Monday 29 September 2014

I Feel the Earth Move - Carole King

under my feet
I see the sky tumbling down.
With overnight temperatures remaining in double figures (12°C last night) this mornings rummage through the Traps was infused with anticipation. Unfortunately nothing new to add to either list, but an eclectic selection of some most attractive Moths plus one or two others.
 COMMON MARBLED CARPET
 BEAUTIFUL HOOK-TIP
 a 'dark' version of the most attractive
FROSTED ORANGE
 LARGE WAINSCOT
along with 2 'shade' variations of
 BRINDLED GREEN
 BLACK RUSTIC
 TURNIP MOTH
 and what is now the most numerous each morning
SQUARE-SPOT RUSTIC
 Still plugging away at the Micros, I am sure one of my Mentors will
be quick to correct me if this is not
AGONOPTERIX YEATIANA
DOLICHOPODID FLY
(kindly identified for us by John Gifford)
who tells me that this is a female, the male having 'white dots' at the tips 
of the wings to attract a mate - rather like the Nightjar me thinks!
Not a new sight for me but both
 GIANT DIVING BEETLE
and
 POLLEN BEETLE
should be familiar to our regular readers.
We thought on 'size difference' alone they were worthy of
inclusion on today's Post.
 It is a few months now since the c8 Mute Swan eggs hatched and to date all of the Cygnets appear to have been in fine fettle. It was Saturday that the first of these took to the wing and with a parent bird in attendance each flexed their wings and while in flight let out a continuous high pitched 'peep'.
When flying operation finished on that day only c7 of the young returned to base, while today that figure fell to c6 and it didn't take long to find out why. Every year young Swans fledged both here on Parley Pond and on this stretch of the River Stour collide, fatally, with power cables but little or nothing is being done to resolve the situation.
 But Get This! The Service Providers in charge of the offending cables are more than willing to provide and rig Aviation Marker Balls or Bird Diverters, but there was such a 'local' HULLABALOO about cutting the power while such works take place that they have never been rigged. In this rural part of Dorset most go around claiming to be 'Country Folk' but in truth I can only think their knowledge and experience of Wildlife comes from being glued to the Idiot's Lantern night after night complaining of the Morons responsible for poaching Rhinoceros Horn or pumping Bear Bile! Moan over, so to continue with an
 EARTH MOVING EXPERIENCE
While work continues on back-filling the North Pond this huge pile of
fertile earth is being levelled next to the Irrigation Pond in readiness to 
become a horse paddock.
With the blessing of Lord Lawney and Hugh I have been keeping a sharp eye on these operations which, it should be said, are being carried out in a sympathetic, professional and very speedy way. By the end of the week all should be completed but during the interim I have been given something of a free-hand to develop, this Pond at least, into a mini Nature Reserve.
My thoughts are that most of what is here should remain untouched, but to 'scrape' some of the margins may encourage more Wading Birds (such as the Green Sandpipers) to frequent this site?
 As work continues it has now been agreed that the small
 Subsidiary Pond
should not be back-filling as was the original intention.
 Thought on Wild Flower Seeds are already well advanced,
 while a little more light gravel is planned for the area between the soil and the watercourses.
 What is to happen to the very large hole left after extraction of
material to in-fill the North Pond is yet to be discovered but
 COLLARED DOVE
and a 
Grey Heron 
have already been noted prospecting.
 The Bulldozer did break down this morning so there was opportunity 
a chat with one of the lorry drivers. A very pleasant personality came in the form of
Hungarian 
BALINT KISS
 'Kiss' for short commands excellent English, fine conversation and came
over as a very nice person.
Good to Meet You Sir!
 Don't panic I'm only letting off a Distress Flare.
 My visits to see The Secret Lemonade Drinker are always awash
with interesting things to see and at my last, a couple of weeks ago,
he produced this
Webley and Scott
VERY PISTOL
used to fire a Flare/Signal often in the event of an emergency.
During my time at sea I must have fired one of these about half a dozen times
but never for the reason stated above.
and finally, we leave you with the Gods not quite on our side
as this morning I found the remaining area of aggregate at the 
Hurn Gravel Pit
being 'covered' by yet another
Earth Moving Experience!
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