The Bagsy Blog: SHEEP

Monday, 2 March 2015

SHEEP - Pink Floyd

Make Mine a Case of

Whether you follow the dogma laid down by Pope Gregory XIII in the 1500's or the far stronger pull of the Solar System, it is probably best to start Spring just whenever it suits yourself. Calendrically works for me, as one who must have all the Baked Bean and Soup Labels facing forward in the cupboard, nice and neat, but even the Holy Father had to smack in a Leap Year otherwise things just didn't add up. As for equality, there is no such thing, just ask any woman trying to get her 'feet under the table' on the 'top floor' of #30 St Mary Axe, London, so what chance an Equinox? No, for myself as I produce a 'Seasonal Wildlife Report' for interested parties here at Parley Court Farm and, like so many others of the ilk, it is a case of 'getting out there' and seeing just what is happening to the Birds and the Bees! SPRING started yesterday on which day all the photographs below were taken, with just a couple of exceptions*!

Having said all of that, be assured that neither a 'clout has been cast' or has the 'brass monkey' been woken from HIS hibernation.

Just for Novelty Value Thursday's New Arrivals
(from top clockwise)
Pale Brindled Beauty, Oak Beauty and Angle Shades*.
The First 'Spring' Arrival

was also a 'first' for the property

DOTTED CHESTNUT*
That's 4 Moths caught of 4 Species, 2 of which are additions to the
Property Moth List.
Let's hope we can keep up the momentum?
More New Arrivals including a few
'SPRING' LAMBS

SHEEP (Link) - Pink Floyd

From my personal 'favourite' Floyd album - Animals

Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air
You better watch out
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.

What do you get for pretending the danger's not real
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes
Now things are really what they seem
No, this is no bad dream.

Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream

Please note the newly planted hedgerow foreground.

Continuing the Spring Fest

and rapidly becoming the

GADWALL
Gazette,

the recently arrived 'pair' are still on Parley Pond, but don't you just

LOVE these beautiful Ducks? However, 2 of the Coot have gone a.w.o.l.

Of the estimated 1,000,000 or so Rooks in Great Britain, here at Parley we have a small but healthy population which fluctuates between 30 and 50 individuals. There is a small Rookery at the end of Chapel Lane, but 8 nests are the highest ever counted so local bird numbers must be augmented by others from further afield. The favoured feeding ground is the lush, untouched grass verges within the perimeter fence of Bournemouth International Airport, second to the Paddocks here on the farm, but the Civil Aviation Authority are intolerant of there presence. Understandable if you don't want the engines of your 747 clogged up with black feathers, so 'rocket grenades' are used to scare them away. Now, just to keep my pea-like brain working I occasionally stand close by and time the return of these birds, which always fly away. Between 5 and 8 minutes is the norm, so a bit of a waste of pyrotechnics in my view?

With most of the nests in 'evergreen' Holm Oaks, this is the only one
that can be clearly seen. Yesterday there were a total of c13 Rooks
mobbing around it while c4 were in it when this shot was taken.

Up at the Irrigation Pond the

'summer plumge'
LITTLE GREBE
appears to be getting bolder by the day, paying scant attention when
the Mobile Hide turns up but ever alert.
It has not yet been proven whether there are any Fish in this pond but
the Grebe did surface with what appeared to be one, or a Newt?

COOT

on its own but also getting bolder.

PHEASANT
just couldn't resist this smart looking fella.

LONG-TAILED TIT
a first for the Snapped You Among the Solar Panels List
YYaaawwwwnnnn!

The two

CANADA GEESE
remain on the bank of the Moors River, but without inducement
decided to have a fly around. No sign of the Greylag Geese though.

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL
is a seriously 'scarce' bird here, so no matter what the distance - CLICK!
It is a Great Privilege to be able to wander onto Merritown Heath

particularly as the

DARTFORD WARBLER

are starting to break cover.

c3 males were sighted yesterday, and maybe the same plus a female today.

Taking a moment to view an unfamiliar aircraft
CAPTAIN'S CHOICE
(we've already been through the 'Petrus' thing)
A Boeing 767-216ER
there came the clatter of the Emergency Services which made me
think there was another 'scoop' to be had, but no just the

BOURNEMOTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Fire Crews out on Exercise.

Also in the same area 'feeding' was this female
STONECHAT
which was seen with a 'ring' on its right leg, while for a

few brief moments the first ever

REED BUNTING*

I have ever seen on the Heath stopped to feed with the above.

Before leaving MH a 30 minutes visit was paid to one of the surrounding

strips of woodland where at the very least there were a 'dozen' Coal Tit,
mostly singing or calling but not one was falling for my Boyish Charms,

that is getting near enough for a photo.

Approaching this section of the Moors River, it was either my Field Craft
was improving or all the Wildfowl had fallen deaf, as even the most nervous

EURASIAN TEAL
would normally have been away.
Then came the greatest irony of the day!

WIGEON
are not common around here, in fact not even 'annual'. If they are going
to appear at all it is most likely in the winter. It was 09/10/2014 since the last
was seen here (autumn) the as soon as spring arrives this is what you get!

LONG-TAILED TIT

were being far more obliging,

and as I was locking the gate another

STONECHAT
this time a male appeared.

Coincidentally, it too was 'ringed'.

All that fly don't necessarily 'sing' but this

CHIFFCHAFF
was going like the clappers at the Sewerage Works,

but quite frankly being totally out-sung by this

COAL TIT

There were more than 100

MEADOW PIPIT

at Gibbet Firs

but returning to the Irrigation Pond c3 Herring Gull (left) were in

company with the first

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL
ever seen at this location.

A gentle shift of position brought c2 formally obscured

GREEN SANDPIPER

into view making for a record breaking total of c5 for the Farm as a whole
on the day.

Just a couple of short snippets

the machine doesn't like them too long.
A quick second look at the back of the
Eco Recycling Works
was profitable for the arrival of c9

LAPWING
and a perching

MISTLE THRUSH

on the adjacent Solar Panels
With a grand total of 54 species for the day I returned to Slight II
mid-afternoon to compose this Post. No sooner sat down, and a
Kestrel swooped in and took a small Mammal from the grassy bank
outside of the window - 55. That was followed 20 minutes later by a pair of