Kid A - Radio Head

With any rain that there has been being short lived, it is the wind that has
dominated the weather picture in recent days. However, since the 'hot snap'
overnight temperatures have continued to hug the low teens and produce
A Few Good Moths!

 A most welcome start to proceedings at the First (Pond-side) Trap

and First for the Year

 SCARCE SILVER-LINES

and while we have recorded c3 already for the year this

BORDERED PUG

 is by far the best mark so far, in fact the 'best' we have ever seen.

Moving on to Harbins Farmhouse Garden it was the cavorting

WOOD PIGEONs

that stole the first attention, likely thinking about a 'second brood'?

 Also added to the Annual Tally what is considered to be a rather 'early'

 DUN-BAR

It's by no means all drudgery, as during these rounds we occasionally take a leaf from

 Welsh Poet W. H. Davies' work Leisure

 What is this life if, full of care,

we have no time to stand and stare.

 

 today it was the turn of the now beautiful blooms of

 

 OPIUM POPPIES

Continuing through a moderate haul of 173 Macro Moths of 71 Species

next to be added to the same list was the extremely delicate 'migrant'

VESTAL

 a tiny Insect of no more than 12mm will have at least flown across the

English Channel.

(for my dear friend Jean-Francois [and Roong of course] Le Sleeve)

 This induced me to search through the archive for the image of a 

sharply contrasting Vestal caught last year.

Of this, Manley (British Moths) tells " it can breed in summer in UK

producing extreme pink forms".

By this time thinking to myself, 

"I'll be glad when I've had enough"

 we reached the 5th and final trap, which was just like history repeating itself with the

'rare' Shoulder-striped Clover of recent days being almost the last critter to be pulled from captivity.

Depending on your view of 'rarity' yesterday's find, unlike the Vestal, no longer breeds in the UK

as becoming extinct here in 1951. There are said to be breeding colonies on the Channel Islands and

it is common across much of mainland Europe and Asia, but those found on our shores these day

are considered of the 'migrant only' variety!

'The Stunningly Handsome' 

and 

First for our Recording Area

 ORACHE MOTH

and finally on the subject of 'flying things' we instantly point out that this

most unusual 'propellers facing backwards' 

 PIAGGIO P180 AVANTI

 was not heading for the traps!

Changing the subject completely, stand up the boy at the back who shouted Hooray!

 We have maintained throughout most of our life that

ADVICE IS ONLY FOR 'GIVING'

but we are prepared to break with that tradition just this once and to say,

"if you want any peace and quiet, time to yourself, a chance to do all those things you

spent your life dreaming about, or for that matter just sitting down and having a quiet cuppa then" 

 'DO NOT RETIRE'

 We say that particularly now as for a couple of weeks we have intended 

bringing you up-to-date with the

Rare Breeds Old English and Bagot Goats.

Of the latter, it was always considered that on arrival all 3 were pregnant

and in recent days, with udder extended, Goat C has looked every bit as if she was

Kidding. She wasn't and last week broke away from the others, as Deer often do, to

find a sheltered spot to give birth. Two days later she reappeared minus the paunch but

with no Kid and was considered to have aborted. A lack lustre search was made of quite a large 

area but no foetus was found and over the following days a look-out has been kept for Corvid

activity to maybe indicate the position - still nothing found! 

So, it wasn't Alright for that Kid,
but there's more.

Following our usual track up to Parley Common the very quickly vanishing

 Flash of White

did eventually manifest itself into a 'juvenile'

 LITTLE EGRET

something we do not remember ever having seen in our homeland

but many hundreds must have been encountered during our extensive travels
Far and Wide.

Our next Port of Call was to be the Gravel Pit but we were delayed on route

by a snippet of Nature in its rawest state a male

BLACKCAP

tackling what was thought to have been a
Hairy Dragonfly.

Another

HAIRY DRAGONFLY

having not yet fallen into the clutches of the
Silva Warbler.

We were met at the watercourse by the now well established family of

CANADA GEESE

The 3 youngsters in for a bathe, and while there we took the opportunity to check the

 LITTLE GREBE FAMILY

with the female

'sitting' for a 6th day

on the new nest, while the duties of the male bird diminish by the hour

as the youngster becomes more self sufficient.

On the way to the Heath we picked up on a juvenile

DUNNOCK

and a smashed

SONG THRUSH EGG

and once at the Goat Enclosure there was great delight to see

 BAGOT 'TWINS'
 

 GATHERING of the CLAN

These Kids Are Alright - Link

On our way back we witnessed the

BELTED GALLOWAY CATTLE
engaging in a little
Mutual Preening

before deciding on such a warm, sunny and dry day to pay one of our
Quarterly Visits to Bournemouth International Airport.
Once inside we found a delightful area of

 EVENING PRIMROSE

 which was being patrolled by a wayward juvenile

HERRING GULL

 doubtless having fallen from one of the roofs of the tall buildings.

With no chance of getting back to the nest

the 'wise money' is on it not lasting the night!

 Accessible only from the Airport, this area of Grassland (looking west)
bounded by a cattle fence and the Tributary (right)
often referred to through these pages, has been given over to nature.

(looking east)
Here, we have permission to inspect the 100 or so
Reptile Covers
which we do about 4 times a year.

 (looking back into the Airport and the Jumbo Jet Hanger)

A time consuming exercise but well worth it as our finds included singles of

COMMON LIZARD

 A 'MOULTED' SNAKE SKIN

SLOW WORM

and a

SAND LIZARD

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Throwing Copper - Live

While it is doubtful that they are cutting along to the

Tax Office for a rebate, the Pennsylvania outfit

LIVE

seem, by-and-large, to have been overlooked in the UK. 

First discovered through a shipmate on the Buchan Alpha Oil Rig

once getting to the almost 'out-of-step' track

Pillar of Davidson - Live - Link

from the album

THROWING COPPER

there was no going back for me!

Described by 'front-man' Edward Kowalczyk as a 'work protest' song

On loneliness comes,

go see the foreman go see the profiteer.

for all its heartfelt brilliance this track falls second in my favourites, to the 'tear jerking'

Turn My Head

see end of Post.

An assortment of Moths, Bugs and Flies from the Moth Traps

last night and with little by way of colour or other dramatic, we feel

we could have squeeze the word 'dull' into this sentence somewhere!

 LESSER YELLOW UNDERWING

 BURYING BEETLE

 said to be able to detect its favourite food, dead bodies of no particular

preference miles away!

 SHARK

 BLACK SEXTON BEETLE

 BARRED STRAW

 SCORPION FLY

 SHORT-CLOAKED MOTH

and representing the Micros, which we do not do

EUROPEAN CORN-BORED

 While it does seem a little belated and pointless

we thought we would add a couple of images and videos of the last

COOT CHICK

 to survive.

From c6 eggs originally only c3 hatched to produce a juvenile,

but even then over the past couple of days all have fallen to the

predator or other demise.

On the up-side we did record our first

SMALL COPPER BUTTERFLY

of the year even though this Family Group continue to be on the short side.

 We haven't seen any juveniles from out local

ROBIN

 and even the videos

 are a little scant.

There you are you see, just mention Butterflies seem thin on the ground

this year and another species shows up

GREEN HAIRSTREAK

Turn My Head - Live - Link

 from the second album

 SECRET SAMADHI

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Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

To most a period of 'good fortune' is commonly referred to as a 

Purple Patch

unless of course, like me, you are as amour-ed and dumb struck with Jimi, then it is then known as

Purple Haze 

is all around, don't know if I'm going up or down.

Acting funny but I don't know why

 The entrance to my humble abode.

SLIGHT RETURN II

also a reference to Mr Hendrix

Slight I having been a previous dwelling in Weymouth.

Now, before we embark on the excuses for grainy images and videos,

just let me say that, as is usual these days, my day started at 04:30!

Heading towards the Pond-side Trap in Harbins Farmhouse Garden

it wasn't unusual to see a (the)  

 KINGFISHER

 sat on the newly erected safety fence, there are young Grand Children here now,

 but what is almost unheard of it just sat there despite my approach.

 Sod's Law

 was also playing a hand as for the very first time EVER it was decided to leave the binoculars

back at base, and we only ever do these rounds armed with the small Canon,

but sit there it did until catching a fish and heading off to the nest

some 200 yards away drilled into the bank of the

River Stour.

Apart from the small minuses, what a way to start any day as these are

the first videos of Kingfisher we have ever been able to secure.

With overnight temperatures having hovered in the late teens since the
Warm Spell
took hold catches from the Moth Traps have improved no end and this was to continue
Yesterday Morning.

In the first trap was a Moth personally never seen before let alone recorded here,
the beautifully patterned and delicate

CLOUDED MAGPIE
which was soon followed by a annual contender, the far more colourful

SCARLET TIGER
and the less eye-catching

COMMON FOOTMAN

There were others, which will save for another day, but the
very,very,very, very BEST
came from the final trap and almost the last Moth of the day.

SHOULDER-STRIPED CLOVER

Is described on the
Dorset Moth Group Website Link

 as a Rare and Restricted Resident with only 21 seperate records from the County
up to 2011, involving 41 individual Insects.
With all of that excitement now behind us we headed for
The Common 
and in the first instance the
Irrigation Pond

 where we found what might be considered the first returning Wader?

 After a totally failed breeding season here this year
(more of that to come in a future Post)
 all the adult birds cleared out in fairly quick time

with the final pair beating a retreat after their chicks were predated in mid-May.

LAPWING

On the Heath there was the new experience of seeing the

 SHETLAND CATTLE

sitting down while the c2 Belted Gallows are fond of a roll in the Heather,
these small but stocky animals seem to prefer being on the hoof!
Then, to our great delight, yet another first as checking the
Brambles, Blackthorn, Honeysuckle etc there was a Butterfly probably only
seen half a dozen time in my life.

On these early fleeting glimpses it really could only have been one thing,

 but not at all easy to get to grips with,
either dashing about, mostly out of view, or hiding.

WHITE ADMIRAL
Walking the fence-line we decided to check some of the Reptile covers
where we found c2

SMOOTH SNAKEs
this one looking in fine fettle 

while the other looked to be shedding its skin? 

Finally, it was noticed some days ago that all of the redundant Aircraft, usually parked
on the pan close to the adjoining fence, had been moved to the centre of
Bournemouth International Airport

with our inquisitive nature getting us wondering what this was all about.

Yesterday we found out that they have been moved aside to accommodate a

 BOEING 727-2S2F/Adv(RE) Super 27

an

OIL SPILL RESPONSE AIRCRAFT

  just caught in time

taxiing for take off.

Not surprisingly the
Tributary and Balancing Pond were found

Dry as a Bone.

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