Only Yesterday I Met Jack Frost

and knew there'd be a Storm!

 Just popping back to Tuesday briefly we saw our first

FROST

of late Autumn and the legacy of the recent

DOWNPOUR
(River Stour looking East)

of Biblical proportions
(River Stour and usually dry Horse Paddocks looking West)

and whether there is any connection or not the local

JAY
is now a daily visitor, unheard of before, to the lawn and bund right outside our door where,

certainly due to the absence of Acorns it has been feasting on invertibrates and even witnessed taking bread, a new one on me!

Another of the infrequent fly- overs by the RAF
HURCULES (Unchained) 

before heading north where the rest of the days interest lay.

Approaching the Sewerage Works this

STONECHAT

still showing juvenile plumage and not often seen on the farm

was making great success of utilising the
Solar Panel Fence

as a
Hunting Post
while the Works would not be the Works without the ever present

BLACK-HEADED GULLs

while last but by no means least the

COAL TITs

appear to have returned to their traditional fence-line winter sanctuary?

Magic Moments - Perry Como

 Despite the almost wall to wall inclement weather, heavy rains and blustery wind, there have still been those moments when something decent has crossed our path.

Early Morning

and the first sign of 'magic' was found confined to a Moth Trap in the form of a

'first for year'
GREY SHOULDER-KNOT

with little else save for this rather nifty unidentified
SPIDER

while right outside the door an uncommon visitor to this area a lone

JAY

with further afield a noticable infux of Finches with males predominating

CHAFFINCH

and
GOLDFINCH

with some not excused an

occassional shower!

and no more than a fleeting glimps of a predicted but much reduced
RAINBOW
throgh and equally soggy windscreen.

While what we consider to be 'the'

RAVEN
is still knocking about around the
Solar Panel Compounds

there was a
Moment of Myrth
as we headed south to make the find of the day, as it has been well ove a year since a

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

has been recorded across this half of the property.
NICE to END on a HIGH NOTE!

After the Ordeal - Genesis WEDNESDAY

More Computer / Internet issues, a full hour to publish - APOLOGIES!

 A little late with this post as the wind blew itself out a few days ago as did the

WANING CRESCENT
so time to see what damage was done and the Moth Traps stowed away for a couple of nights. Concertrating more on the Heath the fury had decimated the

ALDER BUCKTHORN
at the gate

but like such things in nature it will likely rejuvenate even stronger?
Also there we found what may be the final remnants of a couple of Fungi such as

CEP
(Penny Bun)

COLLARED EARTHSTAR

along with not a Fungi at all but something of a late surprise a lone clump of

BANK HAIRCAP MOSS
Making our return along the course of the Moors River we could alredy hear the

New Arrival

EGYPTIAN GEESE

soon spotted between the clusterss of

HOLLY

and in mortal combat as is usual.
Twidling the combination at the Solar Panel Compound gate there was a more than well calling from on high, an overflying

REDSHANK
(images from the archive)

which brought our total to just c3 over a full decade of observations!
Finally within, we found this tree

snapped off like a carrot but regardless of the gale seemed its days were numbered anyway?

Ladybird, Ladybird Fly Away Home

 Starting with something of an oversight it was as far back as last Thursday at twilight that the

RED ARROWS

put in a quite unexpected appearance and in the semi-darkness performed a verticl ,bomb-burst' followed by the more conventional horizontal stunt before disappearing from view.

The best find across all 3 Moth Traps was this
BLACK SEXTON BEETLE

while from the Chicken Shack this hapless

HOUSE SPARROW

caught in the wire mesh which functions to keep such thieves at bay.

Further north we we pleased to find c2 returning

GREEN SANDPIPER

which usually spend the winter with us - so here's hoping!
Deep in the wood we found a decent cluster of

BROWN ROLL-RIM FUNGI

along with what we can only describe as

RUST LICHEN
not knowing the correct name, but no difficulty with an uncooperative

RED ADMERAL
with the image having to be lifted from the archive. While delving in the depths this image of a

SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY

caught our eye and while with no connection at all with our local patch, or this post just seemed worthy of sharing with a valued audiance!
To end this post it can be said that we have been anticipating the annual invassion of the destructive

HARLEQUIN LADYBIRD

which come in a variety of

guises

which can arrive in many hundreds but only a dozen on the day.

while we did recieve a report from the Green Keeper of several 'hundreds' on his house earlier in the week.