Castle and lighthouse.



Finally with the bank holiday weekend this week more and more boats arrive in the harbour. This one caught my eye today.



The Karenann a Swift Trawler 34, I foolishly looked it up on the internet to see how much something like that cost, there are 3 for sale in the UK.

Prices start at £144,000 ($184,000) to £270,00 ($346,000),

That of course is before you fill the 800 gallon fuel tank and pay the port charges!!

Thanks again for the wonderful pix, Bernie.

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~Sue~

Not as good as your GRU But here it is

Well is is a grey and overcast Bank Holiday Monday here. However I got a couple of interesting pictures.

First, the wading birds in the estuary at low tide.



Now not being a bird watcher I am not sure, but I think the red one in the centre is either a bar tailed godwit or a black tailed godwit.

Not sure about the others possibly sandpipers.

Walking along the pier I saw there was a naval vessel of some sort heading my way.



It was the HNLMS Van Speijk.

Which has a bit of Dutch history in the name.

She is the seventh ship in the Royal Netherlands Navy to be named after Jan van Speijk, who, during the Belgian Revolution, blew up his ship rather than let it fall into Belgian hands. To honor him the Dutch king decided the Royal Netherlands Navy will always have a ship named after him.

Not something you often see in Croydon!!

The orange bill suggests godwits.
My first thought was curlew, but that has a dark bill, with a very distinctive upwards curve.
The trouble with all the waders is they are more or less the same size and colours.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Now tomorrow in Yarmouth is one of the important events in the holiday season.

It is the Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival

Now if that conjures up and image of pipe smoking grey haired old sea-dogs sitting drinking ale, you would wrong.

As I am sure you know the term "gaff" refers to a gaff-rigged sail as of coursed opposed to the Bermuda Rig

(No I didn't actually know the difference until I looked it up.)

So the "old gaffer racing" now make more sense as they will be gaff rigged sailboats not grey haired old sea-dogs out of breath running round the town square.

There will be lots going on and this morning large white things are appearing on Yarmouth green



High tech diversion signs for the ferry.



And the reason for the ferry diversion, well another large white thing is currently occupying half of he normal queuing lanes.



The fun kicks of tomorrow for three days and I expect the quiet little town I have come to know will be transformed.

I will attempt to get a few pics if I can.

A Dragonfly:)
Called Trollslända here.
Before Christianity came to Northern Europe, the dragonfly was associated with the goddess Freja who stood for fertility.
The Swedish name "trollsländor" probably comes from the fact that dragonfly is said to be the troll's spinning tool.

My first rose of the season.



By changing angle of camera and sun the rose explodes. Photoshop only to crop/resize for posting. That's how it came out of the camera. Sorry my macro is not that great.



These are 900 pixels. Is this too big?

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I did mention the "Old Gaffers Festival"

Unfortunately my dad has not been very happy so I have been a bit busy. I did however get to the festival and here are a few shots.

To best Illustrate the difference between a "gaff rig" and a "Bermuda rig" here is a picture.




The two yachts left and centre have the 4 sided mainsail, with the gaff pole at the top, the yacht to the right has the 3 sided Bermuda rig, the most common.

All the boats (gaffer or not ) had the bunting out.



There was also one of the Dunkirk "little ships




The Caronia, read it's full history HERE

Here is the short version.



The largest "gaffer" I saw was the training ship Vigilance which was just raising it;s sails on one of it's trips down the Solent.



In the town there were stalls everywhere selling all sorts of things, including this one selling fudge




Err lots of fudge :-)



However my favourite spot was the classic car display, it is many , many years since I have seen one of these;




A 1955 Humber Snipe, with an Island registration "DL"

And this gem that as a small boy I could always spot;



A Jowett Javelin, manufactured between 1947 and 1953, it was also a "fastback"



There was of course the brash and loud.



But by far the car I would have most liked to have driven, I had actually seen before and posted a picture here;



Quite unassuming Ford Crown Victoria, favoirite car of American police forces everywhere.

The owners handwritten note in the window shows why.



I could not stay for too long as I had my dad to consider, but I did enjoy the festival.

Very nice pics Bernie.
And the first pic very well illustrate the difference between a "Gaffed rig" and a "Bermuda rig"
The two closest are Gaffed rigged and the two behind are Bermuda rigged.
Is this from Isle of Wight by any chance?
A friend of mine has sailed there:)
Rather tricky with the tides.

Just talked to my sister living in Liverpool.
She thought is very windy today.
Gale she said.
That's not windy.
Strange because we both sailed with our father in a heavy storm when we where young:)

Quite unassuming Ford Crown Victoria, favoirite car of American police forces everywhere.

They are finally being slowly phased out but any Crown Vic in the rear view mirror creates bad vibes.

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