HIGH PIT WILMA

I never smoked ,so negatory on thi tab front,but Binksies,next ti thi Whitley schyuul,selt "Carbine" powder ti kids if they said it was for their Dad's Carbine lamp..! Even when naked flame contrivances were banned through the country,the Doctor Pit at Bedlington remained a "Naked flame lamp" mine,so Binks' supplied the Calcium Carbinate powder....only thing was....it was more deadly in kids' hands than tabs!!......I nearly blew the aad coal-hoose door of it's hinges one day,during an experiment that went badly wrang!!![aged aboot ll years-ish!!]

Heh heh!!! Whey yi bugga! Canny Lass,you said it in a nutshell,and thanks a lot for your kind reference to me ,as I'm sure the other's will appreciate your wise words! The minute I read Vic's remarks,I laughed heartily,he's a man after me aan heart,is Vic,he wadn't want ti offend anybody seriously,just a little bit o' skit,doesn't harm ti press a point!! Merc,they must be like fish,only grow to the size of their environment....? I agree with Sym and Merc,ye get a better greeting from ya pets,[sometimes] than yi dae off some fowk!! Eggy,a agree wi ye that in a perfect world,answers would be yes or no.......nae pussy-footin' aboot! A also re-inforce me philosophy that it wud be a queer world if we aal agreed on ivrything......thi mind boggles at thi thowts of it!! It's like religion yi knaa,caases mair bother in thi world than owt else,noo,if ivry bugga just left ivry bugga else ti believe [or Not believe....],in whaativva they waant ti, ivry bugga wud get on just fine!!....but thaas aalwis sum bugga waantin ti preach ti them that duzzn't waant any bugga preaching ti thim...!!![aam a mekkin' sense heor noo?!!] Beg ti differ eh!! [nuff sed!]

Great stuff! from you ,Vic,and also Canny Lass , and Brian! Vic,talking about culling the Wolves,reminds of a documentary I saw on telly [probably in the black and white days,cos I haven't watched telly for years...],and it was how they were starting to cull the Wolves,cos they were decimating the Moose population,somewhere in the U.S.. After a few years the Moose population exploded,and forests were being decimated by the Moose,as they feed on Lichens,which grow on the bark,so the bark was removed inadvertently,and the trees died off. SO!,they had to re-introduce the Wolves back again,to control the Moose! Noo,does that mek sense? They did the same thing recently on the Shetland Islands,introducing hedgehogs,for a reason which I forget,then having to cull them cos they were decimating the ground-nesting birds population,by stealing the eggs from the nests. Meks ye wonder whaats atween these folks lugs,ti interfere wi Nature,doesn't it?

"Dragon's den" her favourite then?!![mind a dinna waatch telly but aav hord folk on aboot it....a dinna even knaa wat it is!....just thowt it fitted the thread!!] Lizards and reptiles generally,are the most fascinating creatures aren't they?....snakes intrigued me hoo they moved and climbed wi nae legs,until a few years back,[afore computers came alang!!], a read aal aboot them,and its even mair fascinating hoo they have evolved! I once saw a film short at the pictures many years ago,[a natural history film],and it was a fight for survival between a Snake and a Mongoose,in the jungle,and most of it was just a blur..the movements were so fast. So hoo big will Lizzie grow once she reaches adulthood,Merc..?

Heh heh! A few months ago my Wife and me...[er...."I"....!!!] ,were sitting in our G.P.'s waiting room,in the Queue to see the Doctor. Naturally,most folk,young and old,had their smart-phones or tablets out on full display...nothing discreet! The lady in the seat directly in front of us,was keeping a very young kid entertained with her phone,which,it was hard NOT to notice,had an Arithmetical program displayed. The kiddie was typing in simple multiplication and division "sums",and passing the phone to her Mother [?],to answer the problem. The Lady was seriously counting on her fingers,and sometimes got the wrong answer! I thought ,no!,she is only keeping the bairn happy!,but after about half an hour,and various attempts at corrections,it became clear that the neither of them knew how to add 2x2!! I think the only 4x4 she probably knew was her poser jeep standing ootside!!.......[my sarky joke!] No black bridge standing there noo,up the Choppington fields,Pilgrim,nae pits! Nae open fields either,aal planted wi mature trees noo. Mind,it's a lovely waak through the Choppington Community Woods on a warm summer's day wi ya dog,reet from where the High pit used ti be,doon various offshoot paths,alang what WAS the railway line that brought thi High pit coal doon ti thi Low pit.

