Looking For A Good Time - The Partridge Family

I for one don't see too many Partridges in the 'field' these days so it was a coincidence that Mousey the Game Keeper delivered a couple of brace of Red-legged's here this morning. From a prestigious 'shoot' in the north of the county (Dorset), owned by an Arabian Sheik, it is probably only these institutions that keep the populations going these days.

 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

All 4 were quickly made ready for the oven with a Madeira jus.

Something of a 'RARITY' and a 'quality' catch

BLAIR'S MOCHA*
has to be on the 'Want List' of every Moth'er the appropriate
annotation has been made!

DEEP-BROWN DART

DELICATE*

One of several variations of
BEADED CHESTNUT

DUSKY THORN

Unfortunately, a very worn specimen of
SMALL MOTTLED WILLOW*

The Mocha, Delicate and Willow, all 'migrants' combine to make what has been described as a "pretty damn good migrant night particularly so far from the Coastal Fringe"! * denotes New to the Property List which, after just one year trapping, stands at 182.

 The coincidence mentioned above came on arrival at the
 
 KEYHAVEN and PENNINGTON NATURE RESERVES
Barely out of the car a gentleman, with a telescope, the other side
of the gate got me onto a lone

GREY PARTRIDGE

well viewable through his optic but a little distant for the best of image. Lacking what is often described as an inverted, deep chestnut coloured 'horseshoe' on the belly this was likely a juvenile bird.

GREY PARTRIDGE (Wiki).

These days I rather favour this reserve as being just a 30 minutes drive from the farm and requiring a minimum amount of walking to access all areas. Not particularly a 'twitch' (the practice of racing off to see a rare bird reported earlier) but there was an 'evens' chance of happening upon an American vagrant. One problem, this bird has been reported from both Keyhaven and Pennington, adjoining reserves, with a pinpoint being

BUTT'S LAGOON

There I was re-joined by the man with the 'scope and AN Other making life a little easier "many eyes making light spotting"! First up was the most unusual sight, one which none of us had encountered before of a

WATER RAIL bathing - novel!

MEADOW PIPITs
were numerous along with good numbers of Skylark and Lapwing
and just a small trickle of Swallows.

In total we managed to spot among the Dunlin and Redshank
c3 LITTLE STINT

in company with
BLACK-TAILED GODWIT

and COMMON SNIPE

During this period we had also picked up on a medium size Wader
mostly hidden by reeds in a crouched position with head under wing.

In company with another Common Snipe it looked to be smaller and brought back memories of a similar bird at Lodmoor in 2011 which at times favoured tall vegetation. Eventually in emerged to reveal itself as the relatively long staying

LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER

occasionally standing close to REDSHANK for comparison

or allowing other good views.

An image of the 2011 Lodmoor
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER

and short video footage of the same bird.
PS - The Partridges 'ate' a treat!

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Photograph - Ringo Starr

Another day of fine weather, which the forecasters tell us could be the last for the time being at least, with long periods of bright sunshine, and a gentle breeze to be enjoyed before the cold sets in. Not a lot on my agenda, in fact pretty much a 'stay at the farm' day but even closely confined there are things to see. As usual it was coffee at the Moth Trap, wherein there were a good few insects but only one addition to the Property List.

 GREY PINE CARPET
However, while engaged in the identification process this 

WREN (now called Winter Wren for reasons I cannot figure)

crept through the only gap in one window and more or less allowed me to catch it. A golden opportunity for a photo call not to be missed. Back to the Moths and another 'lost file' on the lap-top where two other 'escapees', which have been denied Property List Status, were found which bring the Parley total to 179.

GEM

DOUBLE LOBED

Loosing photos seems to be coming something of a habit with these, thought 'lost forever', taken at the Portland Bird Observatory during my recent visit. They show what was probably the most interesting and revealing moment of the stay, a

 COMMON WHITETHROAT

of this year's generation showing

 a 'band' on its tail. Not a usual marking for this particular Warbler,

The Assistant Warden explained that this is known as a 'Fault Bar' and indicates a period of feather growth, while in the nest being fed by the parent birds, when nourishment was either absent or in short supply. I have since discovered that this is not an unusual phenomena as since then someone has shown me a similar 'fault line' in their teeth as a result of a bout of measles when a teenager. With little else on the menu I'll leave you with a few more 'archive' images of MADAGASCAN ENDEMIC BIRDS

 MADAGASCAR SCOPS OWL

 male MADAGASCAR FODY

MADAGASCAR HARRIER HAWK

 MADAGASCAR CUCKOO ROLLER

 MADAGASCAR MAGPIE ROBIN

MADAGASCAR HOOPOE

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I Am The Owl - Dead Kennedys

Despite their 'daily' presence within a couple of mile radius of Parley the 2 key species for the month have avoided me for this first week.

 BARN OWL
(Wiki Pic)
was seen by others during the first 3 days while I was visiting
Portland, but since my return to the farm have remained strangely
silent (or, far more likely, I have been in the land of Nod?). Last night
redressed that irony as one was 'calling' close to the house at 02:00.

About that time the light evening mist had thickened to a dense fog and blocking out the heavens was likely to increase the catch from the Moth Trap? All of that quickly burned off at daybreak and there were a good number of Insects which are still under scrutiny. Unfortunately debilitated for most of the day all that was managed was the short drive to the Avon Causeway where it was found the Prodigal had returned. Only c5

EGYPTIAN GEESE
were seen but that was more than enough to fill the space on the
Dorset Month List. Two other species of Geese were there as well

 GREYLAG GOOSE

and CANADA GOOSE

but that was my 'bird watching' day over, so have once again had

to rely on the photo archive and another visit to Australia.

 BAR-SHOULDERD DOVE

 CARNABY'S BLACK COCKATOO

 COMMON BRONZEWING

 DOUBLE-EYED FIG-PARROT

The Continents tiniest Parrot,

'smaller' than our own House Sparrow.

 DUSKY WOODSWALLOW

 ELEGANT PARROT

Not looking quite so 'Elegant' in a torrential downpour.

RADJAH SHELDUCK

RED-COLLARED LORIKEET

 RED-NECKED AVOCET

 RED-TAILED BLACK COCKATOO

 SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER

 SPINY LIZARD

VARIEGATED FAIRY WREN

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