The importance of Bird Tables

The Modern Garden Bird, especially if residing in the Home Counties, prefers to feed from a good quality and well-appointed bird table.  

The days when “anything with plenty of nuts on it” was satisfactory are long gone. 

The Modern Bird now demands Modern Standards.  

Thus, a wonky table, poorly constructed with a curling roof (as in the example below) not only lacks the aesthetics demanded by the Modern Bird but is also frankly, unseaworthy.

 An unsatisfactory bird table.

The answer of course is to construct a Modern Stylish Bird Table. Such tables, built from only the finest marine materials, will give your Garden Birds years of pleasure unless of course something nasty befalls them in the meantime.

Technical tip.  If after construction, your new table looks like this:

(Bad)

it will be good practice to turn it over, thus:

(Good)

An upside-down table is not only difficult to erect but may also lead to disapproval, confusion, even consternation amongst visiting feathered wildlife.

The Modern Bird will of course appreciate the style and design as well as the build quality of his or her new table.  More and more garden birds prefer their table to have something of an Austrian Tyrol look, being aware, as many now are, that good snow-sheltering qualities add safety and comfort for the winter forager.

Fully erected, our new table has the added benefits of a squirrel-proof stand and four-layer yacht varnish finish.

"The Essex". A Tyrolean style bird table recently erected somewhere in the Home Counties.

Something about Boxes for Barn Owls

If, Dear Reader(s),  you ever come to that extraordinary stage in life when your garden really doesn't need any more sheds, you might consider building and erecting a Barn Owl box.  Such a project demands not only the carpentry skills of the experienced shed builder but also many of the rigging skills of  the aging yachtsman.

Like all of us, Barn Owls need a place to call "home".

An Owl (possibly without a home)

Barn Owls  normally enjoy nesting in barns. Such barns need to be sufficiently decrepit or run-down to be accessible to the homeless owl.  In Sussex barns tend, of course, to be either modern and well-maintained and therefore generally unwelcoming for owls, or to have been converted into houses and therefore generally already inhabited by people.

A Barn

A good big tree with a good big and snug hole in it is a satisfactory alternative for the owl (especially as such trees make very poor barn conversions) however, these are few and far between and often beyond the means of the young Barn Owl setting out to start a family.

In short, Dear Reader(s), Barn Owls need Boxes.

The Highly Desirable Barn Owl box will have many of the following features:
Location .. location ... location ...  (it will be a in a sought after neighbourhood, facing north or east with an open aspect across fields and far away from busy roads).
The box should be up a tree, at least 3 metres above the ground.
It should be warm and dry inside with a non-slip, self-draining, veranda near the main entrance from which  young owls may practice their flying skills.  The veranda should  obviously (for Health and Safety reasons) be surrounded by a small fence  so that young owls don't fall off.
I could go on.

A Highly Desirable Owl Box (note veranda)

Our Owl Box comes with two important sets of instructions, as follows:

Instructions for cleaning:
"When absolutely certain that the house is Absolutely Vacant of Nesting Owls, remove the the lower panel by undoing the two nuts and prizing it forwards evenly (a few mm at a time) using a flat screwdriver or suitable blunt blade.   Crap, dead animals and other excess detritus may then be removed, taking great care not to fall off the tree, fall off the ladder, stab yourself with the screwdriver (and then fall off the ladder), drop the nuts or inhale, ingest or otherwise absorb any poisons, germs, bacteria or fungae contained within the owl box.
Replace the panel."

The removable panel with instructions to avoid confusion

Instructions to owl:
"We hope you will enjoy your stay in your new home.
If you have any queries, complaints or suggestions please don't hesitate to contact The New England Wood Trust Owl and Arboreal Dwellings Department at the address below.
After you have made yourself at home please take the following steps to preserve your species:
1. Find a mate.
2. Entice your mate back home (perhaps suggest coming inside "for a coffee").
3. Copulate.
4. Lay your eggs (indoors).
5. Keep your eggs warm by sitting on them.
6. Feed the resulting chicks diligently.
7. Teach them to fly and insist that they embark on an independent life.
8. Repeat yearly or until your new home falls off the tree."

Having built your box, it will need to be, in technical terms "stuck up a tree".

To do this, first, recruit some friends and find a big wheel barrow.

