Bird-friendly plants, please

“I ENJOY finding out what the ‘Man with Two Dogs’ is up to,” saysAnna Macdougall of Kirkcaldy, “and I have to say that he is blessed having such activity on his bird table.

“I am always on the lookout for local birds but where I live there aren’t many to be seen of the smaller birds.

“There are many herringgulls in Kirkcaldy but I only see one thrush, two blackbirds and a pair of magpies.

“The female has a nest and I spy the male darting about.

“Some of the residents here keep the gardens looking attractive. What can we plant to attract the robins, sparrows, starlings and swallows?” A DEMONSTRATION of beach motorcycle racing comes to Kirkcaldy beach this afternoon (Saturday, August 11).

A programme of Mini-Moto and Trials events starts at 12.30pm in the lorry park at the west end of the Esplanade. There will also be club stands in and around the area.

Later, the action moves along to the middle of the Promenade where the motorcycle racing demonstration will take place. The demonstrations will the RAAF and the Argentine, Japanese andTurkish governments for their air forces,” he says.

“In October 1927, four Southamptons of the RAF’s Far East Flight flew from the UK to Singapore, Australia and the China Seas and eventually completed 24,000 miles of flying (over several months) without any serious mishap.

“The event was heralded in the press of the day as ‘the greatest flight in history’. It was a great feat of flying and endurance when you consider the Southampton had a range of only 500 sea miles and that in good weather!

“This meant hundreds of stops at places the crews knew very little about, often refuelling from hand pumps include vintage, modern and speedway bikes.

Kirkcaldy and District Motor Club, the event organisers, have a long history of running both beach and other events in and around Kirkcaldy.

After the First World War, a group of like-minded enthusiasts from the Kirkcaldy area with a motoring interest got together for weekly runs.

Out of this KDMC was founded in April 1922. Local notable people of the and from tins poured into the tanks.” period were the Stewart brothers who owned the County Motors and the Swanston brothers, both doctors.

With competition in mind KDMC joined the SACU in 1925. Pre-war the club organised trials, sand racing and grass tracks. In the early 30s KDMC sent teams to the IOM for the Manx GP races. The venture was successful with KDMC winning the team prize on three occasions and Dr J.K. Swanston winning the Senior Manx GP in the 1930s.