On An Island - David Gilmour

With reference to our new 'header photo', and the note attached on the first day of the month, it is time to tell how this and another bird almost killed me, slight journalistic licence there! Having already spent 2 weeks each in Colombia and Venezuela a flight was then taken south to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, but with no time or need to linger there. Priority then was to head north to spend some time with the world renowned Angel Paz in the small town of Nanegalito where he and his family had simply left a huge tract of rain forest into a magical Nature Reserve rather than crop it for its timber. Along with some of the most generous and informative hospitality among, the thousands of birds there were

 GIANT ANTPITTA

 COLLARED TROGON

 COCK-of-the-ROCK

and no fewer than c21 species of Hummingbird visiting a huge feeding station.

These included

 EMPRESS BRILLIANT

BOOTED RACKET-TAIL

and

GREEN-CROWNED WOODNYMPH

After 3 days it was onward to the coastal town of Manta and then by
what are commonly referred to as a

CHICKEN BUS

(as it was likely to find a cage of them plonked on your knees)
to that superb little nook known as Puerto Lopez.
Alighting the bus and looking/hoping for guidance the very first faces see were those of

English Archaeologist Richard Winnis
and Ecologist Deirdre Platt
who had upped-sticks for a life in the Tropics.

Taking me by the hand they soon had me booked in the recommended hotel
before leading me home for an evening meal. During this time they gave me the lowdown
on the local area, but recommended the boat trip to one of the off-shore islands.
That was considered a priority, and the following morning met my guide for the day,
who informed me that there was much Wildlife to be seen both en-route and on the

However, there was a catch as he continued to say that it would be
my choice which of these we would see as to see both was almost
a physical impossibility due to the intense heat - Red Rag to a Bull Time!

 Landing waist-deep in water on the East Coast
and our first encounter on the beach a dead

 PUFFER FISH

 while

 RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD

 skimmed above our heads.

 Predictably the pace was slow in these arid conditions,

 taking a full 75 minutes to reach the only juvenile

 WAVED ALBATROSS
on the Island, all the adult birds having gone pelagic.

Excellent viewing and a can-full of photographs but enough of that
it was time to negotiate.
The much younger and one thousand times fitter Guide again insisted
that carrying on to the next bird would be madness, but in such a situation
that might be the only 'bite of the cherry' you ever get?
He agreed to give it a go and on the way we encountered

BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY
 with young and

NAZCA BOOBY
 with young, but it was the third of the Family Group that interested me.
We eventually made it to the nesting colony and there before us at very close quarters was

RED-FOOTED BOOBY
 a much appreciated 'lifer' but true to say there was little puff left in the tank.

 Juvenile.
During this strenuous trek we had been walking diagonally further away from the boat
and on the way back the Guide not only had to pour water down my throat,
but also had to carry me over his shoulder for the last few hundred yards.  

Looking a little more bedraggled and sun-kissed than when we had arrived
it was sure a lesson had been learnt, but hitting the beach it was
time for me to show my gratitude to both Guide and Captain for
Services Beyond the Call of Duty.

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Sweet Painted Lady - Elton John

INSPIRATION IS A TWO-WAY STREET

It has taken a little while to get round to this, but now the tale can be told of an inclement morning, not that long ago, when monitoring the traps had to be put on hold. As daylight broke 2 tiny figures were spotted arriving outside of Slight Return and at their knock the door was open to find one young girl, one young boy along with their mother. What was all this about?? I was soon to find out! Mum went on to tell me that the week prior to their arrival at the Parley Court Farm Caravan Site it was undecided exactly where the family would spend the August Holiday and so it was put to the vote. Needless to say that PCF won the day, as they were now here, but it had been the children who had out-voted the parents on this matter. "Why do you want to go there" asked Dad, to be told in unison "we love it there and we really do want to see The Moth Man again" - welling up doesn't even come close! Not only had these 2 little mites remembered me, they had also committed to memory most of the Moth names shown to them all that time ago, so it might be true to say they had been INSPIRED! On the strength of that it was thought only right to present them with my own copy of Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Sean Clancey inscribed with the words

When you are totally addicted to Moths

just remember who's fault it was.

Bagsy

WHAT A FEELING

Ever onward, and it's true to say that maybe just a couple or 3 images of

 GREY WAGTAIL

 may have been sufficient

to press home the point, but that was before it caught this hapless

COMMON BLUE DAMSELFLY

which stimulated us

 to show you

 the full sequence of events.

 Phheeewwww

we think that is enough!

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY
Other 'strange behavior' at the Irrigation Pond

we cannot recall ever having seen a

GREEN SANDPIPER
laying down before!

SMALL TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY

while the

COMMON SANDPIPER

was also putting on something of a show at the redundant Coot nest.
On the Heath there was another small showing of young

WHINCHAT
which only amounted to c3 before they were gone.
 
Also there, half of the tributary which feeds the
Moors River
is now completely dried out

while the eastern end continues to hold a good amount of the
Wet Stuff

enough to attract a

GREY HERON
and there was also a Green Sandpiper there.

PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLY

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Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes

The new header photograph depicts one of

two birds that almost killed me, but we will have to

bring that story to you at a later date!

It's still too gloomy at 06:00 these days to get stuck into the Moth Traps but the atmosphere was clear, as was the sky with all heavenly bodies visible, but then down came the fog. The traps were then abandoned for a further 30 minute until the sun cut the horizon and did its stuff.

There were a few things of interest within, and it should be reported

that this Post also expands on some of the items featured yesterday.

A First for the Year (FFY) made for a good start with

HEDGE RUSTIC
followed by the eye-catching

CLAY TRIPLE-LINES

the delightful

VAPOURER
another FFY

LUNAR UNDERWING
and

COMMON WAINSCOT

At the Irrigation Pond
and as yesterday's Post indicated it looked every bit as though the

COOT
 were going to rejuvenate the old nest and have another crack at raising young.
Fair enough we thought, but by this morning the nest had grown to giant proportions.

 COMMON SANDPIPER

 is still at the Gravel Pit but has never ventured this close

 and so we took the opportunity

 to rattle off a few shots

in as many 

 varying postures as possible.

There was also ample chance to

capture a couple of

'video clips' as well.
Also there and detected briefly a few days ago, a

 juvenile
MOORHEN
 

obliged us at close quarters but also surprised in as much as no
adult birds have been seen in the northern half of the property for
over 2 months now.

juvenile
MALLARD

feeding.
On the Heath there are still a few each of

 SLOW WORM
and

 SMOOTH SNAKE
 but a

BLACK SLUG
was a lucky find, lucky that it wasn't stepped on,
while a 'free flying'
 
TREBLE-BAR,

yet another FFY, was considered even luckier!

AT ECO

 all there was of note, and just for once, was the singe resident

 HERRING GULL
willing to be photographed.

This Bird scratches out a very good living from the discarded

bits from the work force.

TRAIL CAMERA UPDATE

and for the second time we are able to feature a
NIGHTJAR

with a blurred landing and an all too short clip of video,
followed by a nifty little sequence from a couple of

WOOD PIGEON

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