Ee By Gum - Gracie Fields

With so much business activity here outside of the 'birding', I was more than happy to join Hugh this morning on a tour of some of his interests a little further afield starting at 05:00. First call at Salisbury, followed by Devises and Marlborough then a coffee/savoury pastry stop and meeting at the Chiseldon Service Station, Swindon. With a tight schedule it was on to an almost clear M4 and a bit of a dash to Avonmouth. One of the best egg and bacon sarnies ever with the Grass Seed Rep before hitting the motorway again, this time the M5, south to Curry Rival. Our final port of call was about 20 miles away at Podmore which brought back a few memories of a small colony of Cirl Buntings that used to favour an orchard at Langport, but sadly no longer! A meeting and lunch for Hugh on home turf (so to speak) at 14:00 was too much for me, so opting to return to the wildlife with a feeling of pleasure that I had taken up the offer. Of most interest and an eye-opener for this technophobe was the way business is carried out on the move. Everything is via the in-car computer and on voice command including all phone calls and navigation, this was all brand new to me!  

The ornamental garden pond at Harbins Farm House still complete with

young MOORHEN.

On the main Parley Pond all 5 Cygnets have survived and have grown rapidly since my last visit.

The other end of the Parley Pond with nothing to report save

these rather nice waterside plants.

Seemingly no shortage of BEES here, with several species of Butterfly also on the wing such as

RED ADMIRAL,

COMMA,

COMMA and LARGE WHITE,

LARGE WHITE

and shouldn't there be another COMMA in this sentence?

Late arrivals included PAINTED LADY and

SMALL TORTOISESHELL.

As ever 'lots' of WOOD PIGEON about, this one seemingly crippled and approachable, along with Collared Doves.

A ROYAL NAVY HELICOPTER leaving Bournemouth International Airport was of interest as

started to gather for a pre-roost preen on power lines

along with a departing KESTREL.

Never a problem recording MALLARD here in all of the pond

which also applies to COOT while the numerous bird feeders attract good numbers of House Sparrow, Gold and Greenfinch,

GREAT TIT and

BLUE TIT. Hugh also tells me that Grey Partridge have been seen close to the Golf Course in recent weeks, a species I will be paying close attention to in days to come.

 I'm pleased to say that I have arrived safely in Yorkshire and looking forward to the Happy Occasion tomorrow. Even more pleasing was being able to sit down quietly with Jim the Medic and Liz and give them both a bit of advice about the 'birds and the bees' if indeed I had for once identified them correctly.

 My Fatherly Duties completed it was time to retire to the Summer House and enjoy a Charley Herring Spotwood, of which JtheM has managed to secure me a case, so I think I'll leave now, or after they have bought me dinner.

A message for the Dampney Family:- Jim and Liz were delighted with your gift, see you Monday.

Longham Lakes

No trip to Parley would be complete for me without a visit to

LONGHAM LAKES where early morning there was a noticeable chill to the air

but despite the fresh north westerly breeze the water surface remained calm and OK for observing what Wildfowl there were about.

The wayside bushes are full of fruits, while first up was a distant

GREY HERON

and CORMORANTs even further away on the run of pylons.

CHAFFINCH, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were present in good numbers but nothing compared with

 

Swallows, seen here in their hundreds, but even that being well surpassed by

HOUSE MARTIN numbers which were estimated as being in the 2 to 3,000 range?

Juvenile TUFTED DUCKs were well represented with at least 30 along with double that number of adults,

while a count of 22 GREAT CRESTED GREBE outnumbered their smaller cousin, the Little Grebe, by 3 to 1.

A lone WHEATEAR graced one of the park benches as a search for 'nonexistant' Spotted Flycatcher took place, but there were plenty of

LONG-TAILED TITs

to keep the camera clicking.

REED BUNTING too were seen all around the watercourse, but something of a surprise was a single

WOOD SANDPIPER (archive) which 'flushed' from the margins 'calling' and quickly disappearing to the south.

A Raven was betrayed by its gruff croaking voice, and with the arrival of this also distant JAY all of the likely Corvides (Crows) were now committed to the log.

The only DRAGONFLY seen was this COMMON DARTER and

finally, it was thought a little late for so small baby

MOORHENs, only the size of a Hen's egg, but pleasing to see nonetheless. I feel sure once I return from Yorkshire and see the Dampney's safely off for their flight to Canada, I will be paying at least one more visit to this excellent spot for wild-life!

I Am The Walrus - The Beatles

What could be worse than an evening of 'holiday snaps'? Having been at Parley Court for a whole day now, I thought this was the Dampney way of saying "time to go Bagsy" but I didn't take the hint despite sitting through about an hour of boredom looking at the likes of these.

Hugh and his mother Joan are recently returned from a cruise around Spitsbergen with some most uninteresting images.

I am the WALRUS goo goo g'joob,

followed by one of the 3 Gulls in the World that I still have to photograph myself,

IVORY GULL

POLAR BEAR

POLAR BEAR

 

HUMPBACKED WHALE

ARCTIC FOX

REINDEER and

FINWHALE the second largest creature on Earth! Now feast your eyes on what I saw today.

GREY SQUIRREL collecting nuts

and burying them as a winter larder,

before approaching and giving some excellent close views.

PIED WAGTAIL and

ROOK before spotting something a little more unusual. On first sighting this Duck on the Parley Pond was thought to be a

MANDARIN but not in a state of plumage I had ever seen before? Seeming nervous and very flighty it was only allowing for brief glimpses and the occasional photo. Armed with these I went for the Field Guide, 'Madge and Burn' but remained no more enlightened. Calling in the cavalry,

the general consensus was that it was in fact a male MANDARIN in eclipse plumage. This is the first record at Parley Court Farm, a great end to the day. PS the Apprenticeship is continuing apace!