Friend, owl box and wheelbarrow.

Next, set off across the fields.

Across the fields

Stick the owl box up a tree using traditional maritime technology.

Up a tree

Make sure it is straight and level.

Your tenant owl may be unhappy if her eggs roll around inside her new home.

Is it absolutely straight?

Stand back and admire and arrange appropriate photographs.

Posing with owl box

Ready for tenants

The New England Wood Trust Owl box awaiting occupation.

Coruna

Coruna, La Coruna and A Coruna are all, in fact, the same place.

Coruna used to be spelt "Corunna".
Importantly, the   n  has a squiggle over it.  This adds authenticity and is regarded as a good thing (if you can find how to do it on your computer).

Coruna is in Spain but on 16 January 1809 the French and British had a nasty battle there.
The British, having been chased northwards through Spain (by the French) arrived in Coruna expecting to catch a ferry back to Blighty. The ferry was late and Sir John Moore was killed but the French were repulsed until the ferry arrived.

Presumably in order to prevent similar catastrophes in the future, a big modern marina was built in Coruna a few year ago, and this is where we now find ourselves.

Marina Coruna is excellent apart from its tumble drier..
The staff however, are extremely excellent and also speak English.

Marina Coruna

After an extended stay in UK we returned to our Albatross in Coruna Marina.
Next day we motored over to Marina Seca.

Marina Seca is run by the same excellent people as Marina Coruna but it also has a boat lift and hard-standing. There is unfortunately no tumble drier at Marina Seca.

Albatross ashore

Albatross will winter  in Marina Seca and we hope to see her again in March or April.

We hope to welcome many of  our friends aboard again next year for exciting voyages along the Atlantic coasts and Rias of Spain and Portugal.

2015 .. the plot so far

The voyage of "Albatross" 2015 (Troon to Coruna)

Onward to Spain

21st July 2015

Martin arrived in Benodet, having sailed from Guernsey to Weymouth, trained to Plymouth, ferried to Roscoff, got a lift in a car to somewhere remote near Quimper and then hitched to Benodet. Despite this he looked well on arrival.

We spent Tuesday evening discussing the tactics for crossing Biscay.
We needed:
1. Good weather.  Eventually we found a forecast that looked satisfactory, especially if we could reach Spain before it got windy (Friday).
2. Food for 5 nights (just in case).
3. A watch system (Martin suggested we should do  2 hours on (helming etc) and 4 hours off (sleeping mainly). I opted for the latter.
We didn't need:
1. A dog (Hopeless at the helm, lousy navigators and generally poor conversationalists.)


22nd July 2015

We set off for Coruna in Spain  (326 miles .. roughly)

Jean helming mid Biscay

24th July 2015

We arrived in Viveiro, Spain  (not quite as far as  Coruna)

The crossing, a summary:

The Bay of Biscay is big .. very big  (etc.).  We sailed across it because that is the best thing to do.   Every 2 hours someone got up, someone went to bed and someone was unsure which to do.  We ate a lot and saw many dolphins.  One day we saw 3 whales, really close up.  This was very exciting.
Three quarters of the way across we realised that Viveiro in Spain was nearer than Coruna and was therefore a more sensible destination.
Altogether we were at sea for 47 hours of which we motored for about 25 hours.  In total we drank 357 cups of tea and ate 12 pieces of mouldy fruit cake, 18 flap jacks and had two hot meals. Unfortunately the Eccles cakes ran out on day one and I had to eat Breton Cake for breakfast instead. (Breton Cake is, in fact, a satisfactory substitute for Eccles Cake and, in my opinion, infinitely preferable to the granulated building ballast (with milk) enjoyed by my crew-mates).
We each went to bed and got up 4 times each day.

Jean sleeping 

Martin on watch

En route the engine overheated. This was why.

Why.

We arrived in Spain in good spirits and slept all day.


25th July

We climbed a big hill and enjoyed the view.

The view from the hill overlooking Viveiro (photo Martin)

We also dropped in at a local grave yard. The Spanish appear to do these rather well.

A Spanish graveyard (photo Martin)

When we got back to the boat we had another little rest.


26th July

We set off west for  Cedeira in the direction of  Coruna.
It was windy and rough.
After two and half hours in F6 gusting 7 we gave up and returned to Viveiro where we anchored and Jean I went for a swim.


