Sand martins in Devon

Spring has (almost) sprung! There have now been several sightings of 20+ sand martins in South Devon. These are among the first of the migrants to return. They are the smallest hirundine.  Sand martins have dark brown upper parts and they winter in Africa.  In recent years sand martin numbers have plummeted and they are now on the RSPB's "amber" list.  There are estimated to be 54,000-174,000 nests in the UK. This sounds a lot, but numbers are dropping because of droughts on their migration routes in some years.

By the month end we should have house martins and swallows back in Devon who will have flown 6000 miles to be here in the UK again. When the swallows return here in East Anglia you know all is still well with the world:. they have been making this journey for many thousands , if not millions, of years. Most return to the very same nests they used last summer, if they can. I find the return of the martins, swallows and swifts a real joy. It makes me glad to be alive.

Tikrit

Saddham's old stronghold is currently being fought over in Iraq and may fall to Iraqi government forces soon we are told.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-31883430 .

Afghanistan war

Brave men and women fought in Afghanistan, but overall with hundreds of UK service men and women dead and thousands injured or scarred psychologically was it worth it? The British have fought in Afghanistan since the first half of the 19th century. We again left with a job half done. Wars are no way to win hearts and minds.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31866944 .

365 Project

Both my wife and I are doing  the "365 Project". The idea is simple: just take a photo every day of the year. It makes a very good record of what we have been doing. Some choose to put up arty photos but we choose mainly "ordinary" photos i.e. the stuff of everyday life - things that may mean something to us but may not mean a lot to others.

Today we went to Wimpole Hall so I chose this tame robin as my picture for today.

See http://365project.org/ .

Wimpole Hall

As it was bright, mild and sunny (14 deg C) we decided to go for a walk at Wimpole Hall, the National Trust place west of Cambridge. We also stopped there for a simple lunch.

See  http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wimpole-estate/ .

FTSE 100 index and Sepura shares (SEPU)

The FTSE 100 share index has recovered a little of the big losses of yesterday when the markets were spooked by the slowdown in China and possible interest rate rises in USA. Sepura (my old company) lost ground a bit today.

Against the euro, the pound got better today ending up at 1.418 euros to the UK pound. I still think a Greek exit from the euro is highly possible as I cannot see a quick fix to their debt problems.   The Greeks still hate the Germans as a result of WW2. This could end in real disaster for Greece. A return to their old national currency would not be an easy move.

Have you noticed how the Japanese yen has weakened in recent years? Not many years ago it was about 125 yen to the UK pound. Now it is more like 183 yen to the UK pound and has been as high as 189 yen to the pound.

East Anglian Churches Blog

Today we visited a couple more churches near Cambridge and I have updated our churches blog.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .