Progress

10^th May 2018  

Usually the word progress is associated with betterment. Progression is associated with forward/upward movement or growth.

My cancer has progressed: Hardly surprising since I’ve had no treatment.

I had my first diagnostic scans in the first week of December last year and my second scans in late April, 5 months later. I wanted to know how the disease had progressed, so that I can decide whether to commence treatment.

Typically, when it spreads, Colorectal cancer will go to the liver, it can go to the peritoneum and the lungs. It can then go to other organs and the bones, sometimes to the blood and sometimes to the brain.

In my case it had already spread to the liver and peritoneum. I have not been tested for spread to the blood or brain and I’ve not asked for this. I’m happy to say that it has not spread to the lungs, heart or any other organs.
In the liver, there were three lesions in December (lesion: a region in an organ or tissue which has suffered damage through injury or disease, such as a wound, ulcer, abscess, or tumour). These have increased in size and been joined by one more. For medical purposes the liver is considered to be in 8 sections. There are two lesions in section 7 (consider it the outside right forward, in olden footie terms). The largest has grown from the size of a small ladies watch to the size of a pocket watch. The one in section 6 (below section 8 – so in midfield) from the size of a ball-bearing (5mm) to the diameter of an internal water pipe (15mm). The new one is in section 3 (outside left midfield) 5mm.

In the peritoneum, as well as those in the bottom front sections (where the sharp pains occur) there are now nodules in the top left front section and increased nodules in the back sections.

For the colon, whilst nothing new is reported, the CT scan doesn’t pick these up very well. There is still an intussusception (when one segment of the colon pulls inside the next segment and is prevented from returning – in this case by a polyp), but this isn’t causing a blockage.

The main issue I have is not knowing.

I don’t know if/when the cancer will spread to other areas. I don’t  know how much it matters which organ gets more cancer first. I don’t know how I will know how the disease is spreading. I don’t know what symptoms will indicate that it’s time to get ready to say goodbye.

The doctors and nurses have a mantra – “Everyone is different” – for Hippocrates’ sake, I know that! But everyone wants to know what has happened to other people in the same situation!

I do know what the signs will be if the liver packs up. I will go yellow and age like an unread library book.
I think I know what the signs will be if the polyps in the colon grow. I’ll stop going to the toilet. I’ll vomit. I’ll stop eating.
But the peritoneum? I think that growths on here may block the bladder and/or the colon. Patients often get ascites, the accumulation of fluid that fills the abdominal cavity and causes distension and discomfort. At first the fluid can be drained but it tends to re-accumulate quickly and is hard to manage.

How cancer spreads

19^th January 2018

Cancer cells differ from normal cells in several ways, one of which is that cancer cells are able to detach from nearby cells in order to invade and spread to other tissues. Normal cells make adhesion molecules which act like glue, holding similar cells together. Cancer cells lack these adhesion molecules allowing them to break loose and travel. Another difference is that normal cells communicate with other nearby cells—in essence, being reminded of their boundaries. Cancer cells have devised ways to ignore these communication signals. Once a cancer cell is “loose” and mobile, it is able to travel. There are several different ways in which cancer cells spread:

• Locally (regionally): When benign tumors grow they do so as a solid mass, as if there is a clear boundary containing them.  In contrast, cancer cells invade neighbouring tissues in an invasive manner which can appear like tentacles.  It is, in fact, the claw-like extension of cancer into other tissues from which the name originates; cancer being derived from the Greek word for claw.
  
  
• Through the bloodstream: Cancer cells can enter the bloodstream and travel to other regions of the body.
  
  
• Through the lymphatic system: The lymphatic system is another network through which cancer cells can travel.

• Through the airways (lung cancer): In addition to the methods of metastasis above, recent studies suggest that lung cancer, likely spreads through the airway of the lungs (aerogenous metastasis) as well, and this may be even more important than bloodstream metastasis for people with lung adenocarcinoma.

Cancer cells work in many more ways to fool or coerce the body into actions that will destroy the host. More of this later.

