Night of the Swallow - Kate Bush

Saturday night turned up trumps with an overnight temperature of 12°C, even out here in the countryside, and brought with it a good number of Insects. Most notable among these was our first

 MERVEILLE du JOUR

 of the year,

a superb creature, and similarly

 LARGE WAINSCOT

 of the year before our attention was diverted elsewhere.

Just when we thought the last of the Hirundines might already have been seen

at 08:00 yesterday the sky suddenly appeared to be full of them again. Both

 SWALLOW

(thought to number in the region of 300)

along with a dozen

HOUSE MARTIN

(both of the above photos are from the archive)

While not the greatest of images ever produced through these pages,

it does give some idea of many of these migrants gathering amid the

tops of the tall Ash Trees in Harbins Garden.
In addition there was a lone, fly-over REDWING which was our first of the Autumn.

 Back to the Moth Traps and something of an unexpected male

 FOUR-POTTED FOOTMAN

followed by a couple of

shade variations of

 GREY PINE CARPET

Other things didn't even get going until reaching

Merritown Heath

where

 LONG-TAILED TIT

 now abound along with rather acrobatic

 CHIFFCHAFF

which caught the Insect also pictured.

 Good numbers of

 STONECHAT

are also knocking about up there and are readily showing themselves

while Dartford Warbler, now very vocal, outnumber them but seem far

more reluctant to show.

 If we are discussing increases in numbers, look no further than

 MAGPIE

 which have now returned 'mob-handed'

 this individual being just one

 of a count of 22 at this particular spot.

It's not often we get photographs let alone

Video Footage 

of these wily birds.

 COMMON BUZZARD

 was also showing interest at the same spot, suggesting that there

might be a Sheep carcass somewhere in the area.

 SMALL TORTOISESHELL

 are still on the wing

 As the new building on the Airport continues to grow.

Now we have some idea of the dimension it can be seen that on

completion it will totally block the view of the hangers beyond and

in turn the 

Mixed Gull Breeding Colony.

STORKSBILL

is also still in bloom, and finally a little more footage of

our 28th

SMOOTH SNAKE

of the year.

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