Friends of the Armchair Traveller

 Early in 2023 I received an email from my friend Richard Leigh describing a project he had set for himself for the new year: Hi Peter, Looking forward to coming up on Saturday. At the start of the year I started a little 2023 side-hobby which I think might be of interest. Maybe you can save your response till Saturday and let me know in person… anyway just another thing to be on the list of things to discuss! Back in January, I became acutely aware that my  musical  exploration over recent years has been extremely diminished, and it was time to ‘go exploring again’. After all… music is a chance to CONNECT with people … as you know, Michaela has taught herself Russian and introduced me to this fascinating world of eastern European tunes from historic to modern music encodes MEMORIES and links to past experiences that seem to be unlocked by listening like nothing else music encapsulates CULTURE like no other and given my lack of physical travel for a very long time,...

  The Astonishing Drumming Bird                          Introduced to me by my friend Graeme Bertrand. Well, I thought I knew almost everything about birds, but recently I've found at that there are just so many gaps in my knowledge. The other day Graeme brought me a piece of paper with facts about a bird which drums to attract its mate to the nest he has built for her...  to see if she might be interested enough to stay with him to raise a family! You may already have seen clips about this wonderful species of cockatoo, the "Palm Cockatoo" , but for me this was news. I'm always keen to know more about birds which use special "routines" to attract their mates, especially Bower Birds, but I did not know about this species. Not only does the bird "learn" to drum from his elders, but he must also learn to craft his own "drumstick". This learning is not a speedy process, it takes time... just like those young crows...