Goslings

Another lovely warm and sunny day here today, for once in the East we've been getting the best of the weather. This afternoon I went over to Pensthorpe. There are 4 avocet nests evidently where the eggs will hatch any day, so I'll have to return. I saw two sets of goslings, no ducklings, but no doubt more to come. I was watching the Ruff, the male was cosying up to the female and after a couple of minutes of attention, she made it clear that she'd had enough. See Extras for more goslings and the Ruff. A beautiful afternoon. This morning I voted, here it was only for the PCC. Not sure I'll vote for the PCC again, there was no info delivered about the candidates, I don't agree with them representing a political party, and the website with their statements on was not working this morning. 

This morning I went to an excellent talk at the library about RAF Langham and its Dome Trainer, given by M, GracieG's husband.  I was particularly interested in the first section on the Dome Trainer, a facility for training anti aircraft gunners, and its inventor Henry Stephens. Gunners had to learn how to 'aim off' in order to adjust for the time it would take the bullets to hit the moving plane. These trainers were very innovative and the first practical way of conducting such training. There were 46 concrete Domes built, and Langham Dome is the only fully restored one, it opened to the public in 2014. It is estimated that this training resulted in saving an estimated £100m worth of shipping in 1940's money (£3.5bn in todays money). Domes are still used for training the armed forces today, and the virtual simulation developed sparked a lot of the innovations we see today. After the talk I bought the book just released called Attack and Defence, A History of RAF Langham and its Dome Trainer - a snip at £9.95. If you're in the area, I'd definitely recommend a visit to Langham Dome which, although small, has been rated in the top 10% of attractions in the World on Trip Advisor.