Jump to content

Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

Coach
  • Posts

    2,983
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

  1. For team who have notched up more than 100 competition points in SL, the seasonal average top 10 are as follows:

    1. St Helens - 38.82
    2. Wigan - 36.79
    3. Leeds - 32.93
    4. Bradford - 32.47
    5. Warrington - 28.71
    6. Hull FC - 26.92
    7. Catalans - 26.83
    8. Castleford - 24.92
    9. Huddersfield - 23.88
    10. Hull KR - 22.25

    I know I should get out more...

    • Haha 1
  2. 1 hour ago, Red Willow said:

    Went for a walk and saw a goldcrest completely uninterested in us humans so close

    Sat at my computer, as now, I always tell myself that the thing to do when you think you have seen a goldcrest is double-check that it isn't a firecrest.  The trouble is, whenever I see a goldcrest, I always forget how to tell the difference between it and a firecrest!  As far as I know, I have never seen a firecrest.

    These links explain the difference between the two species:

    Firecrest Bird Facts | Regulus Ignicapillus (rspb.org.uk)

    Goldcrest Bird Facts | Regulus Regulus (rspb.org.uk)

    Looking at the distribution map for firecrests, it looks as though locally resident Widnes Vikings and Warrington Wolves fans should maybe look out for them in winter, with Hull FC and KR followers keeping a watchful eye for them in times of passage.

    • Like 1
  3. On 01/02/2024 at 13:31, Just Browny said:

    While I am sort of hoping the game is played at Siddal as I can walk there pretty easily, there is a particular challenge with access to the ground (it's basically on a one-track road that is theoretically closed for thoroughfare) so I'd be surprised if the police were happy with a situation where several hundred, maybe even 1000, Wakefield fans, would be using it. I think that's more likely to be an issue than the facilities at the ground itself.

    Have I got this right, JB?  Your 'location' is London, but you can walk to Siddal "pretty easily".  I am hugely impressed by your fitness and stamina and, yes, not a little jealous!

    • Haha 1
  4. Bird species of the heron and egret variety seem to have done well in expanding their European range north to now include Britain.  In my lifetime, the little egret has gonje from being a vagrant visitor to become commonplace and a breeding species in England and, by all accounts, continues to expand up the country,  The great white egret appears to be the next to be doing so.

    Storks are now breeding again, but it might be argued with a bit of artificial help, as they are at the site of a rewilding project in Sussex.

    My tip for the next bird of this broad type to get established here - without any human help - would, I think, be the glossy ibis.  This link doesn't go as far as that prediction, but sort of hints at it:

    Glossy ibis | The Wildlife Trusts

    I struggle to think of a week this winter when some (typically, maybe, two or three) haven't been reported from one or more locations in Hampshire.  If I am right, no doubt breeding and, in due course, progression up the country would follow.  

    It is good to be able to report bird successes like this, even if there is a hint of climate change in the explanation.  I find so much wildlife TV programming nowadays to be very doom-and-gloom oriented, so, I confess, I tend not to watch much!

    • Like 1
  5. 7 hours ago, The Future is League said:

    Am i right in thinking that Sir Lindsay Hoyle was the chairman or a director of the club at one stage?

    I think he had a role with the club, yes, but, like you, I cannot recall exactly what.  He is, of course, the Chorley MP.

    • Like 1
  6. 4 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

    I'm currently undertaking a quest to visit all 26 medieval cathedrals in England. It will take years but I will eventually do it. So far I've been to 6 over the last couple of years: Lincoln, Durham, Ripon, York, Carlisle and Manchester. 

    Good luck as you go round, HG.  As I recall, there are something like 42 Anglican Cathedrals in England.  Out of interest, which are the non-medieval ones?  I can think of Truro, modern Coventry and Guildford.  To complicate things, there are some that haven't been cathedrals for that long (in church terms!), but were already old buildings when they became cathedrals; I think Manchester probably falls into that category.

    Two great art forms - ecclesiastical architecture and choral music - seem to me to fit perfectly together in the context of sung services in a cathedral.  I am lucky; I have sung in choirs in services in Anglican cathedrals - Salisbury (which I get to do a few times each year), Wells, Portsmouth, Guildford, Winchester, Chichester, Southwark, St Paul's and Durham.  To do so always seems a great privilege.  

    When I sang with a visiting choir at Gulldford, one summer Saturday afternoon many years ago, I was speaking to one of the volunteer guides.  She said that she had been led to believe that the architect for this 20th century cathedral didn't particularly like choral music.  One consequence of this seemed to be that the main aisle up the body of the church continued through the choir at the same width.  This is contrast to older cathedrals, where the norm is for the width of the aisle to narrow as it passes through the quire.  There is a reason for this.  The two sides of the choir need to hear each other.  At Guildford, being a tenor and hence, with some of the basses, on the back row on one side, we couldn't hear the tenors and basses on the back row on the other side, just the loud and enthusiastic sopranos and altos immediately in front of them!  I suppose the resident choir has got used to this and knows how to cope with it!

