https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/ A walking and birding notebook from the edge of the Pacific: estuaries, tide pools, weather, and the occasional heron. en Mon, 12 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/heron-culvert.html https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/heron-culvert.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 There is a concrete culvert where the creek meets the channel, and for three autumns now the same great blue heron has stood on its lip like a doorman. https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/minus-one-point-two.html https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/minus-one-point-two.html Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 The tide tables had this one circled for a month. Minus tides in early September land at a civilised hour here, and a −1.2 opens up the lower shelf that is usually under a metre of surge. https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/notebook-system.html https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/notebook-system.html Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000 People ask what I use, so here is the whole system. It took four years of abandoned apps and half-filled notebooks to arrive at something this boring. https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/counting-swifts.html https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/counting-swifts.html Sat, 02 May 2026 08:00:00 +0000 For a few weeks every spring and autumn, Vaux's swifts use an old brick chimney near the library as a roost on their migration. https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/creek-remembers.html https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/creek-remembers.html Sat, 14 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0000 Three days of rain, the first real storm of the winter. I went up the creek trail as soon as it eased, partly to see the water and partly because I'd been inside too long. https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/lichen-north-side.html https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/lichen-north-side.html Sun, 23 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0000 A slow day on purpose. I walked the oak loop with a hand lens and no plan beyond looking at lichen, which I have walked past for years without really seeing. https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/long-lens.html https://vmcdn.29161319.xyz/notes/long-lens.html Sat, 30 Aug 2025 08:00:00 +0000 For about two years I carried a big telephoto lens on every walk.