April Love - Pat Boone

How's this for an April Fool's Jape?

 Won't go into the Why' and Wherefore's suffice to say that probably

Dorset's most famous landmark

 THE CERNE ABBAS GIANT

was joined by a furry friend on the day.

Rather than make a fool of myself on the first day of April, it was decided to do a Mini Twitch, that is see how many species of bird could be seen in just a single morning. As ever though there is the small matter of the Moth Trap where we had a little more success. Nothing totally new but a couple of new additions to the Year List.

 CHESTNUT

 GREY SHOULDER-KNOT

Something a little out of the ordinary, a Grey Form
CLOUDED DRAB
which I am not alone in thinking are rather 'stunning' compared to

CLOUDED DRAB
'ordinaire'.

First for the Year

 RED CHESTNUT

and the Micro Moth

DIURNEA FAGELLA
All else was this

BLACK SLUG
how do they get in?
Just a little of what was seen around the farm.

HOUSE SPARROW
now well into "building a little home for 2 or 3 or 4 or maybe more,
in Love Land with me and my Gal".

An extract from the
Coot Chronicle in oppose to the Gadwall Gazette,
no eggs yet but getting things warmed up.

Arrival at the Irrigation Pond coincided with a photo pose from one of the resident

MOORHEN

and just around the corner it was good to find that another pair of

COLLARED DOVE
have moved in.
It was considered that any Ducks apart from Mallard would be hard to find
but........

just a 'pair' of

TEAL
had lingered as had c2 males and single female

GADWALL

female TEAL

Displaying

GREENFINCH

on the Deer Fence of the main Solar Panel Compound,

of which I have no received unrestricted access. A short Safety Induction,
something most familiar in a previous life, and entry in the Log (ditto) and
sign the form and that's me. Just need the Little Ringed Plover to show up!

In reality it was as quick as that, but not in the Compound.
Can you see them yet??

A short drive round to the back of the Eco Recycling Works

and there were c2

LITTLE RINGED PLOVER

just waiting to greet me.

Gentle manoeuvre of the St'Range Rover

had then at 'Point Blank' (Lee Marvin) range

in addition to which were c2

GREEN SANDPIPER

in the very same puddle!
A blink of the eye would have missed them as a 'pair' of

GREEN WOODPECKER

raced out of a Birch Wood, one continuing as the other took a breather.

Only 3 shots were fired before it too continued the chase.
With Goldbeck/Silverstone still extremely keen to maintain a photograph
portfolio of all wildlife in and around the panels, the 2 GREENS today,
Finch and Woodpecker
should go down very well. Just need to get the Sandpiper to cooperate now!

KESTREL

wasn't quite so obliging

but

we did our best and t least got something, another Day Tick.

What is effectively a 'Hedge' on this bank of the River Stour,

is exactly the spot were

TREECREEPER

nested last year, so here's hoping!

There are at least c3
NUTHATCH
there also with possibly double that number in Merritown Wood.

At least one
LAPWING

is now 'sitting' at the back of Eco, but at the distance

it is impossible to know what on, we will keep an eye and let you know.
The area in which the

MEDITERRANEAN GULLs
of the other day were spotted was thought worthy of closer observation,
and these 2 were found at 18 Acre. A drive along the adjacent
Horse Paddock appeared all too much for the small flock of

HERRING GULL
but in the next field

not one,

not 2 and not even

three but 4

MEDITERRANEAN GULLs

Still maintaining a fair distance from the track

but who cares when you have birds of this quality, and scarcity here, in your own
Back Yard?

Just one image allowed for comparison with
BLACK-HEADED GULL (left).
It was an afterthought that these few maybe 'overshoots' from the 200+
that have been a feature of Longham Lake, just 2 miles away, in recent days?

Coffee and Honey Flavour Smoked Mackerel Sarnies was followed by
Part II just before the heavy drizzle set in, never mind we clocked the

KINGFISHER

and ended up with 56 species including Common and Jack Snipe,

Dartford Warbler, Stonechat, Little Grebe, Bullfinch, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll

to name but a few. The latter being the first for more months than can be remembered.

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	390
United States	250
Germany	102
Russia	102
France	25
Lebanon	20
Estonia	17
Ukraine	16
Canada	13
Japan	6