The Shepherd and Sally - The Savage Rose

Now there' a blast from a

Very Distant Past

but a fabulous band for all that! 

You 'never catch them all' and would you be satisfied if you did? but here are a couple of examples of how similar some of these Insects can be. With well over 2 thousand Species in Great Britain alone it's probably understandable why we stay, in the most part, well away from the Micro Moths.

SATIN WAVE

TREBLE BROWN-SPOT

RIBAND WAVE

COMMON WHITE WAVE
and just for contrast

SPRUCE CARPET
sharply contrasting.
Touching briefly on the Micros once again there were
c2 distinctly identifiable ones in the Traps including the 'ordinaire'

HYPSOPYGIA GLAUCINALIS 
and the far more 'bizarre'

AGDISTIS BENNETII
 The 'Y Stance' of the wings of this creature 'at perch' sets it aside from all others in the

Micro Moth Field Guide.

 It also has the vernacular name of

SALTMARSH PLUME

which usually favours more Coastal Wetlands, but there is always

an exception to the rule, we are some miles from the coast here at

Parley Court Farm. 

 The this little belter obligingly crawlled into a specimen pot

 BLACK-HEADED CARDINAL BEETLE

 On Parley Pond meanwhile a female MALLARD was guarding her charges,

 after which we made our way to the Common to find the Shepherd 

in something of a predicament.

 Having now taken over fully from his predicesor Alex, Jack up until now

had not given me his telephone number! 

This Ewe along with c3 Lambs have been at large for the last week

but with no contact detail there was no one to report the shortfall to.

The youngsters had taken no catching at all, but Mum was quite a different matter.

Not only more lively, and seemingly a lot more stupid, she had found herself on

the wrong side of a deep ditch which Jack had to negotiate, on the return route,

clinging on to the Sheep. Being every bit of 6 feet 8 inches tall he is a 'natural'

in such recoveries!

With nothing of note at the Irrigation Pond it was a quick hop round to the

Gravel Pit

where upon stopping at the most advantageous spot for viewing the

Watercourse this

 GREEN SANDPIPER

 landed directly in front of the

Strange Rover

 albeit at a bit of a distance,

 while close by this

BLACK-HEADED GULL

had found a comfortable spot atop of the 'Mountain'!

It was simply one of those days when anything else of interest
just didn't turn up. except maybe for a brief encounter with this

MISTLE THRUSH
and then with my noted lightening-fast reactions managed to film

one of the
Silverstone Energy Maintenance Staff

hard at work!

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Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum

Today's headline could just as easily have been 

Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival 

as last night's much anticipated 

'Strawberry Moon',

just like most of the rest of the day turned out to be a 'damp squib! 

Indeed, yesterday's banner, Obscured By Clouds would also have 

fitted the bill, but there you go there's no figuring the weather and

as can be seen from the top image the Moth Trap almost outshone the Heavenly Body!

 So as we step into the first day of the

Astronomical Summer

the good news is there hasn't been a drop of rain so far!

So, since the BOOM days of the weekend before last the Moth Traps have taken something of a tumble in both quality and quantity, but there's usually something to save the day. Yesterday it was

 the superb looking

 MILLER
And so it was that later, as the Miller told his tale.
That her face, at first just ghostly, turned a

 Whiter Shade of Pale Link
Rock 'n' Roll Trivia

It seems strange to relate that 'guitarist' Robin Trower (all in white and still one of my very favourite British Blues Guitarists) features in this video at all as at the time of recording the original record he was not even in the band. He did however replace Ray Royer later in 1967 and played on the follow-up 'hit' Homburg. He and 'front-man' Gary Brooker had formed the Paramounts back in 1964 and had a minor hit, reaching No 35 in the UK Charts, with the Leiber / Stoller penned Poison Ivy. Their first professional gig as Procol Harum was as 'opening act' for The Jimi Hendrix Experience also in 1967.  

