Celebrating 9 Years at Sarsen Technology - Laura Biddiscombe Meets Some Feathery Friends!

Unbelievably, I've been at Sarsen for 9 years as of March 2017, so I've taken some time away from the exciting embedded news we usually feature on this blog to tell you about how this momentous anniversary has been marked.

During the last nine years I've seen people come and go, but I've had the pleasure of working with Nigel, Angela and Lynn for the entire duration.

This photo was taken not long after I started in 2008, just after we won an award from VersaLogic...

L-R: Lynn Scholefield, James Rickwood, Tim Norris, Nigel Norman, Laura Biddiscombe, Angela Boyce

...and this one was taken at our amazing Christmas Party in December 2016. We haven't aged a day, let alone 9 years.

You can see the photos here.

L-R: Christos Flouris, Nigel Norman, Kevin Beach, Lynn Scholefield, Angela Boyce, Laura Biddiscombe








I'm very grateful to have been a part of some really exciting projects in the 9 years I have been here, from applications in deep sea to products sent into space. It's never boring. And there are a lot of perks. For example, when you have worked for the same company for a long time your employers get to know what makes you tick.

Owls are one of my all time favourite animals, and when Angela suggested we spend an afternoon taking pictures of owls with a local wildlife photographer friend of hers to I wasn't about to say no. So on Monday we were whisked off to the Marlborough Downs to see the Short Eared Owls that make their homes there over the winter. (A group of owls is called a Parliament, by the way. I learnt a lot of excellent pub quiz answers during our outing. Like the word crepuscular. Google it.).

Short Eared Owls are relatively small with beautiful mottled feathers and huge wings that seem to appear from nowhere when they take flight. They generally hunt during late afternoon and evening, so after we arrived at around 4pm they became more and more active, spoiling us with some amazing flying displays that we attempted to catch on camera.

I have a personal reputation for taking awful photographs, but with the seemingly unending patience of our guide, David, (and some of his exceptional sloe gin) we all managed to catch some pretty special pictures!

Thank you Nigel, Angela and David for such a lovely experience. I'd say here's to another 9 years but I don't want to have to think about how old I'll be by then.