Author Archives: admin

A bit of an update

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It has been a while since I have blogged anything so here is a bit of an update:

  • Work has been insane (both in terms of difficulty and work load) recently, so much for the downturn (I guess that is a good thing for me);
  • Went on my second pelagic bird watching trip (both have been off Hillarys in Western Australia), added two new birds to my life list but felt quite seasick…
  • The model trains have been going well – starting to clean up sections of ugly wiring, fix dodgy sections of track etc.  Adding bits and pieces to the collection (most of it second hand).  Starting to work on the scenery a bit too.

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Yellow-nosed Albatross (Diomedea (Thalassarche) chlororhynchos, race bassi).

SBS Ashes Coverage

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I have been really enjoying the SBS Ashes coverage (although I have been only watching the first few hours of each day).  The three Australian hosts have been entertaining and the Sky commentators in Wales have been excellent.

The only unusual aspect of the SBS coverage has been the advertisement breaks.  Each one starts with a glimpse of one ad followed by a completely different ad played in full.  Has anyone else noticed this?  Is the first ad a mistake?  Or is it a new subliminal advertising scheme because enough of the first ad is shown for you to know what it is?

Awesome birding at Flynn Road

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I spent Saturday morning bird-watching with the BAWA crew at Flynn Road (The Lakes).  I added seven birds to my life list, taking the total to 184.  Here are the new additions:

  • Elegant Parrot (Neophema elegans);
  • Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus);
  • Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus ornatus);
  • Crested (Western) Shrike-tit (Falcunculus leucogaster);
  • Restless Flycatcher (Myiagra inquieta);
  • Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera);
  • Hooded Robin (Melanodryas cucullata).
It rained on and off for most of the morning but it was definitely worth it.  While we could only locate a female Hooded Robin, close examination of the photographs confirmed it’s identity.  This means I have now seen all five robins that frequent the south-west of Australia.  The Crested Shrike-tit and the Restless Flycatcher were seen in close proximity near the spot we stopped for morning tea.  With the assistance of Steve I located a group of Varied Sittellas working the bark of a tree over and got some very good views (and some photos that, while not brilliant, confirm the identity).

New to the list

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Over the last week or so I have added three new birds to my life-list:

  • Rufous Treecreeper (Climacteris rufa) – seen on the Wungong/Bungendore BirdsWA walk – thanks to those who found it;
  • Western Thornbill (Acanthiza inornata) – I have seen these before but I can now reliably identify them thanks to John Graff;
  • Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites basalis) – I found a single bird on the beach at Karratha – it was either exhausted or hiding from birds of prey as it was content to let me approach quite close.

This take the life list to 177 – my aim is to pass 200 by the end of the year.

Track layout complete (for the time being)

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After many hours of tinkering the track layout of my N-gauge model railway is complete.  The new sections aren’t powered yet but a few hours with the soldering iron should sort that out.  I have also taken the opportunity to add some extra lighting.

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The layout features:
  • 11 turn outs (or points) – all are Peco electrofrog;
  • 7 sidings (of varying lengths, 5 can be isolated to park locomotives);
  • 3 tunnel mouths (1 double width, 2 single);
  • 2 station platforms (may be more to come);
  • 3 “loop” paths.

Package from Hattons

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This is the package from Hattons. The order was placed on 01/05/2009, it was packed in the UK on 07/05/2009 and it arrived in Perth (Australia) on 12/05/2009. Everything was intact and exactly as I ordered. This was a test order to see how things went – I will be ordering some more significant stuff from them sometime soon.