Wednesday, 1 September 2021

Autumn Almanac - The Kinks

Dodging the prevailing elements once again the Moth Traps did provide some solace in the form of a couple of additions to the Year List

with the dainty
CHEVRON
being joined by the even smaller
WHITE-SPOTTED PUG
and only a second appearance of a
JULY BELLE
acknowledging the end of Summer,
while further afield the departing migrants were, on the day, represented by
a more than obliging
WHITETHROAT
which we like to believe was 'home grown'?
At the Gravel Pit only the plaintive calls of the Little Grebes proved their continued presence while all indications showed that the male
GADWALL
had been abandoned by his beau in the female sense!
Across the Heath,
or more particularly, the
BRISTLEBENT FIELD
 we found the larva of a 

From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar,
when the dawn begins to crack.
It's all part of my Autumn Almanac

FOX MOTH

Breeze blows leaves of a musty-coloured yellow,
so I sweep them in my sack.
Yes, yes, yes, it's my Autumn Almanac.

which, should it dodge the predators, may one day next year become one of these

Male left and larger female the other.
With numbers rapidly dwindling we once again show
the only juvenile
STONECHAT
(blink and you'll miss it)
as the wait for the next may well be 12 months?
Finally, if you like Gulls, which for us goes far further than that
the
Bird of the Day
or even last month was this juvenile
HERRING GULL
inside the Solar Panel Compound
and most likely from the disasterously low breeding attempts across the airport roofs?
Perhaps an Ideal way to pull the curtain down on Summer!