Black is Black - Los Bravos

 With the expected arrival of a family from Derbyshire and fellow caravaners at any time, we set out with a few expectations on a rounds which threw up nothing new but captured our attention throughout.

Kicking off next to home and to the cawing of opportunist juvenile

ROOKs
muscleing in on the chicken feed we arrived up north to find an unexpected

EGYPTIAN GOOSE

on the Gravel Pit while at the same time bringing to you the daily update on the
Prospective Parent

LITTLE GREBEs
with no change as the 'dark' bird continues incubation (we hope).

Once in the Forest the

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERs

were not slow to show as were

WHITE-TAILED BUMBLE-BEE
along with one of a decent number of

SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLIES
Back at base not only did the Woodpecker theme continue with a

couple of

GREEN WOODPECKERs

along with the Tilley's who considered it too late for 'angling' but
champing at the bit for a sortie into the Wild World.
Totally convenient as within a hour or so of 'lighting up time' and as shaping up for the main gate

an overflying

LITTLE EGRET
Having not seen this part of the Recording Area before

Grandson Sam along with Ruth and Ian seemed mightily impressed

as Yours Truely also managed to edge his way into the Lime-light as well

and with the traps flashed up we headed off to make the most of the fading light.

Also to their liking the confidence of the

ROE DEER
which were well within 'naked eye' viewing but the binnoculars also brought to bear,
but the game wasn't yet over. Passing through the very same gates, south about, c2

GREYLAG GEESE

flew overhead before landing in a nearby horse paddock.
To end the session a couple of

BLACK ARCHES
moths had been held over to show the diversity even within the same species.

The book tells us that "specimens suffused with more black (right) have been noted from many localities including the New Forest, Hampshire where it is not an uncommon form. Our recording area fits into this geographically as once in that county before the boundery changes but remains the same for moth recording.

West Wind - Sky (the Band that is)

 Given the omens from both the

NORTH
and the

WEST
it was decided not to flash up the Heath Moth Traps but not to be totally faint hearted the c2 on home turf were plugged in.

For our efforts we scored this beautifully marked

CANARY-SHOULDERED THORN

along with a marginally early (the way things seem to be going)

HEDGE RUSTIC
just befre starting to beat ourself up at not running the others.
Straight into then the

LITTLE GREBE

update where our appearance seemed to match that of the other

Parent Bird

with the additional bonus of witnessing them changing rolls with the darker bird,

we cannot sex them, settling down to a spell of incubation.
Heading for the Heath we made a brief stop at the more northerly

Horse Paddocks
where we immediately switched into
George Stubbs Mode
although he never painted them quite as good as this?
At the gate and with much improvement in the weather we again noted the

PURPLE HAIRSTREAKS
flitting around the crown of the Mighty Oak along with a timely reminder that we had not, up to this point, featured one of Dave's finds across the recent Moth Weekendthe

Larvae / Catterpillar of the magnificent

EMPEROR MOTH male

EMPEROR MOTH

EMPEROR MOTH female
which we have seen the last of for 2021 as flight period being April and May.
All things come to those who wait, but it seems to have been a long time since the

EASY JETS
returned as now seen daily but this our first close up and looking across the

SEA of FERN

another stranger in the camp.
Like myself you may just pass it off as the dedicated
Police Helicopter
but looking a little closer

this was noticed, and to continue the theme and end this Post the 'all white'

AIRBUS'S
are also back in opperation.

NESSUN DORMA - Pavarotti

 The 31 July 1991 has to go down as one of the wettest rain-filled days since Summer records began, and one of the most unbelievable. My shipmate and Chief Engineer Andy Lindsay and I were programmed to return to the Floating Drilling Rig Stena Hunter in the North Sea the following day, so just lucky to share one of the most memorable days in both our lives. It was only as a result of surfing the channels on the TV on Friday evening that brought such a vivid memory back, as joining the 125,000 throng in Hyde Park for what was to become known as

PAVAROTTI in the PARK

It started out as just light drizzel at noon

but by 14:00 it was as though every gamp in the land was fluttering to the breeze?
However, it was but an hour later that the little known part of the gig took place as it was later reported that Luciano, who had been looking down on the sodden crowd from his hotel window, gathered a few of his mates, hit the stage in his street cloths and performed an impromtu!
The atmoshere even before this was 'electric' and as the afternoon and evening progressed

the croud simply bonded

and come the evening there wasn't a dry-eye in the place

and we ain't talking RAIN. Wehad never experienced anything like this before
and like will never do so again - what a DUDE!
The images were snapped from the TV.
Early morning, and a strange sight indeed asa young

ROE DEER
just plodded past the homestead not 30 feet away and something not seen before.
Otherwise the Moth Traps produced another most welcome brace of f.f.y. in the guise of

the tiny and delicate

SMALL CHOCOLATE-TIP

along with

ROSY RUSTIC
It was considered a welcome bonus to capture a

juvenle LINNET side by side with a WHITETHROAT

with the former lingering for another shot, while there is little in the way
of a carpet of

HEATHER
across the Heath only these occassional clumps along with the odd

GATEKEEPER
along with a free-flying

PINE HAWK-MOTH
about the only pristine one we have seen this year as the norm seems to be

like this very worn individual.
The daily report on the nesting

LITTLE GREBE

shows the floating platform still to be where it was

but still without sight of sound of a second adult.
Inside Bournemoth International Airport a new kid on the block a

ROBINSON R66 TURBINE
which we learn has recently been deployed to Greenland and Iceland while we also found

HERRING GULLs
still strangely sat on their nests - something not right there?

While at the Home Moth Traps we have a new mate in the form of this

juvenile

ROBIN