Bored Teenagers - The Adverts

NO WONDER IT'S LATE, WE PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON!

In fear of being branded a Miserable Ol' Git, should 3 wishes be bestowed on me then surely in pole position would be the eradication of all ADVERTISING in all it's shapes and forms. Like the proverbial 'Peeping Tom' these mindless morons spew out this plethora of garbage to invade every facet of our lives, and similarly should be Banged Up by the Old Bill! Pheeeewww, glad that's out of my system.

There is however a reason for this mild tirade having received such an unsolicited invasion via the sanctity of these very pages. May we direct the reader to the Comments at the foot of our last Post where, those who have been with us for a while, will immediately spot the irony. The Comments will be cast into the Fiery Furnace shortly!

The Adverts were an English Punk Outfit

the embryo of which was formed in Bideford, Devon in 1976.

Original members Tim Smith (TV Smith) and Gayle Black (Gayle Advert)

moved to London to further their cause and met

Howard Boak (Howard Pickup) and Laurie Muscat (Laurie Driver)

and the deed was done.

Even this Link wasn't downloaded without a foxing

ADVERT

It may have become apparent to our Readers that due to low overnight temperatures there has been little on the subject of Moths during the past couple of weeks - "HURRAH" we hear you cry! But you don't get away with it that easily. While we had cleaned, lashed-up and stowed c4 of our traps one had been overlooked and has come in very handy during  what has been an unseasonable 'mild spell. Returns from that lone attractant have been as follows:-

 5 x 

DECEMBER MOTH

and top

RED-LINED QUAKER

 Of great interest among the Decembers was this female,

something personally not evey seen before.

 Comparisson with a Male

the book tells us that the female don't often get attracted by light.

 and looks likely to continue for a couple of days more - we'll keep you posted!

Most people around here know my passion for Wildlife, so how nice when

Tim and Kimberly

from the Golf Club popped round with something they thought may be of interest!

 It most certainly is, and maybe like most other Insects at 

this time of year should be keeping more of a low profile?

 DEVIL'S COACH-HORSE BEETLE

sometimes known as

COCKTAIL BEETLE

we can see why.

Out in the Wider World our day started with the largest flock of

 LAPWING

seen this Winter and easily 200+ strong.

They did alight on the ideal grassy area of

Bournemouth International Airport

but with the continuous retorts of pyrotechnics and playing of

Raptor Tapes their stay was shortlived.

Otherwise, all across our Recording Area Birds, and other Wild Life

remains at something of a premium especially the reduction of numbers of

WATERFOWL

Just a single pair of

WIGEON

remain

However, what there are in the area have been a little more cooperative and closer to hand.

Male
PHEASANT

with his attendant

6 strong Harem.

PHEASANT

Recent counts of

TEAL

have mostly been in 'double figures'

until yesterday that is.

The best we could do with

CHAFFINCH

but the Reed Buntings got away with it altogether.
Up at the Sewerage Works Fence the small birds were a little more affable

 CHIFFCHAFF

 a hard to get

 DUNNOCK
with a lone

 GOLDCREST
All else of note was the return of

Bournemouth Town Council Workers

to reap more of the
Heather Seeds
to transplant along the recently refurbished
Ringwood to Christchurch
spur-road.

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Jackpot - Jack the Lad

Jack the Lad were an Electric Folk Rock Band

formed in 1973 by 3 members of the recently defunct Lindisfarne.

Not at all my genre until they regrouped in 1979 just to play the Reading Festival

where they blew the crowd away, including myself, if my memory serves me!

It hasn't been particularly bountiful for Wildlife, particularly Birds, over the past few days but just like every facet of life when you least expect it a little gem turns up. First on parade at the Irrigation Pond was a

 JACK SNIPE

 which rarely make for a good photograph

as usually distant and concealed plus only being about the size of a

tennis ball doesn't help.

There were also a couple of noisy

 CANADA GEESE

which quickly departed.

Nothing was the story at the other ponds so we cut along to the

Sewerage Works Hedge

where a small group of at least c5

BULLFINCH

appear to have re-established themselves.

Close by we found a second noteworthy bird for the day a

LITTLE OWL

busily 'worming' in the hardened ground until we sent it to the trees.

On our way to the Heath we did call back into the ponds
to find just a small smattering of Ducks and a single

BLACK-HEADED GULL
 before encountering a

DARTFORD WARBLER
 awaiting our arrival just inside the gate.

