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June 2008 Archives

Aerial attack

Posted by Cliff Birchall on June 24, 2008 4:11 PM

THERE is nothing that upsets birds as much as seeing the outline of a hawk or falcon above them.
Obviously this had upset a sparrow this morning when I was passing Lloyd's garden centre at Downholland Cross.
Hovering above was the distinctive shape of a kestrel, its wings beating as it struggled to line up a potential victim in its eyeline.
And battering around it was a little sparrow!
It is common to see birds as small as sparrows or other finches mobbing a hawk as a group but you don't often see an individual bird taking on a predator.
The sparrow had the sense to keep above the windhover, though; it probably knew that it would prefer to keep its position rather than chase after the sparrow. The kestrel is not really built for high-speed aerial chases. Leave the sparrowhawk for that - and the sparrow would probably not spot it coming, either.
Bigger birds are upset by predators, too. Not too long ago I spotted a buzzard making a flog of seagulls uneasy at Greens Lane in Downholland. The gulls were on the ground but still feeling nervous of the big bird.
Mind you, gulls can be just as predatory. The other night I was looking at a field newly-mown of hay in Lathom and spotted a greater or lesser black backed gull quartering the field in the same way that a barn owl would. For 20 minutes or so it kept up this repeated pattern, obviously on the look out for something tasty that no longer had long vegetation to hide in.
Music on the Moss: This week it is an Irish folk-rock group Horslips. Long ago disbanded, they created catchy rock songs from reels and jigs, as well as playing traditional music. Their first album, Happy to meet ... sorry to part, is a brave expedition into celtic rock, paving the way for others to follow. A later album, Dancehall Sweethearts, shows a more aggressive stance, although they can still turn a ballad with the best. Stars is a good anthem while Mad Pat has a really good chorus. So, if you want your rock music tempered with some fiery electric violin and mandolin - not to mention uillean pipes and concertina - Horslips were the lads.

Who do you love?

Posted by Cliff Birchall on June 4, 2008 1:26 PM

IT'S surprising just what a difference a week makes.
And a lot of rain and quite a bit os sunshine, too.
I'm thinking of the humble spud and the fields that have oh-so-quickly turned from barren drills into colourful mosaics.
The tiny wisps of green peeping from the top of the drills have within a week or so really bushed out and pushed up. While there wouldn't be much in the way of tubers underground yet, there is an awful lot of growth going on.
This current weather will really suit them. The sunshine currently encouraging people to walk out without their jackets and coats is doing just the same for the potatoes, powering it and encouraging it to get out into the open air.
Elsewhere, cabbages are being planted in impressive blocks on some fields, with other crops being given the benefit of a plastic coat to keep them ever warmer.
All this is giving the rooks a good reason to rummage round the fields. And am I right in thinking that flocks of wood pigeons are more prevalent this year than last? They seem to be everywhere.
In Lord Sefton Way lapwings are trawling the new corn with partridges, looking particularly handsome when you glimpse them from the road.
Music on the Moss: It would be remiss not to refer to yesterday's sad news about the death of Bo Diddley. I remember saving up to buy my first record player and having no money left over to buy any records! After two weeks of silence I'd saved enough to buy my first LP. It was Bo Diddley's In The Spotlight. For 21/- [or twenty-one shillings, or £1 1s 0d, or a guinea for those who love old money] it was a really good buy. I still have it and still love the music on it.
While at school we had thrilled to the old red-and-yellow Pye R&B label records that featured Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, the latter apparently playing bass on many of the former's hits. They even recorded an album together, Two Great Guitars, with tracks like Jaguar And The Thunderbird.
Diddley's home-grown and much-copied rhythm - say "Shave and a haircut, two cents" and you have it - kept British groups going in the sixties r&b boom when rhythm and blues meant something entirely different to what it does today.
With Billy Boy Arnold on harmonica, Jerome Green on those trademark maraccas - and sly reply vocals on Say Man, reputedly the first rap song even though it was recorded in 1958 - Diddley had a fiercesome stage act. Many people still believe Elvis the Pelvis took his leg moves from the man the called "The Originator."
He was out on his own in employing women guitarists in an age when that didn't really happen. His half-sister The Duchess and then Lady Bo all helped power a catalogue of songs and sounds that kept up with musical fashion and electrical wizardry. Diddley was turning knobs all the way round to maximum long before it was fashionable or psychadelic.
And if you were to ask me to name the real rock-n-roll guitar, it would have to be Diddley's square Gretch. A killer instrument in sound and looks, although he had a stable of similar instruments built by various makers.
His music will live on. You'd be surprised at how many people have covered his songs. My particular favourite cover is Quicksilver Messenger Service's set of variations on Who Do You Love? over a whole side of their Happy Trails album.
A great musician who was under-rated by many people but a legend nonetheless.

Little wheel, spin and spin

Posted by Cliff Birchall on June 3, 2008 10:55 AM

THERE was too much rain and mist about to see them this morning, but I find the wind turbines on Burbo Bank are quite a sight now they are operational.
On a clear morning you can see them from Clieves Hills in Aughton. They keep appearing on the horizon as you pass through Downholland, like silver windmills waiting to be tilted at by a giant knight.
Once you arrive in Great Altcar they appear like a line of glimmering whirlygigs, arms turning rather more slowly than you would expect.
I find they look particuarly impressive when seen against a dark, stormy sky. It really highlights them against the horizon.
I know that there are mixed views about wind turbines but I think these are quite a feature along the coastline now that pmost eople appreciate.
Music on the moss: Oh dear, a hippy-dippy moment. Steve Hillage was best known as the guitar hero on Daevid Allen's Planet Gong before launching into a solo career. Then he disembarked Britain to live in France where he apparently now does very well on the dance/trance music scene.
His Rainbow Dome Music is the very essence of hippy-trippidom, composed as the ambient music for an event or happening or installation centred around some artwork or other. Whatever, it really does take you back to the days of tie-dye and tedium, bubbles and so on. Throughout there is a continual sound of running water which must have had people running off to the little lads and lassies room. I find it soothing, rather strangely, as the sound of running water is always one of the natural elements you listen for in the country.
There is no recognisable melody, just lots of synthiser parts and electronic trickery. I reckon it is what Frank Zappa would have called "noodling." He had this theory that people playing avant garde music or experimental stuff could be put into two camps: those whose "noodling" demonstrated they knew what they were doing and those who were just making a noise. Hillage knew what he was doing but I don't think it really stands the test of time as some hippy stuff has.
To reinforce its place in hippy-dippidom, the original LP was pressed in a clear vinyl! Very odd on the turntable. They don't do with with CDs, although a CD I bought on Saturday of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue had a very impressive scaled down print of the original LP, even down to the groove on the record. Neat.
And the old folkies among you will recognise the title of this piece comes from one of Buffy Sainte-Marie's very early albums. Time to get some of her stuff from the loft, I think.

This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Man on the Moss in the June 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

May 2008 is the previous archive.July 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the home page or by looking through the archives.