NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Phasing. A good word that, used quite a bit in the counter-culture that was 1970s twitching. If somebody had phased they had given up going for rare birds.  "Dave didn't go for the 'legs or the Bobolink, he's phased" This was said in hushed tones, as if Dave had recently departed this life. To phase was to exit stage right (or left), to cease to be a player, to be consigned to the rank of 'dude' - another good 1970s twitching word. Now, my question to myself is 'Am I phasing?" We are in mid-August. I would normally be scouring the nearby downs for passage warblers and chats. Even having fantasies of Wrynecks and shrikes. But I'm not. Has fifty years of birding experience told me that to do so will only solicit disappointment? Just a Wheatear or two, maybe even a Whinchat? I could wait a week and drive an hour south and see hundreds of migrants on the South Downs, double-figure counts of Spotted Flycatchers and Common Redstarts to boot. Why not

The 'insert image' tool is still disabled regardless of my efforts to correct it, so until the fault rectifies itself (which apparently it can do) my blog posts will have to do without images to brighten up an otherwise unbroken sea of words. To be honest that doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, as this blogging lark has always been more about the words to me - just as well with the current situation. So, where was I?... Ah yes, there was going to be a post about my recent long holiday in Cornwall. What started as a two-week family holiday became one of three-and-a-half weeks, due to a happy set of circumstances that you needn't be bothered with. It was very much a family holiday, but as usual I took along the optics (and the camera, which is being made largely redundant as far as blogging is concerned, although if you follow me on X, WhatsApp or even that quiet place for the more elderly - Facebook - you will still see the results of my automatic point-and

I would like to post about my recent stay in Cornwall, but am having a problem with Blogger - when attempting to insert an image, and then selecting the 'upload from computer' option, I am getting a blank screen, not allowing me the luxury of selecting said image - same outcome if I try and select an image by clicking on the 'Photos' option. I've Googled the problem and attempted to rectify the situation by clearing my cache and trying several other suggestions, but no luck. So, unless the problem self-rectifies I will be left with the choice of sending out my posts sans-images (dull) or not posting at all. Any ideas?