It's All Been Rigged

 Harking back to Friday and the apology of the following day, it was a most welcome visitation by

DAVE PENNEY
a long-time shipmate from those heady years onboard the Buchan Alpha Floating Oil Production Platform in the North Sea. Having, as usual, taken breakfast at 05:00 to maximise time on the upperdeck seaching for Wildlife, when relieved Dave was encountered at the bottom of the stair-well to the heli-deck and asked just what I did ever morning 'up-top'. My reply was to grab the rig binoculars and follow me to the upper-deck where he was directed to the starboard flare-boom and ask if he could see anything unusual among the Gulls. He quickly picked out the immature

GLAUCOUS GULL

followed by 'catching' a

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER
among other things, which was him well and truely hooked!
After a previous visit some years ago he also graduated towards Moths and so we headed for the traps. En-route a

GREAT TIT
was seen, absent over most of the Summer thus far, and while nothing new was caught there were a good number of Insects not familiar to him as trapping in a quite different environment, such as.

SMALL RIVULET

the ever welcome beauty that is

LARGE EMERALD

with

BLACKCAPs
continuously singing

COXCOMB PROMINENT

and the GIANT among its peers

PINE HAWK-MOTH
Other expectations were not high given the season but got lucky with

almost equally vocal

NUTHATCH
With all Reptiles being extremely scarce this year it was considered a

real bonus to find

c2

SMOOTH SNAKES
under one cover

and a

CLICK BEETLE
under another.

A Mellow Yellow

WILLOW WARBLER
was also a welcome addition with things going

'slightly off the scale'

when one of the juveniles also obliged.
Hopes were high in finding the Star of the Show as the

LITTLE GREBE HUMBUG

was found away from the nest in open water but still under the

watchful eye of the parent bird

with the

Cherry on the Cake
being provided by the considered 'returning'

GADWALL

Foot Note:-

Dave more or less took over from me after retirement sending records to the North Sea Bird Club, which is considered the same as any County in the UK, with a dedicated recorder and all. His observations were truely rewarded when finding, observing and photographing the first and still only

LAUGHING GULL

(from the America's)

for that Sea-way but not these individuals, from the archive, we hasten to add.

Around the World - Frank Sinatra

 There is a more than adequate expression in Royal Naval parlance to describe the situation yesterday morning, but we shy from using it just in case there are any ‘adults’ tuned in! It goes something like this, as at first decent light we busied our-self snapping the

photogenic and cooperative

juvenile

JACKDAWs

from the doorway of the statley home, but the minute the boots conected with the doorstep, down it came that fine precipitation that soaks to the bone within 30 seconds.

There was little or no moderation as we arrived on the Heath but a hint of things looking up as we found all the Home Fires burning brightly.

Nothing new to add to the annual count but 'all' have a beauty of the own with the most eye-catching from the morning haul being

BORDERED BEAUTY

BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING
which doubles its delight when showing the smallest hint

from where it takes its name along with a darkish version of

BIRCH MOCHA
Otherwise, we can only report that the Heath is now swathed in a carpet of

c3 species of
HEATHER
before refering to
Clement Clarke Moore and "A Visit from St Nicholas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

We strive to do better while apologising for the use of Mr Moore's 'C' word!
A BLOG BONUS 

part way round the World in 6 Species!

DOLPHIN GULL
Ushuaia, the most southerly city in the World and capital of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

BLACK-HEADED BUNTING

CRETZSCHMAR'S BUNTING
both 'clicked' bathing in the same small pool in
Cypress

KAKA
New Zealand

CREAM-COLORED WOODPECKER
Brazil

SALVIN'S (SHY) ALBATROSS

Antarctica

Big in Japan - Alphaville Part III

 The next stop on our extended journey across all 5 of Japan's main islands was at

the largest city on the island of Hokkaido and in fact the largest in the country

and straight in with the locals,

the mandatory Temple and the waters that make for longevity?

The very few Birds started with the familiar
GREAT WHITE EGRET
which has collonised Great Britain in recent years with the far less well known

MEADOW BUNTING
and

SPOT-BILLED DUCK
while a day-long taxi into the bitter cold countryside was worth every yen if only for the

BAIKAL TEAL
and

ORIENTAL (white) STORK
now seriously endangered and on the cusp of extinction!

More street scenes and without staring too much this wonderful looking character.

The most risky in the city was left until Last as physically it could have been our Last

on a visit to a not to be missed

FUGU RESTAURANT
with the
FUGU PUFFER-FISH
being one of the most deadly in the world.

A King's Ransome as well but do no remember the price as it was the moment more than the money.

Training to become a Fugu Chef takes 7-10 years, a rigorous written exam, and an exam where he must successfully clean the poisonous fugu in front of more experienced fugu chefs. We, as this post proves survived what was considered an unmissable experience before

BITING another BULLET
to take us to our furthest north and final destination.

Through the gloom
MOUNT FUGIYAMA

along with very good numbers of

STELLA'S SEA EAGLEs

With a professional image, taken by A N Other, adorning the stern-sheets of my caravan home!

Think the geography here was a little askew but it was a long time ago!

 APOLOGIES - NORMAL SERVICE SHOULD BE RESUMED TOMORROW!