Tiger Moth - Steve Hackett (Spectral Mornings)

 As far as Moth Trapping was concerned overnight Monday it was either a case of following the sensibility of what the weather forecasters were predicting or simply opt for the foolhardy. Having never stepped into the realms of the former before we cast our fate to the wind, but more likely the rain, and flashed up all units!

Yes, it was raining at 05:30, that drizzly get you wet quickly kind of stuff, but the early morning Douwe Egberts was interupted by something caught in the corner of the eye!

When I was a child  I caught a fleeting glimpse 

Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone, I cannot put my finger on it now 

The child is grown, the dream is gone 

for I have become Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd 

In the murk this

FOX

was boldly trampling all around the

Tennis Court

without a care - why not there was nobody about!
An hour laterer and no let up we made a brief stop to capture the first

GOSLINGs

of the more
Domestic Geese.
Fairly damp when we finally arrived at the traps but cheered by finding a dinky

BROWN-LIPPED SNAIL
on a windscreen wiper and good numbers of Insects within.
'First's for the Year'
included

a most handsom and welcome

GREEN SILVER-LINES

THE FAN-FOOT

BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING

BEAUTIFUL HOOK-TIP

another little sensation in the form of a

PEACH BLOSSOM
and finally a

PINE CARPET
Considered most acceptable with a count of 111 Macro Moths amounting to 52 species!
Yes, the Forecaster had said that today would be Muggy followed by Tuesggy, Wednesggy. Thursggy and Frigy, but no matter the weather there is always a chance of something appearing from the Wild!

In the Plain - Savage Rose

 Not much colour associated with the latest clutch of New Arrival Moths, but that should change in days to come!

SMALL FAN-FOOTED WAVE

PLAIN WAVE
(as the name suggests)

an earlyish
ROUND-WINGED MUSLIN
and as we see so few of them another crack at

GRASS WAVE
all accompanied by a

SEXTON BEETLE

unusually showing off the underwings.

At the Main Pond

SWALLOWs
have taken to the overhead cable as preening posts.

Qualifying as 'Find of the Day'

was an influx of

18+

juvenile

LAPWING

and state 'influx' as during our daily vistits here, in hope of not only breeding

Lapwing but Woodlark, Skylark and who knows maybe Red-legged Partridge one day, we have observed no signs of any nesting at all.

However, the rapidly growing juvenile

CARION CROWs

(don't let the Blue Sky fool you)
are still feeding within, seemingly forgiving of the 'In Hand' experience, as are

MISTLE THRUSHs

not surprisingly with

EARTHWORMs

the size of Anaconda Python's fattening up these juveniles by the day!

Ladybird, Ladybird Fly Away Home

 Another day of dodging the inclement weather strated at the 2 Homeward Moth Traps and a

16-spot CREAM LADYBIRD

and followed in quick succession by a brace of First's for the Year

HEART and CLUB

along with a

SMOKY WAINSCOT
and a rather welcome

MAYFLY
For the more tardy among us there was a not so welcome wake-up call

from a

RAF ATLAS C1 CARGO AIRCRAFT
(surely they do not HAVE to do this so early in the morning?)
One of the Great Delights of recent days

has been the explosion

of juvenile

GREENFICH

whose numbers, without an accurate count,

must be in the regeon of 30 to 40 individuals?
On the evidence it looks as if the local

BLACBIRDs
might be joining them soon but in far less numbers

while the

BREATER REED MACE
looks not to far away from full bloom.
Having removed the redundant and rotting aircraft from the western corner of the airport
it looks rather like the local

STOCK DOVE
are strugling to find a nest site while at the other end of the scale
SKYLARKs

do not have that problem but once the blades start turning we wonder just how many
eggs and chicks migh be consigned to these bales????
Makes You Wonder if They have Ever Heard of
RISK ASSESMENT??
We will try to end on a posative note and marvel at the

plumage of this

MAGPIE
while welcoming the

first small cloud

of

mostly juvenile

STARLING
to the lawn and tennis court.