Nothing Big, Bold or Flamboyant about any of our
'New Addition Moths'
but given the continuing abysmal weather conditions
we feel lucky to have caught anything at all in recent days.
By no means anything much to look at given its badly worn condition,
but in this instance an addition to our Recording Area List.
SMALL WAVED UMBER
is an Insect of bushy areas on Chalky soils and Limestone cliffs,
neither of which we have here, and considered 'common' and attracted to light in small numbers.
It would seem we have caught our specimen between broods as flight periods are given as
May and June and again in August.
Considered another good capture as described as 'rare', 'very local' and
'seriously declining' with habitat restricted to Heathland.
DINGY MOCHA
is not new to us but only said to occur on the heaths of
East Dorset and West Hampshire (the latter being almost an adjoining neighbour)
so we are well placed to maybe see a little more of this disappearing Insect?
TWIN-SPOTTED WAINSCOT
SMALL WHITE WAVE
the Migrant
WHITE-POINT
and a
ROUND-WINGED MUSLIN
Out and About, given the season, things are a little quiet
"but quite frankly my dear, common or rare, as long as we see it
we don't give a damn"!
During our early morning rounds yesterday, and none too far from home, we found
ORANGE HAWKWEED
in bloom
with the continued 'daily' accompaniment, either visual or vocal, of
Cetti's Warbler, both larger Woodpeckers, Reed Bunting and Warbler, Kingfisher,
foraging parties of mainly juvenile Long-tailed Tit along with the occasional Grey Heron,
Raven, Mediterranean Gull and dozen upon dozen of Mistle Thrush
yer in Paradise before you even kick off!
Getting back to Slight Return II to photograph the catch and update the Lists
we found we had a new room-mate a
NOBLE FALSE WIDOW SPIDER
which can do little more than kill you with just one bite, we'll see how
things go before we decided to evict her!
Only joking about the bite Aggggaaarrrrr!
Up the Common things remain fairly static with the juvenile
LITTLE GREBE
has lost all traces of that up-until-now
Humbug Plumage
and as far as we can establish
Parent Bird's
are still incubating at both Irrigation Pond and Gravel Pit.
Before leaving the latter a couple of
STOCK DOVE
dropped in for a bath and dhobie and a drink
but always keeping their distance, nervy little Pigeons these!
Before heading off to the Heath we first took a look at the
Subsidiary Pond
where to our delight we most certainly recorded a
Sedge Warbler
which, given just fleeting glimpses, looked highly likely to have been a juvenile.
Maybe the 56 days continuous singing, right across the Spring months,
did pay dividends in the end????
Also there were good numbers of
WHITETHROAT
including some young birds,
a more than healthy
RABBIT
population, with no signs of myxomatosis here so far this year.
juvenile
BLUE TIT
along with a small gathering of
STARLING
on the Solar Panels and beneath most obliging
HEN
and
COCK
PHEASANT
Hardly through the gate, this
DARTFORD WARBLER
(the first for many days now)
popped out of the Gorse bush and took up sentinel on the upper thorns.
Another juvenile, this time a
GREEN WOODPECKER
was feeding feverishly along the main track but then something that has
been 4 days in the coming, the first sighting of the new arrival and addition to the
RARE BREED HERD
(comprising c2 each of Belted Galloway and Shetland Cattle)
BRITISH WHITE
looking to the untrained eye every bit like a Bull but informed by
Alison the Herds Lady
to be a STEER
it was considered amazing what can be done with c2 'building bricks'!!
On today's
Perimeter Walk - Marillion
it as decided to attempt a count of the numerous young Stonechat
here at the moment. A difficult enough task with all the toing and froing,
but came up with what was thought to be a rather low figure of c42?
Along with these and the Cattle there were some seriously 'sparkling'
adult male
LINNET,
just a pity the images were not a little sharper, and a considered nice pose of young
MEADOW PIPIT and ROBIN
Give a Bird a Latin name such as
STURNUS 'VULGARIS'
and it is destined to maintain a
Bad Reputation - Thin Lizzy
for the rest of its existence.
However, in addition to the spectacle that is a
Starling Murmoration
just stop and take a longer and closer look at these
wonderfully plumaged birds particularly at this time of year.
The views of the very small number on the Heath were astonishing to say the least,
but what was to unfold at the end my day
while sat in the
Great Hall
Slight Return II
and decanting a second bottle of
1988 Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1er Grand Cru Classe Paulliac
1988 Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1er Grand Cru Classe Paulliac
("Oh wouldn't you just die for the Vintage '88 darlings?)
watching a gathering of some 2 - 300 individuals
right outside the
Palladian Window!
Palladian Window!
It’s a 'sair fecht' as they might say in The Granite City - Aberdeen!
