chrisjpainter

Happy new year, one and all! My birding year started off really poorly! I booked in half a day's birding before pub lunch with the family. I was hoping to get in 70 species across three sites of wetlands, farmland and coast. Ordinarily it'd be a good winter challenge. I managed 47. I was gazumped by all the wetland areas that produce good numbers of waders were completely flooded. A strong wind put the kibosh on lots of passerines and it was all a bit rubbish! Notable exceptions were things like little egrets, rooks and pheasants. HOW DOES ONE GO OUT BIRDING AND NOT SEE A PHEASANT?! I didn't even know that was even possible. But anyway. It was marvellous. Great Northern Divers in Portland harbour and more snipe at Lodmoor than could be shot by a medium sized army. Here's to a new year of seeing some excellent feathered friends.

Or DIY gender reassignment surgery...🥵

Ooh a matching pair! I think that means you win a food processor? Nice work.

SOLD

MSR Pocket Rocket 2 Duplicated Christmas present, so it's unused and hasn't even been taken out of its box. Great stove, but I don't need two of them. Great to have in a fishing bag or in a car glove box/emergency kit Manufacturer's blurb: Ultralight isobutene-propane backpacking stove weighs just 73G (2.6 oz) Flame easily adjusts from a simmer to a rolling boil. Easy-to-use design needs no priming, preheating or pressurizing Serrated pot supports accommodate a range of cooking pot sizes and fold exceptionally small Includes ultralight hard shell protective carry case £25+postage if needed

Agreed. The sooner manufacturing returns to normal inside China, the better. It's still stagnating many industries and world economies for very little justification now.

You definitely need to be building an owl box. Not sure even my tawny box will fit that; shove a dog kennel in a tree, perhaps?

Are there lots of woodpeckers in the vicinity? You might find it worthwhile to get a metal panel around the hole, similar to this one. It stops woodpeckers enlarging the hole and then stealing the chicks out of it...

Looks good! Next step size it up and make an owl box!

Not watched much football from La Liga, Ligue 1 or Serie A then, have you? If you think we're bad, try watching a few league matches from Spain or France!

The one I couldn't fathom was taking Saka off for Stirling. Saka was the brightest spark by far; the one player who'd constantly turned the French defence. Whereas Stirling came on and barely did anything except overhit a couple of crosses. He only landed in Qatar yesterday after what must have been a few unpleasant days back home. There's no way his head was clear enough to play in a cauldron of a World Cup Quarter. Baffling

NOW SOLD

As above. In great condition and a perfect feeder/light carp, or specialist reel. Manufacturer's features blurb: ATD Drag Tough Digigear DS4 Body & Rotor Air Rotor Crosswrap Infinite Anti-Reverse £40+ postage UNLESS someone wants to swap for the exact same reel, but in 5000 size? then we could do a deal!

Berkley X9 Braid 40lb in dark green. This is brand new. I'd been saving it to go on a new baitcaster, but in the end I've gone back to my ready-spooled fixed spool reel for my new pike setup. Very decent braid and a full, untouched 300m £25 plus postage

Perhaps, but when Kiwi Brendan McCullum walked into the dressing room as coach of England's test team, he put together a plan to completely dismantle New Zealand in our series this summer, including specific plans for specific batters, based on weaknesses he'd seen in players when they were his teammates! I can't imagine a coach selection panel for Australia rugby looking at Jones' CV and thinking 'ah yeah, he failed to win against us when he coached the English, that's the man for us!' Surely a coach would want to retain his credibility, regardless of the club or country. A world class coach would do the best he can regardless of the team, or he ain't going to be world class for long.

I don't think they had any choice. Plus what's the sense in waiting? If they left it until after the new year, it's not long before the Six Nations is upon us at the beginning of February. One month isn't long to sack someone, find the right replacement and then have him settle in to his role and for the players to understand a new coach's strategies before the first game on the 4th of February. If it were done, better it done quickly. He's gone already. Meet the new boss...same as the old boss. Gatland's replaced him!

SOLD

Is there any chance this fight was booked purely so Fury could show off in front of Usyk?

This is frankly a bit depressing. It's pitiful how big the gap in class is. Fury's just too good in every area. 😴

It's happening tonight. I thought I couldn't care less about this fight. Then I saw this. How tacky can boxing get? Good grief. Stoppage or points win for Fury. Another loss but another paycheque for Chisora. And an all round pointless evening. Or is it going to be a classic?

Outside the jokes section, @loriusgarrulusactually talks sense This is the best idea. I've got some of @mel b's wife's kit leatherwork and it's top notch

No one did inter-band wars like Fleetwood Mac. A sad day indeed. Time to fire up rumours. Another classic album sadly written before I was even born!

Lucky dip chutneys. you do a big batch of sausage rolls and then fill them with lots of interesting chutneys - including apple sauce of you're that way inclined - and then mix 'em up. You're never quite sure what the next one will taste like, but assuming you match the flavours well, they'll all be tasty.

13 Fishing Inception Baitcaster LHW This has come from a Daiwa Prorex AGS, but I'm returning to fixed spool reels so this is surplus to requirements. Never been used in salt water and works faultlessly. For an extra £10 I'll fill it with 58lb J-braid. Left hand wind and Gear Ratio 6.6:1 £50ono, plus postage if needed

Well, I've got Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come stuck in my head because you mentioned 'been a long time' so that's not new. We're still arguing over Brexit, so that's not changed. But I've lost count of our Prime Minister changes, so...we're probably right back where we all were three years ago. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...