27th July

We set off early and (remarkably) made it all the way to Coruna  (about 55 miles) without undue stress.  A harbour Dolphin  escorted us out of Viveiro and all the fishing boats lined up and waved.  I believe they often treat English visitors like this on feast days.

Feast day fishing boat procession

Marina Coruna is huge, friendly and generally very good. so we stopped here.

Marina Coruna

Banging Benodet

We like Benodet and its marina.
Pity about the mist and drizzle.

Benodet, although  generally "a good thing" suffers in just two respects:

1.   Very poor supermarket trolleys at Carrefour     ..... possibly more difficult to drive safely than ..... well .... a very difficult thing to drive safely.

2.   Berthing difficulties on Pontoon E during the ebb tide.
We have now been banged into 3 times in the last 2 days. No damage so far but it doesn't aid our otherwise relaxed lifesyle.

Newlyn (England) to Benodet (France)

Dear Reader(s),

Please forgive the lack of photos in this episode.  Normally I would blame the dog.
I blame the dog.

We returned to Newlyn (mainly to get away from the dog) and found the boat still to be there. This was good.

After much eating and rejoicing with Angela and Martin we set sail for The Helford River (which was, I believe, designed and built by Daphne du Maurier). The Helford River is very pretty but also pretty full up with boats. We anchored for the night before setting sail again to see Angela and Martin who brought a lot chicken.  We also saw E and J and T and had a BBQ with them  which was also very nice (I hope this isn't too cryptic for you, Dear Reader ?).

Next off, Falmouth Marina to L'Aber Wrac'h (Jean helped me spell that).
Falmouth to L'Abers is a long way and involved sailing at night and not bumping into fishing boats in the dark fog at 0300.  It is also important not to get stuff wound around ones propeller when avoiding fishing boats in the dark French fog.
We arrived and slept very well next day.

We like L'Abers.

An important question:
Can fame be achieved by seeing someone famous, especially if one manages to say a very relaxed and generally unconcerned sounding "Good morning" to the famous couple when returning from the boulangerie as well as pretending not to be even slightly excited when the said couple followed us to our restaurant and sat at a table (almost) next to us?
The said couple being none other than Libby and Paul ....... need I say more ?

Where to from L'Abers ? (I hear you say)

Ushant   ... why not? ( I've been working on that one).
We visited Le Stiff in Ouessant but found him to be remarkably alive (think about it).
On Ouessant we hired bikes and went to a museum and a Tea shop (but no sign of the Irish Premier there).

Next off La Molene.  "A sand bank with houses".
We had a nice walk. No celebrities  (ourselves excluded), par des stiffs, mais c'est jolie, je croix.

From La Molene to Camenbert. A small fishing village near Camaret. We liked it so much that Jean went for a run and we stayed 3 days.

Camaret to St Evette. We anchored and slept well.

St Evette to Benodet
We are in the very nice marina where we will wait for Martin.
Martin is weatherproof and will help us cross The Bay.

Holyhead to Ireland to The Scillies to Cornwall

15th June 2015

From Holyhead to Arklow.
Sara had joined us. This was good.
We sailed most of the way which was unusual, but given a favorable breeze and the engine over-heat alarm going off randomly, it seemed a good idea.
Albatross is actually a sailing boat anyway.

I like Arklow although not everyone enjoys the long walk to the "facilities"

16th June 2015

To Kilmore Quay (KQ).
We motored all the way, apart from a brief return to Arklow when the engine over-heat alarm went off again, when we sailed a bit.

One of the many reasons for liking Arklow is because it's quite easy to sail into the harbour entrance given;
      a Southerly F3,
      sunshine,
      favourable tides,
      a fit crew,
     flat water,
     a sailing boat and an overheating engine.

Anyway, on the second attempt we left Arklow (nothing wrong with the engine, actually) and motored to KQ.

KQ

We like KQ, especially as we were met by a famous Irish artist who advised us to have supper in the restaurant that displays his paintings.  I liked many of his paintings but unfortunately I can't remember his name, although I do believe he really is famous.

18th June.

We must have had a day off in KQ because my log empty for 17th.

Anyway, 18th June was very exciting  for 3 reasons:

1.   We were going to sail to the Isles of Scilly
2.  Judith was going to meet us there
3.  We were boarded by Irish Customs.

