Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom - John Lee Hooker

 Were we commissioned to draw up a list of 100 Bird Species as the next likely addition to our Recording Area List 

the enigmatic

BITTERN
would NOT be included, until yesterday morning that is!

Stood on the doorstep long before daybreak 'as usual' listening for any signs of a dawn Chorus there came c3 quite distinct 'BOOMS' from the banks of the River Stour not 3 hundred yards away.

No points for guessing where we were at viewable daylight and with no Wellies we were soon well

above the

Plimsoll Line

in floodplain water.

While confident enough to add this to our own  personal list there will be  no submission to the Dorset County Bird Recorder
and now we can only hope for another encounter while the images are those taken from our archive!

Waist Deep? Well at least over the tops of the Sea Boots The End of the Line,

but not a bad start to the Winter!
Back to reality, with not a hope of upstaging that, just a single Insect from the c2 still active traps

another welcome

WHITE SPECK

which, being the first Moth for December amounts to us having 'caught' in every month of the year!
followed by a walk along the central path of the Heath via the party gate to find some of the largest

MOLE HILLs
ever encountered, a number of Fungi

BROWN ROLL RIM
and

CEDAR WAXCAP
along with an almost inanimate

KESTREL
while hoping not to bore you with another clip of THE equally motionless yet irresistible

FIELDFARE
(it won't be the last)

Sound of an Angel's Wings - Conway Twitty

 A misty if not foggy start to the new season which, once cleared, turned into a light and not bright day. Add to that a few Birds and we were on something of a roll with first to grace the binoculars a

"Live and Learn Moment"
while viewing this local bred Mute Swan and being informed that this

Ragged State 

is known as 'Angel Wings', a deformity brought on by a deficiency of Vitamins and Minerals, and effecting all Waterfowl which are likely never to take to the wing. What could have been bad news, as the Strange Rover still lies in the Sick Bay, for it 5th day, was countered by a kind offer of a lift up to the Solar Panel Compound and by definition the Moth Traps with just c3 Insects a

First for the Year
FEATHERED THORN

 (still adding to the list this late in the year)

BLACK RUSTIC
along with a small critter which hasn't opened its wings yet!

The remainder of the day didn't really start on the Bright Side as for the 12th day in succession the IRRIGATION POND

remained devoid of any signs of Wildlife while things did brighten markedly next door

with a couple of

COMMON SNIPE

while the now long-time resident and lone

COOT
still holds station

along with c2 adult

LITTLE GREBE

a tree full of

STARLINGS

and a lone male
SHOVELER

with no fewer than c6,

yes 6 females that simply would not allow us a full group shot and as a finale at the
Sewerage Works

the first 2 returning

COAL TITs 

highly likely to over-winter there?

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive

WINTER DRAWERS ON !! 

With the Strange Rover consigned to the Sick Bay we find ourself Restricted in Our Abilty to Maneuver and will start and end today's post with O.B.E's (Other Blokes Efforts) accredited to Bomber of Weymouth fame who some weeks ago came across a cluster of extremely rare

NAIL FUNGI

with this close up showing why it should have such a name.
The location of this, the only known site in Dorset, is being carefully kept under wraps for (maybe) obvious reasons!
Our own finding for the day came nowhere near that but the joy of seeing any Wild Plant or Animal
Warms the Heart!!

including this

GREY SQUIRREL

Click and Clipped from the doorstep at first decent light.
As for the Moths it was left to no more than this single

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG
to be representative and while we are not big on clicking the 'ornamentals'

it proved impossible to overlook this handsome chap while finally,
for our own efforts at least,

we can only imagin that this solo

FIELDFARE

is one and the same

as that published last week

even in the same tree eating the same fruits?
NOW, if you were impressed by the Fungi at the header brace yourselves as
"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet"

Back to his Bombership and just to put the Fungi in the shade he also produced this

BROKEN-BACKED BUG
(the crack can just be seen in the wing casing)

Not only a 'FIRST' for the County but a 'FIRST' for the Whole Nation
and much deserved by someone who puts in so much field-work!
SEE YOU SOON MATEY!

GoldenEye - The Name's Bond (Premium) Bond

 Still the rain arrives in pulses but leveled out by sunny periods and we are still 'catching'!

under clouded skies with firstly

a single

DARK CHESTNUT

En-route we had, as usual, stopped at the

PUDDLE of MUD
where our dreams of a Wader came true

with not one but 2

COMMON SANDPIPER
with this one looking to still have some 'juvenile' about it?
Returning to the Solarr Panel perimetre fence certainly paid dividens as close to Party Gate with the Heath firstly a

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

was logged

followed within the hour by a far more scarce family member

in the shape of a

LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER

only the second and highly likely the last of the year but

that's when the rain returned with just a hint of a 'double bow' but not to be out-done

also showing a complete arc and finally, we think it was Friday when we made an effort to see the

male
GOLDENEYE
at Longham Lakes, what a cracker, and while there was no female in attendance it was thought worthwhile to pluck an image from the archive

just for comparison - another beauty!