    • Like 1
  7. 4 hours ago, Bearman said:

    I have just visited my local hospital. Whilst turning in and waiting for the traffic lights to change I was amazed to see a magpie crossing the pelican crossing. It had walked across the south bound carriage. It crossed the island in time for the lights to stop me ( I was turning right in a two lane section). THEN, with another island on the North bound road to cross it waited. At that point our two lanes had a green to go. The last I saw of it, it was patiently waiting to cross another two lane North bound section!

    I sense you might have been even more amazed had it been a pelican on the pelican crossing, Bearman.

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
  8. This is the 25-man French Elite 1 selection squad that Maxime Greseque has named to take on Les Dracs on 3rd February.  I have copied it from Les Dracs' website, hence the bold print for St-Esteve XIII Catalan players):

    AISPURO-BICHET Guillermo (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
    ALBERT Lucas (Carcassonne XIII)
    ALBERT Vincent (Carcassonne XIII)
    BABY Alan (Pia XIII)
    BOYER Clément (Carcassonne XIII)
    BOUSCAYROL Justin (XIII Limouxin)
    BROCAS Luc (F.C. Lézignan XIII)
    BUDDEN Hnaloan (R.C. Saint-Gaudens XIII)
    GROSSON Maxime (S.O. Avignon XIII)
    HERRERO Clément (Carcassonne XIII)
    JULLIEN Benjamin (Pia XIII)
    KOUASSI Sacha (Villeneuve XIII RL)
    KHEDIMI Mathieu (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
    LAPORTE Julien (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
    LE CAM Corentin (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)

    LEVEILLE Mathias (Albi XIII RL)
    LLONG Léo (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
    MARIA Franck (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)

    PEDRERO Nittim (Albi XIII RL)
    PONS Mathieu (R.C. Saint-Gaudens XIII)
    REY Corentin (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
    SALIES Adrien (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
    SCIMONE Bastien (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)

    VERGNIOL Lucas (XIII Limouxin)
    WALL Brad (Albi XIII RL)

  9. One hundred years ago today, the King approved the list of cabinet ministers submitted by Ramsay MacDonald and the first Labour government in the UK came into being.  Here is the list.

    First Lord of the Treasury and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs – The Rt Hon James Ramsay MacDonald.

    Lord Privy Seal and Deputy Leader of the House of Commons – Mr John R Clynes, MP.

    Lord President of the Council – Lord Parmoor, KCVO.

    Lord Chancellor – Lord Haldane, KT, OM.

    Chancellor of the Exchequer – Mr Philip Snowden, MP.

    Secretary of State for Home Affairs – The Right Hon Arthur Henderson.

    Secretary of State for the Colonies – The Right Hon James Henry Thomas, MP.

    Secretary of State for War – Mr Stephen Walsh, MP.

    Secretary of State for India – Sir Sidney Olivier.

    Secretary of State for Air – Brig Gen Christopher Birdwood Thompson.

    First Lord of the Admiralty – Viscount Chelmsford, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GBE.

    President of the Board of Trade – Mr Sidney Webb, MP.

    Minister of Health – Mr John Wheatley, MP.

    Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries – Mr Noel Buxton, MP.

    Secretary for Scotland – The Right Hon. William Adamson, MP.

    President of the Board of Education – Mr Charles Philip Trevelyan, MP.

    Minister of Labour – Mr Thomas Shaw, MP.

    Postmaster-General – Mr Vernon Hartshorn, MP.

    Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – Colonel Josiah Wedgewood, MP.

    First Commissioner of Works – Mr F W Jowett, MP.

     

    • Like 2
  10. 1 hour ago, Ullman said:

    Not been lucky enough to see any but they're well known for turning up in the car park at Sainsbury's in Hessle on Hull's western outskirts.

    They seem to turn up in supermarket car parks quite often; some of the current influx in Hampshire have been in a Co-op car park, and I think they have, in previous years, been spotted at an Asda car park on the outskirts of Southampton and at Waitrose in Romsey.  At least they seem willing to try various supermarket brands!

    I think their apparent liking for such places may reflect how supermarket planners design such places.  Typically, the car park, for aesthetic and practical reasons, will be broken up by trees and shrubs.  The trees are often ornamental varieties, which means they will have colourful berries from autumn into winter, while the shrubs will be things like cotoneaster, in other words also with bright berries.  it is, of course, those which catch the eye of the waxwings (where other species of bird have not already cleared all the berries!)

    • Like 1
  11. 26 minutes ago, Leeds Wire said:

    Lovely post, thanks.

    I live in on the northern edge of Leeds district, so it's not really urban but not rural either. 

    I think we are lucky to get the best of both habitats, but I've never seen a waxwing. 

    Thanks for the post, LW.

    One of the good things about waxwings is that they can turn up anywhere when in this country - urban or rural.

