Tom, our long-term resident tiercel (a male peregrine falcon) whose partner left him with her male chick last year is bonding with Azina. Her name derives from her “AZN” ring.
Their ledge and nesting box get grubby so they had the cleaners in. It took two of them an hour and forty minutes; the film is condensed to three minutes.
Tom and Azina came back to inspect and both approved.
Azina cached a moorhen in the nesting box. She may lay a clutch in the second half of February or March. Unless you are a compulsive quizzer you may be unaware that peregrine falcons are the fastest members of the animal kingdom. When they “stoop” or dive they fly at more than 200 mph. This arcane fact helped me with a crossword clue.
‘She Stoops to Conquer‘ a hobby perhaps? (4,2,4)
My friend, whose name is an anagram of the longest river in Africa, will be baffled.
My expert on Rolls-Royce armoured cars has provided further information.
“The RAF maintained two squadrons of RR armoured cars in Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s. They were the strike force in case aerial surveyance and bombardment had not quelled trouble. The two squadrons were, in my view, unique in RAF and heraldic terms in that the squadron mottos were in cuneiform. If, on the first floor of the RAF Club in Piccadilly, you walk along the corridor toward the ballroom at the back, on your right you will see all the College of Arms approved Squadron Shields and Mottos. Towards the end, almost at the ballroom door, there is small annexe corridor/inset doorway and the Armoured Car Squadrons are just tucked in there; easy to miss.”
I will blag my way into the RAF Club to look. But his information is timely as the College of Arms have updated the Roll of The Peerage, essential reading for an insomniac. It’s a good game to spot soi-disant Lords who are not on the roll. as it were. All Life Peers are but some hereditaries don’t bother – indeed my brother’s barony and baronetcy were unproven from 1935 until only a few years ago.
This is a valuable resource provided by the College, an ancient institution not always recognised for its modernity. Now it’s galloping along, to catch up, with another resource, indispensable if you have a flag pole on your roof or in your garden; it will inform you about flag-flying days. Of course you can fly a flag any day that takes your fancy so this means days flags must be flown and half-mast days. This cropped up in an old post when I had to complain to English Heritage.