Waders of the Lost Ark - Lucas and Kaufman

We have it on good authority that
George Lucas and Philip Kaufman
are planning a sequel to this Post entitled
'Raiders of the Lost Ark'

You could hardly see the Clear Blue Sky for the vapour trails as we started yet another search in the hope of some Moths. Guess all the additional Aeriel Activity must have something to do the the strike by French Air Traffic Controllers? They certainly form an interesting pattern.

Above the planet on a wing and a prayer, my grubby halo, a 'vapour trail' in the empty air.
Across the clouds I see my shadow fly, out of the corner of my watering eye.
A dream unthreatened by the morning light, 
could blow this soul right through the roof of the night.
There's no sensation to compare with this,
suspended animation, a state of bliss.
Can't keep my mind from the circling skies,
tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I

MAGNOLIA
everywhere looking good.
With this being the First Anniversary of the finding of Dorset's Second

 BALSAM CARPET
 we were hoping that things would 'buck-up' around the Moth Traps

which compared with all other days in the season so far, they did.
Best in Show included

HERALD

 FROSTED GREEN

DOTTED BORDER

 NUT-TREE TUSSOCK
and the incredible looking

STREAMER
Nothing new for the Farm List but all except Dotted Border
New for the Year.
In addition we had our first

COMMON WASP
of the Year,
it won't be the last, and first

CRANE FLY
(Daddy-long-legs)
and from a little further afield, but still in Dorset

SMALL EGGAR

SMALL EGGAR
Egg Mass

My informant tells me that the female, having jettisoned her eggs. then
sheds all of her body hair to form a protective coating for them.

Recon one or two of them Fly Boys must have accounts with the
HALIFAX

That's now a full 2 weeks of

MEDITERRANEAN GULLs
nowhere near the c49 on the first day of the month, but averaging
about 10 individuals daily.

GREEN WOODPECKER
Nest Hole
 
and lagging behind the Meds, a bit but no less welcome, this 'pair' of
EGYPTIAN GEESE,
thought to be the same 2 have now been seen on 8 successive days.

The Irrigation Pond
LAPWING
is still looking for a Mate.

It definitely ain't EXERCISE (as in I'm just going to 'Excersis' the Dog)
that I step in from time to time, but up on the Common owners can be
forgiven for not picking up, after 'emptying' their pet.
But what sort of 'perverse mind' firstly stoops to recover the droppings,
then carefully bags it, expertly secures the neck with a 'double sheet-bend'
and 'Matthew Walker knot' before offering it up, like a Christmas Bauble,
on the nearest tree for us all to enjoy.
It doesn't take much working out which end of the
LEASH the ANIMAL
is in some cases!
DOES EVERYTHING COME IN TWO's?

Lightning Strikes for a second time as there are now 2
SHELDUCK
on the Irrigation Pond, along with c2 'displaying'

LITTLE RINGED PLOVER

 This intriguing 'brace' of
HERRING GULL

a 'full adult' right with a 'younger' bird, which might be described as 

a 'Third Summer Type', showing some mottled feathers in the wings 

and a pale tip still to the bill.

and a 'couple' of

GREEN SANDPIPER

are still knocking about.

I am now beginning to think, having had unrestricted access to the main

and largest Solar Panel Compound for a couple of weeks, that this area

might just become the

The INNER SANCTUM
having already hosted c4 Little Ringed Plover, Wheatear, a few Skylark,
a pair of Raven plus c10 Roe Deer but, there might be a snag.

 This near perfect area, for certain Wading Birds in particular, is now also

 'free access' to dozens of

SHEEP
"Yes Ewe".
Opening up yesterday, the whole flock were slowly trudging across the
gravelled area and by the time the padlock was re-secured my thoughts of
any birds had already been dashed.

but 'ang on a sec, wot's that crouched just outside the now redundant
Silverstone Office?

Oh, it's only a

GOLDEN PLOVER

now we don't see the likes of them here very often.

In fact, since dedicated recording began, there have only ever been

c5, in a group, flying at great altitude along the course of the
River Stour last December.

Once again the ST-RANGE ROVER

proved to be the perfect hide.

With the hosepipe to the Sheep's water supply close at hand

a puddle was quickly formed

into which our 'Most Welcome Visitor' immediately
plunged for a Bath and Dhobi.

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Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf

There have been some fabulous happenings here since our last Post which started a couple of evenings ago with the first Parley Court Farm foray into the world of BATS. Without going into too much detail, Bat Detectors were activated for about one hour soon after sunset, but there were distractions. Firstly, my associates were keen to witness the 'roding' Woodcock hereabouts and then of course there was a 'second' passing of the International Space Station, programmed for 21:01 and supposedly visible for 6 minutes. The last 'pass' a few days ago was a spectacular sight, but this was a complete damp squib as it never came into our view at least. However, the Bats more than made up for that with

 PIPISTRELLE

 PIPISTRELLE SOPRANO
along with

 DAUBENTON'S
all being recorded and added to the PCF Archive.

Highlight of the evening was watching the latter, at very close quarters,
catching Insects on or just above the surface of the Fishing Lakes.

These images were sourced from Wiki,without permission, so it is hopped 
that no offence will be taken as illustrating to a wider audience.

Returning to Slight II at about 22:00 and checking the Heavens for Venus, Jupiter etc, an unexpected sighting was made of an extremely high (higher than the ISS) and fast move body, which could only have been man-made. Some research as to identification was carried out and was considered most likely the recently returned to Earth

The SPY in the Sky Link

AMERICAN X-37B SECRET SPACE AIRCRAFT

no need for an apology to Wiki as I took this image myself!

Best Wishes Pinocchio

The RIVER STOUR

on Thursday morning presented a fine start to the day, while it was decided

to nominate this persistent

SONG THRUSH

for the Vocalist of the Spring Award.
Each of the past 17 days it has sat atop one of the Harbins Fir Trees
singing its head off from 05:00 to late evening.
If anything deserves a Lump of 'Crumpet'
(whoooops, not allowed to say that, please substitute with SCRATCHINGS).
From the Moth Traps numbers are increasing but nothing new

TREE BUMBLEBEE
and

one of the 'Bark Beetles' thought to be

ASH BARK BEETLE

This was followed by something that was new, to me at least.

This is the very first

SHELDUCK

personally witnessed on the ground at PCF,

the previous c3 were all

seen 'in flight'.

and an Absolute Cracker at that and
Bit of a Big Deal here!

One of a pair, this female
BLACKBIRD
along with her mate are now feeding young - we'll endeavour to bring you more.

and this is my new Chauffeur s-itting on my car.

SHELDUCK

in action.

We know, here at the Bagsy Blog, that we sometimes suffer from Acute Repetitive Syndrome - but as someone once said a Thing of Beauty is a Joy to Behold. We make no apologies for including this series of shots take, with just a little patience, last Saturday.

The sensational
DARTFORD WARBLER

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