Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harem

Despite the inclement weather it has proved almost impossible not to succum to flashing up the Moth Traps with a resultant 'first for the year'

GREY SHOULDER-KNOT

ditto with a first
CADDIS FLY
plus another

DOTTED BORDER
With nothing more than a pair of

nest building

MUTE SWANs

and a 'brace' of

CANADA GEESE
looking likely to follow suit anytime soon, holding our attention we decided once again to toddle off to Longham Lakes.
Having given up on the Ring-necked Duck, which is still being reported but evading us, this was no more than a hit or miss expedition but started on the right note with this:-

Do you remember?
Chalk hearts melting on a playground wall.
Do you remember?
Dawn escapes from moon washed college halls.
Do you remember?

the Cherry Blossom in the market square.
Do you remember? I thought it was confetti in our hair!
At the lake and try as he may, the lad didn't seem to be havong much success with his offering

GREAT CRESTED GREBEs
By the way, didn't I break your heart?

Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart.
So sorry, I never meant to break your heart,

but you broke mine!

but then sauntered over to directly below my viewing possition which resulted in

catching this
ROACH

Blink and You'll Miss It!
That Moment of the Day was followed by The Bird of the Day

'another', but we use the word guardedly,

LEUCISTIC

BLACK-HEADED GULL

which may have been another but consideration must go to the possibility

of being one and the same as that found on our own patch on the

1st February 2021
just 2 or 3 miles up the road

and highly unlikely we will ever know but here is the
Sewerage Works Bird

 Leucism is a wide variety of conditions that result in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal causing white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales, or cuticles, but not the eyes.

For comparison, but before closing the subject ,another oddity from the same species onboard the

Buchan Alpha Floating Oil Production Platform in the North Sea

when one was seen to stalk, catch, kill and swallow whole an exhausted migrant
BRAMBLING!

Daffodils - William Wordsworth

 Despite the stormy weather of both Thursday and Friday we managed to capture 77 macro Moths of 12 species on the former, but unfortunately nothing new. The Best of these were

OAK BEAUTY

YELLOW HORNED
and

SATELLITE

Of the latter, we had to rely heavily on the Met Office, who get predictions just about 'spot on' every time, but so they should with all those Sputniks flying around and the amount of money they spend, out of the Public Purse, on huge quantities of Bladderwrack (seaweed) to tend the traps again for a very similar result!
However, awaiting was the main project of the day to count the nests now forming the

ROOKERY

within Bournemouth International Airport now restrictions have been lowered slightly.

It was not all about the Birds there as we were quickly distracted by the beauty of the boarders.
(ERICA CULTIVAR)

Just c17 nests at this time

FEEDING

(EUPHORBIA Species)

so still some way to go if they are going to

ROOKERY

(another ERICA Sp)

catch up with last years c36.

Once again we thank John Gifford for his horticultual expertise.
Maybe a case of self indictment having left my early education with no more than a
School Leavers Certificat in Gardening.
Certainly came in handy with all those Submarine Window Boxes!!
With only a brief glimps of the hovering

KESTREL
we felt sure it was contender for the returning male of last year and safe in the sanctuary of the Strange Rover

we watched, through a final shaft of sunshine, it

take 2 small Birds in quick succession

and deduced from the tiny stuck out yellow leg (lower right) that the second at least was a

DARTFORD WARBLER
The final sparkle of Spring, for the day at least, came as

I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o're vales and hills. 

When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils!

Orange Trumpeted Daffodils
with this being an example of the afternoon.

HAIL, HAIL we're back in Jail!

Just Another Day - The Beatles

 With no more of interest in the home bound Moth Traps than this

CRAB SPIDER
we set about the hunt for more Birds and other Wildlife of interest, immediately finding what amounted to this

APPARITION
perched at the Main Pond-side. Perfectly positioned, down with the car window, switch on camera, bring to bear, focus and the Bird had Flown. All we can offer is a close representation of

KINGFISHER
from the archive.

 A beeline for the Heath Traps under lower temperatures and not much expectation we did add

SMALL QUAKER

to the Year List

along with yet another clutch of

DOR BEETLES
The clatter of the

COASTGUARD RESCUE HELICOPTER
didn't help matters  but if you live / operate either side of an
International Airport what else can you expect?

We are by no means finished with

WOODLARK

yet as the vocals continue

while for now at least

'displaying' seems to have been put on holdas

MEADOW PIPIT

(strangely singular)

kept up the good work.
However, best of the bunch for my money was this similarly lone

GREENFINCH

attempting to make a meal out of long dead

ROSEHIPS
Worth 2 clips and a still of anybodies money!
Leaving the Heath it was only a matter of minutes before bumping into another singleton on the

Moors River

not only 'scarce' here but also affording us a decentish shot and clip
through the Twigs and Branches a

LITTLE EGRET
as another 'egg-whisk'

this time a

 MERLIN

accompanied us to the
Solar Panel Compound.
There, in what seemed like the Land of Plenty everything was feeding such as this

COMMON BUZZARD

worming

under the panels

which is common practice,

most unusual just a 'single'

along with the smallest 'charm' of

GOLDFINCH

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