Are you an 'A' and other stuff....

That's right. Are you an 'A' ? Does your name starts with the letter A? I'm painstakingly transfering all my contact numbers on my old mobile phone to a new one. And the names of people starting with 'A' are more than the names of people starting with the other letters of the aphabetical order. For the record, I've 23 'A' people on my mobile phone. Thats 10 more than the next nearest letter, J. The name that is repeated the most on my phone is Ben. I have 5 Bens, followed by 4 Dans, and 3 Daves. So 'A' people, congratulations! You've beaten the record :-)

Workwise, it has started to become a bit monotonous. I work, eat, sleep, day in day out. Hopefully I shall be able to break this habbit soon. On another matter, the weather has started to lighten up slightly. It has been pouring with rain for the past few weeks, with various parts of England suffering from floods and its after effects. However, today was sunny and the forecast for next week seem to be pretty sunny too. Let's hope it lasts much longer this time round.

A pot of gold just over the next house?

The lighter side of motorbiking

I came across these few strips drawn by a very well know local artist near home. I have to say I find them quite funny.

Animal Encounters XIX

Hey there! Its been a long time since the last encounter. But its good to be back! So without further ado, this week's special is.....

The Roul-Roul Partridge

The roul-roul partridge is found in on the Asia continent, in places like Thailand, Brunei, and Malaysia. They are approximately 26 cm in length, weighing 200 g (female) to 230 g (male). It is an unmistakable bird with a spectacular reddish crest, dark plumage and bright red bare parts. The female is very different from the male, but equally distinctive, with most of the plumage green and head grey. The young birds resemble the female but with more mottled colouring. The young male has a greyish belly.

Check out my super cool mohawk!

The roul-roul partridge lives on the forest floor in large gregarious groups of up to 40 birds, that spend the day foraging for fruits, seeds and insects.

I'm so camouflaged! Opps I forgot I've got pink legs.....

The roul-roul often follows wild pigs around the forest, feeding on the pig's leftovers, such as half-eaten fruits. They use their feet to scratch for food in the leaf-litter.

I'm doing the poka dance....to look for food

The birds have a loud alarm call that is uttered when danger threatens. A quiet whistle is also used by family members to stay together in dense forest cover. The nest is a complex dome construction made of leaves and twigs that hides the female completely when she is inside. Five to six eggs are laid and incubation is undertaken by the female and lasts about 18-19 days. When the chicks hatch they are well developed, but still need to be fed by the female for the first week. They stay with the parents for a further three months.

Aye, a stash of whiskey hidden under this rock! Damn I've only got a beak....

The roul-roul partridge is not considered to be globally threatened but it is vulnerable to habitat destruction particularly due to logging. What was once a widespread species is now limited in its distribution. Did you know that the nest dome of this species can be burst open in a hurry if predators threaten, allowing nesting material to fall onto the eggs, perhaps hiding them from sight. No? Well, now you do!

Folk Free Rain....

Finally! I've now finished my internal secondment at work. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, go read my previous posts. So that means I'm relaxing now, listening to great music, and typing on this blog. Speaking of which, I watched a really nice gig on Sunday. The band is called Malarchy and they play gypsy/balkan/folk music, which I wholeheartedly recommend. If you would like to hear some of their music, they've got a website on myspace which you can go and listen or download. It is at http://www.myspace.com/malarchyband .

And also, if you've been living in the British Isles recently, you'll probably know that we've been experiencing some really shitty weather. Several towns in the Midlands were flooded last week. Over here in Bristol, we're getting it easy. While there have been some downpours, no floods were reported. What we are experiencing now is 5 mins of rain, followed by 5 mins of sunshine, and then rain again. The cycle repeats itself throughout the day. I find this really fustrating. Anyway it tells us that mother earth is going crazy over the changes in climate...

So, now that I've got more free time on my hands, I shall be updating this blog more often. Peace out.....and stay dry.