Mockingbird - Barclay James Harvest

  Rain, sea, surf, sand, clouds and sky,
hush now baby, don’t you cry.
There's a mocking bird
singing songs in the trees.
There's a mocking bird singing songs, just for you and me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3frTqo_XZg4

With virus restrictions somewhat lowered and with intentions of keeping our guard high, we decided to take the opportunity of an ‘away day’!

The plan was to meet Dave in Dorchester at 06:30, decamp to just one vehicle and head off west in hopes of connecting with a number of rather rare or uncommon Birds across 2 counties but not before sussing the Moth Traps with miner’s headlamp. First's for the year included

PURPLE THORN

RED CHESTNUT

and a bonus of both

WHITE-TAILED BUMBLEBEE

and

BUFF-TAILED BUMBLEBEE
clinging to the egg trays.

Arriving 5 minutes before Dave at the rendesvous by the time he arrived the lead had already been taken as watching another 'first for the year'

HEDGEHOG
sauntered across the road, onto the grass verge and under a nearby garden gate. 

Taking things geographically was not only the sensible option but also in rarity order but on our way to Exmouth in Devon we also got some decent views of

RED KITE

but maybe even better an orangy

SUN

rising from behind the rolling Devonshire hills.
There had already been some consternation at the first port of call as the first and rarest of our hoped for Birds had landed in a private garden with high fencing blocking the view. Polite notices had been placed asking Birders not to climb on the walls but some already had. There was a compromise as some of the attendees had sensibly brought along with them short step ladders which they kindly share with us making viewing both easy and profitable.

NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD

usually confined mostly to the USA

has only occured in Great Britain on 2 previous occassions

making it what is known in

Birding Circles

but perhaps more by
TWITCHERs

as a
'MEGA'

It is not unusal that these 'little wonders' are difficult to relocate or see with uniterupted views after having traveled maybe hundreds of miles, but this one was not singing from that particular

Hymn Sheet
as presenting excellent and prolonged views despite the degree of difficulty.
We have posted all of the stills and clips that we managed to secure and will hopefully continue this journey tomorrow - Thanks for Tuning In!

There's a mocking bird singing songs in the trees. 

There's a mocking bird singing songs, just for you and me!

If Oliver’s parents are reading this I would like to give him a gift. If acceptable maybe we could meet at the car park we were at yesterday and you just state a time and date via this comment slot. - CHEERS - Bagsy

KITES - Simon Dupree and the Big Sound

who later metamorphosed into the sensational

GENTLE GIANT

 Well, there cannot be many better ways to kick off the day than finding an E-Mail from your 4 Grandchildren in Phnom Penn, Cambodia along with this image of a

BARN OWL
which having not seen one there myself rushed to Google to check out thier

distribution - the Owl that is!
Thanks Lizzy, Benny (the finder), Alex and Fred and well done!

At just +1°C and a matching ground frost there was little to recover from the

Moth Traps

with ‘Best in Show' being another

SPOTTED CHESTNUT

and an

ANTs NEST

with the previous one shown now nonexistent.
It is not unusual to find a 'mischief' of

MAGPIES
in the Solar Panel Compound
but today there was something of an added attraction for them as finding the first

Dead Ewe of the Season - Warts and All Here
which we readily report to the Shepherdess but would rather it be left as an attractant for maybe a

RED KITE,
which we haven't recorded so far this year, or maybe something better.
Our next find, or more accurately the next Bird to find us, is something of a 'rarity' here a fly-over

CURLEW
which despite being only a short distance from 

Poole Harbour,
where they are plentiful, there have only ever been c4 records over our 8 year residence, but also

triggered memories of this
ALBINO / LEUCISTIC 

individual found at Church Norton, Hants as far back as 23/08/2011.

A rather nice day for the small herd of c3

ROE DEER

on the Heath
while the neighbours

CHAROLAIS

on the far bank of the
MOORS RIVER

were less inclined to movement so didn't disturb the

half a dozen or so

COMMON SNIPE

on the closer bank.
Nearing the end another male

MUTE SWAN
was found looking serene on the
River Stour
while in the fresh breeze the

DANCING DAFFODILS
looked to good to ignor!