Irish Customs Boarding Party

Irish Customs Boarding Party Boarding

The big question that needs to be answered is this  ...
Why would The Irish Customs bother to board us when we were leaving  Ireland?

What, we wondered, might we have been smuggling out of Ireland and taking to The Scillies?
Eventually we decided that, given the cooler weather in Ireland when compared with that of The Scillies, and therefore the later blooming of the Irish daffodil (when compared with that of the Scillies), it might have been profitable to export late flowering Irish daffodils (from Ireland) and to import these into The Isle of Scilly  (where they would be in demand as the early Scilly daffodil crop would by then be, in a word, "all over").

The Irish Customs men duly boarded out boat, and asked whether we had and guns ("No"), narcotics ("No"), contraceptives ("not at my age"), alcohol ("yes, plenty thanks")  on board.  They were however, playing their cards quite close to the chest because, rather than simply adding "And would there be any of our late flowering daffodils on your ship ?" they simply went below and poked around briefly, presumably trying to sniff them out.

Irish Customs Boarding Party Leaving

So much for the very nice and courteous Irish Customs.  Next we heard from Judith who was preparing an epic trip of her own.  Manchester to St Mary's (a Scilly Isle), by car and ship.

KQ to The Scillies is 135 nautical miles.  This is long way.  Fortunately, with favourable winds and expert seamanship we arrived after only 23 hours without either being run down by a freighter (taking something from KQ to Bordeaux  (empty wine bottles, we thought) or  bumping into a fishing boat that appeared determined to search for fish directly in our path.

Friday 19th June.

We arrived at Hugh Town, St Mary's and attached ourselves (the boat) to a mooring buoy. We went to sleep.

Hugh Town, St Mary's

Having met up with Judith, our intrepid foursome set about exploring the various Isles of Scilly.

Making use of Sara's detailed knowledge, we safely visited  The Cove (St Agnes),  Porthcressa  (St Mary's) and New Grimsby (on The Isle of Tescos).  Tesco Isle have a famous garden centre so we went and had a look at it.  It was full of  plants.

Tea time at Tescos

Wednesday 24th June.

To Newlyn.
Judith saw a whale.  We all saw some porpoises.
We had a nice sail and arrived in Newlyn without any further interference from the Irish Customs.

Newlyn is in England, which is part of Cornwall, which is owned by Charles, whom I've never met.

Holyhead to Holyhead

It's only 330 miles from the Essex Kennels to Holyhead, so we decided to pop up there for a few days.

It sometimes rains in Holyhead.  It did when we arrived.

Holyhead Marina berth E29 doesn't have electricity or piped water. We needed both if we (Jean) was going to jet-wash the deck while I dried out my socks over the fan heater.
A man at the office said we'd be fine if we had a 100 metre extension lead.  We didn't.

We decided to move.

Holyhead berth E29 to Holyhead berth D22 involved only my second solo voyage in the 6 years we've had our Albatross.    According to the BBC there might be a weather window around 10 hundred hours, the tide was favourable and the chart work not unduly complicated, so we decided to go for it.

We checked through the passage plan, simplified our warps, adjusted the fenders, and cast off.
Jean opted for the healthy option and walked.

Two minutes later Jean took my lines as Albatross slipped into her new and fully-serviced berth.

Albatross safely berthed (No, not the police boat, the white boat with the white hull, left middle).

Later that day, Jean did wash the deck and I did dry my socks.

After such excitement, we are now back home again.

Our Spring Cruise

Back up to Troon. Possibly for the last time.

Life, of course, is a beach. Or is it a fridge?
Anyway, in an ongoing struggle to provide enough electricity to keep our Albatross' fridge cool, I spent a joyous day installing a new charging gadget. I'm not exactly sure what it does or even how but it has lots of wires in and out of it and many flashing lights.  When none of the lights flash, it probably isn't working. Anyway, I think it probably is now.
We also fitted the new (and possibly soon to be famous) life raft box and rigged the genoa without much difficulty.

Next day Al arrived. This was a good thing.
We had a "Farewell Troon" final supper at Scott's and settled down to some serious passage planning over a very small bottle of wine.