Blood test results and explanations

30^th December 2017

It’s in the blood.

I got copies of my hospital records a couple of days ago. One part was the blood test result from 29^th November.

Mysteriously they were headed steatorrhoea.

This probably means suspected pancreas disease – as I had overplayed the episode of fatty poo (a symptom of pancreas problems and therefore a cause of diabetes), in order to force the issue of colon problems.

Blood can be tested for many things. But the report only lists what the doctors are looking for, not for what else might be there.

Intriguingly the first result was to see if I was excessively bleeding or clotting (and taking Warfarin), The INR [i]count would be 2 to 3 rather than below 1.1 – mine was 0.9.

Next are the Cell Count results

WBC – white blood cells – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/wbc-count#normal-range

RBC – red blood cells – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/rbc-count

HB – haemoglobin – low – see https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318050.php

Hct haematocrit – low – see https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318050.php

MCV – low -

MCH – low – for all three see https://www.healthline.com/health/rbc-indices#threeparts

MCHC – low -

Platelets – size of – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/mpv-test

NRBC – nucleated RBC – normal – see https://www.labcorp.com/help/patient-test-info/blood-smear-details-on-rbcs%2C-wbcs

Neutrophils – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/neutrophils

Lymphocytes – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/lymphocytes

Monocytes – high – see https://www.healthline.com/health/blood-differential

Eosinophils – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/blood-differential

Basophils – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/basophils

Then

GGT (gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase) – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase

Followed by Liver function tests – see https://www.healthline.com/health/liver-function-tests#types

Bilirubin – normal

Alkaline Phosphastase - normal

ALT - normal

Albumin - normal

The a section headed UE

Sodium – high-ish - https://www.healthline.com/health/sodium-blood

Potassium – normal - https://www.healthline.com/health/potassium-test

Urea - aka BUN - normal - https://www.healthline.com/health/kidney-function-tests#types

Creatinine – normal – see https://www.healthline.com/health/creatinine-blood

eGFR (MDRD Calculation) – see https://www.healthline.com/health/kidney-function-tests#types

eGFR (If patient is black)

And finally

C Reactive protein – normal - https://www.healthline.com/health/c-reactive-protein

A total of 5 samples of blood had been taken, but there were only two reports – the second was just for

Tissue Transglutaminase Antibody IGA – this is a test for Celiac disease. Mine was 0.7, which is well below the 6.9 threshold.

---

[i] A prothrombin time (PT) is a test used to help detect and diagnose a bleeding disorder or excessive clotting disorder; the international normalized ratio (INR) is calculated from a PT result and is used to monitor how well the blood-thinning medication (anticoagulant) warfarin (Coumadin®) is working to prevent blood clots.

Bad news

5^th December 2017

Baddestist news possible?

Dr Hollington didn’t tell me that he had booked a 2-week-wait appointment (2WW), nor that he’d requested two sets of CT scans, one urgent, the other not.

The 2WW Lower GI-Gastroenterology appointment at Lister with Dr. Greenfield was on Wednesday 29^th November. He prodded and probed with no great enlightenment. He seemed puzzled at the site of the pain, which he concluded was from the bone in the groin/pelvis area.

He booked me in for a colonoscopy – but said that the results of the CT scan happening on Friday might obviate the need for the colonoscopy.

I’ve not heard from him since, although he did write to Dr. Hollington.

I phoned the hospital on Thursday, as I had two separate CT scan appointment dates. I managed to persuade them to do them both together in the morning. So on Friday off I toddled. They now tell you to put on two gowns, one the right way round (open at the back) the other the wrong way round (open at the front). Why don’t they just tell you to come in your pyjamas? They put in a cannula so that they can inject an iodine-based contrast once the scanning process is underway.

I asked the nurse what the difference was between a CT scan and a PET scan – she didn’t know. (See end of this blog).