Hi Brian! He looks gorgeous...! Hoo did a prisoner get away wi that so lang? He musta been askin' for seconds at every mealtime and tekkin a doggy-bag back ti he's cell!!

".................................aye,Son!.............when aa was a lad Androids WERE Androids!.......ye cud actually TOUCH them wi ya thumbs........not like aal this new -fangled thought-processing telepathy stuff wat ye kids think aboot aal day......ye shud get yasel summick ti occupy ya brains man,it was hard work when aa was kid....ye had sair thumbs by thi end of ya shift..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Heh heh!

Canny Lass,and Vic and Doreen,it looks gorgeous owa theor,but a bet it's bliddy caad!! We had a little flurry o' snaa t'otha day and it caased havoc in some places!!....gud job we dinna hae yor winter conditions owa heor...we'd cum ti a standstill in ten minutes! Cum ti think on't,if we had the 1947 winter again,that wud stop us an aal!,the parapet walls of the Willow Bridge were level wi snaa that winter,but we still got wa milk and grosseries......it teks sum stopping horses and carts!! Doon thi pit,a used ti be plowing through swaallies of stinking black waata,nearly level wi thi top of the horses' back,trailing heavy machinery bits and girders etc,across bare rough ground,[nae rails in the maingates],and although it was self-made on management's part,wilful neglect,the fact of the matter was,the horses just battled through it aal,as we lads at Choppington High Pit just had ti dae....nae options! Where ye are,both of you's,looks like a haven for an amateur photographer!! Vic,dae yi get brown bears smooching aroond as weel,when it gets really rough?....or wolves?

I remember when my older Brother,[born same day as me-three years earlier!],went out from Hollymount Square on an adventure trip,one day,through the cut from the square to Beattie Road,and around to the wood-head where Brigg's pig farm used to be. We bumped into some other kids,and they were from Beattie Road...strangers! THIS I never forgot!,one of them came to me,threateningly,and asked where I was from,when I told him,he then asked me..."Hoo owld are ye?"........... "SIX" ....I replied,........"Whey AAM SIVVEN,so watch wat ya sayin'...!" SIX YEARS OLD! ...and playing over the steep banksides of the black path wood-head!![mind,my Brother was NINE....and He was looking after me....!!!] Ya reet Pilgrim,we played for hours doon the picnic field,only it wasn't a picnic field in them days,it was a lovely grassy wild meadow wi Coos wi lang horns waaking aroond us! Wa Mother's knew where we were ,just doon thi bank from Hollymoont,and we aalwis had little Mickey,my dog....just as ye recall yasell'...that was aroond 1950-ish. We were safe as hooses in them days.

Cheers Merc! I have heard of that species,but never seen one....surprisingly deceiving,doesn't look that big!! I am fascinated by snakes also,and would love one but my Wife would be terrified of one so I call it a day on that one.!

Heh heh! Okay,Eggy,everybody ti tha aan! Like aa say,aav had mair harm done ti me and my family,been personally attacked innocently waaking owa ti me hoose by a young lad twice my size,who hit the deck unexpectedly,and twice as hard as he tried ti hit me,been verbally abused and threatened to be "filled in" while minding me aan bizniz waakin me little dog,by so-called "Humans."...and aa just waant a quiet peaceful life! Aam happier owa thi fields,or doon the woods,aav never drank in me life,so divvent gaan ti places where ya likely ti encounter any bother wi drunkies or druggies. Confucious was a wise man?[PC here....or Woman!],but so is HPW,and MY motto is...."Ye get nae grief off birds and animals,it's people ye get grief off" Let's agree ti differ eh Eggy?! Thanks for contributing,it aal meks interesting reading for members!! Cheers Marra! [P.S.]A thowt ye must be Ex-pat somewheor,when ye mentioned Chipmunks and Prairie dogs!! Ignorance is bliss!

