How high above sea level is Gloucester Pete?
Only 100m, as you go up the valley it’s still around 500m. You need to head towards Tamworth where it’s about 1300m (and cold) to start seeing snow.
wow a lot of the old pier has gone since i was last there in the early 90’s
It’s a lovely area where you live - I used to take my family to Barrington Tops all the time when I was based at Williamtown, and the RAAF used to have (and may still have) an annual fighter pilots’ reunion at Tamworth - though my memories of that are slightly hazy… 
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We love it also we often get fly overs from the base. They look fantastic against the Buckets as a backdrop.
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That looks familiar. 
Ooooh. There is so much I would like to say. Mustn’t musn’t musn’t.
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Wasn’t Crabtree the one who usually said ‘I have a massage for you’? That’s needed for many there.
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T’other day I watched a TV program about Charlie Watts the Rolling Stones drummer.
A childhood friend of his was going through some of his belongings, he opened a small black case and contained within the red velvet protective padding was a cup and saucer that Watts used to bring a sense of normality to his life when on tour and passing time alone in his hotel room.
I’m with him there, the mashing process of the tea is relaxing especially when sat on the patio afterwards drinking it.
Yes, I know, none of my mashing tackle matches.
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Lovely photo. I see a these occasionally flying overhead but never managed to get a decent photo.
Well done
Thanks, I’ve made numerous other attempts in the past but this is the first time I’ve had some degree of success! They are certainly a most impressive sight soaring around.
Yes, a couple of days ago we saw a pair circling way overhead, moving from north to south. They never fly in straight line, always circling, would they be riding the thermals?
Normally yes, the thermals have lots of insects also rising in the air. Hawks of various kinds can take the insects to keep them going while searching for ground prey.
Here fortunately we have all sorts from kestrel up to Golden eagle in the summer months and we overlook a valley that rises to a ‘finger crest. imagine the gap between your fingers at the top. The buzzards normally circle in twos or threes, the kites in pairs or singly, the snake eagle and the kestrel don’t bother and sit on the fence posts or a tree branch, and the Golden Eagle is the king over them all and even with the bins it will circle to a height that is out of sight, until suddenly it reappears at low level from seemingly nowhere. The best to watch are the kites who will drop on our field at the back to take small vole or similar. They appear from nowhere and disappear just as quickly. The most prolific are the kestrel who nest in a stand of trees at the bottom of the field. In the spring for about a month they raise the young and fly between one stand and the other training the young to hunt and fly. It isn‘t a constant everyday thing but over the course of a year we really get a sense of life constantly renewing. Was it Toad who sang ‘ it’s a country life for me’ 
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Never thought that buzzards would take insects. That’s amazing.