Tendrer Trap - Frank Sinatra

Hold a halo 'round the world, Golden is the day
Princes of the Universe, your burden is the way
So there is no better time who will be born today
A gypsy child at daybreak, King for a day
Out of the shadow and into the sun
Dreams of the past as the old ways are done
Out there is beauty and surely there is pain
But we must endure this to live again

Out of the Shadows 

My day, although quiet, just lent itself to this GREAT Iron Maiden song!

The Weatherman predicted some heavy overnight rain, and on the strength of that it was decided only the single trap should be deployed once again. A wander outside about 20:00, to listen for migrating birds, saw that conditions appeared ideal with full cloud cover, little or no wind, temperature 8°C and still no sign of rain. If indeed it had arrived these traps, made by Dave Foot, could more than withstand it. Since then I have simply been elated! Firstly, there was what must have been 'dozens' of Redwing, easily identified by their wispy/plaintive 'Tseeee' like location call, then as I was about to return indoors a movement in the grass revealed itself as this brilliant young

 TOAD

 which was placed in a secure corner overnight

 then appeared before the cameras this morning.

This was followed by a decent glass of Port and resumption of the Nadal v Djokovic tennis final and a great night's sleep. At dawn the traps were opened only to find 'THOUSANDS' (no, not hundreds) of Insects within, mostly of the small Black Fly variety, but much else as well. First recognisable Moth out of the traps was one never beheld before, new not only to the Property List but also to my own!

 DECEMBER MOTH

 is not 'rare', but seems to have been a long time coming.

 As a second was captured (yes, reminiscent of the proverbial bus)

 it was at first thought to have been a different species, but a quick

check with the authority shows there are 2 distinctly different males.

 By patterning rather than colour, likely a washed out

LIGHT BROWN APPLE MOTH

Again highlighting the differing patterns and colours of

FEATHERED THORN

 this one really got me going thinking it was something else!

Recruiting 'outside' help it would seem "the colour may be 

due to it being a female"?

 PINE CARPET

Not the first time we have caught this Migrant Pyralid

 Palpita vitrialis

and hopefully not the last, probably my favourite among the smaller

Moths and feel sure you can see why?

 Sometime during the night one of these creatures had deposited

these EGGS on one of the trays.

 CYPRESS CARPET

 These 3 images are thought to relate to different stages of the 

DEVIL'S COACH HORSE BEETLE 

also called "Cocktail" due to the adults habit of raising it's tail over

 their back rather like a Scorpion, when threatened.

Thanks go to John Gifford for the help.

 Having pondered long and hard over this fine looking Moth I can 

only conclude, via the Flying Tonight Website and a little help from 

our friends, that it is of the Tortrix Family, an Acleris of sorts likely 

Acleris sparsana or Acleris cristana?

You can probably see more clearly now why we don't do Micros !

 DARK CHESTNUT?

 VESTAL

a migrant from Southern Europe only seen in very small numbers 

at this time of year.

Micro, still to be identified.

Probably fortunate that I was 'Confined to Barracks' this morning, attending to all duties, while Sahib Hugh and the Memsahib were attending to far more important matters elsewhere. It took all of that time to photograph the above, edit the images, obtain some sort of identification then start forming this Post. What happened next, adding dramatically to what was already a fervour, was totally unexpected. Part of my daily doings is to monitor the Blog readership by means of the Stat Counter which this morning had gone 'off the scale'. For months now our daily readership figure has averaged around the 300 mark, so what price yesterday's total which was no fewer than 677 (THANK YOU whether 'Regular Readers' or 'New Arrivals') what a shock! The only dramatic change on the Countries List was the reappearance of South Korea (all others having been recorded over the past month) all too long absent from the Readership.

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	1017
United States	983
Germany	69
France	21
Italy	15
South Korea	12
Canada	8
India	8
Ukraine	7
Bulgaria	6

This inspired me to read all Blog Posts for the period of my third visit to that FINE country, reacquaint with some GREAT FRIENDS I made there and select just a few of the photographs from that memorable time. Arriving in the small town of Dong Song Eup the first person I encountered (he approached me with the most fantastic of welcomes) was the Coach Station Manager. This is how the Post read on those days:-

I was in for more than I had bargained for as Cheng, without a single word of English, took me into his office, sat me by the fire (it was freezing cold)

and gave me this 'pick me up' drink.

As I enjoyed this he pointed to my binoculars quizzically at which I flapped my arms and burst into birdsong - he got the picture! So much so that he pulled a business card from his desk which had on it a flock of Cranes crossing a clear blue sky - TICK! He dialled the number on the card several times but there was no reply before dragging these

2 School Boy's in off the street to interpret for him.

It was all down to my new Best Mate at the Bus Station yesterday that I very luckily hooked up with the local Crane Monitoring Group, Driver, Guide and Ornithologist Jongsoo Choi, University Professer Choi Jin-Woo and Assistant Kim Mi-Jeong, who kindly invited me along.

Which way now?

Me with 7 years old daughter SAEYEON

SAEYEON (an 'artist' in the making) with father JONGSOO

She copied my Guardian Angel Badge

 and after watching this

GOSHAWK and mixed CORVIDS
killing and eating a MALLARD

she produced this drawing for me.

Later in the trip, in the town of SEOSAN, I met
 Lee (Harry) Haesoun

 who in turn introduced me to some of his 'birding' friends.

There was a great deal of similarity with the Portland Bird Observatory as I met Warden Sea Hansoo, Harry (whom you have already met), Chae Seung-Hoon along with Kwak Ho-Kyong (recently returned from birding Mongolia).

KOREAN LEOPARD CAT

ORIENTAL WHITE STORK - Listed as ENDANGERED

Some of the many gifts bestowed on me by these kind and loving people.
My 3 visits to SOUTH KOREA figure highly in my recollections.

If you like to re-visit those fabulous days during early 2012

please click this link.

South Korean MAGIC!

Compiling today's Post has given me a great deal of satisfaction!