Birds of a Feather - Weekend List

With the wind now firmly set in the east and at times touching gale force, the weekend hasn’t amounted to much. Again we have been catching Moths but not in numbers and nothing to add to the Year List, as overnight temperatures hold on doggedly to low single figures. We have been out on both days but the grand total of avianshas amounted to no more than the pictorial list below.

All Images From the Archive

 LITTLE GREBE

 MUTE SWAN

 CANADA GOOSE

 GREYLAG GOOSE

MALLARD

TUFTED DUCK

PHEASANT

MOORHEN

 COOT

 BLACK-HEADED GULL

HERRING GULL

STOCK DOVE

 WOOD PIGEON

GREEN WOODPECKER

MEADOW PIPIT

 PIED WAGTAIL

WREN

 DUNNOCK

 ROBIN

STONECHAT

BLACKBIRD
on the Heath last year

 CHIFFCHAFF

COAL TIT

 BLUE TIT

GREAT TIT

 JAY

 MAGPIE

 JACKDAW

 CARRION CROW

STARLING

CHAFFINCH

GOLDFINCH
and 

LINNET
 
GOOD JOB IT WASN'T 'BIRD RACE' WEEKEND!

The Thin Line Between Love and (Haiti) - (almost) Iron Maiden

As ever ‘ambitions and projects’ were buzzing around my head as 2012 was about to come to a close, but who could have imagined how most, if not all, of the eggs would fit neatly into one basket? Of these, and despite a close on 50 years career as a mariner, there were 2 things in that direction which had evaded me, (1) crossing the Atlantic Ocean from coast to coast and (2) transiting the Panama Canal but no such issue with Suez! On occasion we had worked 5 - 6 -700 miles into this mighty seaway, but never anywhere near that full 5,000 miles, and just the once, during the 3 Amigos'

 Rather Rotund William

(political correctness doesn't allow for the usage of such profanities as)

Big Fat Billy

 Moi

 Jim the Medic

 transit of all 7 countries of Central America from 

Mexco City to Panama City and seen here as guests of the 

Crawford Family and Deputy Prime Minister of Beleize at the 

Crooked Tree Fish Festival in 2004,

did Billy and I later stand on the parapet of the

 PANAMA CANAL

 Down She Goes

With these 2 projects most forward in my mind there was also the consideration of visiting the final dozen or so Countries and/or Island Nations of the America’s, not thus far gotten round to, which would likely make it the longest single ‘pleasure junket’ ever made.

but we digress!

The logistics of such a venture were considered enormous and there was much 

searching of the Internet to find a vessel going my way and even considering

Working My Passage

It really should have been my 'first port of call' so to speak during that search as having

visited the most wonderful place on earth

ANTARCTICA 

with Voyages of Discovery in 2007 on the vessel of the same name, Discovery that is.

Clicking their site it was found that her sister ship the SS Voyager was about to set sail

on a mammoth trans-Atlantic from Portsmouth, through the Caribbean, transit the Canal, rounding

Cape Horn and a bit more of the Caribbean before returning to Pompey!

Lady L**k

(we don't like to use the word for fear that she might run away)

was surely on my side but there were some stumbling blocks to negotiate.

Firstly there were only 2 cabins left and both doubles for which there could have been a premium, but also fell to my advantage, stowing my un-needed kit onboard while making my own way and then leaving the vessel at the southern end of the Panama Canal. Taken as read, the fact that I would have to enter myself into the country and pay all dues and customs was a foregone and then picking the ship up again, at a convienient port, for the return voyage, which turned out to be

Kingston, Jamaica.

Of all the prospective counties to be visited while solo

one stood out like a sore thumb and had to be approached with trepidation!

TO BE CONTINUED

"Where the Raven Flies There's Jeopardy" - Genesis

Spring-like weather certainly seems to have taken a grip so all that is needed now

are a few nights of total cloud cover (8 Oktas) and up the anti on temperature

 Having said that there was, after an all too long a wait, a

New Species for the Year in the Moth Trap

 POWDERED QUAKER

and as we reached the Common another probable migrant

(a vocal male)

BLACKCAP

We say probable as there have been c2 overwintering birds, both males,

but this comes complete with a couple of what are considered 'nifty' videos

 with predated Dragonfly

taken last year when the Blog was inactive

 Just as pleasing but a little less authentic this

 (Black) PHEASANT

looked resplendent in the bright sunshine as did this

 SILVER BIRCH

but losing some of its sheen in the clicking

 As far afield as we have ever recorded them

the pair of

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

 were at the airport perimeter fence 

inside of which are now a minimum of

 27 British Airways airliners plus the 4 Virgins
(reports from another observer tell of 40 BA jets) 

It's an ill wind that doesn't blow somebody some good,

parking fees must amount to a pretty penny?

 The

DARTFORD WARBLER

appeared for only as long as the 

video clip shows

 while the 

GORSE

(a plant which blooms in 'every' month of the year)

also looked a proper job, but had we been a little more stealthy 

on the way back there might have been more seen of the

 RAVEN

settled on one of the 

Solar Panel Compound

security cameras

but not for long once I happened along.

Ode to a Lark

but in this instance not Percy Bysshe Shelley's Skylark
Wednesday, and the temperature had fallen even further

than in previous days to a frosty -2°C. Still only the single

Moth Trap

running from where there were Moths but only of the

Hebrew Character and Common Quaker type.

However, there was a small fillip early on as a skein of

EGYPTIAN GEESE

(if c2 qualify as a skein) landed briefly on what is still the River Stour floodplain but where 

nevertheless first in the log and from there on it

turned into a warm, clear and Spring-like day.

Under the umbrella of 'excercise' it was then off to the Common and then Heath, in that order, 

where the former produced nothing new but there was an ambitious 

Plane B

 As far as the Moths are concerned there are a number of diurnal fliers one of which is the magnificent

Emperor Moth

which is still a couple of weeks away from emerging, but given the perfect conditions it was

certainly worth a try at attracting one - or more.

The technique includes setting this little fella, a

 PHEROMONE CAPSUAL

among the not yet flowering

HEATHER

and

REINDEER LICHEN

this gives off the purfume of the female Insect and in the past has proved

most successful. We hope to bring you the 'mind-blowing' images soon.

Otherwise, Bird numbers seemed to have increased quiet dramaticall but while of the

Same Old - Same Old

variety it was lovely to bathe in the now warm sunshine listening to and viewing all that came our way.

 CHIFFCHAFF

singing

male

CHAFFINCH

with Chiffchaff on 'backing vocals'

Another, the second of the season,

LAMB

on the wrong side of the fence while it was almost certain this

COMMON BUZZARD

was looking down and licking its lips!

While bemoaning the lack of

VIRGINS

in our neck of the woods on a previous post, like the proverbial No-9 bus 

you wait and wait then another 3 turn up.

While on the subject and to clear aviation out of the way we spotted this

BRITSH AIRWAYS JET

which landed soon after, followed by 2 more bringing the the total on the stand to 14.

Had it not been for this occurrence we may have missed the c4

GREYLAG GEESE

altogether they certainly being a 'skien'!

SALLOWS

now all in full blossom are crying out for a bagful of Moths.

After a couple more commoners the Post ends on something of a high note, with firstly more

STONECHAT

and

MEADOW PIPIT

Followed by a wonderfully welcome flurry of

(rather like gathering nesting material than feeding)

 half a dozen

WOODLARK

with additional images from the archive to emphasis the point!