Keep yer Pecker Up

Today I was on rotational working from home as part of an increasingly escalating suite of measures for risk reduction and business continuity, like many others up and down the country - including Nichola who has been dumped with a brand new laptop and told to stay away from her office indefinitely. I can only do part of my job from home, though what I can do I get done quicker and more efficiently than when I am actually at work. It's not the same though; no sudden changes in tempo, no questions from others about the production lines, no noise and heat from machinery and industry, nothing going bang and needing a spur of the moment plan for engineering recovery. I don't like it.

I've actually got a few days booked off around the coming weekend anyway, as I was meant to be going to two gigs in Sheffield (which are now postponed) and celebrating Nichola's birthday (which we now don't know what to do). What I will do, if the weather stops being as wet and drizzly as it has been all day, is get out and about to big open sites, avoiding unnecessary contact and trying to enjoy life.

Given that I had some spare time later in the afternoon, around the now-daily podium updates, I had another check on a couple of links that were shared on Twitter by Andy Musgrove. These are continual live feeds from bird feeding stations. I realised today, when watching via the PC rather than a phone, that you can actually wind back c12hrs. It is extremely mesmerising and therapeutic, especially with the sound turned up loud enough to hear calls, tweets, whistles, honks and the wind.

My favourite so far is this one from Sapsucker Woods near to New York:

Flick(er)ing through I've seen a variety of woodpeckers on the feeders today ..

Pileated Woodpecker?

Hairy Woodpecker?

Downy Woodpecker?

Red-bellied Woodpecker?

The other one is from Panama, a fruit baited station where I have seen hummers, big butterflies and a fair few colourful birds that are nothing like the UK fauna (though the sound is a bit more hit and miss on this one) ..

And whilst I'm at it, this one from Costa Rica is not live but has some great birds close up ...

Trust me, after last year's experience I know that being stuck at home is no fun at all. Daytime TV is absolute shite, like a lot of evening TV (in fact the only good news today is that they are stopping filming Eastenders and Holby City). If you need something more stimulating to watch, copy these links, get them on the big screen and get your field guides out!