Autumn Almanac - The Kinks

Saturday Night

and a clear sky and atmoshere showed the rapidly waxing

New Moon 

at 16% gibbous and still Nightjar's flying around in the moonbeams.

 Moth Traps?

Well we have been loosing a bit of faith but then it is hit and miss with all sorts of perameters!

 While

 SCARCE BORDERED STRAW

was somewhat suspected the other 2 species were not without a degree of conjecture.

 CLOUDED SILVER

has a flight period across May and June, but is a partial migrant so who knows in August and

 a putative

NOVEMBER MOTH

usually flying in October and as the name suggests November.

This is not the specimen caught, just a better image from the archive while

this one is, and the jury is still out! 

Additionally, we also caught only our second example of

the delightful

 FOOTBALLER HOVERFLY

along with and equally pleasing

GREEN NETTLE WEAVIL

while

 HARLEQUIN LADYBIRDs

 are also starting to emerge in their dozens, which will soon turn to

Hundreds or even Thousands

with these 4 examples representative of the many, many colours and markings.

 In the wider world Autumn seems to have been with us for a while already with the

 ORNIMENTAL BEECHES

already having shed their leaves and the invasive

FERN or BRACKEN 

which is a word of Old Norse origin.

Oh could we rid the heath of it but on the up side it is certaily eye-catching

making it a 'fine'  national emblem for the Kiwi's!

 MORE

"Click 'Em While You Can" 

 WHEATEAR

 (they won't be here muck longer)

were also on the move 

but all of this

 juvenile / female type

 and in the company of 

 foraging

and much maligned

 CARRION CROWs

Enroute, we found a discarded square of old roofing felt and on turning

there was this 

SLOE WORM

which unfathomably is only the 3rd across the whole Recording Araa this year????

 While we understand we've

Seen It All Before

there is just something 'pleasing' about seeing these

AIRBUS's

all in a row but not the reasoning behind them, there is now a 5th and a 6th

which we will endeavour to capture as a group shot.

Like all other Berries the

 ALDER BUCKTHORN

are ripening while not to be outdone some Fungi are starting to show their hands.

Not a subject we know anything about but always GOOD to have a mentor such as

Dave Foot

to show you the way.

this little delicate has a number of vernacular names of which

 CANDLESTICK

 is preferred as both

 TOADSTOOL

and

 SMOKY BRACKET FUNGUS

(quieten down now we don't want you getting over excited!)

While we were intending to end on a Lavae theme as we did find that of a

 PEBBLE HOOK-TIP

one day to become

 one of these little beauties

 we also had communication from John Gifford in Weymouth who had found this

 Larvae on his usual morning wander, that of

ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH

From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly Caterpillar,
when the dawn begins to crack, it’s all part of my Autumn Almanac
Breeze blows leaves of a musty-colored yellow
so I sweep them in my sack, yes, yes, yes, it’s my Autumn Almanac

The Kinks

we do infact end with an update on the

CANADA GOOSE FAMILY

from the main pond, which have all survived and are now all look the same size as the parents.