Hen Harrier

A glorious October day in Perthshire.  Woke to misty conditions and a blanket hanging over the River Tay but gradually little pockets of blue sky appeared.  Too good a morning to waste, so on with the cycling togs and off to Little Glenshee.  There is always wildlife to see on this bike ride - and I really mean always!

First up a couple of jays before I've even got to Little Glenshee.  A few hares, and the ever present roe deer, pheasants scuttling about at the side of the road, crows and rooks lurking in the fields.  But no buzzards, which is unusual.  But then just after crossing the ford a bird hops out of the banking and 'bounces' across the road.  It's a bird of prey and I stop to see what's wrong.  A couple of steps off the road and I'm confronted by a hen harrier.  It lets me approach and something is clearly wrong.  I can touch it's back but anything more would I think bring a sharp peck. A beautiful bird.

Unfortunately I don't have any mobile reception here and so I have to complete the cycle home before I can call the wildlife rescue people.  It takes us a few hours before we can meet and see if we can find out what's wrong.  Unfortunately - or perhaps - fortunately the bird has gone.  It's a thick area of scrub with plenty of water and stunted shrubs.  The verdict of he SSPCA chap is that the harrier might have mis-timed a dive or swoop and been stunned.  Hopefully it recovered in the period between me finding it and managing to get back to the spot with the SSPCA.

I've always wanted to see a hen harrier, but this was at rather closer quarters than I would have liked.

Tuscany 2012

Tuscany ... what a great experience. Siena, Pienza, San Gimignano, Florence, Montepulciano, Volterra ... wonderful places.   Probably the most instantly recognisable photo we brought back was of Pisa but whilst I enjoyed it I'd have to say it was the most crowded spot we visited. Given a choice between returning to Pisa or nearby Lucca I'd plump for Lucca.  Pisa was a bit surreal ... we parked next to the huge concrete bowl of a football stadium where there is enough fencing to suggest military operations.  Yet stroll along the street, turn the corner and 'hey presto' you walk straight into the Field of Miracles. It is a great sight, a green oasis with three stunning buildings. 

The famous 'leaning tower'.

The hot springs of Bagno Vignoni were a real highlight on a very hot day. Built by the Medici the little village is well worth a visit as it is in stark contrast to the larger sights in the area such as Siena and Pienza.

Lucca is set within thick city walls, that are ideal for a stroll or a bike ride.  So thick are these walls that the walkway on top is a tree-lined avenue. The Duomo is well worth a lingering look, very intricate and blindingly bright white. I liked the fact that Lucca is a working town and the bustle in the centre is part tourism and part ordinary Italians going about their business. The famous 'round' square is well worth a visit too, but the best thing for me is that whenever you felt things were getting too busy you could escape onto the tranquility of the city walls.

However, the Duomo in Siena is one of the finest buildings in Tuscany. The city is a sheer delight, easy to walk round and full of wonderful architecture.  From the little district symbols to the mighty Duomo, Siena is crammed with interest.  We visited on a Sunday, parked beside the football stadium, and simply strolled from sight to sight. The Campo, numerous lovely churches, hidden piazza's, looming towers.  Great stuff and a place I'm keen to revisit. It can be fairly hilly but that said you wouldn't get the series of excellent views if it weren't for the ups and downs of this beautiful town. If posted many more images for Siena and the other hill-top Tuscan towns and villages on my flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/41471288@N02/sets/72157631236408470/

Volterra was our nearest hill-top village and is rightly very popular.  Perhaps not quite as dramatic as San Gimignano it is nevertheless a wonderful setting.  There is a calming park at the top of the village which is ideal for picnicking and some stunning Tuscan views.  Look out for the roman remains too, they are well worth a visit and quite relaxing in what can be a busy village. At the top of the village (near the underground carpark) is a vista that draws many visitors and with a broad wall to sit on you can linger here and drinki in the Tuscan scenery.

