Black is Black - Los Bravos

 A Thing of Beauty is a Joy to Behold!

WAVED BLACK
no more than an Ink Blot but one of, if not THE, favourite from the whole pack!

No disrespect meant to the other First's of the Year on the day.

CRESCENT

EAR MOTH

CLOACKED MINOR
and

DRINKER

"but Clouds got in my way"

and during that process what is said to be a Brand New

LEONARDO HELICOPTER
with recent 'nose job'.

Just a small part of the

STARLING FLOCK

followed by an encounter that has been all to long in the coming there's

MUM
and

DAD

(a bit of cud-chewing)

and the c2 rapidly growing

CALVES
Otherwise, on the Gravel Pit

a 3rd attempt at nesting by the
Little Grebes.

Yesterday Once More - The Carpenters

It certainly was not but, there was a decent trickle from the Moth Traps and a bit of a Cross Section from other Wildlife!

Yet another interesting sky-scape to herald the new day and distract us from both Moths and Birds but We Shall Overcome!

In one direction a single juvenile

 PIED WAGTAIL

while in another a pristine

SWALLOW-TAILED MOTH

before
Mother and Child Reunion - Paul Simon 1972

with the Moth Traps still coming up with the goods,

BLUE-BORDERED CARPET
followed by the architype

BARRED RED
and by a quirk of nature, the same species but of a

Green Morph
you can only count them on the list 'once'!

After a final look at the Wags one more addition to the Moth Year List with

DUN-BAR

before heading further north and an encounter

with a couple of most obliging

FOXES

likely attracted by some out-dated meat we put down earlier?
Further to that a dalliance with a single juvenile

STONECHAT

that have proved to be less common than 

Rocking Horse Droppings
this year, and then just a final

SONG THRUSH
which is also rather unusual in the
Solar Panel Compounds - let's see what tomorrow brings!

The original heading was to have been Foxy Lady - The Jimi Hendrix Experience until the flash of inspiration in that other direction.

For myself no other band has ever got anywhere near to them, as much for attitude as the music.
l to r Mitch Mitchell (drums) - Jimi (Guitars / Vox) Noel Reading (Bass Guitar).

Rock trivia:- Hendrix could not make up his mind while forming the band between drummers Mitchell and Aynsley Dunbar (recenty 'sacked / dismissed' from John Mayall's Blues Breakers, another all time favourite, whose hand was shaken heartely all those years ago at The Anvil, Basingstoke, Hants and hasn't been washed since) the issue being settled by the toss of a coin!

The Very Best of Adam and the Ants (et al)

  With the daytime temperature just about kissing +30°C and overnight dropping just +12°C of those hopes for the Moth Traps were well above high. We certainly were not disappointed as Tuesday morning broke so will dedicate this post to the Insects (across the board) that we encountered across that day. Not even 'IN' the trap and not even a Moth we kicked off with a

TANNER BEETLE
and followed in relatively quick succession by Half a Dozen Firsts for the Year.

We had to start somewhere with a not overly bright looking
SMALL DUSTY WAVE

but not long after the radiance of this

GREEN SILVER LINES

followed by this

WHITE SATIN MOTH
and maybe a little on the early side, if we have it right that is the first

SQUARE-SPOT RUSTIC
of the year, followed by what only a very few years ago would have been the fulfilment of a dream

DEWICK'S PLUSIA
which back in the very early 70's I was lucky to catch only the 12th specimen that had been recorded across our Sceptred Isles (we have to thank Bill the Bard for the expression)

which was taken by our friend Norman Hall, a luminary and occassional dinner guest, to show other Big Wigs of the Mothing World!
Off Piste again there was the capture of a

BLACK and ORANGE SEXTON BEETLE
along with the final first for Moths an

ENGRAILED
During the rest of the day and not on a purposful search we crossed paths with

SMALL RED-EYED DAMSELFLY

SILVER-WASHED FRATILLERY
an ovipositing (egg-laying)

EMPEROR DRAGONFLY
attended by a
COMMON BLUE DAMSELFLY
a female

MIGRANT HAWKER

BANDED DEMOISELLE's
captured in a Love Heart

BROAD-BODIED CHASER
along with the first sighting of

PURPLE EMPEROR
just 2 flitting about on the crown of a mature
Oak Tree.
Maybe no need to say, this is not my own image having never captured such a beauty, but ending with what seemed to be a rather strangely patterned

GARDEN TIGER MOTH
sent to higher authority

but found to be of a usual type!

A day that smacked of the proverbial No38 Bus, once one appears who knows just how many are right behind it? and as a finale

the residue in one trap alone

just see if

you can spot

John - George - Paul and Ringo
THANKS FOR TUNING IN!