Funny How Love Can Be - The Rockin' Berries

 

With the temperature having shifted from Zero°C to +10°C over the past 24 hours, you might be forgiven for thinking something new may appear in the Moth Traps - so did we!

Almost the last of the
Waxing Crescent Moon

and from the traps
CHESTNUT

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG
another

MOTTLED UMBER
and c4

DECEMBER MOTHs
maybe not exactly 'floating your boat' but a boon to us 'ere Unmarried Mother's!

 Also within the Solar Panel Compounds and maybe only a tad more interesting

firstly a single

HERRING GULL
then joined by a second

and then a brave

WOOD PIGEON

Again not a classic
RAINBOW
but the accompanying precipitation being enough to deter us from a visit to the Heath.
A scan across the Moors River, now almost a full Flood Plain, is holding a decent number of various Waterfowl mostly obscured by the surrounding vegetation but not blocking the view of this

seemingly young

ABERDEEN ANGUS

bullock.
Still keen to confirm that the 'chacking calls' of yesterday were infact what was thought

another visit to the Manor Car Park

where we found

just what we had thought

a small host of about a dozen

FIELDFARE

where some were given to  skirmishing the 'fallers' along with a lone

MISTLE THRUSH

with surely more to come - watch this space!
Such sights remind me of my many visits to Estonia where in the parks of the unscathed capital

TALLINN

they breed prolifically

as they also did along with many other spiecies at my former Ladyfriends redundant farm in

 

ILLE

 

THEMZ WUZ the DAYZ!

Cry Me a River - Ella Fitzgerald

With the overnight temperature having dropped to just +1°C with a resultant heavy

GROUND FROST
hopes of any returns from the Moth Traps had already been abandoned - "oh yeah of little faith!"

While de-icing the Trusty Steed there was the 'chacking' of a number of Fieldfare close by but not found, while overhead passed the Wing'ed Squadrons of the Sky a couple of brightly highlighted

MUTE SWANs
Heading north we did take a quick peak across our section of the

HEATH
which was timely enough to catch c2

MARSH TITs

at close quarters and something of a coupe as quite a 'scarcity' here these days.
From the first

Frozen Trap

a single

MOTTLED UMBER
was plucked, considered a most welcome start given our own predictions,

while subsequently a total of c5

DECEMBER MOTHs
were logged and releast from traps 2 and 3 - we were happy with that as
Far Better Than a Blank!
Across both watercourses no more than c4 marauding

CANADA GEESE
while on the way back a stop at the sluice gate on the

RIVER STOUR

produced nothing more than a
Tranquil and Pleasing View - we live in hopes of better to come!

North Sea Migration - Part IV

 With this final part of the Quartet given over to any other Migratory Species of Wildlife apart from Birds on, or close to the

BUCHAN ALPHA SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE OIL PRODUCTION PLATFORM
SOUTH HALIBUT BASIN - NORTH SEA

Starting with the Big Boys, or Girls for that matter with both

ATLANTIC GREY SEAL

(hauling out onto one of the legs for a spell of sunbathing)
recorded almost daily except in rough weather and

MINKE WHALE

far less frequent.
You would have to take our word for it that this is a

WHITE SATIN MOTH

while far more plausable a
LUMPFISH
and the only member of the genus.

HOVERFLY
(Syrphus ribesii)

COALFISH

CONVOLVULUS HAWK-MOTH

7-SPOT LADYBIRD

PIPEFISH

MAGPIE MOTH

MAGPIE MOTH'S

RED ADMIRAL

ANGLE SHADES MOTH

GARFISH

SILVER Y

and most intriguing of all a

BLACBIRD's NEST,
complete with eggs, found amoung the pipework maybe a prank by one of the Roughnecks?
Thought unlikely, as Company Security are scrupulous in searching crew-change baggage
so maybe the real thing? We will never know!!

The Deer Hunter

 Still dogged by the weather but more particularly those odd passing showers, at least we started on the right note at the

Main Pond

where the first returning

CORMORANT
for the back-end of the year was wreaking havoc with the Fish population,

while flanked by c2 quite seperate and vocal

CETTIS WARBLER
at both east and west extremities.
En-route to the traps a brief stop at the Puddle of Mud where once again the

GREY WAGTAIL

was gorging followed by a little more colour from the Moth Traps in the guise of a considered 'late'?

MERVEILLE du JOUR
and a likely 'long-distance flying'

VESTAL

On exiting the Compound the

RED ADMIRAL
was still enjoying the area and joined by a

SMALL TORTOISESHELL
bronging a little colour to the day along with just the finest trace of a

RAINBOW
Otherwise down South

it was left to a

small herd of

ROE DEER

to

make up

the numbers.