Clouds (album) - Joni Mitchell

By comparison with recent days, or maybe even weeks,  yesterday

saw a little light shining from the end of the tunnel,

but let's make it quite clear we ain't talking Serengeti

In fact the day started at 05:00 when as usual all attentions were being paid

skywards with full cloud cover and a sniff of rain on the breeze. 

With no backlight all that could be seen across the black was a narrow pale band of an estimated one to two miles in lenghth. Had it been at any other time it may well have been past off as 

the remains of a jet aircraft vapour trail but with none flying further investigation was made.

During my 18 years in the North Sea Oil business and serving on the 

Buchan Alpha Floating Oil Production Platform, a recognised Weather Station,

it was one of my nightly duties to take current weather readings for transmission to the

Meteorlogical Office and or Ocean Routes

who provided a manual of photographs and descriptions of all the types of cloud formation that maybe encountered. Having thumbed through that book thousands of times it was a surprise to find that what I was looking at was a

SHELF CLOUD

(image best viewed away from any light source) 

something not even heard of let alone seen

It is said we all learn something new every day, which was certainly the case in this instance!

Such things are of great interest to me and jogged my memory of the

Solar Halo

of

16 May 2019

 What followed was also something new but down a few degrees as only

New For the Year

First out of the Moth Trap and on the very first tray was one of my firm favourites

 MAIDEN'S BLUSH

with perched right next door

the almost prehistoric

PALE PROMINENT

with both considered to be 'on the wing' about 2 to 3 weeks early

 From there we found that all c7 Coot chicks are still on the Irrigation Pond along with incubating Canada's, while a new arrival

 a lone

GREYLAG GOOSE

with attendant Little Grebe and Canada Geese

 was of some interest as 'common across much of the County

 but only an occassional visitor to our neck of the woods

 On the way to the Heath this

 BLUE TIT

took some craning of both arms and neck

 to obtain these shots

 while seeming to be struggling similarly to collect nesting material

It was at this point that it seemed the Heath had been transformed overnight

 as the

ERICA

starts to show tinges of purple contrasting sharply with the green of the trees and

the yellow of the Gorse beyond 

(it was at this point we heard our first new 'migrant' for the day / year,

we would need to get closer to the Moors River)

while the late leafing

ASPENs

still stand naked, but not too long now we feel

On the way to check the Goats

PHATHER FEASANT

was found escorting c3 quite well matured youngsters

with the Rare Breeds craning their necks too to be 'clicked'

 FRENCH ALPINE

OLD ENGLISH

 CUCKOO

"Please Sir, may I have some more"

MORE BOY?

DREAMER

It was yet another day from which there was little to report

but you can never say 

'BLANK'!

All from the Moth Traps was a

STREAMER 

 which inspired me to write some lyrics

"I said Streamer, you're nothing but a Streamer

Well can you put your hands on your head, oh no!" 

Am now going to send the full version to Supertramp and see if they can knock up 

a mellody to fit aroud them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dzmb4O67o8

Ah, that seems to have done the trick - just wait for the 'royalties' to flow in now!

 Otherwise, right outside the door the

 ROOKs

 continue to be excellent value

 A little further afield and having missed the first manifestation of new new

LITTLE GREBE

today we caught them

bang to rights

 Nest Building

and hope in the next 10 to 15 days to bring you some images and footage of

maybe the full process and hopefully the

HUMBUGS

the colloquial term for baby Grebes!

Not at all a common sight at any of the ponds here despite breeding right next door at

Bournemouth International Airport a

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

dropped in for a bit of a dhobie!

 On the Heath where we found a free flying

ENGRAILED

 and a distant daytime flying

Common Heath

the

WOODLARK

continue to abound while remaining very much 

Camera Shy

Mobility rather than Shyness was the 

bugbear with one of the numerous and vocal

WILLOW WARBLER

but when the record shows you have never videoed one before,

to gain a 'first' they can be forgiven for that!

The small

BEE

on the entrance

gate to the

Solar Panel Compound

remains unidentified, but do know someone who may alleviate that,

while within we found our 3rd

 WHEATEAR

of the season

 which is the second female while

 CANADA GEESE

are no strangers here but have never been noted 'between' the panels before,

as a more familiar female

BLACKBIRD

continues with the nesting process - feeding young

A Good Day for Common Fare

but for Migrants - Forget It!

 Again it was a poor show from the 

MothTraps

with just c2 Insects but along with a Red Chestnut there was, for the second time this year,

something of a 'star'

 SCARCE PROMINENT

 is described in the literature as being

"Very Scarce (as the name already suggests) and Restricted Resident across Dorset"

so maybe we should be thanking heavens for having a colony on our patch!

It never ceases to amaze me how the presumed male

 CANADA GOOSE

 maintains this posture for most of the day stationed close to the nest 
where the female is incubating

and of the other waterbourne just a couple of male

 TUFTED DUCK

unless you want to be bored with more

Little Grebes and Coots!

 Additionally, the was a most obliging

GREEN SANDPIPER

 feeding in the margings before trying our luck at the

Sewerage Works Fence

with

GREY WAGTAILs

 seemingly showing off and a small host of other small birds including

 GREAT TIT

 COAL TIT

 and

 BULLFINCH

 ALL,

not surprisingly, in good voice!

 Along the strip of mature Oaks bordering the horse paddocks

 NUTHATCH

are still hard at it while strangely we have not seen

hide nor hair of a Treecreeper so far this Spring

while a few

BLUEBELLs

are also starting to push through

Linnets are now mob-handed across the Heath with Woodlark also seen daily

but still no signs of that Osprey, Red Kite or for that matter

Hobby across that 'BIG' Sky, so for now we will have to content ourselves with

 DARTFORD WARBLER

BLOOMING BLACKTHORN

 and the odd 'flying' aircraft

Bombardier Global

owned by Gama Aviation UK