I was visiting my Sister one day,in April,2011,up at Bedlington,near the 20 acres field. I came to say goodnight,at the front door,at midnight,and it was a very COLD night.! As I came out of the doorway,something caught my eye,moving fairly quickly,along the gutter,in the road outside of my Sister's house. When I went to see what it was,this little thing turned around in it's tracks,and came running straight towards me. Well,seeing as I speak to every living thing in nature,as if it was a human being,I said "Hello" to it,at which point it halted in it's tracks,and turned away from me,obviously not recognising the voice as it's owner. Each time I stood still,it came running towards me,stopping about three feet away,and sniffing up to me,as if it was sussing me out! After a quarter of an hour of this carry-on,it started to tire itself out,and finally just plonked down beside my feet,like a little kitten! I picked him up and he just sat in my hands content,looking up at me with the most gorgeous pink eyes! He was shivering,freezing cold,god knows how long he had been running wild,and was probably starving with hunger,as it was obvious he was a domesticated animal. I phoned my Brother ,who just lives a few doors away from my Sister,and who ran the Cat Protection League for donkey's years,until ill-health forced him to stop. He came up with a cat carrier and I put this little bonny thing in and took him home for the night,giving him some supper of Jess's dogmeat. Next day I did some research,and found a breeder/keeper who lived a few doors away from where this little animal was running around. He hadn't lost any stock,but took him in and said he would contact people he knew who kept them,and would either return him to his owner,or keep him and breed from him as he was an unusual Albino Ferrett. Happy ending once again!!...no way could I have driven home and left him to his own devices,knowing he was of a kept species..and probably wouldn't have survived long on his own. Not good pics,as it was midnight,but better than nowt! Here he is............ [2-4-11]ALBINO FERRET ESCAPED!.AVI

Canny lass....HE is gorgeous!!.....had my hackles up seriously reading about his poor plight. So pleased you were able to rescue him,sad about his family.[Scumbag things who did this....re-inforces my views expressed above...] Merc,Lizzie is a lovely little thing....Lizzie the Lizard........!is that how you named her? What species is she?...Newts and British sand Lizards are the only ones I have ever handled,so not an expert on Lizards at all![but willing to learn]

Fair remarks Eggy,not pulling you down in any way,where Babies are concerned,you need to be very careful. Having said that,I was about 3 years old when my Godmother gave me Tiddles,and Micky,my Kitten and Puppy,[lakeland/terrier cross],in 1947,at a time when we had no money to feed ourselves hardly,never mind pets! In those days,the cats would feed themselves naturally,or get scraps of meat off our table,after dinner.[Rabbit pie with a crusty baked covering over a cup in the middle of the bowl was a cheap delicacy!!...rabbits were ruining the country's crops,they were so abundant!....hence Myxymatosis!!] Our dog got everything we ate....full stop!...they were both healthy clean pets,no fleas and ticks....and no Vets! Micky roamed the woods and fields every day with me,and never ailed a thing till he met up with a speeding opencast coal lorry driver on bonus-work,and Micky lost his life,and I lost the best friend that man ever knew.... I've looked after birds and animals all my life,and at nearly 72 yrs old,I don't think I will die from any animal or bird disease............more likely to die from scumbag species who are supposed to be "humans",like the young blonde "girl",who drove a stolen car,with false cloned registration plates,straight into the side of my car doing about 40 mph,broadside front near passenger side,knocked my Wife unconcious,wrote my car off,terrified both my Wife,and my little dog,[who was asleep in the rear of my car],for ever getting back into the car again. Tried to drive away from the scene off the crash,her car seized up,she did a runner on foot,police helicopter,sniffer dogs,and police on foot searched the fields and streets,she escaped......probably doing the same thing again as we speak.....noo THAT'S where ya mair likely ti suffer from a shortened life-span!Humans.....not wildlife! [or domesticated pets!] My own Nephew,and a friends' Grand-daughter, are the only two people I have ever come across in my entire life,who are allergic to cats,runny nose and watery eyes,bad enough but not life-threatening!! Mind,Eggy,by the sound of things,you aren't living in England,where we don't have Chipmunks or Prairie dogs,but we do have Rats,and Squirrels,Weill's disease etc. I've never heard of anybody being bitten by a rat,but every week somebody is either stabbed to death,or mugged and severely beaten up....even old people in their eighties and nineties,suffering at the hands of young male AND female scumbags who are supposed to part of the "human" race..presumably with more intelligence than "Dumb" animals..........!![not forgetting the carnage on our roads every minute of every day god sends...!] Yes,fear of that which is not likely to happen is a common,[and I suppose understandable], thing,but you have to put life into context. I am personally more [very!],wary of the dangers of being among the human race,than I am,of being in the wild,among my friends out there!!

