Saturday 27 May 2017

The Socerer's Apprentis - Part II

Time soon slips by, and before you know it there stood 6 years old
JOSHUA
knocking on the door of
Slight Return II
and seemingly raring to go!
As is the norm, we did make the rounds of the Moth Traps but there
was far, far less than was found by his 8 years old brother.
In fact the only interest lay in a single

 MARBLED MINOR type
 which was at least a
First for the Year.
 Before the traps were cleared we had also made a good start on the
Bird List
having already added
ROBIN
WREN
GOLDFINCH
WOOD PIGEON
MALLARD
SWALLOW
HOUSE SPARROW
and

MAGPIE
Time then to climb aboard the
STRANGE ROVER EXPRESS
and to head north in search of more interesting finds.
On the way to the
Solar Panel Farm
we recorded
MUTE SWAN
BLACKBIRD
PHEASANT
COOT
DUNNOCK
SEDGE WARBLER
MOORHEN
CANADA GOOSE
and

SAND MARTIN
having already, time x time, done far better that with the older sibling,
but it was to get better as we locked onto a very vocal
CUCKOO
followed by
GREEN WOODPECKER
HERRING GULL
and

STOCK DOVE
but it was now time to concentrate on the
Reptile Covers.
Under the first was found a single
SLOW WORM
before recording our first
DARTFORD WARBLER
which were to prove over the next few minutes to be more numerous
then any other time this year and viewed more closely, but there was also to
be incidences of what can only be regarded as 'strange behaviour'!
Beneath one of the following covers was a
First for the Year
SMOOTH SNAKE
and that's when the strange stuff started.
The Dartford's were not only singing at close quarters from the tops
of the Gorse but also diving into the Heather very, very close to us,
in fact on occasion nearly landing on our footwear!
This was surely going to be contender for the
Magic Moment
of the day, despite recording a fabulous
VIOLET GROUND BEETLE,
but even these would pale as Josh lifted the next cover.
 Having given the ground below a 'man look' he was asked to put the
cover back but his reply was "look, look there's a Lizard"!

 He had indeed spotted a

 SAND LIZARD

not what is considered anything like a 'common creature' around here.


 but it is still though a good job he had his ol' mate Bagsy along with him,
Yeah Alright!
Additionally and unsurprisingly before leaving this area a
STONECHAT
then put in an appearance before we moved on to view the
BAGOT GOATS
On the way to the woodland we managed to find
 MISTLE
and
 SONG THRUSHES
 RABBIT
 PIED WAGTAIL
and a

COMMON BUZZARD
before stopping at the
Great Spotted Woodpecker's Nest
in hope of seeing some fledglings. Unfortunately, that was not to be
but lurking partly under cover we spotted a lone
ROE DEER
which almost brought our morning to an end, save that Josh spotted yet another cover
which had long been forgotten and most worthy of turning!
There we found a colony of
WOOD ANTS
which was most facinating to say the least.
Reaching Slight Return II and waiting for Grandma, we watch another
COMMON BUZZARD
circling overhead while reminiscing the fact that we had seen
c27 Species of Bird
A single Moth Species
c3 Species of Reptile
c2 Mammals plus a variety of other Insects.
Again, we await a Return Visit - Thanks Joshua!
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