88D

Classic Sparrowhawk ploy. A colleague of mine crashed his company car into a ditch when a Sparrowhawk swooped over the hedge amd nearly hit him.

Just back from a break in sunny Dorset. Ales were from Dartmoor, Exmoor, Otter and Lyme Regis breweries. I was not disappointed by any of them - a good break!

Saw my first Hen Harrier the other day. Don’t tell anybody else, I want it to be around!

Yes, Blue Tits have done well this year, as have Coal Tits. Goldfinches seem to be all over the place (great), more than previously. But I’m from the other side if Yorkshire!

Saw my first-ever Hen Harrier the other day, though not in my garden.

That explains my conundrum. Thanks. I wonder if Tintern and Tiverton have got confused?

The coach in the bottom photo looks like a Thompson (ex LNER) brake third to me! Or are my eyes going? If so, I wonder if this then moved to the Culm branch to take over from the Barry Rly Coaches?

The Welsh habit of kicking to the corner , I think, is a Gatland tactic. He generally has a ploy following, eg the 15 man drive against NZ a few years ago. But what really annoys me is the slavish persistence in it when there are easy points available from the kicks. If I were captain in this match(guffaw, guffaw), I would have disobeyed orders and behaved as a ‘see what’s in front of you’ captain. I think AWJ made some bad decisions there. on a general front, this was not a strong Lions team/squad, so 2-1 defeat could have been worse. As a rugby spectacle, it was generally pathetic; and I probably haven’t got enough years in me to see a resurrection of a much more free-flowing style. It’s getting boring.

I can’t see Gats ever changing his approach. The closest we got to a change in Wales during his tenure was when he was hospitalised in NZ and Howley took over for the season. To be fair to Gats, he realises that the Lions aren’t the Barbarians, so he keeps his game plan very simple and easy to follow. After all, the Lions don’t get a huge amount of time together to develop a more complex and free-ranging game. The next game will be much tougher: there’s a few dented egos in the SA team right now.

Surprised nobody’s mentioned the Lions win yet. I listened to it and saw C4 highlights. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of the SA team yet, so it will be interesting to see whether Gatland makes changes. The Lions’ performance was curate egg-like: superb individual performances mixed with meh performances. Gatland does not normally like tinkering with a side that has won, but he might have to! Your thoughts?

Agree totally. I’m not going to expand on that as my blood tends to boil on this matter. Must get a life.

I don’t think the Canada match will be much of a test, if any, for an England fourths! Not sure what you will learn from it.

Dorset Gold went down better, more summerly than the other. As for Wight Squirrel, a good pint but too malty for summer drinking: I would have brewed it for autumn and winter.

Two new beers for me tonight: Sixpenny Brewery Dorset Gold, and Goddards Wight Squirrel. Shall tell you tomorrow how they went down!

Newies to me on my Keyhaven marshes ramble: Cetti’s Warbler, Little Tern, otherwise standard fare for this time of year. However, surprisingly some Brent Geese are still here, lovely armada of Shelduck ducklings, and a sizeable murmuration of starlings - about 1000, but I reckon this could grow in the coming decade.

Fair enough on your side of the world, and I’m sure that many people over here would favour that as well. I’m not wanting to disband the Lions btw ( insert grumpy of your choice here)

Quins v Exeter - what a cracker. How Quins have salvaged their season!

I’m with you on this. I can’t give any loyalty to the Lions. If given the choice of playing for Wales on a summer tour or the Lions, I would prefer the former. But that is very much a theoretical preference!

I’m sure there’s a few Leicester supporters here, so the news is that Tom Youngs has only got a two week ban for his misdemeanour after the Bristol match. He’s got off lightly, but, in my view, quite rightly because any neutral party would have sympathised with him.

Had a nice pint of Pattered Ale at the Queen’s Head in Troutbeck the other night. Handpump matched Frank the Dog!

I’m amazed if they hadn’t done that. Generally under an outsourcing contract, one company has the rights to design, the other to manufacture. Poor contract for the owner of the product to allow its subcontractor to ‘take it over’ at the end of the contract.

I do love a Whirlwind. Reminds me of a piston- engined Me 262.

Exeter, you heard it here.

If this has been reported elsewhere, then transfer it or whatever. Hornby has just made a profit of £300K in their last trading year, the first profit for 8 years or so. I hope we carry on with modelling eventhough we are coming out of lockdown bit by bit. Good news, eh?

Yep, their bluff was called by the ref, but they left a bad taste in the mouth. There was a similar incident in France v Wales final minutes a few years back. Once again, the cheating proved effective.