The Emerald - Thin Lizzy

  There's a feeling I get when I look to the west
and my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
and the voices of those who stand looking!

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune
then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter
Do You Remember Laughter?

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

It looked rather ominous early doors but only a token light shower tried to mar the activity at the Moth Traps

Straight in with the Big Kids as we plucked our first of the year

LARGE EMERALD
from the collar of the trap and shown here with one of the smaller species of that division
Small Grass Emerald

for size comparison which we have yet to capture in 2021.

Additionally and of the same f.f.y. distinction.

RIVULET

BUFF ARCHES

in all its glory

SMALL FAN-FOOT
along with

DOUBLE LOBED
and once again the irrisistable

SCARCE MERVEILLE du JOUR
which has become just about daily over the last 2 or 3 weeks!
The weather got no brighter, but no mind, as we did wander into something of a
Purple Patch
starting with just a 30 second 'fly-by' of a female

HEN HARRIER
flying to the east across the open moor until disappearing over the trees.

We have never been lucky enough or stealthy enough to capture such a magnificent raptor on celuloid, hence the borrowed image, but this all to short flash was a carbon copy of a similar event back in December 2016.

It was the chattering calls of

CROSSBILLs

'plaural' from afar which had us catch sight of this

male while only minutes later another familiar rumble from above, the mid-morning

AIRBUS
Delight only tells part of the emotion on finding a

'second'

LITTLE GREBE

on the Gravel Pit so still time yet for a bunch of Humbugs as their young are described

while this juvenile
MOORHEN
has been here for a few days now.
As if the cherry were not already firmly on the cake as we sat in the 

Mobile Wildlife Hide a.k.a. the Strange Rover, yet another familiar trill from above caught our ear

as landing not 10 yards away was what we have to describe as the first 'returning'

GREEN SANDPIPER

and as predicted in a previous post the first flowering

MULLEIN
That might have been the end of it, but it just seemed to be one of those everlasting days as we made aquaintance of yey another brace of ladies from

EDDIE STOBART's

HAREM
but it was to be the

ROYAL AIR FORCE GLOBEMASTER

which had the final say on a none to tardy day!

Down from the glen came the marching men,
with their shields and their swords.

To fight the fight they believed to be right,
to overthrow the overlords.
To the town where there was plenty,
they brought plunder, swords and flame.

When they left the town was empty,
children would never play again!

The Emerald - Thin Lizzy

This morning started very much as yesterday ended and looks like we wont be strayin to far today?

"Oh to be in England now that Summer's here"

A slightly abridged version of Robert Brownings sentiments, he refered to April!