"Cuckoo Cocoon" - Genesis

 from the double and surreal album

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

 If you havn't discovered this already this 'taster' is surely the best place to start!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWRrQ6GlI8o

The story of Rael a New York street punk and his 'alter ego' brother John.

If pushed it would willingly be agreed that this is my favourit album of all time, 

full of perfection, as far as musicianship is concerned, mystical and bizzare lyrics

with another nuance through every groove!

 Wrapped up in some powdered wool - I guess I'm losing touch

Don't tell me this is dying, 'cos I ain't changed that much

The only sound is water drops, I wonder where the hell I am some kind of jam?

Cuckoo Cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?

We will attempt to cram the whole picture onto one post.

As previously reported the Troops arrived on Saturday afternoon

and while the temperature, among others, was not ideal with

c10 Moth Traps blazing away all night surely something had to come our way!

With all parties mustered on Sunday morning

 Dave Foot (l), Moi amd Phil Sterling

our approach would be to attack Dave's traps first which had been laid,

a little unusually, off of the Heath and more towards the Solar Panel Compound

where the Ragwort is rife!

Bearing in mind we have been trapping regularly here since2016 and Phil before that

it was something of a surprise to find 'first on parade' was a

DARK TUSSOCK

only the second ever recorded here

before the No9 Bus Syndrome kicked in with a total of

c4 more being plucked from the same trap!

There's nothing I can recognize; this is nowhere that I've known
With no sign of life at all, I guess that I'm alone
And I feel so secure that I know this can't be real but I feel good
Cuckoo cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?

As can be seen from the first image  the basher or basha shelter had been rigged

along with one of the anglers umbrellas, kindly donated by 2 of the local angles.

We needed Both!

It is a slow process, especially like Phil and Dave you study both Macro and Micro Moths,

and if some of the behavior looks a little bizzare there is 

Method in Every Madness!

 Phil studying the tiniest of Insects, some as small as 3mm before

they get frisky and try and escape the trap!

We will only show our First's for the Year starting with

 CLOAKED CARPET

 CHEVRON

along with

SCARCE SILVER-LINES

as Phil emerges from his Cocoon - Welcome Back,

as we then discovered some of the 'smaller' specimens such as

 SLENDER PUG

MARSH OBLIQUE-BARRED

(we are talking pin-heads here, alone I would surely have overlooked this)

 MAPLE PUG

CLOAKED MINOR

and another look at the side elivation of

SCARCE SILVER-LINES

LESSER CREAM WAVE

was considered a decent capture while

 BULRUSH WAINSCOT

was not unexpected given the abundance of the larval (catterpillar) food plant

Greater Reed Mace

along the southern perimiter and elsewhere.

I wonder if I'm a prisoner locked up in some Brooklyn jail
Or some sort of Jonah shut up inside the whale
No - I'm still Rael and I'm stuck in some kind of cave
What could've saved me?
Cuckoo cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?

However, as is tradition, the Best is kept for Last with

 WAVED BLACK

being a great joy to all three of us!

In all, 71 Species of Macro Moth were captured on the day,

a 'fair haul' in my opinion and all released safely back to the wild!

Considering all of that it is worthwhile to mention the knowledge that was dispenced,

the respect for each other and the banter which took me back to

Royal Navy Days!

THANKS FOR YOU'RE COMPANY GENTS and ROLL ON THE NEXT TIME!

The Birds and the Bees - Dean Martin

The overnight forecast for Saturday night didn't look at all promising

with a threat of heavy rain predicted for the first part of Sunday morning at least.

 Already the clouds were gathering as were the 'luminaries' in the form of

Phil Sterling and Dave Foot

with just enough daylight to lay the most moth traps (10) we have ever set here on a single visit!
All will be revealed once we have completed the Log, ID's and Images!

However, there had been some action on the daily rounds prior to their arrival with

 CANARY-SHOULDERED THORN

 ROUND-WINGED MUSLIN

 along with

 CAMPION

added to the year list.

During that period a 'skein' of c28

 GREYLAG GEESE

had flown over making for the largest airbourne gathering we have ever recorded here.

 None of them landed with this image being for example only.
What followed could only be described as a combination of Shock and Great Delight
as we witnessed an adult

 LITTLE GREBE

towing a beak full of

 pond weed
towards an already well constructed nest

with a single egg in it.

 On the downside, there was no sign of the Humbug (youngster)
of last Wednesday!
 On the way to the Heath we had a brief sighting of the c3

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE
which had once again returned to the 
Solar Panel Compound
they must put in some miles!

 c2 STOCK DOVE

had taken up station on the
Raptor Tree

one of them not lingering long, but look at that nape!
Just a very short clip of a

DARTFORD WARBLER
not to be missed under any circumstances and followed by more

BLOOMING HEATHER
From our friend John Gifford there were a couple of most useful
Insect Identifications
with both the

 DEERFLY, Chrysops Relictus

 which he goes on to add as from the Horsefly family so they bite.

and
RED-TAILED BUMBLEBEE 
both new to me and

 may also sting?

but on both counts we got away with it. Again we could not resist

the ever changing plumage

of our host of juvenile

STONECHAT's

 It was also noted that a mighty gate has been errected at the 
Cattle Crush
so will soon be making investigations to find out what all that is about!

 To continue the 'high note' which this post is hoped has brought to you

 we ended the patrol

 by catching a superb

SOUTHERN HAWKER DRAGONFLY
we hope to commence the Sunday Shenanigans
MANANA!