The Bagsy Blog: 10/10/13

Thursday, 10 October 2013

Two Little Dicky Birds Sitting On A........

Autumn proper arrived with a bit of a 'bang' today as the sun continued to shine, sky half covered with fluffy white clouds and the wind 'backed' to the north east. Having increased in strength, it brought with it a cold draft, while the leaves continued to brown and fall. No date was kept, but Moth Trapping on the Estate started early October last year with one of the first Insects caught being the beautifully marked and scarce

MELVEILLE du JOUR

today's specimen was just 2 days later this year.
Not a particularly active day for me today, in fact just a wander
around the Parley Pond in the hope for something of interest.

Male MALLARD in the Sunshine

The New 'Permenant' Bridge onto what is now

ALPACA ISLAND

GIANT TERRAPIN basking in the sun and
MOORHEN

GREEN WOODPECKERs

It's not that late yet, still time for the odd

SMALL TORTOISESHELL

One of the Goats 'Fiddling on the Roof'

WOOD PIGEON
Still in for a 'little loving' despite the change of season.

ROOK

PIED WAGTAIL

and from one of our dedicated readers this image and the
request for a suitable caption! I feel sure 'she' could have sorted it?

An e-Mail winged its way to me from sunny Portland to show the
high point of yesterday's birding there.
THRUSH NIGHTINGALE aka SPROSSER

A bird I have not yet seen on Great Britain and this is the 'third' to show up on the Island. However, it does generate a little humour value concerning the only one I have seen in the world. On a one week birding trip with both good friend and accomplished 'birder' Ken Parker, he managed to find one in bushes on the side of a deep ravine along a hillside track. Great for us both as this usually skulking bird afforded good views (long before either of us started camera packing) but to further increase the experience a small group of other bird watchers turned up. After bathing in the moment the group moved on and after another long look so did Ken and I. The conversation that followed amounted to "Sprosser, Sprosser, Sprosser", which after 5 or 6 miles started to subside, that's when I realised my telescope was not where it should have been, on the back seat! Fortunately, when we arrived back at the site there it was standing in the middle of the track which saved the insurance company, or more likely ME £1,500.

'GREAT' TITS!

(Parus major that is)
and while we are at it here are a further 6 images from
MADAGASCAR
all bearing the names of those who first found and/or described them to science.