Eight Miles High - The Byrds

Another dull catch from the Moth Traps included no more than just singles of

SHUTTLE SHAPED DART
and

FLAME SHOULDER
and just to keep all the Down Side eggs in one basket, not exactly a great result from yesterday's

GIANT MOON

and then looking as if sailing on the
Sea of Tranquility
we can now get on with the good stuff.

Apart from the presumed addled Mute Swan egg all the other

7 new Mariners were rated as

A-1 at Lloyds of London the Maritime Insurers

and allowed to hoist the International Code of Signals Flag

Q or QUEBEC
indicating

“My vessel is healthy and I request free pratique”.
Close by and also coincidentaly of the same colour we found the

YELLOW FLAG or YELLOW IRIS

in full bloom.
On the way to the Heath we spotted yet another

EDDIE STOBART LADY
which we did not take as an invitation as she
May Not!
Also leading to hopes for the future an adult

LITTLE GREBE

was spotted on both ponds and knowing how well their nests can be hidden, that is where 'hope' lies.

Apart from the beautifly cascading
HAWTHORN
at the Sewerage Works and the usual array of other expected suspects we wandered on towards the Heath with Marillion in mind and more particularly
A spider wanders aimlessly within the warmth of a shadow,

not the regal creature of border caves.
But the poor, misguided, directionless familiar of some obscure Scottish poet.

 The mist crawls from the canal
like some primordial phantom of romance,
to curl, under a cascade of neon pollen.
While I sit tied to the phone like an expectant father, you carnation will rot in a vase.

Bitter Suite

 It was the "cascade of neon pollen" bit that go me going!

It would have been a BLANK on the Heath had it not been for this unobliging

ROE DEER
crossing our path and the static

MOUNTAIN ASH
had not been in full bloom so decided to cut the losses and head back south where en-route another

ESCAPEE
First up on the South-side

were the first of our own

juvenile

STARLINGs
but with those of the attendant

PIED WAGTAIL
escaping our clutches, while on the way back we did concieve the wicked thought of submitting this

as the first

Figure of Eight Moth
of the year. Little chance of getting away with it as not emerging until
October / November
when we should get one as usual.

At the Main Pond we found the female

KESTREL

perched on the overhead power cable awaiting some hapless prey species, while this

Juvenile

appears to be

the only one to have survived the

PREDATOR/S
We are looking for a Second Opinion but does that

GREY HERON
have a smile on its face?

The Weather didn't look up to much at Lighting Up Time either!

Bird of Prey - Uriah Heep

 With the Barrel’s Bottom, in the shape of the Moth Trap’s, having been well and truly Scraped to the tune of no more than another single

MUSLIN MOTH

at home and upside down for a change, there was a second in the Heath Traps along with a single

BRINDLED PUG
and that was it! However, in between the 2 stops a break in the journey to welcome

The First

SYGNET

followed by a rather coy

second, blink and you'll miss it

then a batallion of

c7 Cygnets

and an either addled or not yet hatched egg. The first egg was laid on 12/04/inst with hatching following 43 days later on 24/05/2021.
With the traps completed it was considered a decent idea to stick close to home and see what else might be found in the world of procreation

with another small brood of

c5 CANADA GEESE

close by on the same pond.
With an almost total abandonment of

HOUSE SPARROWs
this year

we may well have found one of the reasons

as Dad looked on rather helplessly with this pair of

BLUE TIT

having nicked the

Ancestral Home.

However, no such problems from high above as the now regular

KESTRELs

are feeding young in the nest box initially intended for
OWLS

with one species misfortune

becoming anothers

Male Bird Hunting over the Airfield

with favoured prey still seeming to be the

inexhaustable supply of

female

SHORT-TAILED VOLE
which also live under the caravan.

MALE
back seemingly without the groceries?

Something in the Air - Thunderclap Newman

 It is doubtful we would get any form of argument from our Peers or Fellow Enthusiasts in the Wild World, but more particularly Moth’s, that this month has been the worst May ever. Across the years we cannot remember ever being sub-one hundred Moth Species at this stage in the game but would not be so churlish as to utter the word RUBBISH!

For instance, and harking back to Saturday, we gathered a neat little collection of First’s for the Year by way of………….

SERAPHIM

the petite

ORANGE FOOTMAN
and

MOTTLED BEAUTY
Additionally and joining the same divission as F. f. Y.
other Insects from the traps included

both

GORSE SHIELDBUG

along with

HAWTHORN SHIELDBUG
All serinaded by that Sound of Spring we all know so well, the

CUCKOO
In view of the predicted 'bad' weather conditions to come we had decided to do things in reverse order only to find, when returning back closer to home, in the first instance a Herring Gull which was relieved by a

CARRION CROW

having predated a

CANADA GOOSE EGG
and making a fine meal of it, while it also looked ever bit as if the

MOORHENs
are nest building again?

With the sighting of a new, to us, and psychedelically liveried

EUROCOPTER COLIBRI
it felt time to return to the Heath where in the first instance one of the

RARE BREED OLD ENGLISH GOATS
was browsing a Silver Birch, at first glance it also looked liked we had trespassers?

Thei being such a sensitive area, adjoining and owned by, an International Airport security is high but haveing entered by motor-vehicle it was far more likely the 2 ladies were bona-fide

WENDY and RUTH

are indeed of the Airport Scientific Department and had come to collect the

small sample vials (bottom right) placed across most of the area.
A real treat to meet you Ladies

MEADOW PIPIT
(top left)
and here's looking forward to the next meeting!