On Monday 4^th December Mr Raey-Jones did the colonoscopy. The night before you have to take stuff to clear the bowel. Man that is not nice! Row drove me down because I was to be sedated; but awake enough to watch the screen showing the path of the endoscope and I watched in dismay as lumps were found and I watched with foreboding when a sample was taken of one of them.

And I listened in shock when Mr Reay-Jones told me of his findings.

The next shock was being sent for a lung MRI scan on that Thursday at the QEII hospital.

But the mindnumbingliest biggestist shock was the meeting with Mr Reay-Jones on 14^th December. It’s cancer. It’s spread. It’s not curable.

Mr Reay-Jones is in the right job. He is an arrogant arse-hole who is clearly up himself. In view of my previous experience with cancer meetings, where your brain shuts down, I told him that I would be recording the meeting. He said no. He said I would have had to have got permission before hand. He said it was his preference.

Those who know me from my worklife will not be surprised to learn that he backed down. He could not explain WHY it was his decision/preference/choice. He stood up and tried to CANCEL the meeting. So I told him quietly that I was angry and I explained that as a result of his action I was even less likely to hear anything he said. Do you know what the arrogant man said next – On this occasion I will allow it – like when is he ever going to tell me again that I’ve got terminal cancer.

So the meeting was recorded. His opening statement: “For my benefit, tell me what I told you last time”. I looked at him. While I mentally got around doing this “For his benefit” and while I got round the enormity of what he’d told me.

His remorseless approach in the following minutes was designed to suppress all hope. There’s no point in getting fit. There’s no point in changing your diet, either to get healthier or to gain weight prior to treatment.

His relentless despite of people continued with the statement “You have issues with your tummy”. Even when I asked if he meant peritoneum, he would not disclose information. So I asked for a print of my medical records and he said no. He said I would have to apply for them. He said he didn’t know how that was done. He didn’t offer to find out.

He said the next step was to meet with the oncologist in over a month’s time, and after a second examination of the biopsied polyp in the colon had taken place. The nurse said 10^th January and she explained how to get my medical records.

CT vs PET

A CT (computed tomography) scan uses x-ray technology to create detailed images of the body and inner body structures. CT scans expose the body to a moderate amount of radiation. CT scans are quick, painless, and completely non-invasive.

PET (positron emission tomography) scans are most commonly used to detect cancers, heart problems, brain disorders, and problems with the nervous system. PET scans utilize molecular imaging. Molecular imaging is a very precise way of detecting disease on the cellular and molecular level. PET scans work by injecting a tiny amount of radioactive tracers into the bloodstream, which the PET scan machine can then detect and analyze via 3D images. PET scans take between 2-4 hours to complete, and are significantly more expensive than CT scans. The radiation exposure of a PET scan is about the same as an x-ray. PET scans are excellent at analyzing the biological processes of the body and at detecting pathology such as cancer at the very earliest stages.

For  better explanation that also compares MRI scans, see

https://www.quora.com/Whats-difference-between-PET-scan-CT-scan-X-Ray-and-MRI

Something was wrong

In the last week of September I wasn’t feeling too well – nothing I could pinpoint. A bit lethargic. On the Friday I wasn’t up to driving to visit our friends in Hanbury, so Row did that. It was Malcolm’s big birthday on Saturday and we went out for an Indian meal – I didn’t have much of an appetite. During the night I had to go to the loo and also was a bit sick. The next day was the annual get together in honour of Row’s dad – who would have been 99. Again, I didn’t have much of an appetite. Nothing happening on the loo front. On the Monday, Malcolm and I played golf – but now my bowels/bladder area was sore. Nothing on the loo front, so when we got home I started taking Movicol and booked an appointment with the doctor.

Next morning (3^rd October) the Movicol worked so I cancelled the doctor’s appointment as I now felt better. However, next day, the pains returned and it was difficult playing golf with Bill at Luton Hoo.

