Fly me to the Moon and let me play among the stars.
Let me know what Spring is like on Jupiter and Mars
in other words........
MOTHER NATURE
is a fickle lady especially when hopes are high for one thing and then,
she deals a completely different hand!
However there was one thing we could be absolutely sure of and that was the
FULL MOON
but seeing it might have been touch and go!
No cloud cover meant good views along with attendent Saturn and Jupiter
which wouldn't quite fit into the frame without being a total blur!
WOOD PIGEONS
stole the show for the first 15 minutes as not only were this local pair
looking every bit as though a 'third brood' might be in production at any minute, but
also an estimated flock of maybe as many as 2 - 300 flying puposefully north west.
It was the Moth Traps (all of them) that were going to prove the first nuisance,
turning up just 29 species of Macro Moth between them, where it is usual
to expect
a minimum of 40+ at least during the summer months!
However, the Old Lady (not the Moth of the same name) stepped in and
dealt
a fine hand of her own!
SPOTTED LONG-HORN BEETLE
along with
DARK BUSH-CRICKET
were plucked from the traps on 'home turf' while it was
Towering Cumulus
on the Heath that seemed to be presenting a threat.
There half a dozen or so
HAWTHORN SHIELDBUGs
John Gifford
sorted it out for us, an absolutely 'cracking'
ROESEL'S BUSH-CRICKET
(get that green U at the neck-line)
That done our welcome to the Wider World was provided by a gathering of both
PHEASANT and RABBIT
which was also the moment we realised the
Willow Warbler's
of yesterday had been displaced by decent number of
CHIFFCHAFF
some looking a little juvenile
but
a charming sight to see!
BOURNEMOUTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
and another returning regular seeming back on the scheduale flights?
Seems like Thompson or Tui have had a bit of change of livery,
this in my view being a major case of
Something and Nothing,
having just tacked on a new tail-plane?
(PS - we missed a flypast by about 20 seconds but they won't escape us)
Being Sunday, it was then time to turn the Reptile covers, but like the Moths
there was no-one home, however in a similar way other things made up for that.
The tiniest
ANTs
with loads of
that we have ever seen, with surely the best being left until last.
CREAM-STREAKED LADYBIRD
We know little about its status except it is a relatively new arrival in the country,
which remains uncommon, this being only the second we have seen.
Dave Foot, not surprisingly, managed to find our first last year!
So, in a nutshell, the
Dear Ol' Dutch came up Trumps - and we don't mean freakin' Donald the Oaf!
As Howlin' Wolf once advised the Rolling Stones
"Always Stop at the Top"
so we will also end on a High Note as the family
Tilly , from Derbyshire,
(complete this year with grandson Samuel)
once again return for there annual stay. Always a delight to see they
are right next to me on the lawn so nice and easy for the odd chat and exchange of
experiences. Keen anglers, it wasn't long before catching this small Jack Pike. They have also shown me Minnows and a tiny Dace.
