Angel of the Morning - Pretenders

The intention today had been to try for the Golden Pheasants on Furzey Island, Poole Harbour which involves long distance viewing with a telescope, given that the bright lights of Bournemouth International Airport, less than a mile from my bedroom window, were completely obscured by dense fog Plan B was put into operation. A quick look through the overnight catch in the Moth Trap, which threw up 4 new species for here, including

CLAY

RIBAND WAVE

SMALL SERAPHIM (Angel)

and GOTHIC,
it was then a drive to Weymouth to see what Radipole had to offer.

Only having walked the couple of hundred yards to the 

Shelter on the Loop

a c15 strong party of

BEARDED TIT

mostly juveniles

landed in the reeds almost at touching distance.

The only 'adult' seen among the flock.

Scanning from the Shelter there was a fair bit of

underwater disturbance some way off

could  it be Otters?

No such luck, but it was the biggest shoal of CARP I have ever seen here.

LONG-TAILED TIT

SOUTHERN MARSH ORCHID

followed by the best sighting of the day,

my friend and fellow 'birder'

Lecturer and Naturalist Bob Ford.

From recent reports received there was chance of a couple of good birds
including a very unseasonable WIGEON, which I claim to have heard only,

and a male RED-CRESTED POCHARD which was seen but not very well.
Both images are from the archive.
There was also a Kingfisher knocking about but more 'unexpected' were

c2 GREEN SANDPIPER

one among the Sedges

as another flew over the hide.
This morning I received an e-Mail from Bob inviting me to publish
his excellent video footage of the Red-crested Pochard

Bob Ford Naturalist

for which I thank him.

Further to that, I'll take the opportunity to suggest to any of our readers who would like to find out more about the Natural History of Dorset to contact Bob who is a Guide of the very best - I can guarantee you will thoroughly enjoy his walks.

Dorset Walks with Bob Ford

The Wall - Pink Floyd

Early morning for the past two days a Hobby has passed over the house at chimney height, while Little Egrets have started to return to the Stour to feed and the Tawny Owl continues to 'call'. We did get out for a short wander but the theme seems to stick with Insects.

BARRED STRAW

COMMON WAINSCOT

HEART and CLUB
were early finds in the trap but it was thought best to leave the
others until later in the day and get off to
 
BLASHFORD LAKES
With little of note on the 'Recent Sightings' board the only birds of note were

these c2 EGYPTIAN GEESE
and a few Common Terns.

This 'flowering' Marsh Grass was of interest but then
'bring on the Insects'.

First MEADOW BROWN of the year for me,

plenty of DAMSELFLIES,

SPECKLED WOOD,

CINNABAR MOTH

along with another diurnal flier
BLOOD VEIN

Whether we should mention Sand Martin Walls this is
Blashford's successful effort at getting these birds to breed.
At least 200 individuals in attendance 'The Wall' has been producing
young for a number of years now.

This simply seemed like a nice (almost tropical) subject.

A couple of Moths I haven't got around to yet, plus my first

RINGLET BUTTERFLY of the year.

PS - Yesterdays Mottled Beauty (Moth) was in fact a Willow Beauty, thanks to Paul Harris for the correction and the appropriate amendment has be made.

Here Comes Summer - Jerry Keller

A chill night with complete cloud cover and some intermittent light rain was thought not conducive with Insect trapping, but at dawn there were a few things to delve through in the 'dustbin'.

 BROWN SILVER-LINE

 BRUSSELS LACE

 CLOUDED BORDER
just to show a better image than previously.

 CLOUDED SILVER

 WILLOW BEAUTY

 STRAW DOT

 SWALLOW PROMINENT

TRUE LOVER'S KNOT

in addition we had an 'escapee' Scalloped Hazel.

It's a good job we have the 'trap' running again as there is very little sign of 'bird-life'.

At Longham Lakes all of note were c2

COMMON TERN

and somewhere in the region of 200+ Common Swifts. Meanwhile, at Avon Causeway all but one of the Egyptian Geese had disappeared along with all of the Redshank and Mediterranean Gull numbers reached c48, all adults. 

High As A Flag On The 4th of July

Despite the unseasonable weather conditions at the moment I feel as high as the proverbial flag, but they are not exactly helping things here on the farm. However, it did bring a   

TAWNY OWL
into good voice during the night, a Year Tick.

The trap too was reasonably productive with the likes of
BRIGHT-LINE BROWN-EYE,

BUFF ARCHES

and COMMON FOOTMAN all in evidence.

As already mentioned the weather put paid, albeit temporarily,
to the Hay Making with just a couple of hundred bales as the prospect
of rain put the process on hold.

'Birding' remains grim with just a brief stopover for 2
STOCK DOVEs
which seem to be becoming increasingly rare here,

while on the pond the pair of Tufted Ducks are still with us and
GREY HERON
still looms large.

back at the Electric Dustbin
THE SNOUT

DUSKY BROCADE

and SINGLE-DOTTED WAVE
are all expected at this time of year as are

CADDISFLY

In close proximity of the River Stour and a number of ponds it is not 

surprising that literally 'thousands' of these have been caught 

over the past few days.

Slightly more unusual
SANDY CARPET
is a Moth I had not previously seen.

The BIGGEST surprise was a

'Monster from the Deep'

and also another new creature to me,
GREAT DIVING BEETLE

Resorting to the Internet both to identify and find out more about this amazing Insect, this is what was found.

The Great Diving Beetle is a very large diving beetle, that are voracious predators in ponds, feeding on many smaller invertebrates, tadpoles and even small fish. The larvae are large, fearsome-looking beasts, with big biting jaws: they look a bit like pale brown, underwater Devil's Coach Horses. Great Diving Beetles are common in ponds and slow-moving water and can be spotted coming to the surface, pointing the tip of their abdomen out of the water to replenish the air supply stored beneath the wing cases. The larvae use damp soil by the edge of the water to pupate in. The adults are blackish-green in colour, with a yellow border to the thorax and around the wing cases.