I was due a routine, 6-monthly blood test (because I’m on Thyroid deficiency and High Blood Pressure tablets), so thought I’d wait for those results before taking any action, This happened on 19^th – and as the results showed high Glucose, the doctor sent me for a Glucose Tolerance Test on 27^th October – I chose Lister. This test involves fasting the night before then, before 9am a pin-prick blood sample is taken. You then drink 75g of glucose in 75ml of water. Exactly 2 hours later a blood sample is taken.

No diabetes: First test, under 6.0 mmol/L – Second test under 7.8 mmol/L
Pre-diabetes: First test between 6.0 and 7.0 – Second test between 7.9 and 11.0 mmol/L
Diabetes: First test over 7.0 – Second test over 11.0 mmol/L

My results?

6 months ago 6.1 mmol/L
19^th Oct. 6.7mmol/L
Glucose tolerance test 12.7 mmol/L

So there it is. Type 2 Diabetes. Hopefully. ?

During October I had a fever on three nights – the first was so bad all of the bedding needed changing and the mattress needed drying out. On 29^th October, the day before the third, I was soooo cold that I was shivering almost uncontrollably and a variety of places were painful, including the urinary tract and the loo output was very odd. So, on the 30^th I got up and went for an emergency appointment at the doctors. It was during this appointment that Dr Hollington told me I had diabetes. Just like that. I described my symptoms over the preceding month and as a precautionary measure he prescribed antibiotics.

We made a follow up appointment on 6^th November (yesterday). During the week almost all abdominal issues had gone, so we moved on to talk about the diabetes.

I’ve now got an appointment with the diabetes nurse on 20^th Nov and Row and I have to see the dietitian but not until 14^th December.  I will be having an HbA1C test (from this, the 3 month average blood sugar can be determined – see below) and a CT scan of the pancreas to see if this is where the underlying problem exists.

The more glucose in the blood, the more haemoglobin A1C or HbA1C will be present in the blood. Red cells live for 8 - 12 weeks before they are replaced. By measuring the HbA1C it can tell you how high your blood glucose has been on average over the last 8-12 weeks. 

Retired:

This is what I said on my last working day - 30th October 2015

It was 1969 when I decided I was going to go into IT.

I was at Upholland Priest Training College doing detention in the library for arguing with the Religious Education Tutor. I found a teach-yourself book on basic programming and it was such a logical step to take. The priesthood wasn’t for me! Some years later a ah-em necessary marriage finished my schooling and I got a job as a book-keeper using a Comptometer. Then in 1972 I got a job operating a PDP-8 mini-computer at the University of Liverpool, Department of Mechanical Engineering. No-one in the world knows that I got the sack. We’d moved from Kirkby to Skelmersdale. I couldn’t afford the bus fare, so used to cycle the 16 miles each way. But I was often late.

I got the sack from my next job operating an ICL 1901. I’d devised a way of reducing the start of day computer operations from 3 hours to 1 hour, so didn’t need to get to work at 6am. An 8am start was early enough. For some reason, they didn’t like that idea.

It took me two years to blag my way back into IT as a programmer after a spell as a weaver. I got made redundant from that job. Worse than that, I was now living in Bury. But soon after moved back to Kirkby. 4 years later I got divorced (it’s like getting the sack but hurts a lot more). So I decided to move, possibly abroad, but starting down South to see if I could stand being away from Liverpool. Then I met Row and married her in 1985. And stayed down South, working for Tesco, then Argos from where I was made redundant, then Woolworth, before moving to the RSPB after a brief spell in the money-grabbing world of banks and card settlement solutions.

 

For the first half of my life I wasn’t a birdwatcher. It was Row, who knew what a jay looked like, that got me into it. I started keeping records in 1985: When I joined the RSPB in 1998 I’d clocked up 300+ species in 6 foreign countries. Since then I’ve added more than 400 species in 12 foreign countries. The highlight being the 8 days sailing around the Galapagos Islands after my first sabbatical in Ecuador. Other trips spent in the company of Keith, Dave, Terry, Tony and Peter include Spain, France, Greece and Estonia. I hope to keep up that tradition.

