#glandford

[dansnaturepictures]

Looking back on some amazing moments watching owls for International Owl Awareness Day. I saw the Long-eared Owl my first ever at Cley Spy, Glandford in Norfolk earlier this year meaning I've seen five owl species in my life, and I can't help but think back to books in my early birdwatching days especially the sticker book that got me into birds and these were the five British owl species in them and longing to see them and it feels so thrilling that I have now seen all five. Especially over the last few years I have been very fortunate to have amazing times seeing these iconic birds.

[norfolkshiddengems]

Places You Would Love to Visit in Norfolk

Being considered as one of the best holiday spots in East England, Norfolk is the county that stretches roughly from Cromer in the east to Hunstanton in the west. Norfolk predominantly happens to be a great attraction for boaters and birdwatchers with several wildlife reserves. Norfolk Coast has a host of hidden treasures.

The area is home to a range of fascinating places ranging from The Shrines of Our Lady at Walsingham to The small Shell Museum and ford at Glandford. The great attraction of North Norfolk is its variety. There are charming small villages, and dazzling seaside towns. The county also features lonely salt marshes and crowded sandy beaches, fine seafood restaurants and little whelk and cockle stalls. With all these charms, Norfolk has the magic of pulling the attention of vacationers all over UK, for a perfect small break holiday. There are plenty of Norfolk cottages throughout the county without which it is impossible for any vacationer to have a peaceful trip.

Norfolk Cottages play a vital role in keeping up the joy and of a typical vacation trip. Instead of paying huge amounts for hotels and lodges, it is better to rent a cottage at cheaper price. What favors with a Norfolk cottage is the privacy and facilities it offers. They bring the feel of being at your own home, with all conveniences including self catering options.

You can walk along the coast of Wells, a small delightful town with a miniature harbor. Another specialty of the county is you can enjoy having traditional fish and chips fresh from sea. The tower of Cromer church can be viewed from any area of the town and in fact it dominates the entire place by being a landmark for mariners.

Read More: Places You Would Love to Visit in Norfolk

[aisphotostuff]

The Ford on the River Glaven Norfolk by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: Footbridge crossing the River Glaven beside the ford at Glandford, North Norfolk, UK

[playgroundsurfacingdesigns]

Children’s Play Area Flooring in Glandford #Kid’s...

Children’s Play Area Flooring in Glandford #Kid’s #Playground #Surfacing #Glandford https://t.co/hvkIfzFGil

Children’s Play Area Flooring in Glandford #Kid’s #Playground #Surfacing #Glandford https://t.co/hvkIfzFGil

— Play Area Flooring (@playareaflooruk) July 14, 2020

from Play Area Flooring https://ukplayareaflooring.tumblr.com/post/623619037332717568 via IFTTT

[ukplayareaflooring]

Children’s Play Area Flooring in Glandford #Kid's #Playground #Surfacing #Glandford https://t.co/hvkIfzFGil

Children’s Play Area Flooring in Glandford #Kid's #Playground #Surfacing #Glandford https://t.co/hvkIfzFGil

— Play Area Flooring (@playareaflooruk) July 14, 2020

[specialistmarketingplanner]

Digital Billboards in Glandford #Electronic #Billboard #Adverts...

Digital Billboards in Glandford #Electronic #Billboard #Adverts #Glandford

Digital Billboards in Glandford #Electronic #Billboard #Adverts #Glandford

— Outdoor Advertising (@outdooradsuk) April 22, 2019

from Outdoor Advertising https://outdooradvertising.tumblr.com/post/184373553221 via IFTTT

[triplejumprunway]

Long Jump Run Up Surfacing in Glandford #Long #Jump #Run #Up...

Long Jump Run Up Surfacing in Glandford #Long #Jump #Run #Up #Surfacing #Glandford

Long Jump Run Up Surfacing in Glandford #Long #Jump #Run #Up #Surfacing #Glandford

— Long Jump Runway (@longjumprunwayu) April 13, 2019

from Long Jump Runway https://longjumprunwayukk.tumblr.com/post/184153499306 via IFTTT

[letsgorunning]

Long Jump Run Up Surfacing in Glandford #Long #Jump #Run #Up... https://longjumprunwayukk.tumblr.com/post/184153499306

[weloseeveryweek]

16/17 season review

It needs to be said that Bristol Rovers aren’t a successful team. In fact, Bristol as a whole has massively underperformed in football considering that cities like this have Premier League clubs knocking about. That’s the way it goes, and both clubs have somewhat accepted that neither of us will never be the best in England. 

