Birds of a Feather Flock Together - When Eunice Arrives

 While close to or even firmly in the clutches of Storm Eunice, we will attempt to make an assurance, that is! While we are still able to Net the Intersurf, which being an expert in the subject we will quite easily do, continuing to transmit at least some of the same amount of Clap-Trap that has become familier  with our Daily Doings! Without doubt the

Calm Before the Storm 

and with a +11°C on the gauge we decided to flash up the Moth Traps before stowing them away out of reach of the afore mentioned lady! The catch came without the trace of a Moth, but a catch nonetheless, amounting to a

GARDEN SNAIL

a small
SLUG

active little

along with an even tinier one before capturing this

 SPIDER.
A spider wanders aimlessly within the warmth of a shadow,

not the regal creature of border caves.

But the poor, misguided, directionless,

 familiar, of some obscure Scottish poet.

  The mist crawls from the canal,

like some primordial phantom of romance.

To curl, under a cascade of neon pollen,

while I sit, tied to the phone like an expectant father.

Your carnation will rot in a vase!

'Bitter Suite' from the album Misplaced Childhood by Marillion

After the nesting efforts of the Collared Dove some days ago now and the cavorting of the Kestrels more recently, it was, on the day, the turn of the 

humble but numerous

HOUSE SPARROWs

DISPLAYING
in numbers along the southern track while some kind soul has also errected a

NEST BOX
close by and out of reach.
Not alone in all of this above the neighbouring field a couple of
First of the Year

SKYLARK

were also providing delightful 'backing vocals'.
Back-tracking it was unusual to see as many as c7

CANADA GEESE
on the main pond but get the idea they may also be prepering for the upcoming 'blow'?
Up north our first 'home-grown'

CATKINS
which regular readers may remember were first found at Ham Wall, Somerset on our recent 

Biakal Teal sortie, with the

 

Catkins swaying in the breeze and evergreen  Privet to the right, while at the Gravel Pit it seemed that the Waterfowl Theory might be right as something of an increased gathering there as well. Hopes are that we can include that on tomorrow's Post? Penultimately, not the sort of image that should disgrace any day, which is far beyond

LITTER LOUT
for which in my own view the penalty of 'HANGING' would not be enough!! but to end a little more 'up-beat our first fully bloomed

DAFFODILS
on the Bund with supporting cast.

Clean as a Whistle

Given the current and impending weather it makes it handy that we are a couple or 3 day's behind, with hopes being that we don't dry up before the weather does!

As promised and expected from our last outing the

SOLAR PANEL

CLEANING

was underway

within the hour

while the local birds

REDWING
and this sparkling

STARLING

were already making their own contributions

towards a 'second clean' real soon!
Otherwise, the Wildfowl count was about as low as it could get with

this pair of preening

MALLARD

about the only contenders for presentation, while we end with a final look at the

Men at Work
with the local

PILATUS PC-24
presumably heading for Aberdeen with Oil Executives?

Storm in a Teacup - The Fortunes

With 2 named storms already bearing down on us there seemed to be something of a precursor to those events as we swung out of the hammock at 05:15 yesterday, to a stiff breeze and light rain. Without resorting to panic buying we brought foreward the Victualing and Bunkering by one day even though this would not make any difference to Diet or Driving and were underway by first light. The Local 

HORSES.
My closest ney-bours in fact, looked worthy of a 'click' while what has become daily practice the

GREEN WOODPECKERs
were once again feeding from the tennis court

with there being a third, which we hope to capture soon, as good a specimen as we have ever seen.

After the scheduled
EASYJET
a wander down south to find a lone and distant

CORMORANT
performing a High Wire Act while further north at the Eco Works a rather interesting

WEATHER PHENOMINON
which we cannot put a name to but drummed up the lyrics of The Lamia by Genesis:-  

Inside, a long rose-water pool is shrouded by fine mist. Stepping in the moist silence, with a warm breeze he's gently kissed.

 At the Irrigation Pond there followed 2 timely reminders that, "if you don't get out there, despite the weather, you won't see a lot" as met by the vocals of the first 'singing'

REED BUNTING

  of the year but, not the first individual, which seemed to stimulate a descant from the presumed resident

WATER RAIL

which is a 'first for the year' even though remaining unseen!

With only a pair of GADWALL on the Gravel Pit
and the weather deteriorating it was thought best to concentrate on the domestics before enjoing a Lazy Afternoon

with an uninvited guest through the
Star Tunnel

WOOD PIGEON
in full voice.

Bats in the Belfry

 While the overnight temperatures continue to show the odd double-figure we continue to flash up the Moth Traps, taking no more than a flick of a switch, then paying the occasional visit outside to see if anything is flying about. That was the case a couple of evenings ago when one of our checks found there to be something flying about but not a Moth, but far more unusually a Bat. On size alone we considered it to be a

NOCTULE BAT

but if so something of a freak happening as their ‘flight-period’ is usually between April and October. That aside, should our eyes not be deceiving us if this was a Bat then surely it follows there should be Insects and hopefully Moths, we only had to wait for

daylight, on a Spring like morning, to find within a single

CHESTNUT
logged and added to the Year List while across the southern half of our area only a single

Northern Thrush

by way of this

FIELDFARE
building up fat reserves prior to flying back to Scandinavia or other parts of Europe.
("Fly away you sweet little thing, they're hard on your trail" - Supper's Ready - Genesis)

Surveying the Stubble Field in hope of a Lapwing only these 2

ANGLERS
were spotted, someting we have never seen before along this beat of the
River Stour. Returning closer to home the screeches of the local pair of

KESTREL's

caught the ear, close to their usual nest site, initially propossed for Owls,

and if not very much mistaken failing to capture a moment of 'food passing'?

With

SONG THRUSH's
(plaural)

now dominating the
Dawn Chorus

it was a completely new one on us

to see so many

BLACK-HEADED GULLs
perched on the wires of the National Grid while directly below

STARLINGs

engaged themselves in what we Mariners describe as a

Bath and Dhobie

while from up north the only news was the arrival of

Adrien Tugwell's
much needed Solar Panel Cleaning Team - A Great Gang
with Action Shots to follow once they get turned to.