Jimmy Crack Corn - Eminem

Beefeater's in Buenos Aires

prior to the 

Last Tango in Recoleta.

So, my dear, Friend, Shipmate, Confidante and sometime Travelling Companion Jim the Medic has returned to the Buchan Alpha, Floating Oil Production Platform in the North Sea for his final ‘hitch’ before she is towed to the breakers yard. He reliably informs me that his return helicopter flight back to the beach will also be his last in the Oil Industry as his intent is to retire, my bet being £1M to £1.00 that he won’t. We have travelled to some of the most outlandish places on Earth together, including Mongolia, El Salvador, The Gambia, Kashmir, Belize and that unforgettable week in Skegness, and drunk the finest of wines including all 5 of the ‘First Growths’ of Bordeaux! Add to that tangoing in Buenos Aires (along with his lovely wife Liz), making a 60^th birthday present for me of Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation at the Theatres Antiques, Leon, France plus the Beverley Sisters at the Rochdale Pleasure Pier - we could consider ourselves journeymen! While it won’t be me who is first, or last for that matter, to wish him ‘meilleurs voeux', maybe it is my place to dispense one or two short anecdotes of his little known, fantastic and compassionate Medical achievements.

THESE WILL FOLLOW IN DUE COURSE!

 Having only ever seen

 HUMMINGBIRD HAWK-MOTH

'free-flying' before it was a complete novelty to pluck one from a trap,
and view at close quarters.

 EARLY THORN

 SLENDER BRINDLE

At the Garden Pond Trap we took a quick recess to take in the

 New Arrival

 MOORHEN

which since these images were taken have become c3.

 along with another decent capture the 'migrant

 SCARCE BORDERED STRAW

 DENTATED PUG

along with another

BORDERED WHITE

Next we paid a visit to the nearby 

Wild Flower Border

which Hugh seeded in the early months of the year and

though this may sound 'corny' the flowers consist of

 CORN FLOWER

CORN MARIGOLD

which are all among a carpet of

CORN CHAMOMILE

which we will be keeping a close eye on in case we get lucky and secure

CHAMOMILE SHARK

a Moth we have never even seen before!

With little else coming into the view-finder save for

 COMMON DARTER

 a female

PEASANT

a sequence of a juvenile

 STONECHAT

maybe tackling its very first

Larvae (Caterpillar)
and blooming

GUELDER ROSE

the opportunity was taken to return to base early and get stuck into

more photograph editing and catching up on notes.

 On that particular adventure the course had taken me from Colombia,
thru interior Venezuala, flew to Quito, Ecuador for a 2 weeks solo birding extraviganzer,
onward for a third visit to Galapagos, transited the full length of Peru, 10 days in Chile
before arriving in Buenos Aires. During all of that time, no more than 5 quid a night was spent on
overnight accommodation but that was before Flash Harry and his Binta turned up when the
anti was raised to £120 a night - for a flippin' bed????

Let the TANGO commence, San Clemente Mardi Gras.