That’s practically the city of Bristol in a nutshell. You can look at places like Cardiff just across the bridge: when they want something, they say they’re going to get it and they do. In Bristol, the lads here say they want something, say they’re going to get it, and two appeals, five years and a court case later the project is “looking at other options”. It’s exactly the same with football here. 

But what can you do about that? Really? 

Because City have spent the season hanging around the bottom of the Championship, and two years ago Rovers were relegated into non-league; humiliation and heartbreak echoing around North Bristol. 

City weren’t amazing that season either. 

It was a bad season for football in Bristol, but at least City didn’t have the overhanging embarrassment of leaving the Football League entirely. 

Rovers, however, spent the summer playing the role of a lost child, unaware and needing constant reassurance. Sack the board and Clarke out were all the gasheads could mutter. It was a travesty, and it was the first time it had ever happened to us. 

The season started shaky, a couple of draws, a loss here and there, wins scattered across the board. That was just the beginning, and all we could do was hope for the best and not expect anything. 

Soon things picked up. We won. A lot. We went 22 games without defeat and broke the longest unbeaten streak record for the Conference. We thought we’d get automatics. Of course it’s the Conference and only number one can certainly escape, but we nearly had it in the bag. A win at Dover and a win on the last day would’ve sorted it. But we don’t like doing things the easy way her apparently, so we drew at Dover and a seven nil thrashing of Alfreton wasn’t enough to knock Barnet off the top spot. 

We picked ourselves up and glided through the playoffs: a 3-0 aggregate win against Forest Green Rovers, a local derby. And Wembley was stressful as well. Grimsby Town vs Bristol Rovers. We took 30,000 and they took 17,000: a record. From the thirty minute mark to the end of extra time, it was 1-1. Penalties were a blur: John-Paul Pittman kicking straight over the crossbar, and Lee Mansell slotting home the winner. 

Relief. 

The main emotion at the blue and white end of Wembley. 

Relief. 

And so the 2014/15 season came to close and the new season began. 

In our low league minds, it was the comeback of the decade. 

Bristol Rovers, little Bristol Rovers back in the Football League and ready for the next step. 

A promotion campaign that doesn’t end until the 7th May 2016. Dagenham & Redbridge at home. A win and results to go our way to steal 3rd place. 

It was only luck that Accrington didn’t win. 

But it was pure resilience that we won, 93rd minute and Matty Taylor hits the post and Lee Brown pounced on the rebound. 

That wasn’t relief; it was ecstasy. Because this time, we weren’t escaping; we were achieving. 

And that was just the prologue.  

2016 was almost an excuse to calm down. Relax and not stress out. We were back in our comfort zone of League One. I think i read somewhere that if you averaged out our league finishes since we entered the football league, we’d be around 15th in League One. 

That just sums up Rovers really: 15th in League One. 

Anyway, as long as we weren’t threatened by relegation, we didn’t really mind what happened. 

We lost our first match because we always do: a 3-1 loss at Glandford Park. Ollie Clarke and Tom Lockyer both get booked, the silly bastards. Our first and second most disciplined players respectively. 

That was alright, we’ll bounce back. 

And we did, obviously, because The Memorial Stadium is our own and too easy to win at. 5 yellow cards, and that’s excluding the two that sent off Oxford’s Sam Long. 

 Up until January, our results were hit and miss. We won a few, lost a few, drew a few. I reckon the 5-1 battering at home at the hands of Charlton was the highlight. 

We won our boxing day match and our News Years Eve match. Granted, they were both at home, but 2-0 vs Wimbledon and 4-1 vs Coventry were cracking games and we deserved to win them. 

We went into the New Year feeling confident. 

We took a big knock away at Charlton, them winning by a large margin once again. It was vaguely embarrassing really. Our away record was shocking all season; we only won about five games away. It was home record (which was genuinely the best in English football for three years) that kept us in the top half of the table. 

Northampton at home was supposed to be fairly easy because they were soft and mid table and one of the only teams we’d beat away. 

And fairs to us because we beat them 5-0, with a banger of a Billy Bodin goal, a seven minute hat trick by Ellis Harrison, and then another Harrison goal later in the game. This lead to some quality Harrison propaganda, and Rob Page getting the sack after calling the game “men against girls”. 

Classic sexism. 

(He got the Wales u21 manger job a bit later on so it turned alright for him in the end.)

