Lounge Lizard - Ian Hunter / Mick Ronson

 We are neither Nigel Mansell or Lewis Hamilton so generally stick well within the bounds of the Highway Code, which was the case last evening. For no reason of logic it suddenly came to mind that we would check the time it takes for the round trip of flashing up the traps on the heath. It would have been 30 minutes 'on-the-nose' had it not been for the unusually high volume of traffic as we attempted to turn into the main gates, but had it not been so we would have missed the ghostly apparition of a

BARN OWL

cutting our track from right to left across the main pond

before disappearing across the Golf Course.
A late, but always welcome addition to the Year List!
At first light there were no prizes for guessing where we were as in the first insyance a couple of

CLOUDED DRAB

were plucked from the traps followed by similarly 'first for the year' c4 in number

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG
While emphasising once again that "we don't do Micro Moths", who wouldn't break with tradition  when finding such a beauty as

ACLENIS LITERANA
within? Add to that a dozen or so Dor Beetles and but a single

MINATOR BEETLE
left and sporting the horns the day had started with a bit of a bang!
Long overlooked, it used to be regular practice to monitor the

COMMON or SMOOTH NEWT
under covers at the Irrigation Pond before returning to the water after their

Winter Hibernation.
A natural progression from that was surely a visit to the Solar Panel Compound and the only site we know of for

COMMON LIZARD

before they also dissapear in Spring.

At the Gravel Pit there was to be a further addition to the list as a

REED BUNTING
betrayed its own presence with a series of short vocals while the picture turned to 'gloom' on the

HEATH
but nevertheless one or 2 things of note

such as the return of the presumed female

KESTREL

of last year looking none the worse for the

Winter Sabbatical.
With still no signs of a Dartford Warbler and the Linnet's seeminly having abandoned ship

it was left to this overly obliging

STONECHAT
to pad out the page while keeping the other eye on our

first signs of nesting with feather carrying

LONG-TAILED TIT

then  returning via the Moors river and a small pod of

MALLARD
to find firstly c2 juvenile

MUTE SWANs

followed by a trio

and finally a full

QUARTET
Considered strange as for the first year ever we found no signs of successful breeding right across The Recording Area!
Finally, a little Food for Thought!
"What odds do you think Ladbrooks might have offered against us capturing such a clip"?

Through the Caravan Window!

Bye - Bye Love - The Cars

 A little consternation started the day right outside our door

as one of the

GUINEAFOWL

seemed to have lost its

Get Out of Jail Free Card

to much kerfuffle, while we have been very much enjoying the phases of the low zenith

ORANGY MOON
still showing well into daylight.
It's an Orangy sky, always it's some other guy.

It's just a broken lullaby, Bye Bye Love!

The overnight temperature had been just -4°C which did deter us from flashing up the Moth Traps, but on the plus side hopes were high that the conditions may very well attract more Birds!

At pond-side this lone

PIED WAGTAIL

was already Hoovering up all it could find before a couple of

DUNNOCK

had also flashed up the natural instinct to survive.
Not alone in that the Berry Bushes at the Manor Car Park

Many Dozens of

FIELDFARE

ably assisted by a single

male

BLACKBIRD

were swalloing the Berries whole

while those not so naturally endowed

such as

GOLDFINCH

had to peck around the peripheries

until the crop was full.
A little further along the Southern Bridleway

a small flock of much overlooked

HOUSE SPARROWs

were also making the most of the
Famine Fest!
A glance across the adjacent field took in the clump of bare

ASH TREEs
there which always put on a good show in late Spring as the last of the
Common Woodlanders to burst into Leaf!
Time to head north where the now confirmed 'pair of most unobliging

LITTLE GREBE
have followed suit with their pals around the corner at the Gravel Pit by having built a nest
and where along with another, or the same, gaggle of Canada Geese were entertaining

female
and

male

GADWALL
as a pair.

male

and

female

TEAL
along with a single

MOORHEN
while across the full expanse Heath, Moors River and the Sewerage Works

only this small gathering of

JACKDAWs
Regaurdless of the above the day was surely contender for the
Best Day of the Season
thus far with the temperature just kissing, and holding on to double figures to accompany
Wall to Wall Sunshine!
"now, where them there Moth Traps"?

Substitution, mass confusion, clouds inside your head
Involving all my energies, until you visited
With your eyes of porcelain and of blue, they shock me into sense
You think you're so illustrious, you call yourself intense!    Cars