Goats Head Soup - The Rolling Stones

We had considered starting with
"Yesterday Was A Great Day"
but why bother, they're all
GREAT!
From the Moth Traps and all First for the Year

 PURPLE THORN

 PEACH BLOSSOM

 we did secure one earlier but in such poor condition not worth

the effort to photograph

and

 while at the Farmhouse trap we did take just a short peek at the

rapidly developing juvenile

BLACKBIRDs

in the woodpile. Looks like c3 from c4 eggs (published previously)

but the other could easily have been obscured!

 Continuing our rounds there other additions to the

Year List

including

 VAPOURER

and the unimaginably smart looking

SCALLOP SHELL 
With water levels having been artificially increased at the
Irrigation Pond,

 by transfer of cleaned water from the nearby Sewerage Works,
and used in the Eco Recycling process
there seemed little likelihood of much, or anything, being at home

 least of all Waders.
However, there was one high point worth a mention as the most persistent

COOTs

have built yet another nest, the third this year and this time a mother of a construction!

 WILL IT BE 'THIRD TIME' LUCKY?
With the afore mentioned family group now arriving in the County
in dribs and drabs there wasn't much of a surprise in finding the first c2 returning

 GREEN SANDPIPER

 at the
Gravel Pit.

The 'sharp ear' may just catch their 'calls' on the video clips.
 There was little else to tickle the grey cells before reaching the Heath,
 save this

GREATER KNAPWEED
and once there it was again a 'water feature' that first caught the eye.

The Ford Across the Tributary

was, no more than a couple of days ago, a dry gulch but after those 2 wet days

it was found in full spate.

We ain't talking the Zambezi after the Rains here but none the less
Therapeutic and Pleasing to both Eye and Ear.

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

Africa - Toto (Live in Amsterdam) Link

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti

What was a surprise was awaiting around the next bend in the track

 where for the first time since they have been here we recorded c5
of the Goats away from the hard-standing, which is their shelter and feeding station,

and in the heart of the Heath.

 There they were found to be grazing, which is the primary reason for them being here,
but where were the Mother and more particularly the
New Kid on the Block!

 It was plaintive bleating that drove us on and to find both

close to the Ancestral Home.
 The calling also had the effect of bringing the rest of the Pack

 back to Base (or was it perhaps my charisma) where some

 strange behaviour took place, given they are all females!

It must have been me, having that sort of effect on all females!

On the way back there was a close encounter with this

COLLARED DOVE
 which somehow looked positively sub-tropical given the background.

Before reaching Slight Return II we took a few seconds to record this

ANT NEST
before slipping into the official regalia of
COMMODORE CHICKEN COUPE
as Hugh and Janet are taking a break in the South of France,
if you can call pedalling dozens upon dozens of mile over the Pyrenees a break?
On the way to feed the birds and collect the eggs

 MUSK MALLOW

 and

LARGE BINDWEED
were spotted.
Most of the evening was spent watching the antics of c4 juvenile

GREEN WOODPECKER

as they went through a full repertoire of

Feeding, Flying, Calling and all else

another 'Miricale of Nature' right on the doorstep!

During the 3 hours it has taken to cobble this little lot together,
it has been like the Bournemouth Air Festival all afternoon here.
With the camera poised on the Moth Table outside we have missed very few
of the fly-bys and hope to bring the images to you in the very near future.
My theory is that they are attending the
Festival of Speed down the road at Goodwood?
and finally a snippet from my shipmate Dave Penney currently rolling his
guts out on the 
Floating Production Oil Rig Buchan Alpha
in the North Sea.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40445379

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