Monday, March 24, 2008

Part of the 5000 or so Icelandic black tailed godwits that provided the Nene Washes with a new spectacle, the previous winter record count was 1746 earlier on in February.
Quite a few of the birds are colour ringed, indicatingthat most birds had recently been on the east coast at sites like breydon water, the wash and the humber estuary, but some had also come from Chichester harbour on the south coast and the Dee estuary.

Wikipedia quote. The stoat's coat is a rich medium brown with an off-white belly. In winter, the coat is thicker and in regions that experience an inch or more of snow for at least forty days of the year (I used to be alot colder here in winter!) the color changes to clean white. This white fur is known as "ermine", a term originating either from the Latin phrase "Armenius mūs" ("Armenian rat") or from a word common to the Germanic and Baltic languages, hence the scientific name. At this stage the stoat itself may be referred to as ermine, or as being "in ermine".

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