Garden - Groundhogs

 With a few outstanding domestics to attend to in our charabanc home it was thought that in combination a day in the garden might prove profitable? Not a great start as all the colour had been taken out of what f.f.y. Moths there were but as we know, they all count towards the annual total.

POPLAR GREY

a not dissimilar

FROSTED GREEN
and to keep up the trend

BROWN RUSTIC
and for no other reason than to add a little colour one of 2

CREAM-SPOT TIGER's
While my only achievement at school (that proves a good memory) was the School Leavers Certificate in Gardening, we are not even going to pretend we have any idea as to the name of the

following botanicals

My garden is all overgrown, and the weeds are creepin' up on my home.

 Grass has grown over two foot high, and the trees are blockin' out the sky.

they sure look in good shape.

 French windows won't open anymore, from the moss that's grown outside the door.

 A hundred birds are nestin' in the trees, looks like a wildlife sanctuary!

As ever at this time of year no shortage of

ROOKs

with more nests, and hopefully by definition, more youg that we have ener recorded here before,
difficult to say but maybe as many as 50 nests??

Another Fine Specimen

 But I'm not gonna cut a single blade of grass,

 my garden will look just like the distant past.

and after a number of attempts we finally managed to capture the extrodinary livery of this

Unidentified Aircraft
with seemingly no identification letters or numbers?
No need for Moth Traps mid-afternoon as this f.f.y.

YELLOW SHELL
landed right before us, netted and committedto the Canon followed by a number of unidentified

Before the days of agricultural land,

before the time when pebbles turned to sand.

DAMSELFLY's
all in a teneral state, that is to say recently emerged and not showing their true colouration yet.

Another beautiful bush without referance as to

 SPECIES

When I leave this house I'm gonna stay,

 

I'm forsakin' my comforts to live another way.

 but that is when we took up station within the homestead to watch the antics

of our local

HOUSE SPARROWs

feeding their young with Damselflies in full

To get my clothes from heaps, my food from bins.

My water from ponds and have tramps for my friends.

colour, maybe not fond of those that are not 'fully ripe'?

MALE

JUVENILE

having just been fed

but hoping for more.

While not even on our radar we appreciate a
Beautiful Beast
when we see one, the property of one of the Builders.

Very fortunate to have enjoyed a pint or 3 occassionally with Founder, Vocalist and Lead Guitarist Tony (T.S.) McPhee (the T. S. part standing for Top Strat, as in Stratocaster Guitar, 'no arguement there'), Peter Cruickshank - Bass and Ken Pustienik drums mainly in Finn's Blues Pub - Weymouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdI2aRDEBZ4

 from the album

New Kid in Town - The Eagles Part III

 Not in correct chronological order, but who's counting, as we venture into the final phase of 

The Trillogy

 eventually getting back to Dave and the Moths with a decent haul and

Josh & Sophie (centre)

WHITE ERMINE
attempting to keep up the numbers, while f.f.y.'s. included

GRASS WAVE

BARRED RED

PINION STREAKED SNOUT

one of my personal favourites the minute

ROSY MARBLED

along with

BIRD'S WING
and

PEPPERED MOTHs
keeping up with the Jones's
A DECENT and WELCOME CATCH
"Some Might Say - Oasis"
Good for Dave as he gave me a say in spotting firstly a single

First for the Year

SHELDUCK

followed by a second which do occassionally nest here but not knowingly in recent years
Here's Hoping

and a 3rd

SAND LIZARD 

over the past 10 days.

FOXGLOVE

are blooming while

FUNNEL SPIDERs
start the annual hunt with another visitation by the

ever welcome

ENGLISH WHITE

Cattle Brigade

and as for the
PUFFBALLS
it was out with the Old and

in with the New while both

SMALL COPPER
and

SMALL HEATH
were again on the wing and at distance a couple, or maybe 3,

RAVEN
the image having been plucked from the archive.
Casting Your Minds Back
over the last 3 Posts, quite a journey for just a single day!

New Kid in Town - The Eagles Part II

 In order to cram a Quart into a Pint Pot we had monitored the Home Traps before the Apprentices arrived hoping that Dave would come up with a decent catch that we could save for later. While interested in all aspects of the Wild World there is nothing these youngsters like better than turning the Reptile Covers, which also provide the odd small Mammal on occasion but not on the day.

Just a quick look at the best on show at home included

CREAM-SPOT TIGER

and

POPLAR HAWK-MOTH

before getting amonst those covers while noting that the

ASPENS
(left) are now in full leaf, quite a picture.

Across the 15 covers

there were a total of c5

SMOOTH SNAKES

with their distinctive

Heart Shaped Crown Markings

while interspursed by a number of other creatures such as

GREEN HAIR-STREAK BUTTERFLIES

on

BROOM

and

MEADOW PIPIT
feeding young before finding under the final cover both

ANT'S NEST
and a couple of

WHITE-LIPPED SNAILs

It would also seem that those who porport to be gardians of this precious area have, at long last, dug out a sandy area for the benifit of

 SAND LIZARDS
(of which we saw a single) promised a number of years ago and a scruffy, to say the least,

BLUE TIT
at its ablutions while a number of

SMALL HEATH BUTTERFLIES
flittered around
as "All Good Things" as the saying goes, but not before relocating the

MELODIOUS WARBLER

with the Children delighted

even though at some distance

but not seen since

over the last 3 days!
Dave took it upon himself to save the

LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER

for himself after we had left

but some you Win and some you Don't!
With the final chapter tomorrow if all goes well!