Jess poked among the 3ft tall thistles one stinking cold rainy night.....well....it was about 2-am-ish,in spring 2015,just along from our house..[about 200 yards away]. I tried to urge her to come with me but she set her feet,and was adamant that she wanted to investigate something,among the the forest of tall thistles. I feared she would be prickled so I went to see what she was so intrigued with...... When I shone my torch among the thistles,I was expecting to find a toad or a hedgehog or something...... This is what I found,hanging, [soaked to the skin], by it's wee skinny featherless wings! I gently untangled it from the thistles,which were totally embedded into thi poor thing's few feathers,and carried it straight home. My wife woke and came through the garage to see if I was alright,and when she saw it,she immediately started to help me,by organising a piece of soft cloth for the cage bottom to wrap him in,cos he was soaked and shivering,only a few days old. She got a small vessel of water,and a cocktail stick,and he immediately started to gulp the water droplets from the stick. I made him comfortable,cos he was too weak to stand on his feet unaided,and went to bed after about two hours watching him. My Wife couldn't rest and kept getting up to check on him. In the morning I hard-boiled an egg and mixed the yolk with some finely milled oats,and water,and started feeding him from the cocktail stick,with difficulty,at first,cos he was disorientated....but it didn't take long before I was shopping for more eggs!! He grew rapidly within a few days,turning from a dying weakling,into a happy singing fluffy bundle of healthy feathers! Now he was on a diet of seeds and fruit,and bits of worm at his choosing,still with the egg and oats paste..and also Thistle-heads ["clocks"] When I felt he was ready, I took Him to where he was found and released him,he went straight to the feeders and water-dripper bottles that I had hung discreetly among the trees. I used ti hang his cage outside in the warm sun,and every time I whistled to him,he whistled back,cos I did that from the very first night I found him! A happy ending to a very sad start for him!! Eggy,what would you have done.....left him outside?.........to die?....balance of nature? I think I will just keep on interfering with Mother nature appropriately!![she's getting on a bit noo,and needs help!] 'FLUFFY' FEEDING![SPRING 2015].AVI

Eggy,I completely agree with you,on the basis that we are talking about a fully grown old ewe,or a stag,or any other big wild animal...house them in appropriate shelter outside if needed,due to either injury or starvation.I have had a tame ewe jump in and out of our small tourer caravan,if you turned your back for a second,and mind....they are pretty "warm"!!,to be kind to the species,as are goats!Noo!!,would you have left the cardboard box and it's contents lying in the freezing cold,which Canny lass rescued,above,or would you see a baby hedgehog lying dying because it has somehow strayed from it's mother,maybe the victim of careless drivers who deliberately go for these poor things at night,which I have seen drivers do many a time. I would have thought that anyone with a heart in them would help the defenceless creatures...but then,I am just soft as clarts and crackers as weel!!

Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!! What a lovely response from canny caring folk! A divvent swear,but a did quietly in me kitchen,when a saw the wee pup...the same type of scumbag who dumped LBJ oot the car onto a busy motorway in Newcastle,ti try and get her killed,rather than just take her to a shelter to be re-homed.....and the same scum who vandalised and eventually burned down the Blyth Wildlife trustsanctuary for birds and wild animals.[where Porcy came from before that happened] Thanks for posting Canny Lass,and Vic.

Really appreciated Barby! Somehoo not wat a remember,aav aalwis had in me heed a black bridge exactly thi same pattern as the thi Blyth and Wanny ones!![steel construction] A shud be ashamed,a was up there plenty reet up inti thi 60's! Interestingly though,this is similar to what the opencast coal bridge was like,owa the river Bltyth,when thi Acoen Bank site led coal owa the waata ti Bebside pit.

Heh heh!! A posted this last neet,[or early this morning..!],and hadn't seen last weeks Leader,so a glances through it thi day ......and wat dae a see? Ye'd think for a second that NCC had stolen one of me pics!! Thi guys risk a slap on the kuckles from H&S ......nae safety hard hats on!! Thi article in the Leader doesn't tell you how the potholes are getting back to wat they were as every day gaans by!!