 

Our accomodation was interesting. A converted steading that houses around half a dozen holiday lets with a swimming pool and great views,  and all at the end of what the Italian's term 'a white road'.  White road don't have tarmac and are in essence dirt tracks but often wtih a good layer of gravel.  This proved interesting for us as our accomodation was at the foot of a fairly steep hill, and beyond our complex was a further farmhouse that was  undergoing substantial renovations. Now that posed a problem because the heavy vehicles that brought supplies to the building works quickly trashed the road and as we slithered down to our apartment on day one we both thought .... Mmmm, going to be interesting driving back up this in a mini.  Well, it was and it took me seven goes to get up what was a cratered and shifting surface.  For the next few days we left our car at the top of this steep hill and simply walked to and from the car at the start and end of each day.  That doesn't sound too bad but when the temperature is in the high 70s and low 80s and you are laden with heavy drinks and food (for we were self catering) it became quite a challenge each day.

 

But the benefit of being at the end of this road were the wildlife and quiet evenings. We had cattle egrets, deer, boar, foxes, birds of prey and hosts of lizards to watch. Insect wise there was good and bad news.  As darkness fell encountered the dreaded mosquitoes, but during the day and at meal times the Olianders drew in those magnificent big black bumblebees that bounce around with a soundtrack to match their impressive size. I can never make up my mind about Scops Owls.  The sound they make (so like a submarine beeping in a  movie) is like no other wildlife sound I've heard, but they do go on a bit and if they select a nearby tree you can write off sleeping for a while.

 

 

Sunderland AFC 1

Part of me thinks that when it comes to football, fans are a little like ducklings.

You know the theory that duckling will follow the first thing they see after hatching.  Well I think that applies to most of us with football clubs.  I was brought up in Sunderland and the first games my Dad took me to were at Roker Park to watch Sunderland.  The green swathe of turf, the red and white criss-cross pattern on the stands, the buzz of the crowd, the red and white striped jerseys.  I was hooked and despite living in Scotland for most of my days and watching heaps of football all over the place I still get a tingle when I see Sunderland. One of the most appealing things about Sunderland is arguably the way the whole town gets behind the team. I don't get to see them that often, but they are my team and I suppose always will be.

Football memorabilia isn't something I go in for, but I do like seeing it in museums and magazine articles.  Some of it is incredibly expensive, so below I've reproduced a few things and I've also captured in time some of my Sunderland memories.

Match programmes are the most common football souvenir that fans have of matches. Like most supporters I have a few programmes tucked away that come out once in a blue moon to remind me of games I went to, people I went with, great players, and joy and disappointment in equal measure.

Amongst the most memorable Sunderland home matches for me was the visit of Cardiff City at the end of the 1978/79 season. April 28th ... a glorious sunny day on Wearside, and a bumper crowd inside Roker Park to see Sunderland lying third in the league seek to secure the two points (as it was two points for a win in those days) that would almost certainly secure one of the three promotion spots. Cardiff had languished near the foot of the table for most of the season and were desperate for points themselves to avoid slipping into Division Three. So the scene was set for a memorable final home league match of the season.  What unfolded was pure theatre as Sunderland missed a penalty, huffed a puffed and finally ran out a steam against a Welsh side that mastered the tension better to win 2-1.  Talk about a deflating walk back into town.  Despite winning their last game of the season Sunderland were destined to miss promotion by a single point.

The following season, without the very unlucky Billy Elliot, who had been somehow removed as manager despite a good season, the club were duly promoted. The home game I got along to this time was Chelsea, newly relegated from the First Division (then the top league). Amid a fair bit of crowd disorder Sunderland edged home 2-1 but in truth the alarm bells should have been ringing for football as fighting fans were ruining the spectacle and driving many football folk away from the game.

However, undettered I was back for the return to the big time in the summer of 1980 and briefly Sunderland shone.  After beating Everton 3-1 at Roker on the opening day of the season (but to a smaller crowd than watched the Cardiff game) they went on to play Southampton in front of 40,000 plus. Alas, despite a goal by a certain Sam Allardyce, the Lads were beaten by a Saints side that had Keegan and Channon in their ranks. But the real excitement again came at the end of the season when relegation stalked the club.

April 25 1981, Sunderland at home to Brighton and with Liverpool away the only other fixture left a win over Brighton seemed absolutely vital. On another sunny day Sunderland slithered to a shock 2-1 home defeat.  It should have been arrevederci to the top league but amazingly one week later the beleagured side won 1-0 at Liverpool ....  ah, the great unpredicatable theatre that is football.  Liverpool and Ipswich had lured me out of Scotland to travel to Roker Park and I wasn't disappointed by either. Sure they beat Sunderland (4-2 and 2-0 respectively) but the quality of football was amazing - Dalglish, Souness, McDermott and Hansen for Liverpool, Muhren, Thijssen, Mariner, Butcher and Gates for Ipswich. Great teams to watch.

