Black Forest Trifle! (My Part In It's Downfall)

 Margie got these bad boys for Christmas

Yum!!

What to do with em, a Black Foresty stylee Trifle seemed like a good idea!! Cheated a bit with Margie buying a Gluten Free Chocolate cake from the Co-op! mashed it up in the bottom of the dish mixed in some of the Cherries and covered in Black Cherry Jelly!!

Mashing it up!!

Cherries and Jelly added, Jelly made with the Kirsch!!

Onto the Custard, Margie's in charge, using the Cocoa Powder with Birds Custard Powder, old school stylee!!

Some good stirring going on!

Few air bubbles but looking good!!

Into the fridge for a few hours, Then to apply the cream!! 

The Cream

Now we don't want any old trifle, we want the best trifle that's there has ever been, the trifle to end all trifles, stories would be written about it down the ages, that sort of thing. So I would use my Piping Kit, the one I got to do the Christmas Cake Icing but wasn't allowed to use!!! I imagined rosettes, coils, delicate lacy patterns, etc,etc

So I put in the nozzle, filled the bag with cream and began to apply a gentle pressure, nothing happened, I applied more pressure, still nothing, a bit more pressure, still nothing. Now at this point some people might have investigated, wondering what was happening, by the simple laws of physics cream should be coming out of the hole, but no I applied even more pressure, muscles bulging, sweat on the brow and there was cream!! Hurrah!! No Hurrah!! The bag had split!!! WTF!!!  On investigation it turned out that there wasn't just one nozzle in the nozzle I put in, no  all the nozzles were in the bag, four of the buggers, which had somewhat restricted the flow of cream😢😂😲!!! Disaster, it was even suggested in some quarters it was my fault!!!!😱😰😂 unbelievable!! Anyway, we scraped the cream out of the bag, cream now so compressed it was basically butter😲 We spread it over the custard, it didn't spread well!! Looked a bit of a mess!

Not looking that appetising!

Could we save it, well yes with application of the remaining Cherries and a lot of grated Chocolate, you can fix pretty much anything with chocolate!! 😀

At least it looks edible now😂!!

Nice and oozy and very tasty !!!

So possibly not the most beautiful trifle that's ever been made but it's very tasty and there's enough left for tomorrow!! Hurrah!!! 

Patch Woe!

 The Decision not to go to Hassocks to see the Waxwings was probably a mistake, instead I had a wander around the Patch off the Albourne Road. After the last poor visit I said "never again" and I should of stuck with it!!😰😂 Very quiet, Thrushes probably the best of it, with Redwings, Fieldfares and Song Thrushes in small numbers about my route. Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker all noted, but none of em showed particularly well. Nuthatch and Bullfinch heard but not seen, two Long-tailed Tits and two Chaffinches about the best of the rest!! A few pics below!!

Fieldfare

Song Thrushes were several running about over the fields

Having been spoilt by the friendly ones at Pulborough Brooks on Thursday this one was much more shy.

Though I like these silhouettey shots! 

Flyover Fieldfare, most of the birds seen today were flying away!

Redwings

Showing all the ID features

Small flock of Starlings 

Not enough for a murmuration

HPP church

Sparrowhawk flying away!

Green Woodpecker, heard a couple but this was the only pic I got

Great Spotted Woodpecker, sadly distant

Churchyard Blackbird

Churchyard Robin

Lapwing flying over

Jay flying away!

Fieldfare

Redwing

Song Thrush

Song Thrush

Having been spoiled by the posy birds of Pulborough Brooks last Thursday, was much harder work today!!!!! Still nice to be out in the fresh air and if it was easy, everybody would be doing it!!!

Frosty Brooks!

 I could resist the blue skies no longer and with the weather looking a bit dodge at the weekend, took a day off for a bit of birding, with Margie and I deciding that RSPB Pulborough Brooks would be the best bet!! We did well to be on our way by 7.20AM but unfortunately ran into roadworks which meant it took us an hour to get there!! We eventually arrived, it was a bit brass monkeys, but we were well equipped with Margie sporting my thermal long-johns (no pictures 😢😱) and multiple layers on top😨!! There were a few birds in the car park, Sparrows and Tits mainly. We hit the trails, stopping by the pond to look over the Brooks.