Our plans were clear, orderly and definite. Troon to Campbeltown to somewhere in Ireland and so on. Jean phoned Campbeltown. They were shut.
We changed our plans   Definitely then to Rathlin Island or to Ballycastle.
So on Tuesday 17th March we set sail for Sanda.

It is very important to remember to turn the fuel back on before motoring out of a harbour.

Sanda Island (population 1) has a surprising and very good anchorage.
Although it was 1600 when we arrived, it was bright and sunny.
We anchored.

Anchored off Sanda

It is very important to test the anchor windlass before first using it in earnest at the start of the season.

Next day, to Rathlin Island.

The new marina is good although the approach to it was shallow.
The windlass skillfully repaired by Al and me only yesterday had found a second reason not to work.
Although the three of us have more qualifications in Biologically related scientific subjects than a school of emperor penguins, this is of absolutely no use when trying to fix a windlass. Windlasses need electricity and this was absent.  My helpful crew went for a walk. I fixed the windlass and joined them.

Rathlin Island Marina

We had a very nice walk.

Rathlin Island Lighthouse

We were "the first boat in (this year)" at Rathlin. Of course.  The nice marina man charged us only £5 in recognition of either our hardiness or possibly our stupidity.

Passage planning around Rathlin Island is all about tides.
We left at 0600 with 6 knots of tide behind us and 8 knots of wind and motored all the way to Glenarm.

Glenarm is welcoming

Glenarm Marina is secure

At Glenarm, the very nice Marina Manager (having noted that we were "the first boat in") suggested a very nice walk in the forest (with an opportunity to see a red squirrel) followed by a walk around the town and up to the castle.  Al explained all the history to me. I pretended to understand bits of it.

A nice fungus. (Note absence of squirrels).

The very nice Marina Manager even contacted his friends in Belfast Marina and gave us useful tips on how to get there safely (by sea).  We like Glenarm, the black guillemots, the harbour, the town, the forest, the free washing machine and the marina manager.

Black Guillemots 

20th March 2015.
We had a lie in as we didn't need to leave Glenarm before sunrise.
We left at 0700.
We motored most of the way to Belfast.
As we entered Belfast Lough there was a 95% eclipse of the sun with a rainbow at the same time.

Why does the wind drop so much during an eclipse?  We biologists had no idea.

Belfast marina.

We were "the first boat in". However because the marina is manned by a robotic ticket dispenser that couldn't speak, we had to congratulate ourselves, ourselves.

Belfast Marina is very good. £16 per night to include electricity, showers, a washing machine and the occasional eclipse. We had a walk to the Titanic Centre.  This was, indeed, quite large.  Much of the commerce and tourism of this part of Belfast now revolves around the Titanic and the story of its sinking. Unfortunately (for Belfast) it proved impossible to make a sequel to the film of that name.

The Titanic Centre

We had two nights in Belfast and some fine food.
I slept as much as possible.
It is important that the skipper gets enough sleep, such is the burden of command, etc.

Next to Arglass where it rained a lot in 2012  (for further details please read my blog).
We had a nice Chinese Meal in Ardglass.

We sailed some of the way to our next port.  This is unusual for us.
"Howth" is pronounced "Hoa't".

It is important to know where you are going when you enter Howth Marina.

Is this the way in or out?

I think not.

We had 4 nights in Howth.    Howth is posh suburban Dublin.  The Dulwich Village of Dublin (except that is almost an island and has a huge fishing fleet).

We had a very nice but rather long walk in Howth but spent most of our three days there worrying about the weather and where (exactly) to go next.
Al took us out to yet another lovely meal before leaving (by air) for Newcastle.

It really doesn't matter how many  different weather forecasts you study when the weather is foul, the weather remains foul.
We considered
1. flying home
2. buying a camper van and driving to Spain
3.flying to Spain
4. all of the above at the same time  
5. sailing to Arklow
6. Sailing to Milford Haven.
Eventually we sailed to Holyhead.

Holyhead is a "Harbour of Refuge". This is a good thing.

Holyhead Marina

A harbour of refuge (looking outwards)

We like Holyhead.

I had a little more sleep and eventually we caught the train back to Essex.

Bonzo was, of course, delighted to see us.

Awesome Weirwood

A yachters' day out at a beautiful sailing club, meeting old friends

Watching the racing

Enjoying the sunshine

Something for everyone

Happy memories

It was lovely.

Thank you!