In my first week at the RSPB (17 years ago) I met with Steve, Melanie, Julie Wale, Mandy Clarke, Tim Pons, Chris White, Peter Hurn, George Smithson, Mike Pearson, Linda Brittain and Ludo Scaletta. I also visited St. Martins and attended presentations from KenyaNature, from the Griffin project and how the RSPB was going to maintain a million members.

In my second week I set to work on replacing the Stock Control system, the Library management system and upgrading the Estate Management system. I also got stuck in to the provision of Mapinfo.

In my third week I set to work on upgrading the Legacy system and providing a media-contacts system.

In my fourth week I started on the Volunteers database, Wildsquare and the Recorder 2000 project.

By that time I knew that I loved working for the RSPB and that I was going to keep busy until I retired.

In this book are a variety of plans showing all of the things I’ve been involved with. And in these books are 17 years worth of notes. A kind of social history.

 

Mostly when there’s a leaving speech, the person says they’ll miss the people. There are people that I will miss. There are many people throughout the society with passion.

I went to the Isle of Lewis for my second sabbatical. The RSPB staff there have passion and do whatever it takes to get their job done. Their working hours have no boundaries. Having spent 7 hours delivering roofing material to the Shiant Islands, Robin then spent 8 hours doing a golden eagle survey. Having spent 5 hours showing visitors the Red-necked Phalaropes, Vicky went to the library in order to get IT connectivity for 4 hours before spending a further 5 hours doing a night-time survey of Corncrakes.

Their customers (the birds) are valued. They are your customers. Please value them. When I managed people and set objectives, the first one was always. Keep your customers happy.

Look through the plans. You’ll see that the teams were high performing. You’re not high performing when you're following the rules. You’re high performing when you’re caring about your customers.

Rowena and I are embarking on a new stage of our life together. She is retiring too.

Next week is a week of anniversaries. It is exactly 17 years since I began work at The RSPB. It is 30 years since we moved to our now fantastic house in Dunton. And it is exactly 31 years since she first made me a Sausage Meat and Baked-beans pie.

We share our love of nature and travel and have many friends together. Luckily we’ve also got separate friends and interests. Horses and golf don’t mix. So we won’t have to spend every minute together. In two weeks time we’ll be in Cairo for a few days before taking a 7 night cruise on the River Nile. I’ll be hoping to add another dozen species to my bird list. And I’ll be taking my new video camera, which I’ve bought using the RSPB’s generous retirement fund and Mike Clarke’s timely salary bonus. And I’ll be using the gifts that you’ve kindly bought. And I hope to produce a video that comes somewhere near Keith’s standard in his Blomers productions movies.

Thank you all, look after your customers.

Cheers

Twist +2

So, day 2 sees me on Skye. I brought my waterproofs but they're no match for this weather. Curtains of rain. I know, I know, it's the west coast of Scotland. Never mind. The trip so far has been enjoyable. I left Dunton at 9am yesterday and stopped in super sunshine at Beckingham Marshes in Lincolnshire. A small RSPB reserve with bagfulls of Tree sparrows in the hedges and hedge sparrows in the ditches. There were house sparrows in the bat boxes on the Willow Barn. Apparently the only willow drying barn in England (so the sign said). And barn swallows flying over the fields.


On my way to Campfield Marsh RSPB reserve near Carlisle, I pulled into a layby on the A66  at the Cumbria border. There were lapwing protecting young, and snipe displaying, and a covey of red grouse AND a black grouse. With curlew flying around, too.

Campfield Marsh at Bowness on Solway is a very fine estuary reserve, well worth another visit.

Friends, who live on Hadrian's Wall, made a super stew plus rhubarb and raspberry crumble.

Today I also left at 9 and headed for Lochwinnoch RSPB reserve near Glasgow. That's over the border in Scotland.

Notice how England doesn't welcome you back

A pleasant stroll through a strip of woodland between the railway and the loch.

But then it was a mad 150 mile dash to Mallaig to catch the ferry to Skye. Made it with 5 minutes to spare. Then this rain started. And the wind got up. Ah well. I'm currently at a B&B that is 2 or so miles up a single-track road away from Portree.

