Changed my avatar

Now using a picture of my coal tits

    Ray

That is excellent Ray. A permanent reminder of your brilliant threads.

They look great.

Brilliant Ray!

Wonderful avatar to have Ray, I reckon you've definitely made the right move there :-)

Now if you could have got a photo of one sat on a can of bitter!!!!!

hello Ray,

Did you say Colditz? That reminds me of two old Veterans talking about the War. 1st  Veteran said to the other, "I was a Prisoner of War" 2nd Veteran replied, "Colditz?" 1st Veteran, "No I had on a vest.." (think about it).

Regards

David

Nice one David.

The wife asks visitors if they want to see photos of my tits.

 I'm not losing the Barnsley connection as it was once famous for its Coal tips

 Ray

hello Ray,

Tee hee.. from the Lanarkshire Coal Fields myself Ray never went 'Doon Pit' but reading the Munro Baggers (which I've done) we used to go Bing Bagging. It's same as Munro's but walking up all the Bings in the areas. Lothian MP Tam Dalziel (pron D.L) goes Bing Bagging in memory of the Scottish Coal Industry. I can say as a lad I climbed most of the Bings in the area & outwith some of these were a sheer steep climb & of great height too.

For those who don't know what a Bing is Scottish for a Slag Heep, 'Slag' being the residue piled up after the coal is extracted where the pits once stood. Never the less Ray nice Ti.. avatar!

Regards

David

Ps. Photo of The 3 Sisters Bing near where I used to live.

hello,

Apology for reply to my own post. I though joking aside, I would share some details of this particular area. In & around this site hosts a great habitat for an abundance of wildlife. The ground which is mainly boggy, peat, clay, & coal seams there's still coal seams that can be extracted within the area. The 3 Sisters were named so similar to the '5' Sisters (much larger) shale bings over in West Lothian towards Grangemouth. The area has an abundance covering of Sphagnum moss which is protected. A great number of various species of wetland birds have nested in & around this area, the foreground has a number of Curlew & Lapwing nest sites as well as other smaller birds, Heron's have been spotted at the various small ponds created for the nearby forestry commission land. The nearby ponds host Great Crested Newts as well as frogs & toads. The bings themselves have various wild flowers growing on their inner slopes noted British Wild Orchids as well as including rare butterfly species. The tree/shrub to the right of the image moving across the image to the left darker area of ground there's a run off from the River Almond which not far from this is the source of the River Calder. A reasonably large pond on the other side as well known locally as 'The Seagull Pond' plays host to a Gull colony numerous species which I was informed sometime ago may still have Common Terns nesting? Ketsrels have been sighted within the same area & up until 1994 Barn Owls were nesting within a derelict building before it was demolished. A run off from the Calder (just out of view from the image) there's a healthy number of Water Voles recorded. Some of the ground has become contaminated over the years after the pit closed. For a small section of ground there's more to this than meets the eye.

Regards

David  

Hi David that's a nice bit of info about the Bings.

My local patch is the old village colliery site that is now the community woodland with the old slag heap grassed and trees planted on it.

So you can say i go Bing walking every day.

Lancashire also has many reclaimed slag heaps that are now recreation or nature areas. When they were slag heaps we called them Rucks. They were three particular large ones in Wigan also known as the Three Sisters. At the time of their reclaimation there was some financial  "scandal" involving Harold Wilson and his secretary Lady Faulkener. I don't remember what their involvement was or how it turned out.

hello,

Yes I've heard the term 'Rucks'. I'm aware quite a few of the West Lothian bings were turned into recreation areas for scramble bikes. The 5 Sisters www.geos.ed.ac.uk/.../bing.html you can see these travelling along the M8 nearer to Edinburgh. These still burn away, some visible smoke rising during the day at night I recall they actually glow. Most of the bings around our area the tops were lopped off them for safety incase of sliding, 3 were removed as too near housing schemes, first was removed totally after the Wales Aberfan Disaster 1966 as it was too near a school & post war prefab houses. So the history of such lives on. Could start a new trend now revamp 'Bing Bagging' remember where you heard it first for Tourist Information.

Regards

David

Smashing tits Ray! Not surprised your wife wants other people to see them.

In metal mining a bing was where the metal ore was stored. Bing Crosby was so named because he came from a mining town.

:-))

surprising what we have learned from talking about tits  lol.

Great

 Ray