 Then we were blessed with a couple of 3-1 away losses in a row. Bit of a shit two weeks for the gasheads really. We were all sick of our shocking away record, and I dreaded away games, especially when i wasn’t going. That might sound weird, but watching us be shite live is better than suffering whilst refreshing twitter and seeing us concede every ten minutes. 

 The last game of January was a Westcountry derby: Swindon Town vs Bristol Rovers. It’s a derby that used to have a history of Rovers fans going into pubs with bats and smashing up a few Swindon fans, and then them lot glassing us back. 

Now it’s just us singing inbreds and roundabouts and them nicking City’s song about hating gas scum. 

Swindon were playing shit all season and our home run was quality so their wasn’t much doubt of us winning. Also, when we played them at the beginning of the season, after the called off match and the ticket price fiasco, we pulled a comeback out of our arses with a penalty and an own goal. 

Billy Bodin scored what would turn out to be the only goal of the match and it was classic Bodin magic like always. 

It’s a BTEC Bristol Derby, but because that never happens anymore, it’s was decently entertaining, if anything fairly stressful. 

 31st of January was the day that us Rovers fans were humiliated and angry. 

Fucking hell were we angry. 

Matty Taylor, our top goal scorer, who’d scored 61 goals in all competitions across three seasons, the bloke who played a massive part of our back to back promotions from the Conference and League 2, the lad we took from Forest Green and essentially made him relevant, decided to pay us back by moving to Bristol City on the last day of the transfer day. 

Bristol City. Our fucking rivals. The only team that every gashead hates. 

Taylor produces a great explanation of “it was too hard to resist” as if there aren’t actual contracts out on his life. 

It was shambles. We had no idea what to do and we had no chance to pull ourselves back together. We had about four hours of the window left and no one to buy. 

We were fucked essentially. And it was more than that. 

I heard about it at school. I kept hearing whispers about Matty Taylor and i didn’t properly realise what was happening until last period. 

The City fans were piping up and I felt sick, because we were about to lose our debatably best player to our local, and more importantly major, rivals. 

School was going to hell, even though it’s in a village just off of North Bristol and in theory, my school should be full of gasheads. It’s not though because half of this city are glory hunters. 

None of us though we’d fare well for the rest of the season, what with us not having a consistent goalscorer and all. It was just another excuse for other teams to take the piss out of us. 

 We found options though. 

Ollie Clarke got his big break, which still makes me laugh considering he’s been here since he was about 14 and has always had bags of talent. He’d been in the squad for most of the season, and starting the majority of them. Ollie has 128 apps and 12 goals to his name and a good 11 of them were absolute worldies. He pulled one out against Oxford at the beginning of March, our first away win since October. My lad got one against Scunthorpe and a 40 second banger vs Chesterfield.

Billy Bodin became the main man. CR7 is just a poor mans BB23 really. He scored more goals than our actual strikers. We’ll be so lucky if we can keep him this summer. 

Speaking of which, Luke James massively failed. The poor bloke didn’t score a single league goal in his 23 apps for us during his loan from Peterborough. He’s a lush lad, and his baby’s really cute, but he just can’t put the ball in the back of the net. Babber even had a straight penalty given, and it got saved straight out. (It was a pressure penalty and he shouldn’t have been taking it anyway so I’m not sure if i can be blaming him for this one.

 Bolton away was such a crease it’s unreal. We should’ve won. We practically beat Bolton in their own backyard and we were disappointed. Darrell Clarke said in the post match interview that it shows just how far we’ve come that we’re disappointed in a draw at Bolton. He’s not wrong mates. 

Our playoff push managed to last until the penultimate weekend, where we go full circle and pull a Bristol Rovers by losing 4-2 at Peterborough. 

Quality. 

 Millwall at home was our last game of the season. They had to win to secure playoffs, and our result didn’t matter because we’d finish top ten either way, but we wanted to mess with Millwall’s play off party, and if all else fails, watch them get battered to fuck in the playoffs. 

The first two goals they scored were textbook offside and that’s just a fact. The Mem was the loudest it had been all season even if we were leaking goals like a tap. (Ryan Sweeney not in the squad makes a massive difference apparently. Better than England u20s international Jake Clarke-Salter definitely.)

Anyway, we get one back, and then they get another, and then we get another one, and we go into half time 2-3 down. Us over here was thinking we were gonna lose 6-2 in the second half was decently wrong. 

