Autumn Almanac - The Kinks

Dodging the prevailing elements once again the Moth Traps did provide some solace in the form of a couple of additions to the Year List

with the dainty

CHEVRON

being joined by the even smaller
WHITE-SPOTTED PUG
and only a second appearance of a

JULY BELLE

acknowledging the end of Summer,
while further afield the departing migrants were, on the day, represented by

a more than obliging

WHITETHROAT

which we like to believe was 'home grown'?
At the Gravel Pit only the plaintive calls of the Little Grebes proved their continued presence while all indications showed that the male

GADWALL
had been abandoned by his beau in the female sense!
Across the Heath,

or more particularly, the

BRISTLEBENT FIELD

 we found the larva of a 

From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar,
when the dawn begins to crack.
It's all part of my Autumn Almanac

FOX MOTH

Breeze blows leaves of a musty-coloured yellow,
so I sweep them in my sack.
Yes, yes, yes, it's my Autumn Almanac.

which, should it dodge the predators, may one day next year become one of these

Male left and larger female the other.
With numbers rapidly dwindling we once again show

the only juvenile

STONECHAT
(blink and you'll miss it)

as the wait for the next may well be 12 months?
Finally, if you like Gulls, which for us goes far further than that

the

Bird of the Day

or even last month was this juvenile

HERRING GULL
inside the Solar Panel Compound

and most likely from the disasterously low breeding attempts across the airport roofs?

Perhaps an Ideal way to pull the curtain down on Summer!

Oh Mister Porter (written by George Le Brunn 1892)

Oh Mr. Porter, what shall I do?
I want to go to Birmingham
but here I am at Crewe.
Take me back to London
as quickly as you can,
Oh Mr. Porter what a silly girl I am.

Had it not been for the candid and honest admission by the Warden of the Portland Bird Observatory of rushing the Moth Traps some days ago we to would also have forgotten an important capture ourselves, which has laid in the archive ever since. With 6 balls in the air already it was simply good fortune that our friend Marcus Lawson happened along and asked if he might have a rummage through the traps, to keep his eye in, and came up with a rarity! The nondescript

PORTER'S RUSTIC

(ours captured on 29/06/2021) is described by the 'authority' that is
Bernard Skinner as only having been recorded in England 64 times, which would surely stand updating.

 Nonetheless, it can be seen that we have dusted off the cobwebs of our particular capture, and presented to our valued readership, which holds the distinction of Moth of the Year thus far!

Otherwise our rapidly deminishing catches continue the downward trend with only c2

JERSEY TIGER MOTHs

and a second generation

CREAM-BORDERED GREEN PEA
which is about the size that the vegetable suggests.

Unlike the coastal headlands of Dorset, such as Hengistbury Head and Portland Bill, we get very few migrant birds as a rule, but for the last couple of days that trend seems to have altered.

Firstly, it was a single

SPOTTED FLYCARCHER
only ever seen once in the garden and then followed by a number of juvenile

GREY WAGTAILs

with this one

taking up a Feeding Station atop of the highest tree

and bunkering maybe for

for the journey to come, there were 14 counted in all

before the second

SPOTTED FLYCATCH
arrived.

One Swallow Does Not a Summer Make!

 The double wammy of what to some might be considered bad news was countered by the same in as much as the Moth Traps stayed active on the Heath all night and although nothing new, there were some returning 'pretties' by way of:-

BORDERED BEAUTY

SCALLOPED OAK

along with the ever welcome

GOLD SPOT
while

up to 1,000

STRALINGs
continue to grace the tennis court and lawn

with once again a splash of colour coming from the

ROWAN BERRIES
with

BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY
showing well as a back-drop.

both

WILLOW WARBLER
and

CHIFFCHAFF

 

have been showing up in numbers as they hea for the Coastal Fringes and

 the inevitable flight across the Channel

while this may be the last we se of juvenile

STONECHAT
as adulthood is not far away

and maybe the last of the
GREYLING BUTTERFLIES
A call from the troops at the Fenceing Centre ended the day on a real high note as they rightly knew an 'open to view'

SWALLOWs NEST

would be

of likely interest

to both

yourselves

nd Me.

Here's hoping they also

make it to the

Other Side
(all c4 youngsters)