Little Bird - Ed Sheeran

On such days it is advantageous to be a day in arrears with the heavy rain, as predicted by the Weatherman, starting on the dot of 06:00. Awake, but with no urgency to get up, I did dash down to the patio to get the Electric Dustbin under the shelter of the house that being the only trap without a rain-guard (Secret!). However, yesterday was a whole different ball game with bright sunshine from the off, warm atmosphere and by the look of it a decent catch.

MOTH TRAP CLEARING STATION

where daily I settle for about a hour sorting the night's haul. Apart from the Farm House the area is surrounded by trees so a 'weather ear' is cocked listening out for bird song/call. Given my recent experience on my visit to Portland at the turn of the month the sound coming from this

SILVER BIRCH TREE

was fresh in my mind so immediately recognisable as a

Yellow-browed Warbler

click on link then on → to the right of 'speaker' symbol

to hear sound recording similar to what was heard.

A little difficult to locate visually this tiny bird is a little 'off course'

as it breeds in temperate Asia, is strongly migratory and winters 

mainly in tropical southeast Asia, but also in small numbers in 

Western Europe.

As the photos show I did get to see and capture it on camera

but with some difficulty. This Warbler is less than 4 inches long (10cm) and favours hunting small Insects in the high canopy. Again going by 'call' there was more than a strong suspicion of a second bird. If all of that were not enough another equally familiar 'note' caught my ear which was found to be a

 

 FIRECREST

 

 add to that the ever present and fairly numerous

GOLDCREST, (both smaller than the Yellow-browed)

 which breed here, I was already having one hell of a morning! Note the most striking difference between the 'Crests' the Goldcrest lacks the white 'eyebrow of the Firecrest.

 YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER

Please note these latter 3 images are taken from Wiki for illustration

purposes only.

Egg trays are placed in the traps to give Insects sanctuary and safety overnight before they are monitored at daylight and released unharmed.

Back at the Moth Traps there was also some action

with the 3rd and 4th

MERVEILLE du JOUR

for the property being found one clinging to the outside and the

other inside the first trap inspected. It was interesting to note the

brighter markings and larger size of the specimen on the right.

It often pays dividends to search walls, fences, ground etc around 

the traps as it did this morning when this fine

HERALD

was found clinging to the house.

This BEETLE looked most attractive in the bright sunshine, while

the last Moth plucked from the trap still remains

unidentified. Not thought to have been recorded here before,
once confirmed it is likely to be a List Addition?
and to end with just a few shots while dawdling around local watercourses.

 GREAT CRESTED GREBE

 GREAT CRESTED GREBE (juvenile)

 TUFTED DUCK

 TEAL

 MUTE SWAN

POCHARD

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