Sunday Stamps - Country: - Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Irag

What do Brunei, Equatorial Guinea and Iraq have in common?

Well I only have one or two stamps from each and I have never posted any of them before.

My two stamps from Brunei depict the same man - 

Brunei - 1 March 1952

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin III was the 28th Sultan of Brunei. Brunei was a British Protectorate from 1888 to 1984. He was their first Minister of Defence after Brunei's independence. He died in 1986.

I also have two stamps from Equatorial Guinea. The first commemorates the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, depicting a diver.

Equatorial Guinea - 17 August 1972

The starling on the second stamp seems much larger tha those we see in our garden most days of the week.

Equatorial Guinea - 12 November 1976

This is from a series of North American birds and Protection of Nature.

The third National Census of Iraq was held in 1965 when the recorded population exceeded 8 million.

Iraq - 29 November 1965

To see what countries others have chosen just visit the links at Sunday Stamps

Bad Birdwatching

I have been a ‘fan’ of The Times columnist Simon Barnes for quite a while. Simon is a well known sportswriter, but his columns that interest me most are those on wildlife, especially birds. His book ‘How to be a bad birdwatcher’ was serialised on Radio 4; I have been fortunate enough to obtain a copy courtesy of a Mind charity shop.

Last January I posted a piece Watch The Birdie on my Writelink blog about the birds I saw in my garden in 2009. I have just collated my records for 2010. This year they cover 339 days (330 in 2009).

 

As in the previous year I have seen 35 different types, averaging 22 (23) and month and 8 (9) per day.

There has only been one change in the top ten most frequent visitors with the robin entering the list in place of the greenfinch. Top of the pile again is the wood pigeon on 95% of the days (93 in 2009), followed by rook 93% (78), blackbird 85% (89), starling 67% (69), collared dove 64% (72), sparrow 60% (41), robin 53% (29), gull 44% (48), hedge sparrow 42% (40) and the blue tit 40% (34).

A tree creeper put in an appearance in December; newcomers during the year were owls, fieldfares and the most spectacular arrival, a woodcock which crashed into the front window on December 27^th.

 

My favourite photo was of the goldfinches in the conifer in our front garden on Boxing Day (See Boxing Day Birds). Did you know that the collective noun for them is a charm of goldfinches?

However my favourite birds of the year were not in my garden but the sand cranes on Oxford Hills golf course in Michigan. They were quite content to share the course with us.