Eric, the Wyenot Newshound is something of a philosopher. He ponders the meaning of life with me whilst we take a quiet walk by the river, looking for wildlife to photograph. Only yesterday he said to me, 'What is it with this take the dog for a walk thing? Why is it that most men walking the dog end up in the pub?'

When faced with a question like that, what else could I do but show him.

'Arf,' he said.

Unfortunately Tina misheard and poured him a pint.

Actually, in retrospect, 'Eric' may not have been the most apt choice of name. 'Donk' might have been more suitable!

David Saunders is presented with his prize of a £50 Woolworths Voucher on Tuesday, 17th January by Store Manager, Darren Willcock. Mr. Saunders won the voucher by entering a competition in the Ross Gazette's Christmas publication, the Yuletide Collection.

What immediately struck me about the above photograph on closer examination was the display of Chocolate Eggs. These are on display here and have been in other supermarkets since just after Boxing Day. Yuletide is over so it must be nearly Eastertide!

Above and below: This particular Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba has been living by the River Wye in Ross for some time now and regularly hangs around the Hope & Anchor car park looking for food. I managed to catch these photos of the bird on Sunday morning.

What I am really after catching for 'Nature Watch' are the otters which currently frequent the river at Ross and I was very nearly successful today, Monday.

Having been told of otter sightings on the Wye I have been unsuccessfully looking for them daily for a week or so. Today however, I was out looking with Tina and I finally saw one swimming in the distance. Hoping to catch it with the camera, I headed towards it without telling Tina what I was doing for fear of missing the opportunity. As I headed away, Tina saw another, very close at hand and shouted me to come back. Murphy's Law came into play! I stopped, saw Tina's one - only a matter of feet from where she was stood and in the confusion of the moment, deciding which was the closest one to head for, I ended up missing them both.

Thank you to Julie Andrews for sending in the above photograph of a Black Redstart, taken at Hereford Cathedral.

Ross 2nds 27 Hereford 3rds 0

After struggling over the past three or four seasons to develop a second team, things are starting to look promising for Ross. After dispatching Upton-upon-Severn 36-0 last week, Ross entertained Hereford 3rds last Saturday and continued their good form from the Upton game, winning 27-0 in front of a vocal local crowd.

With both teams offering a good mixture of youth and veterans, Ross kicked off on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Immediately confusion ensued in the Hereford ranks and the ball was allowed to bounce and roll into the Hereford 22. By the time Hereford had control of the ball, the Ross forwards, with Paul Hayward, Richard James and Kevan Healy to the fore laid siege on the Hereford line. Unable to get the ball away Ross were awarded a scrum five. From the ensuing scrum, Joe Gittins crashed through the Hereford defence to give Ross a 5-0 lead with the game barely 2 minutes old.

The early score knocked the confidence of some of the junior members of the Hereford side as Ross took control of proceedings, with some strong tacking by Gareth Holdsworth and Marcus Russell. With the Ross lineout and scrum working well, the rest of the first half was played out in and around the Hereford 22. After Keith Scrivens went close to adding to the score, Ross regained possession and Joe Gittins bagged a second try, which was expertly converted by Gareth Holdsworth making the score 12-0.

The second half brought a number of changes by both sides, however Hereford were unable to alter the status quo with the Ross pack continuing to dominate. This allowed space out wide, which Tim Jarvis, Wayne Bishop and TC Leach exploited on numerous occasions. From one of these excursions Wayne Bishop beat his man and ran 70 yards unchallenged, making the score 17-0. With Gareth Holdsworth adding a penalty, Ross entered the last 10 minutes 20-0 to the good. Hereford worked hard to get on the score sheet, however the Ross defence held firm and the final score went to Ross. Lee Lusty burst through some tired Hereford tackling, giving Ross a final lead of 27 to 0.

After two great wins over the past fortnight, Ross are looking to build on this success, so if you are looking to play some social rugby, we would like to get you involved with a great bunch of lads.

You can contact us at The Drop Inn Station Street - Ross RFC HQ. Club officials are about after training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You could also pop down to the Ross Sports Ground on either of those evenings, where training starts at 6:45 pm.

Paul Haley