 Coincidentally, a second Warbler turned up within 5 minutes, this time a
CHIFFCHAFF
leading to the hopes of maybe a 3 species of Warbler day - but no such luck.

 Despite the 'tributary' being amply supplied with water there has been no sign of

 Wildfowl or Wader
in the last couple of weeks.

 Continuing in attendance is the 'pied'

CARRION CROW
 while something a little more surprising is that the

ALDER BUCKTHORN
 is still holding on to its leaves?

 The FERNS have now just about had their day, but it is hoped that
this years 'spraying' will deter at least some of the growth next year.

 Our final location of the day was to be one of the
Solar Panel Compounds
where a small flock of

MISTLE THRUSH

were found, but unfortunately still no sign of any
Fieldfare or Redwing.

Back to the memoir p.m. and late afternoon these

MAGPIES

arrived to hoover up the bread we had scattered earlier.

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Raven Ravine - Genesis

Nights continue to be chilly so we were quite expecting everything to be frozen during the last couple of days. Lucky thing was, when its not shining directly in your eyes, there was also uninterrupted sunshine throughout daylight hours with the ice/frost readily turning to melt water.

 Here comes the Sun, Here comes the Sun

and I say it's alright!

The Beatles

But it was still early and would take time to soften things up below.

BLACKBIRD and ROBIN

waiting on the Solar Panels and watching for movement below.

Irrigation Pond

solid as a rock

and these young 'dark morph'
PHEASANTS

having the same problems as everything else.

Gravel Pit

ditto to above and similarly not a Waterfowl in sight.

 Best plan was thought to be heading for the Heath but one thing

we just cannot get our heads round - how do the Birds know

when you are about to/or just have pressed the shutter and fly off??

 The other of only c2

STONECHAT

recorded did stay ad was marginally more obliging, but for all the chill

 the Trees look fantastic in their coating of tinsel.

 An opportunist shot of a passing

RAVEN

as we were exiting before giving things a couple more hours to thaw out.

Had we done a little more 'thinking' and a good deal less 'cackling'

with some of the people we met at Longham on the last day of November,

 we may not have had to make a return visit to secure video footage

of the c3 

GREAT WHITE EGRET

which very luckily decided to stay put.

So, to utilise the waiting period that is precisely what we did and 

immediately managed to capture all 3 Egrets together (top image) 

which we didn't do on our first visit.

That Good Start was very quickly followed by a Bad Start as a

mist rolled in from nowhere, blotting out everything.

 Luckily it was short lived and as it lifted it was found that one of

the Egrets had shifted position.

Good for comparison in size between

Great White Egret and Little Egret,

but as we have the 'shakes' when drinking a coffee in the

warmth and comfort of

Slight Return II

what chance holding a camera steady, without a support, 

at passed 3 'o' clock on a

Cold and Frosty Morning

Good Morrow Masters All!

 A short interlude as a

CORMORANT

flew over and back to the original spot.

Timed to perfection, we were even lucky enough to catch a 

GREY HERON 

sneaking out of cover as well.

On our return to Parley Court Farm

more on a hunch than anything else we entered the 

Eco Recycling Works

rather than passing it by and saw what we had hoped to see, a

 FERAL PIGEON

 which (maybe surprisingly) is an addition to the

Ongoing November List.

In company was also a young

STOCK DOVE

As hoped, at the Gravel Pit we found a few

EURASIAN TEAL

taking advantage of the melt contentedly feeding in the margins,

and which were found to be a record count for this end of the year, c15 in total,

and how nice to see the males in full adult/winter plumage

sporting their gold quarter patches!

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Video Killed the Radio Star - Buggles (Part II)

On a cold, frosty, sunny and extremely quiet for Wildlife morning, it was decided to fill our time by videoing what is our daily route around the northern part of the Recording Area known as The Common. This Virtual Tour shows just what a bugbear life can be - but somebodies got to do it!

CHAPEL LANE

 Turning into Phase I of the Solar Panel Complex

Now on the main Bridleway and

turning into the

Irrigation Pond

Driving the northern edge of the largest of the

Solar Panel Compounds

which is Phase II

Returning from the Heath 

Merritown Heath / Parley Court Farm Gate

Back on Parley Court Farm

The Moors River 

is beyond the tree to the right

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