Occassionally I was tempted to travel to other grounds to see Sunderland. My first real outing was on the travel club coaches to Luton in November 1979. A really good day out and a surprise 3-0 win for Sunderland.  Rostron, Buckley, Rowell, Elliott ... a good solid team. This was the same season in which it would all end in tears at home to Cardiff and during the campaign I made a trip to the West Country to see Sunderland tackle Bristol Rovers.  I can't remember too much about the drab 0-0 other than the stadium being a greyhound stadium and brigning to mind memories of Clyde playing at Shawfield Stadium.

   Away to Cardiff was a clasic late season game when again Sunderland needed the points to go up.  Standing in the packed away end behind the goal the atsmosphere was vibrant, enthusiastic and optimistic, but a goal by Pop Robson was not enough in a 1-1 draw but a few days later against West Ham (complete with cup hangover) Sunderland went up.  I tried other away matches at Wolves, Birmingham, Tottenham and Liverpool but in truth the travel and the hassle didn't seem as rewarding as strolling along to a home fixture.

 

The arrival of the Stadium of Light came at a time when I had a young family and the budget didn't stretch to venturing south, but over time things change and I was finally able to see what the fuss about the Stadium of Light and the Premiership was all about.  First up was a birthday present for my oldest son to see the visit of Aston Villa, a great day out followed. The stadium, the much improved atmosphere, the quality of players ... it was a quantum leap from the late seventies and early eighties.
 
Since then we have made a few trips to the Stadium of Light together.  Manchester City (when local boy Adam Johnson scored a real cracker for the visitors), Arsenal (when Darren Bent grabbed a last gasp equaliser), Bolton with hosptality, Tottenham (who won 2-1) and West Bromwich Albion in a thrilling 2-2 draw. Great stuff and happy memories.

The AB & C company history can be traced back to 1949, and for schoolboys throughout the 1960s in particular they gave a great deal of pleasure and an insight into football with their popular bubble-gum cards.  Sunderland featured fairly heavily but with the odd spell in the Second Division there were seasons where the club were omitted.

The 1960/61 set featured the great Charlie Hurley who was my Dad's favourite Sunderland player by some distance. Hurley had joined the club from Millwall and was seemingly unsure if the move to Sunderland was right for him.  You could hardly blame him ... in his first two games Sunderland lost 0-7 and 0-6 so he could have been forgiven for thinking that his time as centre-half at Roker Park was doomed to failure. To cap it all the club were relegated at the end of his first season.  But Hurley was no quitter and he soon settled into things and was appointed club captain.  Fearless, charismatic and a natural leader he led the club back to the top flight in 1963. Along with Jimmy Montgomery and Len Shackleton, Hurley is a true Sunderland legend.

1965 Typhoo Tea Ltd - Famous Football Clubs - Second Series

Typhoo tea was a staple of many kitchens in the 1960s and the packets often carried small images and text about famous footballers and teams. With this series there were 12 teams featured. If you saved those up you could send them away for a large format issue card 10 x 8 ".  Remarkably, considering we hadn't won anything for about three decades, Sunderland featured in the set and it was the aim of most Sunderland schoolboys to transform the little packet cards into the large Sunderland team card.
 

      It's a good Sunderland card in that it shows the club's former stadium Roker Park, and the old main stand with the Archibald Leitch design quite evident; this was the design that would earn fame at the likes of Goodison and Ibrox. Also visible immediately behind the players is the traditional home end at Roker Park - The Fulwell End.

Meall a'bhuridh and Creise

This is one of the few Munros that offers some solace if you aren't feeling one-hundred percent.  The chair lift at the White Corries can magically whisk you about half way up the hill. From this mid-station it's a fairly non-descript slog to the top alongside some tow-lifts and the usual ski debris ... but the views behind you over Rannoch Moor are impressive.

It's the summits that make this a good walk and where the sense of place really emerges.  From Meall a'bhuridh there is a nice drop to a bealach with a straightforward ascent (in good visibility) to the ridge that leads to Creise. We had a few ravens to keep us company and their deep calls were just about the only sound we could hear. Creise gives great views up into Glencoe, particularly of the Buachailles. A few red deer about but all in all a fairly quiet day for wildlife.  (August 2012)