'Sheep' - The Housemartins

 Joy of Joy's and an absolute delight to have the 'chittering' of

SWALLOWs
now joining the dawn chorus at first light but less so at the home-bound Moth Traps where were found few Insects all of a very common nature. It would seem we have given you something of a bum steer as not having seen the

CANADA GOOSE
sitting at the Main Pondside for 10 days or more but as the image shows

and the clip endorses they are still incubating so time to keep a sharp eye for the new Goslings!         

With a chill +3°C on the Heath all indications seem to point to a similar result as previous, but          "ye of little faith” never caught the ‘biggy’!Clinging to the kitchen foil which lines the funnel was another

LUNAR MARBLED BROWN

with not far behind a rather worn and ragged but nevertheless 'first for year'

LEAD-COLOURED DRAB
not only a First for the Year but the First we have ever clapped eyes on - "YES"!
Highly unlikely that was going to be upstaged on the day, but there were still things of interest to be found such as the resurected vocals of the 'early nesting'

WOODLARK

which looked every bit as if feeding young which we hope are destined for the Canon.
Next, but somewhat more distantly, there seemed to be overtures being made

to attract a

MATE

and as we know from past experiences once the

MISTLE THRUSH

flashes up there will be
No Quarter........
As if appearing overnight the 2 already active giant cranes have been joined by this

JIB CRANE
at the Airport while far more delicate and sedate the first

PRIMROSE

are now in full bloom.
On our way back it was noted that the

SHEEP

were back in the Main Compound as was this hunting

STONECHAT

looking rather like a 'juvenile' but surely not yet?
A wander down south, the usual stronghold of the Lesser Whitethroat here, bore no fruit

but it certainly looks like the 'standards' in the Manor car park will,
the same as this winter when Fieldfare and Redwing alike were able to gorge themselves.
While talking of 'arborials' the local

HORSE CHESTNUTs
are also showing signs of their 'candle-like' flowers along a very healthy looking hedge

leading to the most westerly part of our range.
At the extent we met not only the
River Stour

but maybe as many as 50

HOUSE MARTINs

a further addition to the
Bird Year List which now stands at 106 for the Recording Area.

the first signs of

Oil Seed Rape
will doubtlessly also be adornring extensive Dorset hillsides while our final find

seemed rather strange when finding this
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL
just sitting alone in the middle of a recently harrowed and seeded 20-acre field through a

Heat Haze

before being joined by a second

but with no signs of feeding!
Here's Hoping for More to Come.

Sensibility v Adiction

 Having never sampled the former and the 'glass' already showing zero there were only 2 choices, stick with Murphy v Selby or Flash up the Traps, it was the latter. No prizes for guessing the outcome but the result amounted to 3 Moths of 3 Species which we are happy to highlight here!

COMMON QUAKER

CLOUDED DRAB
The thaw was quick turning the morning into Spring-like, setting us on our way, and first of all checking the progress, or otherwise of the new

MOORHEN NEST

which was still occupied and under construction.

Good Fortune quickly turned to bad at the other side of the Pond

as it may well have been the 'partner that had been predated by this
SPARROWHAWK
philosophically speaking " there are plenty more Fish in the Sea - or are there?
Continuing, there was not a sign of life on the Irrigation Pond but quite the opposite on the Gravel Pit where all c7 Goslings continue to thrive and the short series of peeping from a Wader revealed the presence of a 'first for the year'

and rather mobile

COMMON SANDPIPER

which eventually fell to the Canon and brought up our 106th species of the year.
However, there are concerns

from the same MISTY location
as the 'single'

LITTLE GREBE

very much remains that way.
On the gatepost to the Heath was found this

ACORN
which looked as if having provided a morsal for a small Mammal or other
while the rest featured the now daily residents

just cannot resist the male

STONECHAT

along with the build up of

very vocal

COMMON WHITETHROAT

which effectively

brought yet anothe decent wander to an end at

Lighting Up Time!

Feathering Thier Own Nests

A National Record Breaker for the number of frosty nights across April looked as if they were very much about to subside, but not so Sunday night. The forecasters (who rarely get it wrong these days) had forecasted between +4°C and +7°C, for our neck of the woods, but came nowhere near with a +1°C at home and a disappointing Zero° from the Heath.

(It was amazing to see just how quickly the Trees have turned 'green' along the southern bank of the River Stour 

Nevertheless, that didn’t lead to total disaster with 14 Macro Moths of 8 species species attracted across all traps including a sample

LESSER SWALLOW PROMINENT

  a quartet of

SCARCE PROMINETs

(some would give their high teeth for just a single)

RED CHESTNUT
and

this unidentified SPIDER looking radient in the morning sunshine.
Had we caught this there would have been a few missed heartbeats, but to come clean it is a

SPANISH MOON MOTH
nurtured from a larvae by one of our friends. Leaving the traps and hoping for better to come we stopped the Mobile Bird Hide to watch this 

ROBIN
obviously dropping into a nest site to

Feed Young
and by consequence noticed another nest at the edge of the Gorse

without having to leave the sanctuary of the
Strange Rover and that of the

LINNET

there are severe penalties for knowingly disturbing the nests of breeding birds, a practice that we never follow - 2 'clicks' and we were out of there. The only item of passing interest from within the main Solar Panel Compound was to find a couple of the

EWES

are still weaning their Lambs but birdlife was restricted to a few Pied Wagtail's and please don't say "oh no, not again" as these are the most favoured and scarce of all our resident birdlife and you never know where you might come across them, today a single

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

atop the Solar Panels themselves - a first!
Inspired by the spotting of the first nest and approaching the southern paddocks we wandered down to the end of one where a pair of

WRENs
had nested in a box where tack is stowed but with no signs last year.

Different Year, Different Result

as at it again and by just lifting the corner of the canvas dodger the

Eggs were Expossed.
As for the weather, they say there are westerly storms and rain on the way but..........

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west

and my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
and the voices of those who stand looking!

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune

then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
and the forests will echo with laughter.

Do you remember laughter?

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin