Obscured By Clouds - Pink Floyd

The 7th studio album from the

English Progressive Rock Band

("By the Way Which One's Pink")

 OBSCURE WAINSCOT

followed by a completely new Insect for me

SNIPE FLY

 SPINACH

14-SPOT LADYBIRD

 A second for the Year

 FOX MOTH

FLAME

Down by the riverside on what are occasionally

Water Meadows

 c6 

EGYPTIAN GEESE

among the Charolais Herd

 which are the first here for over a month.

While this individual looks every bit like a vintage 2017 we have found

no indication of breeding on our patch.

On the deficit side we also found a dead

 MUTE SWAN

Close inspection of both sides for no signs of having collided with power-cables,

which is the most usual cause of death here, nor any broken bones.

 HERB ROBERT

and

 FIELD ROSE

followed in quick succession and then low-flying above the

Solar Panel Compound

 a small group of

 COMMON SWIFT

given the altitude we decided to 'practice' a little camera work!

They do say it "makes perfect"

but feel it's going to be a while yet.

 Also in this area, once again

 MISTLE THRUSH

seem to be doing very well with the compound offering up a ready

supply of food for young birds.

At the gateway to the Heath the story was the same as we 

"just had time to stop and stare"

 with extremely close views of this

 CHIFFCHAFF

 gleaning the Gorse

no doubt for another nest full of Chicks!

This

ROE DEER 

put in a brief sprint but was soon gone as were we.

Having no access these days to the increasingly busy 

Eco Recycling Works

we do make the occasional climb to the top of the near 20 foot high bund

from where the whole area can be viewed and 'scoped if needs be.

A pair of 

SHELDUCK

 have lingered here throughout the season but even though we have noted the

 Male Displaying

 (to the accompaniment of a Lapwing calling in the background)

we have seen no definite evidence of breeding.

Female

(with Wren doing backing vocals)

On the way back we came across a male

 REED BUNTING

 looking every bit as if he was

 collecting food for nestlings.

The most unusual sight of the day was found right on our own doorstep,

in fact to be totally accurate, right on our Moth Table a

BIRD PELLET

looking to have been regurgitated by a Song Bird rather than the more

Usual Suspects.

It may be a little belated but no less sincere, but we feel it about time to once again 

THANK 

our helpers/mentors who not only identify some of our

finds but also pass on huge amounts of learning to your

Humble Servant!

Dave Foot, John Gifford and Paul Harris

(in no other order than alphabetical)

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I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing - New Seekers

Don't panic, it wouldn't be fair to burden you with the Link!
Having just recover from the frivolity of last weekend, 

BLINK,

and what do you know, it's the weekend again!

However, with this warming of the atmosphere and to a degree

a fair old whack of southerly airflow, we are seeing favourable returns from the

Moth Traps.

Despite its abundance it is always a pleasure to take

SMALL ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH

 but leaning towards favouritism there's a very long way to go before you can beat

CLOUDED BUFF 

Certainly in my Top Ten, it was probably due to a sudden change of wind direction

that we caught this 'beauty' at all. Jinking round to the north east for just a hour or two

was enough to blow this single off the Heath and into our hearts.

DARK ARCHES

 wasn't quite such a joy, but nevertheless an addition to the

Year List

and welcome for all that.

It looked right, but the size gave reason to doubt this was a

COMMON WASP

but we are assured that is exactly what it is, half size as freshly emerged.

 While monitoring, sorting and photographing our specimens an even larger

an far more menacing weapon flew directly overhead a

BOEING AH-64 APACHE ATTACK HELICOPTER

As Rory Gallagher once said "don't go Messin' With the Kid"!

There's always time to take a look at the

RIVER STOUR

as it wends its way through 

Parley Court Farm

and, being this time of year, having donned the full regalia of

COMMODORE STRAWBERRY

it is once again time to utter those immortal words,

"come to me oh plumptious one"!

 and not to be outdone we also stopped to take stock of the latest crop of

NEW POTATOES

in Hugh's equally new allotment.

Up at the Irrigation Pond, for a while at least, everything seemed 'rosy' for the

 COOT FAMILY

 it isn't always a good idea to be so adventuresome when you are a juvenile

 with tumbling down being quite easy

by comparison to

 getting back up again - there are dangers in wait.

We can report that on this occasion the chick made it back to the top

to enjoy the delights of the male bird bringing food, but it was all to be short lived

as from c6 eggs c3 juveniles hatched but have, since these shots, all been predated.

THIS WAS A 'SECOND BROOD'!

Far more delightful encounters up ahead to meet for the first time

LORAN

the new Shepherdess, there today to undertake worming and inoculating duties.

At least we'll have something to talk about over the dinner table later.

The juvenile Little Grebe continues to thrive at the 

Gravel Pit

where this morning a 

ROBIN

was 

King of the Mount

only for a few minutes before being dethroned by this

BLACK-HEADED GULL

while with no sign of the male in recent days the female

TUFTED DUCK

still remains quite at home, while the

SEDGE WARBLER

brings up his

50th

day of none stop 'singing', we do hope 'she' happens along!

On the Heath it was GREAT to see our first and only this year

 juvenile

 PIED WAGTAIL
we hope it wont be the last.

 PURPLE TOADFLAX
is shooting up all over the place and 

 HOUSE SPARROW
are still nest building likely for a 'second brood'?

Eventually back to
Slight Return II

where yet another juvenile and now daily visiting

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

is just one of maybe as many as 4 individuals, they seem to have done very well.

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