Thursday 12 December 2013

Boris the Spider - The Who

 Better make this the first item, a new addition to the family.
Not quiet a 'Spider' but the 10 weeks old
BORIS
the Saint Bernard
Perfect overnight weather conditions so all traps activated - nett result 'not a sausage'! However, there's always something and early morning findings came in 2 by 2, firstly on the misty 5th fairway of the golf course these 2 male
 PHEASANTS
this a 'silver-winged' variety
 and the other known in ornithological parlance as
Bog Standard!
 TEAL 
came next both again being male, but strangely, to me at least, on the River Stour where I have never seen them before. The property is not short of this handsome little Duck, particularly at this time of year, but their usual haunts are the flooded woodlands to the north. While tending the trap close to Janet's stable the 'chacking' of
 FIELDFARE
 could be heard, but also from the same direction Jen heading for the horses. On her arrival the birds were still vocal but it was I who put them to flight some minutes later - that's all you need, an Expert! To make-a-mends the Ash sapling is now festooned with sliced apples hoping for a return.
 Through the kitchen window it was the same old story
COLLARED DOVE
except for one bird that stood out among the others. Regular 
readers may remember this
 
 leucistic House Sparrow we had here in June
well today's bird wasn't quite so dramatic
and probably best described as
'part albino'
but nonetheless a nice thing to see.
Later in the day a 4th, and probably final, bid was made for the c2 Common Cranes reported from the Chesilbourne area of Dorset without success. What was noted there amounted to a strange occurrence for myself, long time 'birding' friend Neil Arnold and his partner Christine. The stubble fields were alive with Wood Pigeon, Rook and Carrion Crow, with one of the latter perching high on a power cable and on occasion dangling completely upside down something none of us had witnessed before.
All else there were these 3 DEER Sp on a distant hillside.
With the county having gone a little QUIET it was decided to pay a
 brief visit to
With little or nothing on the sea attentions were turned to the
grassy areas where among the large number of Black-headed Gulls
stood this young GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL
along with what were considered a 'fine pair' of
HERRING GULL
This is an area now visited on quite a number of occasions but only today was this fine
VICTORIAN POST BOX
noticed.
On the way back to Parley this was the scene at the
AVON CAUSEWAY
where Wigeon predominated along with good numbers of Canada and Greylag Geese, numerous Lapwing and a Kingfisher. Time then to check the progress of the Solar Panel Farm in the southern section which seems also to be progressing apace.
This 'one hundred acre' patch along with a same size area
in the northern part of the property are the prototypes of
more to come with so far just the power cabling
being laid and buried along this
500 metre strip.
Shouldn't be long before the metalwork starts going in?
Entry          Pageviews
United Kingdom
               729
United States
               603
Poland
               140
Germany
                 61
Russia
                 55
Estonia
                 32
Canada
                 24
China
                 22
France
                 15
Ukraine
                 12