Twitchers in East London are excitedly comparing notes following rare sightings of that most elusive of visitors to British shores, the Lesser Spotted Dyer. Famed for it's speed of flight and aggressive behaviour, the Lesser Spotted is renowned for rarely leaving the comfort of its nest, preferring instead to keep tucked up nice and warm through the winter in a form of hibernation almost unique in the world of ornithology.
Famous twitcher Bill Oddie told excitedly of seven brief sightings in 2008-09: "By the Lesser Spotted's standards, this is high exposure. On one occasion it remained in flight for an incredible 57 minutes having been startled from its nest by an unexpected intruder. Then, amazingly, it made an even longer appearance the following week - a whole 61 minutes - but the stress appears to be such that it has now gone to ground, disappearing from our radars completely."
Experts have been searching for an explanation for the latest disappearance but, to date, have come up with no solid answers. "It is perfectly possible that the Lesser Spotted is feeling unwell. All that flying, 118 minutes over a two week period, has probably exhausted it. I wouldn't be surprised if we have to wait another year before it ventures from the nest again."
Meanwhile, the twitchers' hopes of seeing an even rarer visitor in flight appear to have been dashed. Oddie explained: "The Beano is a member of the cuckoo family. It occupies a nest and fattens itself on the food intended for the smaller and younger fledglings. I always thought the predictions of Zola that we might see the Beano in flight this spring were dreadfully optimistic. It is a famously stubborn and lazy creature and will only take to the air when it wants to. Maybe September if we are lucky but, based on previous years, we shouldn't expect it to be in the air for long even then!"
5 comments:
Dyer, Parker, Bellamy, Upson; all players who only came to us because they have chronic injury problems. Bellamy's gone for a good profit, Dyer will never get fit and Parker has disappeared now we've got to the business end of the season. Upson is the only one to have made a sustained contribution and he is now behind Tomkins in the pecking order in my opinion.
But Zola expects them all to be fit next season from what he has said. Add to them Ashton and Gabbidon who I doubt will ever make a regular contribution to the team and di Michele, Tristan, Boa Morte and Neill who are simply not up to standard for a team with top six aspirations and you have to question Zola's statement that only a couple of signings are necessary.
Who are we left with? Behrami, Cole, Illunga, Kovac, Collins and a bunch of kids. Good kids I think but they will need more than the players mentioned above if we are to emulate this years effort let alone better it. Zola's belief that players with a terrible injury history will suddenly not only throw away their crutches and walk, but play football is almost biblical and I am not religious. We had a lot of hype about Dixon, how Spurs treatment room had failed him and he was almost ready to appear in claret and blue; where's he gone?
It was blindingly obvious, even before Cole was injured that we desperately needed another striker. Had we bought one in January we may well already be booking our tickets for a european adventure. The purchase of Savio is a strange one, one for the future; well OK but surely as a club record signing he should have been able to make a bit of a contribution.
I have been enormously impressed with the football we have played and Zola's man management. But I am a bit worried that there is a hint of naivety in his belief that he already has nearly a good enough squad to push on. I wonder, are we seeing the beginnings of a Wengeresque stubbornness.
I would keep Upson, but I would like to see the back of the injury prone and the superannuated "not good enoughs". We need two new strikers, a right back, a creative midfielder and probably a couple more.
I said before (I even think Fanno put it up as a post here), that Zola is naieve and an idealist.
I still stand by that. I think we'll be ok more often than not, but a lot of it will be down to luck
I'm also worried that we'll never buy a British player ever again under this regime...
why buy over-priced british players when we are producing some of the best english talent for a generation ? do you honestly think nani,zola and clarke dont know what they are doing ? English football got left behind when we got banned from european football in the 80's. the foundations are already in place at west ham, the wheels are in motion!. hmmmm let me think paulo di canio or craig bellamy? pdc all daylong . now dont get me wrong im english to the core but without the likes of cantona,zola,henry and ronaldo (to name a few) gracing the prem over the years. i think englands players can only benefit from playing with the modern day greats of the game,thing is football would be duller place without the europeans (and others) in it and fear we would fall further more behind in world rankings never to re-emurdge.
Yeah right, the England national side has benefitted soooo much from "playing with the modern day greats"! I think not. It's gone way too far now, and the soul of English football is almost dead and gone. Too expensive to trade in English talent when a cheap n nasty from Italy will do the job. We have a batch of good England players who play very well in their respective mega-money club teams but when they all get together surprise surprise, its a whole different story.
Anyway back to West Ham, we didnt expect Europe a few months ago and I personally will be a happy man with a top half finish. Loads of experience for our excellent youngsters, who we will see progress hopefully in a Ferguson manner to become the team that Zola has in mind.
Good times are ahead, but we will need to be realistic and patient. Read the smaller stories when Nani brings in another 18 yr old for trial etc. and forget the rubbish headlines and soundbites. Its a "project", and when you look closely there is a lot of good stuff happening.
COYI!
Amen!
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