Our attacking force was mental and Millwall didn’t have a chance. Eventually, we get a free kick in a dangerous position. Bodin can take free kicks apparently and puts it top bins. 

Southend were winning, and if we could keep that draw Millwall we’re out of it. 

Course, they scored 85th minute, but we had our brief moment of glory. 

There were upsides to Millwall making the playoffs (and eventually winning them) like not having to play them next season, more specifically going to The Den. 

 And that’s the season over. 

A season that considering the circumstances, was very successful. We finished in our highest position since 1999 when main man Ian ‘Ollie’ Holloway was our manger.

Two years ago and if someone told me we’d be cracking it in League 1 I’d’ve twist your wrist in. 

We’re not a big team, and we never will be, but Bristol Rovers is enough for me. 

(as long we get into the championship soon and that uwe stadium starts happening @wael)

[dansnaturepictures]

Focus on seeing the Long-eared Owl at Cley Spy, Glandford on 17/02/2023 

As part of my new era of posts on here something I will aim to do, probably not that frequently, is do a focus on post that goes into more depth about a recent wildlife sighting or experience. I wanted to do one for the Norfolk trip last week and could have picked a number of birds or mammals to do it on, but woke up this morning fancying doing it for the Long-eared Owl we were so lucky to see. My journey with this bird began whilst watching BBC Winterwatch in January where they showed the bird and I was impressed by it and enthused about hearing that it had turned up at a birding/optics store. I had never seen a wild Long-eared Owl at that stage. Weeks earlier, following the sad loss of our dog Missy at the end of last year whilst sat in the woodland hide at Blashford Lakes on our week off of year list foundation laying, we decided it might be an idea to use two days leave the 17th and 20th February we had booked for all three of us to go to Norfolk for a couple of nights. I hadn’t even thought whilst watching Winterwatch, if this bird is still around when we go we might go to try and see it. But in the week leading up to the trip it became apparent to us via social media that this bird was still being seen. The excitable thoughts then crossed my mind of could we maybe see this. 

Then the day of the much anticipated trip beginning arrived, and we were tuned into Cley Spy’s extremely helpful Twitter updates saying if the “LEO” was there or not each morning. The day before it was a no, so we set the directions to Blakeney from Hampshire when setting off that morning where we wanted to try and see our first ever Twites and did achieve that on the day after seeing the owl with the idea of keeping track of the Twitter and and dropping into Glandford at some point in the weekend anyway. When on the motorway I checked Cley Spy’s Twitter and the Long-eared Owl was there. The directions were soon changed to Glandford. As had been suggested to us by a man we know from Facebook who had seen the bird days before, we rung the shop when about half an hour away to see if the bird was still there and it was. In hindsight the bird would turn up every day we were in Norfolk, but even if we had the superpower of seeing into the future it would not have stopped us going there straight away on the Friday as we really wanted to see this bird. 

We went into the shop and spent a glorious half an hour or so spellbound by this majestic bird. We got absolutely stunning views of it, making out its sweet mottled back, stripy chest, peach coloured face, entrancing marble eyes and iconic antler like ear tufts. It was beautiful to see some of its feathers caressed by the soft winter sunshine. We were in our element watching and photographing this bird. What a powerful and splendid bird to see, we were so taken with the bird. It was a pleasure to be surrounded by others watching and the staff at Cley Spy in a wave of enthusiasm for the bird. As I said in my round up of the Norfolk trip post on Monday Cley Spy have been so good, they’ve really gone above and beyond to not only post the news of the bird each day but allow access to see the bird keeping the bird’s welfare at the heart of it in exchange for donations to the Oriental Bird Club a great cause which we were happy to contribute to. 

It was a phenomenal bird to see for the first time ever for us, alongside the Twites making it a memorable day my first day with more than one bird life tick since 2018. Seeing it made me think back to my early birdwatching days as a kid and the books I’d have where the five owls were; Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl, Barn Owl, Tawny Owl and Little Owl. I’ve had an interesting history with owls, first seeing little, short-eared and barn in 2008 then not again until 2016 but seeing at least two of the three in every year since. In the latter intervening years I achieved a dream of mine of finally seeing a Tawny Owl in 2014 and 2015 (the same one in the New Forest each year) making it my favourite owl outright for a time due to the goal of seeing it, not seeing one again until 2021. In 2021 and 2022 I was over the moon to see all four of the owls that I had at that stage seen in my life with the other three all taken to my heart a lot more by that point. So it feels like a great path to this moment of finally seeing number five the Long-eared Owl, and there is just such a warm sense of excitement and satisfaction for me that it has happened. I’ve already seen Short-eared Owl and Barn Owl in 2023 on the week off to start the year, and the latter we also saw again briefly on the Norfolk trip, so it’s been an amazing start to the year for these birds of prey I love seeing so much and am fascinated by and Long-eared Owl is a truly a bird of my year so far.

