Send Down a Dove - Charles MacHardy

With the overnight temperature now levelling out at a far more acceptable

+14°C, cloud cover being mainly total and the wind in the southern quadrant

there has been a little more to show for our efforts from the

Moth Traps.

Firsts for the Year

have included

COMMON WAINSCOT

SMALL SQUARE-SPOT

COMMON CARPET

COMMON SWIFT

in 2 differing shades

and sizes.

BUFF-TIP

COXCOMB PROMINENT

GREAT RED SEDGE

and spectacular mating
TIGER CRANEFLY
We make note here of help in identifications from our friends
Dave Foot, John Gifford and Paul Harris
(in alphabetical order to save any fighting in the playground)

In other directions things have been a little quieter with the

 COOT,
having already lost one brood to the predator, have commenced 'sitting' again.

A pair of 
MUTE SWAN
that occasionally look like they mean business and always followed by a spell of
Head Down.

As far as we can tell

STOCK DOVE
Oh Lord above send down a Dove
with wings as sharp a razors.
To cut the throats of them there blokes
as sells bad beer to Sailors! 
(Now there's a book worth reading) 

 are nesting both

 on the Heath and within the Eco Recycling Centre

while finding a ready supply of food in the
Solar Panel Compounds.

While talking of Eco, a few

 SAND MARTIN

 have been seen on the wing including both
adult (right) and juvenile birds (left).

JUVENILE SAND MARTIN

Feeding Young

DITTO

Not quite absent altogether but either keeping an extraordinarily
low profile

or in far less numbers here than we have become used to in the past

it was considered extremely lucky to shoot just 2 images of

DARTFORD WARBLER

On the other hand

 COMMON WHITETHROAT

seem to be all over the place

with indications of 'nesting' in all areas.

There only needs to be the slightest fall of rain for the

BLACK SLUG

to appear which have also been showing up 'mob-handed'!

To finish the day and this post the juvenile

STARLING

are now fledging in numbers and like this one often feed right outside
our door, particularly late afternoon.

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The Socerer's Apprentis - Part II

Time soon slips by, and before you know it there stood 6 years old

JOSHUA
knocking on the door of
Slight Return II
and seemingly raring to go!
As is the norm, we did make the rounds of the Moth Traps but there
was far, far less than was found by his 8 years old brother.
In fact the only interest lay in a single

 MARBLED MINOR type
 which was at least a
First for the Year.
 Before the traps were cleared we had also made a good start on the
Bird List
having already added

ROBIN

WREN

GOLDFINCH

WOOD PIGEON

MALLARD

SWALLOW

HOUSE SPARROW
and

MAGPIE
Time then to climb aboard the

STRANGE ROVER EXPRESS
and to head north in search of more interesting finds.
On the way to the
Solar Panel Farm
we recorded

MUTE SWAN

BLACKBIRD

PHEASANT

COOT

DUNNOCK

SEDGE WARBLER

MOORHEN

CANADA GOOSE
and

SAND MARTIN
having already, time x time, done far better that with the older sibling,
but it was to get better as we locked onto a very vocal

CUCKOO
followed by

GREEN WOODPECKER

HERRING GULL
and

STOCK DOVE
but it was now time to concentrate on the
Reptile Covers.
Under the first was found a single

SLOW WORM
before recording our first

DARTFORD WARBLER
which were to prove over the next few minutes to be more numerous
then any other time this year and viewed more closely, but there was also to
be incidences of what can only be regarded as 'strange behaviour'!

Beneath one of the following covers was a

First for the Year

SMOOTH SNAKE
and that's when the strange stuff started.

The Dartford's were not only singing at close quarters from the tops
of the Gorse but also diving into the Heather very, very close to us,
in fact on occasion nearly landing on our footwear!
This was surely going to be contender for the
Magic Moment
of the day, despite recording a fabulous

VIOLET GROUND BEETLE,
but even these would pale as Josh lifted the next cover.
 Having given the ground below a 'man look' he was asked to put the
cover back but his reply was "look, look there's a Lizard"!

 He had indeed spotted a

 SAND LIZARD

not what is considered anything like a 'common creature' around here.

 but it is still though a good job he had his ol' mate Bagsy along with him,
Yeah Alright!
Additionally and unsurprisingly before leaving this area a

STONECHAT
then put in an appearance before we moved on to view the

BAGOT GOATS

On the way to the woodland we managed to find

 MISTLE
and

 SONG THRUSHES

 RABBIT

 PIED WAGTAIL
and a

COMMON BUZZARD

before stopping at the
Great Spotted Woodpecker's Nest

in hope of seeing some fledglings. Unfortunately, that was not to be
but lurking partly under cover we spotted a lone

ROE DEER

which almost brought our morning to an end, save that Josh spotted yet another cover
which had long been forgotten and most worthy of turning!
There we found a colony of

WOOD ANTS

which was most facinating to say the least.
Reaching Slight Return II and waiting for Grandma, we watch another

COMMON BUZZARD

circling overhead while reminiscing the fact that we had seen

c27 Species of Bird
A single Moth Species
c3 Species of Reptile
c2 Mammals plus a variety of other Insects.
Again, we await a Return Visit - Thanks Joshua!

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