 and we managed to secure the first decent image of the very common

 HEART and CLUB

Still determined to try with the Micros, after our much repeated War Cry of

"we don't do Micros",

a lone and tiny

THISTLE ERMINE

and an accompanying 

ROBBER FLY

Neoitamus cyanurus

Also known as

ASSASSIN FLY

On the Gravel Pit the pair of

 LITTLE GREBE

 appear industrious enough to have built a nest

 but all that remains are small piles of sub-surface weed.
Whatever all this has been about over recent days may never be known?
At Eco and scurrying among the

 FOX-TAIL GRASS
the c2 juvenile

 LITTLE RINGED PLOVER

have been noted taking their first short flights, nothing compared to
the one lying ahead of them in the none too distant future!
Also there and

 progressing through the grass at a 'snail-pace'

 WHITE-LIPPED SNAIL

and cross-fertilising

BROWN-LIPPED SNAILS

On the Heath

SMOOTH SNAKE
continue to slither while

 BITING STONECROP

 HEATH BEDSTRAW

and what is thought to be

 BLACK MEDICK

are all now in full bloom, and now in full leaf

TREMBLING ASPENS

seem to jingle in the breeze.

Just before leaving the Heath the adult

BELTED GALLOWAY COWS

were spotted some distance away, but the lack of the Calf prompted further investigation. She was found some half mile away from the others but, wait for it, 'inside' the Bournemouth International Airport Perimeter Fence. A call to Gary the Herdsman had him start out post haste to sort the situation, by which time the plaintive cries of the youngster had the 4 adults stampeding across the Heath to assist. Having just taken the 'eye off the ball' for that split second the Calf was now back on the Heath and suckling from her mother. That raised quiet another question as the whether an extra splash of water should been added to the Glendronach (8 year old) last night?

No, she was most certainly on the Airport but all well

and back with Mum, Gary was 'stood down'!

and finally from the 

Trail Cameras

just a lowly

WOOD PIGEON

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Obscured By Clouds - Pink Floyd

or
'DARK SIDE of the MOON'
take your pick!

While here at the Bagsy Blog we have no deadlines for publication it may be noticed we are marginally later today, this is due entirely to the weather! The heavy and persistent overnight rain, accompanied by a nasty stiff breeze, hasn't abated one iota so there seemed little point in swinging out of the hammock at first light. Additionally, from a distance it looks like one of the Moth Traps may have blown during the deluge and with the wet stuff forecast to continue throughout much of the day it looks like we may be confined to a quick buzz round the Recording Area in the Strange Rover.

Saturday evening closed with a little action in the Harbins Farmhouse Garden

as the almost
 FULL MOON
became visible in the evening sky albeit partially

Obscured By Clouds.

First a male

  SPARROWHAWK,

which given the quality of the images might just as well have stayed
out of the view finder,

was causing havoc among mainly the Swallows, but also other small birds.
This was followed by what was very likely its mate and then
a male Kestrel which both escaped the camera.

With such a low temperature at dawn, just +6°C,
there was no Great Expectations from the traps but

 SMALL DUSTY WAVE

BORDERED WHITE
a Beautiful little Moth, but so reluctant to spread its wings

 to reveal 'all' of its charms!

 A great name for those of us who are 'never quite sure'

 

 UNCERTAIN

were all added to the Year List.

 also in one of the traps was this

 RED SOLDIER BEETLE

Not at all good news met the eye at the Irrigation Pond as yet another

 BLACK-HEADED GULL

was found dead. Like the other 3 recently there were no sighs of wounding?

 and just look at that 'juvenile' Goose after only 3 weeks

 now starting to look like a

CANADA

PURPLE TOADFLAX

which is a 'cultivar' gone feral
 starting to show in abundance around the Pond margins
and additionally some

RAVEN

 activity in and around the

Solar Panel Compounds

On the Heath Bird Life was more or less reduced to just this single male

STONECHAT

The usual Sunday turning of the Reptile Covers took place to reveal
c2 each of

SMOOTH SNAKE
and


SLOW WORM

BELTED GALLOWAY CATTLE,

including the new Calf, out in the open for the first time,

awaiting my arrival at the Airport Balancing Pond which was also lifeless.

There's ALWAYS a better day around the corner!

We'd like to THANK all Readers who have taken the moment

to pass on our Link to others, particularly the USA who seem determined

that we GO VIRAL! Please continue the 'good work'!

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