When the plans for this Norfolk trip were in the infancy Shore lark was the main aim at Holkham and we did see them so well on the trip there and enjoyed that, but were not the main target due to the Milford-on-Sea bird turning up and us seeing it in late January. Snow Bunting took over as the trip’s main target and I was overjoyed to see this bird at Holkham too. But I think Long-eared Owl, the first bird of the memorable and sensational trip, was the standout bird of the trip if I had to pick. And from the moment we decided to do this trip, it all aligned for this bird to be the star and perhaps it was meant to be. As I write this a check of Cley Spy’s Twitter reveals the Long-eared Owl has not been seen since Sunday, which makes me feel even more lucky we had the honour of seeing this bird on a big weekend for it there. The seven pictures in this photoset are the ones I took the bird.

[petec9099]

Our first destination this morning was Blakeney Point. This is a long peninsula of land which runs parallel to the coast connecting at its eastern end. At the western end, it has a shingle bank which is a favoured resting spot for Common and Grey Seals. The only way to see them is from the water and so we head out on a boat from Morston Quay. We pass the old lifeboat station, now an information centre and the farthest you can get along the point on foot. When it was built in 1898 it was at the end of the point, but in the years since the point has continued to build further out into the harbour and the station now stands a good distance from the end.

Morston Quay (top left), Blackney Head (top right) and Old Lifeboat Station (bottom)

Arriving at the end of the point there are about 40 Common seals, many with pups, and a couple of female Grey seals hauled up on the beach.

  Also on the beach are 6 Ruddy Turnstones and a single Sanderling. Other birds seen include Little Egret, 6 Curlew. 5 Red Knot and around 60 Oystercatchers.

Ruddy Turnstone

Returning to Morston, we drive round to the beach at Cley for a late lunch. Sitting on the beach, in the face of the wind, we can see that a number of birds have been blown into the coast. In the space of a little over an hour, we saw Great Skua, Northern Gannet, Common Tern, Common Scoter and a Fulmar.

  After an hour or so we feel wind-blown and so retreat to the visitor centre at Cley Marshes for a warming cup of tea. Then its time to visit a couple of Arts centre at Glandford and Walsingham on the way back to the cottage.

  Norfolk Journey 2018: Day 4 Our first destination this morning was Blakeney Point. This is a long peninsula of land which runs parallel to the coast connecting at its eastern end.

[aisphotostuff]

Ford @ Glanford Norfolk by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: Wiveton & Glandford..Grey Wagtails can often be found in the river near Natural Surroundings and the feeders there are the best place in the Square to find Nuthatch. At Glandford Ford a footbridge crosses the river which is another place to look for Grey Wagtails

[norfolkonfilm]

The Bells of St Martin’s, Glandford 

Film Director: Chris Richmond

Visit Glandford in Norfolk and take a look inside St Martin’s Church which overlooks the village.  St Martin’s itself has an interesting story - having been built from the ruins of an older building by Sir Alfred Jodrell at the turn of the 20th Century.  Inside is something even more fascinating.  Often heard - but not seen - is its 12-bell carillon which automatically plays a hymn tune on the strike of every third hour.   Local Film-maker Chris Richmond filmedthe carillon’s workings in action and the tune you can hear here is ‘Jerusalem on High’.  

[specialistmarketingplanner]

Stadium Advertising Boards in Glandford #Stadium #Billboard...

Stadium Advertising Boards in Glandford #Stadium #Billboard #Adverts #Glandford https://t.co/sYSS7SKxaC

Stadium Advertising Boards in Glandford #Stadium #Billboard #Adverts #Glandford https://t.co/sYSS7SKxaC

— Outdoor Advertising (@outdooradsuk) March 23, 2019

from Outdoor Advertising http://outdooradvertising.tumblr.com/post/183657250286 via IFTTT

[tenniscourtcontractorsuk]

via Twitter https://twitter.com/tenniscourtuk2

[churchcrawler]

Glandford, Norfolk, UK by mira66 on Flickr.