Night Owl - Gerry Rafferty

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzZcNsPdS9c

It looked glum and by and large it was 

 GLUM

but then again peppered with the odd bright interval.

The first of these was a trio of smart looking Moths but none making for an addition to the

Year List - but we still live in hope.

 BLOOD-VEIN

 LILAC BEAUTY

along with

 SMALL BLOOD-VEIN

with nothing else to hold us in the more

Southern Reaches

 heading north we added yet another lady from the

Eddie Stobbart Collection

but the traps there, at their very best, only showed small gatherings of

HAWTHORN SHIELDBUGS

As the sky cleared a small collection of both

 SAND MARTIN

mostly juveniles but not from our patch

 and mostly adult

 SWALLOWs

 formed medium size feeding flocks around the large 

Beech and Oak

but mainly the

APPLE TREE

at the gateway to the Heath.

With the fruit now fully ripe and doubtless an attraction to numerous

INSECTS

for your average 'passage migrant' this was the place to be!

Another common representative was a

 lone

but

 vocal

 WREN

 while far more scarce,

 only a single Spring record so far across 2020, a

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER

was doing what they do best

Night comes down and finds you alone
In a space and time of your own
Lost in dreams in a world full of shadows.
Down the street the neon light shines
Offering refuge and hope to the blind
You stumble in with no thought of tomorrow.

Yes, I get a little lonely when the sun gets low
And I end looking for somewhere to go
Yes, I should know better but I can't say no.

Oh no no no
No no no no!

Early evening, and having just flashed up the

Moth Traps

but hampered by the tree-line along the Moors River we did our best

to capture this

BARN OWL

in hunting mode looking like it had already been successful.
A 'coincidence', if you should happen to believe in such things, as 2 years
to this very day, 07/09/2018
we were delighted to experience our very first of this species
'In the Hand'!

In almost the same spot, up ahead was seen an unfamiliar 'white blob'
in the long grass which turned out to be this

BARN OWL
with just a degree of facial damage around the area of the bill.
What we would have liked to bring to you was the palava it took to catch it!
Armed with the ever-ready Butterfly net at first swipe it managed to escape to the
other side of the Solar Panel Compound fence seding me scurrying to struggle with the combination padlock. Having got close once again it then stumbled back from whence it came and 
that was only round one.

The lights are low and the Muzak is loud
You watch yourself as you play to the crowd
One more face in a palace of mirrors.

One more drink, you're sailing away
One more dream but it's looking ok
One more time to watch the flow of the river.

Yes, I get a little lonely when the sun gets low
And I end looking for somewhere to go
Yes, I should know better but I can't say no.

Oh no no no


As can be seen this handsome creature was secured

and after the photo-shoot carted off to the

Ringwood, Hampshire Owl Sanctuary
where, after great care and attention, it died overnight
having given me yet another fantastic 
'Birding Experience'!
The Electric Light Orchestra 
sum this up

Living Thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEh3RJ5apIo

and what a beautiful ensemblé

of musicians and vocalists!