Cheers

Twist -2

Hi,
I've been working at the RSPB since 1998. In 2006 I went to Ecuador on my first sabbatical. We get 4 weeks paid leave to do some conservation or learning work. (University lecturers get a year off for every seven years worked, but our's is still a great perk). In 2013 I was due another but firstly I was too busy to plan it and then too ill to take it. But in two days I'll be on my way.

Quis? Row is coming to join me for the second two weeks.
Quid? Corncrakes. Quid? Corn crakes
Quando? From Monday. We'll be home by 12th July.
Ubi? A hint is in the title. It will be The Western Isles Sabbatical Trip (Twist).
Cur? I'll be helping with the Corncrake survey. Sic. Sed. Cur?  corncrake.pdf
Quem ad modum? Listening for the creck creck call of the bird with a latin name of Crex crex.
Quibus adminiculis? I'm driving up to Carlisle on Monday to stay with Sandra and Dave. To Skye on Tuesday and then over to the Isle of Lewis on Wednesday, to Carloway. The survey involves driving around the island between midnight and 3am. Row will be travelling by train 1st class to Inverness

(Apparently Kipling got it from Hermagoras)

Cheers.

Blog 27 - Happy Anniversaries, Unhappy ones too

 

Blog 27 – Happy Anniversaries, Unhappy ones too.

 

It’s now a year since treatment ended. Yet again I’ve re-read some of my blogs. I keep trying to re-read them to try to make them every-day events rather than extraordinary, epic, occurrences. But I can’t. I shudder. I weep. Which I never did at the time.

On the anniversary of the major surgery – to remove the lymph nodes and teeth, I had to go home from work. I still had no dentures. A year! A tear. A temper. Yes, Frank. A temper. A trauma. I spent the day in the company of a bottle.

In August Row and I went to Iceland for our 29^th wedding anniversary. An intriguing country. Confident yet apologetic. Old, yet not. Potentially explosive. We were happy to celebrate.

Later in August I got my teeth. I could smile again.

In September, Row and I celebrated her Dad’s 96^th birthday. A meal in Stratford-upon-Avon at the same restaurant as last year, the day before radiotherapy treatment began.

 

Late September I had a throat infection. As painful as when the tonsils came out. When I had my six-weekly review at the hospital they wanted to be sure it was unrelated, so sent me for an MRI scan with contrast. I shuddered when I went into the radiology reception at Lister hospital. I shuddered when I put on the gown. I shuddered again when they put in the cannula (did you know it means a little reed). It didn’t hurt at all. It just cast shadows of the hundred needles that were not so deeply buried in the past. I couldn’t afford to shudder when I lay on the table, when I had the mask fitted, when the machine engulfed me, when the motors started, when the noise began again and again and again. I had to keep still. For nearly an hour. Remembering. Shhhh now. Shhhh.

 

In October I reached the age of 60. Phew. My sisters and mum came to visit. Mum was 85 the day before. A fine weekend.

 

I had to wait until yesterday for the results.

Nothing wrong with the throat.

But there’s something.

Don’t worry.

Come back in two weeks. When we’ve had time to study the information.

Shudder.

 

Estonia

21st May 2014 we flew to Tallinn, capital of Estonia, using Ryanair from Stansted. Dave and Phil had played golf in the morning, then Terry and I met them for lunch in The Coach House, Potton. Peter, then Keith and Tony joined us briefly. Tripods, washbags, books and waterproofs re-distributed amongst the hold bags, then away we went. Tallinn  is a bijou airport. Emptying as we arrived - the last flight in for the day. 

 Outside is a decent view over a lake - we had plenty of time to look at this as our hire-van had turned up 12 hours earlier and unsurprisingly had gone home. Tony arranged for him and Peter to go by taxi to their office where the owner brought the mini-bus and business was done. Meanwhile the rest of us listened to Corncrake, watched Arctic and Common terns and also saw a Marsh harrier.