    About 30 years ago, when I lived and worked in the north, I was asked to do an interview on BBC local radio at their Middlesbrough studio.  It was about this time of year and had been a cold and raw day.  It was dusk when I arrived in the town centre and parked the car down a small side street.  As i set off on foot for the nearby BBC studio, I was aware of a chirruping sound just above me which I didn't recognise.  Looking up, I saw about ten waxwings huddling up on a telegraph wire just above me and right up against a street light which no doubt was giving out a bit of heat!  A great sight - and a reminder that you can come across waxwings anywhere!

    • Like 1
  12. A few bird species experience a phenomenon called an 'irruption' from time to time.  What happens is that a good breeding season is followed by a bad winter for food.  So huge numbers of the species in question migrate away from their breeding area, where normally most would happily also winter.

    One species prone to this behaviour is the spectacularly colourful waxwing.  I was lucky enough to see a few in Hampshire and Wiltshire when they 'irrupted' a few years ago.

    Apparently, this winter it is happening again and, sure enough, I see that they have got as far south and west in this country as Hampshire (and perhaps further)  A group of over twenty are spending time in Fleet, in East Hampshire, with smaller groups seen in Basingstoke and Romsey in the last couple of days.

    I am sure there will have been significant numbers of them turning up across Yorkshire, especially in the East Riding, as they will have come across the North Sea from northern, continental Europe.  Has anybody been lucky enough to see any?  Here is the link to the RSPB page about them:

    Waxwing Bird Facts | Bombycilla Garrulus (rspb.org.uk)

    • Like 3
  13. On 10/01/2024 at 09:05, DG70 said:

    Kassiano released by wire, Salford need a big quality prop and should be all over this but they are obviously skint. 

    It seems odd that he has been dismissed by Warrington so close to the season's start.

    If he enjoyed the French lifestyle, maybe he would be a good signing for Toulouse in the championship.

  14. On 06/01/2024 at 06:07, The Hallucinating Goose said:

    The number 8 went to see a therapist. When asked to lie down on the sofa the number 8 replied, "i can't or I'll be here forever". 

    When Milton Jones tries to count to ten in French, he can never get beyond number 8; he has a huit allergy!

    • Like 1
  15. When the Welsh dresser, part of which serves as the drinks cabinet for the WWD household, had to be moved in late summer to facilitate redecorating the main living room, I took the opportunity to get rid of quite a few unappealing (to me!) spirits and some bottles with miniscule amounts left in.

    However, I couldn't bring myself to just throw out four (still full) beer bottles, all of 40 to 50 years vintage.  So I have kept them (though I personally wouldn't drink their contents now!).  They are

    • a Traquair House Ale - the laird of this stately home in the Scottish borders rebuilt and began to reuse the house brewery in 1965.  It has been a great success and continues to flourish.
    • a bottle of a bicenteneray celebratory brew for Hall & Woodhouse; they began in 1777.
    • and two bottles from erstwhile Lancaster brewers - Yates & Jackson and Mitchell's.

    Traquair House have kindly replied to my email to confirm that, being from batch no. 20, my bottle dates from 1973 - so is fifty years old.  They say that makes it old enough to be 'collectable' and suggests it has a value of between £25 and £50.

    I would be happy to sell it (and the other three) but have no idea whether there is a specialist place for engaging in such transactions (other than, maybe, Ebay)  Any ideas?

  16. On 30/12/2023 at 18:40, JohnM said:

    I've a bottle of 35year old Bells whisky in a cupboard here.

    When I tidied up our drinks cupboard in the late autumn, I was reminded that I had four bottles of beer, all over 40 years old!  I don't plan to open them and drink the beer, but they are interesting mementos.  Sadly, two of the brewers - the brilliant Lancaster duo of Mitchell's and Yates & Jackson - have long gone.

  17. 3 hours ago, Spidey said:

    It does vary, last time I had a successful transplant I was home within 3 weeks, some people get home after 2

    Today I’m off home after 4 weeks and 5 days due to the complication and the need for a second surgery 

    Hope you're now fully sorted, Spidey, and all the best for 2024.

    • Like 1
  18. 3 hours ago, Midlands hobo said:

    Anyone joining in this year in any sort of month off anything?

    I'm doing veggie. Did veganuary previously and frankly it's hard if you like cheese as much as me.

    No.  As ever, I will make only one New Year's Resolution and, also as ever, I will stick to it.  It is, to make no New Year's Resolutions, other than this one.

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1
  19. On 24/12/2023 at 11:07, Midlands hobo said:

    Not really a show but when I worked shifts I used to find the shipping forecast very relaxing. 

    Don't know why perhaps it was the routine or the voice. 

    I really do like the infinite monkey cage.

    Coincidentally, MH (given your recent reference to it), I have read in this morning's edition of The Times that New Year's Day will be the 100th anniversary of the first radio broadcast of the shipping forecast.

    • Thanks 1
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.