Heh heh!....like wat ticks on thi waal.....ticky paper!.....[in Chernobyl....!]....ughhh!

Looking after a Herring Gull has to be a long-term commitment,as the longest recorded lifespan of one,was in America,and the bird lived for a known 42 years,...the average is over thirty years at least! So not to be taken lightly! Fortunately I have generous help from friends who are fishermen,and who donate spare catches from time to time,to help with Percy's upkeep,cos his main diet is from cheap tins of dog meat,which I buy each week,supplemented with tins of cheap sardines as a treat once a week,and food scraps of fat etc,from our table.

Porcy was aboot eight or nine months old on that clip,he hadn't had his first years moult. Note the smaller black beak and dark legs,also his disabled wing which he cannot straighten out,compared to his good wing which is pretty massive when spread fully!

Hi all,seein' as aam guilty of gaan off-topic,withoot realising it till it's done,a thowt a wud set this one away aboot my tame..[???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!],disabled Herring Gull. Anybody else who looks after an injured/disabled bird or animal,a wud love ti hear from,being an avid wildlife lover!! Mebbe Mods can shift me comments and stories aboot Porcy,[where a strayed a bit!],owa ti heor,alang wi comments applied to him from other Members....is that possible? Just ti re-cap,aav had Percy,[hereinafter referred ti as Porcy!],more than three years since October past. A tuk him in as an outreach carer for Jon at Blyth Wildlife Trust,which was savagely attacked twice last year by scumbags,who wrecked cages,released baby hedgehogs which were being cared for constantly,as they don't hibernate as juveniles,and also released loads of other injured and sick birds and animals,in the middle of winter..leaving them to die. Here's wor Porcy! IMGP8338.AVI

Heh heh! Thanks Canny Lass! It's not easy mind,he has ti have he's bathwater changed almost every day,sumtimes twice a day when he moults,and also when he pollutes it with bread thrown for thi other birds,and fish particles etc. If he's water isn't clean,he won't go in to bathe,which he has to,being a seabird,several times daily. Thi first two years of being a juvenile,I had to put him away in a big dog cage at nights,lined with straw which Dave,the farmer just across from me,let me take oot his fields after the corn was taken in,I filled several bin-liners with the dry straw,and it lasts all winter,having to change the straw bedding every two or three days. I used to put the security light on,aboot midnight,say quietly to him...."Howweh Porcy,it's bed-time..",and he used ti toddle away in front of me and hop inti his cage nae bother,[after initial period of guidance and patient training!] A had a cover owa his cage aal sides and front,wi plenty ventilation,in case Foxy came in and terrorised him,but that never happened. A didn't knaa then,that Herring Gulls have no direct predators,other than when they are in the egg,or just hatched. Even then,it's the Black-backed gull which predates the nest,but not the Adults. This year,a took his cage away,in the spring-time,ti see hoo he wud fare up,and he just perches on the stream stones reet ootside me big patio windae,aboot three feet away from the glass. Thi minute a show me face in thi morning,he struts across ti thi conservatory door and pecks on thi glass repeatedly ti tell yi that he is famished!![a tin of cheap Sardines in tomatoe sauce noo and again,as a treat,meks ye he's friend for life!!...he LOVES them!] He is a fully-grown adult noo,and me Wife thinks he is a lot bigger than the wild ones at the lakesides,due to being fed and not getting flying excercise. He does try and fly aroond the garden for a few minutes at a time,flaps his wings furiously,mekking his feathers fly oot!,and then rests for a while,in between playing inquisitively with bits of sticks and he's stotty baal etc!! It takes a lot of dedication,but it is worth it to know he was saved from certain death if he had been left to fend for himself. When he is really hungry,and I am hanging washing on thi line first before feeding him,he comes across and pecks at my shoes from behind,and pulls at my jeans around me ankles....I have ti watch him like a hawk,cos I am on Warfarin,and cannot afford ti risk being punctured by his strong beak......seeing as he can pulverise a 2lb Codling's bony head in two minutes flat,by stabbing repeatledly like a woodpecker at it!! He was on Radio Newcastle Jonathan Miles breakfast show,a couple of years back!! That's another lang story!