Ghost of Navigator - Iron Maiden

GHOST 
If this ain't The Maiden's Finest Hour 
will someone please let me know what is!
With our lap-top difficulties continuing we may have brought to

you some of these images a little earlier but,

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

Even before reaching the first Moth Trap on Friday

we recorded a

 'fly over'

MEDITERRANEAN GULL

only brought to our attention by its continuous and mournful calls from above.

This is the first known instance that this particularly attractive Gull

has been recorded here during the month of August.

Friday had brought us an early morning temperature of +9C with

that reducing by a 'single click' the next day, however even as it increased to

a full +17C yesterday at dawn there was no improvement seen in either 

quality or quantity at the traps.

 While it is as much to do with weather and other conditions the

Field Guide Text acts as a good indicator. Stating that

GHOST SWIFT

is on-the-wing through June and July, it was no surprise to find this

female flanked by a brace of males.

 In this instance the female

DRINKER

is on the left, and surely a favourite will all

BORDERED BEAUTY

 There have also been an interesting array of other Insects including

 BROWN

or

 SUMMER CHAFER

 HORSEFLY

 and the 

Ichneumon Wasp

 ICHNEUMON SARCITORIUS

Away from all of that we continued our usual rounds finding today's

 King of the Mountain

 to be a fine

 but as ever nervous

 HERRING GULL

Maybe a visit to SpecSavers might help, but on the Heath

we found a couple of items completely new to us starting with

 one of the Migonette Species more commonly know as

WELD

and while

WOOD MOUSE

 is familiar

 ROUGH MALLOW

an invader from the US of A

 was also a 'first'.

The most attractive 

POPLAR LEAF BEETLE

 

 appears to be much later than in previous years? but it was then on to the

 Trail Cameras

where all that was found was a performance by the

 WOOD PIGEON DISPLAY TEAM

With Hugh having noted our single and only

 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

during the week it would certainly have been added to the August List

 but it is always nice to see such things for ones self.

It should be noted that while we designate this as a

First for August

it is in fact far from that as once a very common species here.

Perhaps a better term might have been "since 2003 when formal record keeping commenced".
To end, another BEST TRACK this time from
Bon Jovi

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(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding

With just +9C showing on the dawn thermometer on Friday it was

considered, being early August and all, that things couldn't get much worse!

However, yesterday morning proved us wrong dropping yet another degree

which has been reflected at the Moth Traps with further poor returns.

Qualifying as the Best were

 YELLOW SHELL

 DARK UMBER

 DINGY FOOTMAN

 and

DARK SPECTACLE

 in addition there were a couple of rather interesting and eye-catching

Beetles

 ORANGE and BLACK SEXTON BEETLE

 and a new Insect altogether for our Recording Area

DOCK SHIELDBUG

'Dock' of the Bay 

Checking next Parley Pond there was the usual

commotion and charge of the resident 'ferals' but nothing else,

while at the Irrigation Pond things were even more quiet

 with just a single

COOT CHICK

starting to investigate the Big Wide World.

On Merritown Heath, or more particularly at the

 NETTED BALANCING POND

 and looking West along the tributary

there were a heart-warming

 half dozen juvenile

 GREY WAGTAIL

but never more than one in the viewfinder at any given moment.
Walking back in that direction we found

 a number of
MINER BEE
excavations, usually 'capped' at this time of year, but maybe the
unseasonabley wet weather has prevented that thus far?

 Along with a couple of stands of the invasive

 ORANGE HAWKWEED

From an identification by Bob Ford we can now tell you that this is a
BELGIAN ARMED FORCES SEA KING

 At the other end of our beat of the tributary we took a moment
to look back on ourselves,

before noticing, tucked away in this western corner,

 our second

COMMON SNIPE

of the Summer seemingly unphased at our presence.
It has been an EXCELLENT breeding year right across our 'Patch' for

GREEN WOODPECKER

 with the Heath being no exception.

We find it impossible not to indulge in a few shots!
and finally, from the
Trail Cameras

we have secured a new Species by way of a

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
along with what has now become the ubiquitous

JUVENILE STONECHAT

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Video Killed the Radio Star - Buggles

With 2 of our computers now in the clutches of Doctor Desktop and the other, a 'recent purchase', sporting that new fangled Windows 10, including the even more infuriating Snapfish Photo Editing Program, we have been at a loss to get anywhere near editing our photographs. Just because there are, give or take, 100 Million other users around the world having no trouble whatsoever with that new invention doesn't make us wrong but when the 2 are released from the Sick Bay they should arrive complete with Vista and Photo Shop - ROLL ON! In the meantime we had considered some 'incidental music', but thought these few video clips, taken in recent days, may be received with a little more favour?

HERRING GULL

female

TUFTED DUCK

LAPWING

young, feeding

MALLARD

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

LITTLE GREBE

COOT

and finally

3 LAPWING

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