I Can't Stand the Rain - Ann Peebles

It would seem gone are the days of Michael Fish and the blooper of the

5^th October 1987

when he announced "earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the

BBC and said she had heard there was a hurricane on the way”?

“Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!".

The rest is history!

Weather forecasting has come a long way since those days with it now being 

something of a rarity when they get it wrong, even the ‘bad stuff’.

As we cruise rapidly towards the end of the month, and by definition the end of the Season, the Autumnal weather has already taken hold! For a full night and part of the day there has been perpetual and heavy rain, adequately egged on by a stiff south-westerly breeze, confining 

even us hardiest of souls to barracks!

We say, ‘bring back Michael’!
On the bright-side, it was pleasing that Summer fell on a Sunday this year
allowing both the Workforce and us Idle Petioners to enjoy it in equal measure!

However, all is not lost as we almost always have a surfeit of images from recent days in the locker as not having been able to squeeze them all onto a post yet!

Backlog First for Year Moths include from the garden

 an eye-catching

 FROSTED ORANGE
interupted only by the now daily and varying sized skein of

 GREYLAG GEESE
while on the Heath there was a most welcome

 ARCHER'S DART

 annual but seemingly scarce, plus a

 BARRED HOOK-TIP

 as the

LIGHT EMERALDs
continued there contribution to procreation, on my coat of all places!
 Additionally, there was also furtherance of the 'extremely early' and 'putative'

AUTUMNAL / NOVEMBER

via a note from Paul Harris:-

Morning Sire, well the chaps agreed that it is indeed a very early Epirrita sp (November / Autumnal Moth type). Phil (Doctor Sterling, Managing Director of Butterfly World et al) says that it is not identifiable even by ‘gen det’ as it's a female. However, of great note as it's such an early record, I cannot ever remember an August record! 

PS - and just for clarity, ‘gen det’ is the fine art, akin to Faberge Eggs, of disection and examination of Moth genitalia - messy job but somebody’s got to do it!

Only ever an occassional sight of a

 SPARROWHAWK

 on one of the garden bird tables

brought back reminisces of another, some time ago now,

taking and devouring a hapless

MOORHEN

on the bank of the main pond.

Monday, 

a most pleasant day, was as much about checking up on the

 LITTLE GREBE NEST
as anything else and was found with the presumed 'she' bird still sitting - YES!
A fleeting moment to check the new growth

 COMMON TOADFLAX

Turning back, there HE? was and still patroling rather than lending a hand!

but maybe we spoke too soon as there was a

Change of the Watch.

Also welcome was the continued presence of the

 COMMON SANDPIPER

far more obliging

than on the previous day.

More plant life came in the form of

 CHICORY
and again the ever present

GREY HERON

 and the invasive

HIMALAYAN BALSAM

We know not if this plant attracts any of the Moth species,

as does its equally invassive close cousin, which has brought to our shores with it the

BALSAM CARPET

once caught here in small numbers but with this year producing only a single specimen.

The 'also rans' included the remaining

 MALLARD and GADWALL
and

COMMON BUZZARD

"hasta la vista"!

Autumn Almanac - The Kinks

Saturday Night

and a clear sky and atmoshere showed the rapidly waxing

New Moon 

at 16% gibbous and still Nightjar's flying around in the moonbeams.

 Moth Traps?

Well we have been loosing a bit of faith but then it is hit and miss with all sorts of perameters!

 While

 SCARCE BORDERED STRAW

was somewhat suspected the other 2 species were not without a degree of conjecture.

 CLOUDED SILVER

has a flight period across May and June, but is a partial migrant so who knows in August and

 a putative

NOVEMBER MOTH

usually flying in October and as the name suggests November.

This is not the specimen caught, just a better image from the archive while

this one is, and the jury is still out! 

Additionally, we also caught only our second example of

the delightful

 FOOTBALLER HOVERFLY

along with and equally pleasing

GREEN NETTLE WEAVIL

while

 HARLEQUIN LADYBIRDs

 are also starting to emerge in their dozens, which will soon turn to

Hundreds or even Thousands

with these 4 examples representative of the many, many colours and markings.

 In the wider world Autumn seems to have been with us for a while already with the

 ORNIMENTAL BEECHES

already having shed their leaves and the invasive

FERN or BRACKEN 

which is a word of Old Norse origin.

Oh could we rid the heath of it but on the up side it is certaily eye-catching

making it a 'fine'  national emblem for the Kiwi's!

 MORE

"Click 'Em While You Can" 

 WHEATEAR

 (they won't be here muck longer)

were also on the move 

but all of this

 juvenile / female type

 and in the company of 

 foraging

and much maligned

 CARRION CROWs

Enroute, we found a discarded square of old roofing felt and on turning

there was this 

SLOE WORM

which unfathomably is only the 3rd across the whole Recording Araa this year????

 While we understand we've

Seen It All Before

there is just something 'pleasing' about seeing these

AIRBUS's

all in a row but not the reasoning behind them, there is now a 5th and a 6th

which we will endeavour to capture as a group shot.

Like all other Berries the

 ALDER BUCKTHORN

are ripening while not to be outdone some Fungi are starting to show their hands.

Not a subject we know anything about but always GOOD to have a mentor such as

Dave Foot

to show you the way.

this little delicate has a number of vernacular names of which

 CANDLESTICK

 is preferred as both

 TOADSTOOL

and

 SMOKY BRACKET FUNGUS

(quieten down now we don't want you getting over excited!)

While we were intending to end on a Lavae theme as we did find that of a

 PEBBLE HOOK-TIP

one day to become

 one of these little beauties

 we also had communication from John Gifford in Weymouth who had found this

 Larvae on his usual morning wander, that of

ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH

From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly Caterpillar,
when the dawn begins to crack, it’s all part of my Autumn Almanac
Breeze blows leaves of a musty-colored yellow
so I sweep them in my sack, yes, yes, yes, it’s my Autumn Almanac

The Kinks

we do infact end with an update on the

CANADA GOOSE FAMILY

from the main pond, which have all survived and are now all look the same size as the parents.