So why the Shat Birder?

I got a bit of stick for calling my blog The Shat Birder and contrary to the jibes it is not a description! Shat is actually (believe it or not) the local name for the village in which I have lived all my life, Skelmanthorpe.
Skelmanthorpe is on the outskirts of Huddersfield and in the 1870’s during the construction of the railway line (which is now Kirklees Light Railway), local unskilled labourers were drafted in to chip away at the rock that would later carve out Shelley Tunnel. These local lads were nicknamed stone “Shatterers” by the Irish navvies who had been employed to lay the line. The taunting from these “foreigners” actually ended in a 200 man mass brawl, which saw one of the Irish workers getting part of his ear bitten off! It was this incident that coined the phrase “Shat lug oyl biter” which when translated from broad Yorkshire is basically “Skelmanthorpe Ear Hole Nibbler”. Since then though, nearly 140 years on, Skelmanthorpe is still known as Shat! And all its inhabitants by the abbreviated “Shatters”!

Thursday, 28 July 2011

Garden Wildlife

Despite visiting Blacktoft Sands last Sunday, these photos are my latest outing with the camera..the garden being the outing! The weather was poor as I parked up at Blacktoft, so I opted to go armed with binoculars and telescope instead, and left the camera behind. Sure enough the sun eventually broke, but with hides packed to the rafters I decided a trudge back to the car would only loose the seat I had waited for? The birding was class! Marsh Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Spoonbill, Bearded Tit..the list goes on! A superb afternoon.

As the weather and temperature has improved these last few days, I could spend the evening hunting wildlife in the garden. Not sure if this is a young Wood Mouse or House Mouse? It gave a good hours entertainment though, in and out of the logs.











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