Saturday 20 November 2021

"The Train Now Standing at the Waters Edge"

 We thought we might have seen the last of these fiery

SUNRISES
but no, once again we were blessed with the beauty followed by more than a welcome tickle from the Moth Traps
CYPRESS CARPET
being followed by the only other Insect caught a First for the Year
SCARCE BORDERED STRAW
showing the indicative dark trailing edge to the underwing.
At the Gravel Pit a photo / video opportunity not to be missed was the cluster of all c3
LITTLE GREBES
in company with the female
TUFTED DUCK
Away from this, all that captured the imagination were a handful of
MEADOW PIPITs
The myxied RABBIT still feeding well as were the signs of the
BADGERs
doing likewise all inside the
Solar Panal Compound
while without the
MOLEs
appeared to have been doing likewise as the the now free-ranging
CHAROLAIS
(a little obscured by trees and bushes)
while the whole area is now
overborne with a legion of
MAGPIES
over-flown by this lone
MUTE SWAN
which may have been the last of it had we not been duty bound to collect the
Strange Rover
having just successfully past it MoT - Pheeeewwww!
Parking in the usual spot next to the homestead and with camara in hand we caught sight of a bird alighting on one of the Chicken run fence posts, not 20 feet away, which at first glimps look every bit to be a Kestrel?? However, during the 20 seconds it was there it was re-diagnosed as a female
MERLIN
only the 4th ever recored here in over a decade, and the first for the southern half of the property.
Its almost immediate departure gave no time for it to be Canonised so have had to 'borrow' the images - while we end with something of a
Blast from the Past
of a once familiar sight in Weymouth of these
TANK ENGINES
towing both Passenger trains and Produce (tomatoes, potatoes, flowers etc) from the Channel Island Ferries, secured on the Quay, almost through the heart of the town. Taken in 1961 (the year I joined the Royal Navy as a tender 15 year old) my Dear Departed Grandfather spent most of his (civilian) working life plying the route to Guernsey and Jersey. We heartily thank Paul (Bomber) Harris for sending such a memory jerking image!