A 2 hour drive during which it didn't quite get dark, brought us to our hotel in Tartu at half past midnight. The receptionist was on duty, there were beers in the fridge and the rooms were airy and comfortable. A Thush nightingale serenaded us all night.

What about Estonia? Well, it is flat. Average height is 50m above sea level. Highest point is Egg Mountain at 318m. It's got Russia to the right, Latvia at the bottom, the Gulf of Riga and the Vainemari Sea to the left, and the Gulf of Finland at the top (these are all part of the Baltic Sea). Compared with the UK, which has a rising population density of 257 people per sq km, Estonia has a falling figure of 30.5. (By the by, in the EU, Iceland has the lowest at 3.2 and Malta the highest at 1327!).

The first morning we went to the Aardla polder complex to listen for and look at birds, from the ground and from the air. We found our first target bird - Citrine Wagtail and one I wanted - a Common Rosefinch. My photography isn't up to the standard of some of the others, so you'll have to wait for Terry's trip report, or better still, Blomers' video.

In the evening we went in search of our second target species - the Great Snipe. It lives with mosquitos.It's supposed to come out to play in the evening.

In flat, water-logged, fields.

When the sun goes down. 

But they didn't, so we went back to the hotel for a beer (you might have seen Blomers' beer of the day on Facebook). Early next morning, Tony and Keith went out to see what was about. The next morning, so did I and found this Thrush nightingale.

 

Singing

http://youtu.be/id3QJffhgWc

And a fuzzy Pied flycatcher.

 Later Keith showed me the a place where I saw my first Marsh warbler. But I missed out on the Barred warbler.

Later that day we went to find the third target bird, the Great spotted eagles.

These can sometimes, and only, be seen at the amusing Hollywood Hill.

Which happened to overlook where Great snipes aren't. And a cafe where the hamburgers are to die of. Oh, the Great spotted eagles weren't there - but we did see Lesser spotted ones.

Some people do live in Estonia.

Estonia is one of the least religious countries in world, with only 14% of the population declaring religion an important part of their daily life.

We stopped at a supermarket to buy food. In the carpark was a Nuthatch nest.

 On day three we went up north and stayed in a posh chalet

We went up north to see bears in this forest.

From this hide with 10 windows and 10 bunk beds and seven blokes and one long drop.

This is the view from the window. Can you see the Raccoon dog?

Raccoon dogs are canines from Japan and China, but where introduced to Russia for fur. They've spread a bit. We saw up to 8 of them. We also saw two foxes. And a Turtle dove, and some pigeons. Later it went dark. And we saw a bear - most of us were asleep, but the 1.30am shift woke us up. We were amazed at how large it was.

It went away about an hour later. Most of us were asleep again when the 6am shift saw a second bear. It was light by then. Fabulous!

The owners of the hides put out food. Honeycombs, marmalade sandwiches and animal carcasses. The latter two were underneath plywood boards that the other animals couldn't move, but the bear certainly could.

 The bear hung around for half an hour. That meant we could get a bit of shut eye. We weren't allowed to leave the hide until 8am.

There was one other chap who stayed in the two-man hide to the left, the dark brown one, apparently, had openings for lenses for photography.

 

The fourth day we went to a different wood.

Where a barmy bloke tramped us around telling us all about Flying squirrels.

We then went back to the chalet and had superb supper of wild boar.....

.....before going out again at 9.30pm to see a real live Flying squirrel emerge from a roosting hole in a tree, scoot up the trunk and jump (unseen) to another tree then away into the darkness. I didn't take my camera as I knew it would be just a few moments and wanted to make sure I was watching.

Next morning there was a wryneck.

We set off to the seaside and saw a female Montagu's harrier.

Then we saw the sea.

 And had a nice lunch.

 Before going, through a rainstorm, to do some sight-seeing in Tallinn before the flight home.

In Tallinn are new bits.

And old bits.

And picturesque bits.

In Estonia, I saw/heard 130 different species including 6 I'd not seen before. Well worth a visit.