The Lyons Share

I can't believe we've been doing the podcast for half a year already! Here is the link to Episode Six: "The owls are not what they seem" and it's also on iTunes. The only place where you are ever likely to get Twin Peaks, Terminator 2, R2-D2 and a movie review in a podcast based entirely on natural history!

OK, firstly what might seem like a dull and uninspired title, as ever has a double meaning on this blog. It is in fact the name of the track by Godspeed You! Black Emperor that featured on that scene in 28 Days Later when Cillian Murphy wakes up from hospital to find everyone has disappeared...or worse. Beautifully-rich, menacing, desolate and empowering. Everything you could ask from a piece of music! Well, me perhaps. I've included a link to it below. Indulge me and hit play whilst you read the post!

It is also where I have been today in a physical sense.

I took a day flexi and met up with Andy Phillips. Andy showed me a great spot for Ivy Bees, a bee I have been looking for this autumn but have so far failed to find. There were lots in a fairly central location in Hastings. What struck me first though, and this was very evident, was not the size or the markings but the sound. So distinctive that I later identified one in flight at a different location.

Also, look how crisp these macro shots are with the old Coolpix! No cropping, no editing, straight onto my computer an then straight onto the blog. I have missed this!

And here is where they are nesting, in the earth between the sandstone rocks.

We then went onto Hasting Country Park. I was embarrassed to admit to Andy I had not been there before. Disgraceful. We headed to an area Andy calls the 'Legendary Valley' in the hope of seeing Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket and other scarce invertebrates.
What struck me the most from the top of the hill was the view. Ten years ago I would have been down there to the east at Dungeness looking up at this hill but I have never seen the view from the other direction. You can even see the cliffs of Dover, Beachy Head and the coast of France too. Through a telescope on a clear day you can even see cars in France! Quite impressive. We didn't see the Sickle-bearers or the scarce spiders but Andy did catch this male Zygiella atrica which was a new one to me. It has huge long palps and is quite different to Zygiella x-notata which is common in the kitchen at Woods Mill.

We went closer to the sea to the location of this RDB3 beetle. It's a rare weevil called Cathormiocerus myrmecophilus and Andy found it in between rosettes of Buckshorn Plantain. The beetle is tiny and exactly the same colour as the sand but if you look carefully you can see the flattish, hair-like scales on the elytra. I end the day on 3649 species.

I was quite taken with Hastings CP. The view back to the west is incredible. It really reminds me of the Mediterranean cost and has a surprisingly wild feel for the Sussex coast line. I can't wait to see more of it next summer.

Warning, this post contains spoilers! Do you know your Ringlefinches from your Mountain Kings? Probably not because as far as I know there are no trolls in Sussex (but I guess if there were they would be somewhere in Ebernoe). The Troll Hunter was one of the most engaging and original films I have seen in years, difficult even to pin to a genera as it is so much more than either a monster movie or a comedy. But the reason I am writing about it on this blog is the level of detail that went into thinking about the natural history in this film, albeit completely fantastical. As a naturalist I found this really exciting and it added to the dry, understated humour of the film. The recording proforma that I am so familiar with was used in this film, even if it was to record the slaying of a troll! And who knew that pylons were just giant electric fences to keep the trolls out?!

It is the Troll Hunter himself though who steals the show. He is an impressive character, always remaining calm (except for one moment when he yells 'TRRRRRRROLL!!!') against some pretty colossal opponents and he appears capable throughout. His respect for his quarry is evident and he is clearly a reluctant hunter, openly showing the toll his troll hunting post for the TSS has had upon him over the years. Apparently there is such a thing as too much field work!

I would whole heartedly recommend seeing this film, especially at the cinema. If you don't like the fantastical then I guess this is not for you but it doesn't take itself too seriously. That said it plays it pretty straight and dead pan too at times. I'm not sure this film could have been made in the UK because it is this unlikely balance that produces a simple honesty which harks back to an age lost here. This seems to be thriving in Scandinavian cinema, I think we are just too cynical. That said, the Americans are working on a remake - I'll be sticking to the original thanks. Oh and the only bird I heard in the whole film was a Cuckoo, I was hoping for some owls. Go and see it!

It's interesting how many references there are to broken marriages, failed careers and therapists in this trailer. I just saw someone else blog about this film and I'm afraid I simply had to just rip them off. It's not often my primary hobby (natural history) collides head long with my secondary hobby (movies) in any other way than my page on bird song in films (oh I added Goldrest the other day in 'The Skin I live In'). I have to say, if it wasn't for the fact that this film is based on a book by a birder and is therefore about birds and listing, it would probably fall into a category of films I would avoid. I'm not really a fan of American comedy (my worst nightmare is watching an episode of 'Friends'). However, I will certainly give it a watch but I think I'll perhaps wait until it comes out on DVD as I don't know anyone who would want to come and see it with me! The Big Year comes out over here on the 11th November. How long until they make a film about pan-species listers? Now that could be interesting, as long as either David Fincher or Christopher Nolan direct and I'm played by Gary Oldman...

I just heard about this film, The Moon and the Sledgehammer. Set in 1971 in a rural part of Sussex (not sure where but I would love to find out). Apparently it's a documentary about a family who live in comparative isolation but it's from a period of cinema/era (the 70s) that I love and I would like to find out more about this film. Has anyone out there seen this and/or know where it's filmed? It's being shown at a night in Brighton called The Hedgerow Society at The Basement on the 21st January at 8.00 pm and I think I will go and look.

Oli and I nipped out to Arlington to look for the Pectoral Sandpiper and it was behaving very nicely, walking up and down right in front of the hide! Despite the best efforts of several delinquent children waving their hands around outside the hide and in front of my telescope, the bird remained unspooked. I think this is the fourth or fifth one I have seen, being perhaps the most frequent American vagrant, I often wonder at the ultimate fate of these transatlantic anomalies (Martin F pointed out that they also breed over much of Asia so it could also come from that direction). I would be surprised though if any of them made the crossing twice. We also saw a Green Sandpiper and heard a Brambling. Slightly better than my usual attempts to take photos through my scope but certainly not anything I am proud of! UPDATE: I had no idea that Pectoral Sandpipers had recently started breeding in Scotland?!

So no ticks today but last night whilst I was watching Harry Hill I suddenly remembered another species that I have seen, many years ago, the Head Louse. That brings me to 2999, tantalisingly close!

On a more frustrating note, as I write this I am watching Ridley Scott's version of Robin Hood and was very annoyed to see a flock of CGI Canada Geese flying along the Thames Estuary in the 12th century. That pretty much sets the scene for the rest of the film. Grrrrrr!

One of my favourite aspects of birding is learning songs and calls. I shout them out where ever I am, whatever I am doing, no matter how inappropriate. Meetings, weddings, funerals. You get the idea. I can't help it, I'm sorry (I'm soo not sorry). I also do it during films. After natural history, watching movies is probably my second favourite past time. Now I have found a way to combine the two! I have been keeping a mental list for a long time so I am going to kick start my list on a new page with a few things that I remember and an awful film that I have just watched, Centurion. The highlight for me was the Green Woodpecker that called half way through the movie, it was that bad. Neil Marshall, Dog Soldiers and The Descent were ace, what's this rubbish? I should say this is not a cry for sending in birds you have heard in films, this is my own perverse pleasure I am sharing with you. For me it is all about the surprise when I am totally absorbed in a film when suddenly I'm shouting out the name of a bird I've just heard in the background. A perfect synergy between two hobbies. I don't want the surprise ruined. Now I did hear a Common Sandpiper the other day but I can't remember the film....

You might think this is a little sad, and you would be completely right.