is in Kent, so is there a Maidstone Castle in Yorkshire?

Enough of theat rapier fine wit, what I enjoyed most about the day we spent there yesterday, aside from watching the Powder Monkey having such a great time was all the marvellous birdlife.

Now I know some of these critters are bred there but outside of the aviarys we saw

Mallards (Wicked Old Nick taunted them with "We know what you taste like" as we had eaten a game stew last week), Eider ducks, Shelduck, Pochard, Red Breasted Geese, Barnacle Geese, Canada Geese, Ne Ne (Haiwaian Geese), Emden Geese (very tasty they are too), Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Black Necked Swan, Black Swan, Moorhens, Coots, Great Crested Grebes, a Heron, a Cormorant, Black Headed Gulls, Jackdaws, Carrion Crows, Magpies, Rooks, Feral Pigeons, House Sparrows (Havn't seen them in London for ages), Blackbird, Robin, and a female Chaffinch.

The interesting thing about Barnacle Geese is that in the days before the Reformation people used to believe that they hatched from barnacles so technically they were classed as fish. This meant that you could eat them on Fridays. Apparently the barnacle when extended from its shell looks like a goose neck. Personally I think this has to be taken with a pinch of salt as domestic geese were kept on farms and people can't have been that thick not to have noticed goslings hatching from goose eggs.

Its precisely the sort of conveniant clap trap that allows bishops to eat a nice tasty roast goose instead of a muddy carp. So it ain't just the Bible that can be used as an aid to interpretation by the Church, its quite happy to adopt local legend if there is a roast dinner in it!