till death us do part...

Most of us out there are wedded to the hill, but some

are wedded on the hill.....

I wandered lonely as a cloud....

...or to put it another way, Billy-no-mates session on Tuesday afternoon.

Pretty much naff all wind (1 to 3 mph) but as this cloud passed over the hill (see photo below)

 the air was filled with widespread, super smooth lift right up to cloud-base if required.

A blissful 45 minutes before the full-on misery of winter sets in!

guess where...

 

silky smooth air and golden autumnal sun

....you must be able to guess it from this one surely?

nicely trimmed bush

 

Grabbing the last few evenings before the utterly pointless exercise of turning the clocks back.

The face of the slope was getting a bit of a trim....

Alula vs farmer

....made for a well illuminated de-rig area

in the dark!

Storking...

Continuing the animal related theme ( I promise we'll get back to rc soaring some time soon ).... spotted over the North Downs today...

(world's worst photo of birds in flight)

I give you from left to right; 1 crow, 1 stork and 1 buzzard.

The stork is likely part of a reintroduction programme from sites in Sussex and the Cotswolds. FYI it was not carrying a young baby.

Once common in the UK, it's believed they were partially wiped out during the Civil War when they were seen to be representative of freedom! Since then, hunting and habitat loss has contributed to their terminal decline.

They are still common over in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine and Poland where they migrate to breed during the summer.

Prior to 2020 there were no records of nesting storks since 1416.

Approx 20 are sighted every year in the UK, and in 2020, a pair bred in the United Kingdom for the first time in over 600 years.

They are excellent thermal hunters, so if you see one.... stalk it!! (see what I did there?!)

dartmoor

Help out our fellow soarers who fly Dartmoor national park

Model gliding will be banned by next spring

https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/.../DNPA-Comparison-of...

Fill this in:

https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/.../who.../byelaws-consultation

making the most....

....of the last bits of lovely weather. A thermally afternoon on

Wednesday. More of the same tomorrow?

meanwhile on the hill.....

 

It's a sign

possibility of some 'left of field' soaring spots?

 

a touch of eggcitement

 

A little something to help combat that 'back to school' feeling....