House Sparrow

The icy Brooks by Margie

Frozen Brooks by Margie

Brrrrrrrrrrr!! by Margie

We reached the feeders, lots of Blue and Great Tits, a good number of Greenfinches, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and about 6 Robins the best of it!! Unfortunately it wasn't lit up by the sun so we didn't dawdle!!

Greenfinch

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Robin

We headed down the Zig-Zags, great views of 4 Bullfinches, though I missed the best photo opportunity, 3 Lesser Redpolls were in the birch trees, so not a bad start.

Bullfinches

Lesser Redpoll

Bullfinch

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

We diverted to Fattengates Courtyard, where we had good views of Nuthatch amongst others!! Including a lot more Robins!

Blue Tit

Nuthatch

Blue Tit

Fieldfare by Margie

Robin over Ice by Margie

Frosty window by Margie

Ice on the pond by Margie

Next stop was West Mead hide, was mostly frozen, but a small patch of water held a small group of Wigeon and there was a  group of sleepy Snipe! It was quiet though, with a few Lapwings over the grass but little else on offer!

Snipe by Margie

Another frosty view by Margie

Another Brrrrr! from Margie

Wigeon by Margie

View by Margie

Another skulking Fieldfare

My take on the Snipe

Male Wigeon

Female Wigeon

Snipe

With not much going on, we wanted to be out in the sunshine🌞. We left the hide and headed towards Winpenny, more Fieldfare hiding in bushes, a Stonechat and a fabulous showy Kestrel all enjoyed with the sun on our backs!

Goldfinch, saw a few today

Fieldfare

Stonechat

Kestrel, snuck up on it when it wasn't looking!

Another Robin, this one making an early bid to be December's bird in next year's Calendar

Another Fieldfare in a bush

Fieldfare out in the open!

While I was after the birds Margie was determined to capture the cold!

Frozen leaf

The view from Winpenny, we didn't stay long, quiet, very frozen and very cold

We headed for the Hanger, Long-tailed Tits and Greenfinch along the way, Margie's Robin at the Hangar, he's made the Calendar for the last two years and he's not giving up his crown easily, also had a very nice Song Thrush!!

View of the brooks by Margie

Arse end of a Robin by Margie

There were a lot of tame Robins, today but this one is mental, actually tried to land on my head at one point!!! Might take some mealworms next time pretty sure he would take them from the hand!!

Long-tailed Tit, there was a big flock, a lot of Greenfinch, Redwing and a Fieldfare, but was gloomy under the canopy, so the pictures I did get are a waste of space 

The one area of the Brooks from the Hanger that was liquid had a few Pintail on it amongst the other Wildfowl

My take on the Robin

Song Thrush

This Song Thrush was rooting around in the Ivy

Success

We continued around the trail, Jupps was closed due to ongoing work, so we looped back towards the Visitor Center. Stopping again at Fattengates, where a Coal Tit was the only addition to earlier, though there was a lot more birds altogether, loads of Blackbirds and Robins!

Frozen Trail by Margie

Highland Cows by Margie

Great Tit by Margie, lots of seed has been put down in Fattengates 

White Dove by Margie

Nuthatch

Blackbird

Coal Tit

Song Thrush

Coal Tit with Lichen

Nuthatch

Coal Tit

We headed up the Zig-Zags again, another different Kestrel posed well and there were more Bullfinches but understandably they didn't hang around!!

Kestrel

Visited the feeders again, much the same although more birds than before!

Greenfinch

Redwing, this was the only one I could get a pic of and it was miles away

Goldfinch flew in above our heads

That was about it, a good days winter birding, though typically at Dunge on Saturday I saw awesome birds in average weather, whereas today I saw common birds in lovely sunshine!!!

On arrival home our Blackcap, put in an appearance typically elusive but I got a couple of record shots through the window.

Blackcap