Larks and newsbirds

I have worked my 2 nights and am busy today trying to catch up with jobs at home. I still need to pack for our holiday.

Yesterday morning after I came home from work I drove down to Surf Bay for a walk on the beach. It was very calm but cold. I took a few photos of two of the birds we often see there and in our garden.

These are long tailed meadow larks, also known as military starlings or robins. They are often in flocks, feeding on the ground but sound rather like noisy larks.


This is a dark-faced ground tyrant. They are often called news birds because they fly up close to you and look as if they are going to tell you some news or want to hear some gossip.

Last night and this morning we had cold sleety rain and a bitter wind. The surrounding hills are now all snow-capped. It is hard to believe that by tomorrow evening we should be enjoying tropical heat on Ascension Island!

Leave and judging art

Well our flights are now confirmed and we have our tickets so we will be leaving here early on Tuesday morning and flying to Ascension Island where we have booked a self-catering cottage by a beach for a week. We will then fly overnight to UK arriving on July 14th. I am working tonight and tommorow night so will be quite busy until we leave.


This morning we helped judge the annual art exhibition at the infant junior school (a job which last year I vowed I would never do again!). This year we had year 3 which was much easier than the reception and year 1 we had last year.




The children had each done a self portrait of themselves with another person or animal, an Egyptian treasure box with printed designs on it and a model of a sculpture they had designed for a corner of the school yard.

After we had judged our class we looked round the rest of the exhibition. The art work was all of an extremely high standard and also included things produced by the children who are educated out in camp.