They're Off!

Every autumn I follow the migrations of the ospreys, south through Scotland, England, France, Spain, North Africa, across the vast Sahara to the deltas, swamps and forests of the west coast of Africa. And every spring I wait anxiously for their return journey. Both journeys are really dangerous and arduous, and I wait for news of their travels, coping with sand storms, gales, high mountains and not least, man himself, as they struggle to get back to their breeding grounds in the highlands of Scotland.

It's all available for us all to follow - as well as the migrations of other birds and other species - on The Highland Foundation for Wildlife.
And, at last, some of them have started their great trek north........
Edited to add: Beatrice has crossed the English channel is starting the last legs of her long journey thousands of miles from the tropical swamps of West Africa up to her breeding ground in Scotland!!
Edited 040410 to add, from the Highland foundation for Wildlife site: "Beatrice is the first of our satellite tracked ospreys to get back to her nest. Last year spring she arrived back on 5th April." How's that for consistency?!? And stamina... and determination......there's some life lessons here for me to learn I think!

End of an Era

Well it appears that Amber's reign as top ACD agility dog is, at last, over. She has held The Formakin Agility Trophy every year since 2002 - seven years in all - but has finally been beaten this year by Sara Howarth and Austmans Ray of Sunshine from Cheshire.
BUT it is still an Austmans dog that holds the title, so there is some good continuity there!

A Full Decade

Happy Birthday Amber - 10 years old today!! And we are both still surviving the last decade together....bless!

Hare 'n Hounds

Bryn first (well, so very nearly!) 4 to 7 Jumping: all the right obstacles in exactly the right order, just a pole down when I was in his way...

But in 1to 4 Agility (Doc's class)- he was leading the class having run very early, then just got pipped (by less than a second) towards the end so he ended up 3rd and got his first ever trophy!!!

Then 1 to 7 jumping: he was going so fast again that I wasn't quite in position for a flick-flack after a tunnel and he rolled a pole. Did I care??? Not at all!!

And Amber only did one class - 5 to 7 jumping - and got a clear round just not quite fast enough for the placings (not bad for a 10 year old though, eh?)

Needless to say, I am still on Cloud 9!

Our Day Out

Having elderly parents whose health has suffered this winter leads to quite a lot of reminiscing....and sleepless nights. So, having laid awake reminiscing for hours last night, I finally got up at about 6.00am to a drizzly morning, without much enthusiasm for walking the dogs. An impulse took me, and I bundled the dogs into the car at about 6.30am and took off for the Yorkshire Dales, like I used to do 20 or so years ago when fuel was a lot cheaper!
After a damp but pleasant scenic drive, I got to Bolton Abbey at about 8.15am, only to find that these days the carparks all have barriers, and that these are not open at 8.15am on a March Saturday..... the lovely receptionist at the Devonshire Arms Hotel said it was fine to use their carpark and walk the dogs from there, so off we set along the riverbank towards the abbey - all 3 dogs together and me. [The last time I took all 3 dogs together for a walk was about 18 months ago and it was an unmitigated disaster, with each of them wanting to sniff/chase something in a different direction, and my shoulders being wrenched every which way]
This walk was great, even though I kept the dogs on leads to keep Bryn out of the river and Corker and Amber away from the sheep.....We eventually got back to the hotel at about 9.45am, and then headed off to see if the Cavendish Tea Rooms was open, which it was. So, I visted the gift shop and bought a postcard to send to my parents to remind them of happier, younger days when we taught Freya and Perdi and Tramp to swim by sending them backwards and forwards across the river, with me on one bank, and my parents on the other.....Then I read one of the courtesy papers in the Tea Rooms while enjoying a huge latte.
So, by 11am it was time for more dog walking, this time in the normal 2 and 1 formations as there were a lot of over-friendly ducks about, and too many people to witness what might occur if I wasn't careful! A walk up to the Strid and back for the ACDs and then Bryn; a passer-by confidently informed his family that I was walking 2 New Zealand Huntaways. He wasn't very happy when I told him they were Australian Cattle Dogs - though it was perhaps rubbing salt in the wound when I met him later when I had Bryn the Border Collie, and I asked him what breed he thought Bryn was.....some days I have no diplomacy at all. If looks could kill I'm already dead.....
By 1pm it was definitely time for a panini and another huge latte, before heading for home, and meeting all the Saturday traffic in Bradford.
It's so long since I simply took myself off somewhere for a day out, and the dogs and I really enjoyed the change.
Agility Show tomorrow near Richmond.....if I can get up in time to go!