The Ballard of Bethnal Green - Paddy Roberts

Once again at dusk things didn't look at all promising,

which was the way it turned out,

 but by dawn, well let's just say,

"you could wake up to a far worse vista than this from your front doorstep"!

Nothing new, and close to nothing at all but feel we should keep the

Moth momentum going with the occassional daliance with

All Our Yesterdays!

 POPLAR HAWK-MOTH

common and caught frequently along with the

 larvae / caterpillar

of varying forms.

Before leaving one of the 'horse ladies' found a

 HEDGEHOG

 something we have only heard tell of across the

Recording Area

so something of a minor 'tick' for me.
They now fall into the 'endangered- catagory!

 

 GOAT MOTH

best described as sporadic but good to see when one does turn up!

First stop was the Gravel Pit where there was something of a suprise 

 in the form of half a dozen

 SAND MARTIN

as they have not bred here for 3 or 4 seasons now it was thought

these may well have been early breeds and their juveniles

making an exit for the wintering grounds while the going is good?

ORANGE SWIFT

which is also plentiful.

 The, or another

GREY HERON

 was also on site

 maybe the reason for the total absence of either

eggs or humbugs of the

Little Grebe Clan.

OAK EGGAR

again not rare.

 While monitoring the traps on the Heath we encountered c2

 BADGERs

on oppositg tracks

DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH

there cannot be a Moth'er alive, who has not caugh this beauty,

who doesn't have this leviathan firmly at the top of their

Want's List!

This specimen was caught by our friend Paul Harris some years ago when he

immediately transported it to my home in Weymouth then as knowing full

well it would be of Great Interest to me!

"I'm still smarting Bomber"!

 As far as Avians were concerned it was yet another case of 'same old'

but nonetheless satisfying for all that.

A male 

 LINNET

with a 'tick' at the base of the bill and

another close to the left eye appeared to be supervising

the

Juveniles

as a

 COMMON WHITETHROAT

put in no more than a

one minute appearance,

and representing the more delicate 

Moths

MAIDEN'S BLUSH

common but delicately beautiful! 
An old time ditty came to mind when spotting this

Tail-less Male Stonechat!

Adapted from

THE BALLAD OF BETHNAL GREEN
by
Paddy Roberts
I'll tell a tale of a ‘tail-less’ male and a maid of sweet sixteen
He was blond and dumb and he lived with his Mum
On the edge of Bethnal Green
He worked all week for a rich old Greek
as his dad was on the dole
And his one delight on a Friday night
Was to have a bit of rock and roll.

Chorus

To my rit-fal-lah, to my itty-fal-lal
To my itty-bitty-fal-dal day.

Then one fine day in the Month of May he found his big romance
She was smart and sleek, with a scar on her cheek
And a pair of drainpipe pants
And he thought ‘with you, I could be so true,
Through all the years to come’
For he loved the gay abandoned way
she chewed her chewing-gum.

Chorus...

It started well because he fell for all her girlish charms
But he had some doubt when he caught her out
In someone else’s arms
And he said, “Look here, you know my dear,
This is going a bit too far
And he went quite white and he sloshed her right
In the middle of her cha-cha-cha.

Chorus...

So he went before a man of the law who said, “This will not do
I’ve had enough of the kind of stuff
as I get's from the likes of you.”
And he was peeved when he received
A longish term in clink
In a fit of pique she married the Greek
And now she lives in mink.

Chorus...

A Trick of the Tale!