Chris had just left for work early this morning in the "pre dawn" when Hughie started his "machine gun" warning call from his advantage post in the tall tree on the edge of the Churchyard. He was incredibly loud and insistent, so I donned my wellies and galloped heavily over to the field, where I was just in time to see the ghostly figure of a fox darting away from the turkey hut. All of the reinforced coops and houses were intact, but clear scratch marks could be seen on the nailed down turkey house door. (above)Boris' sudden change from sweetie to defensive stag can be explained now, the fox has obviously been around for a while and his presence has sparked off the turkey's testosterone!
Thank God for Hughie......his ability to warn not only me but the whole of the field population (and dare I say most of the village) has carved him a lauded position in the poultry hierarchy. I think I will keep all six of the baby guinea fowl ....with seven "pairs of eyes" watching out for predators, the poultry will, I am sure be a great deal safer
Anyhow I caught the final re run episode of a slow burn of a comedy series last night, and I must say it has been one of the best things I have seen on television in a long long time."Early Doors" is a sitcom in the best English tradition of Northern Working Class humour. It is an ensemble piece, where 15 or so characters that frequent the early evening openings of a run down local pub in or around Manchester worry about (and I am quoting Wikipedia here) the daily issues of "love, loneliness, and blocked urinals"
Early doors works so well because it is so gently observational (but never cruel to) its target characters. As in the more popular but not superior The Royale Family, the working class is shown "warts and all" but also with a great deal of affection! For example we haveWinnie the pub cleaner (Joan Kempson) who
has a son in prison and husband out of work yet still retains a wily sense of humour.
Debbie -(Lisa Millett) , often leaves the kids in the car while she goes in for half a cider (but does get them some coke and Crisps) she cheats on her domineering husband (She says: "If it wasn't for here, work and putting the bin out, I'd never get out the house!")
John Henshaw underplays the sad but always battling landlord Ken wonderfully and holds the whole thing together with his gentle downbeat delivery.....
if you get a chance watch this little gem....its great
You know I love seeing Boris!
ReplyDeleteWish I could watch EARLY DOORS over here, sounds like my kind of humor.
I had a peacock - Rudy - for 2 years who was the watchbird in my backyard. It got so I could tell by his shrieks just what sort of unsavory predator had invaded the back yard. He also ate all the mice and most of the snakes. He was great company, he greeted me at the end of the driveway every afternoon when I came home. I loved that bird dearly. He wandered onto the busy highway last spring and was killed. I'd love to have another, or some guineas, but it just isn't safe where I live. Keep talking about your birds. I'm a bird nerd, too.
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