Aftermath - The Rolling Stones

As we have now dipped our toe into Spring we look back on a none to shabby Winter with 81 species of Birds and 6 species of Moth already 'in the bag'! Time was, years ago, when we would accomplish more than this number of our feathered friends on New Year's Day alone, but gone are those heady times of Twitching, but not from the memory!

While referring to the first full night of Spring there was also a little activity via the Moth Traps 

with a first for the year and season

COMMON QUAKER

and
ICHNEUMON WASP
(we'll have some of that)

Not the best of starts, a little light rain, but only a flash in the pan which turned into
  a day of splendid

CLOUD FORMATION

Rows and flows of angel hair, and icecream castles in the air

and feather canyons everywhere, I looked at clouds that way!

  of great interest having once been part of my job as a weather gatherer for the Met Office, but also a day to reflect on the passage of our 3 ex-Pals as we dumfounded  Dudley,

almost escaped Eunice

and attempted to outflank Franklin, our inheritance as above!
Not a lot of change in the wider world and still no Moths (a little ambitious we think) but the

LITTLE GREBEs

are certainly 'at it'

dashing from one end of both ponds to the other in 'display'

and extremely vocal.

A diverssion from above as this Royal Navy

BOEING CHINOOK
clattered loudly overhead.

The return of one of the female

SHOVELER 

with company
absent for a few days now, was a welcome sight and one of the male

TEAL cosying up with a LITTLE GREBE 

and Blink and you would have missed it as the 'first for the year'

KINGFISHER
perched for no more than 20 seconds with our day ending in the

Solar Panel Compound
with our second of the year

LAPWING
resisting the lush surroundings and potential breeding ground below.
It'll Be Back!!

But now they only block the sun, they rain and they snow on everyone. 

So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way.

Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell

A Fly in the Ointment - But not for Long

 While the first day of Spring was a deluge, dark, damp, dingy, drizely and dull affair, it was OK once we got outside, and brought with it a couple of ‘minor milestones’! 

With the overnight +10°C continuing it was considered worth flashing the

Moth Traps up again which came back with another ‘D’-word, DEVOID. Not that a Moth of any sort would have kicked off the new season or the new month for that matter, as all dated records are submitted as of the day the traps are activated, so fingers are crossed for tonight while no-one is going to be much interested in last night’s c2

HOUSEFLY's

  but we do hear on the 'spunyarn radio' that Bomber in Weymouth is still hauling them in  

    Well Done and Best Wishes Sir!

The latter of the D words describes perfectly the findings across the southern reaches as it does the Irrigation Pond with neither sight nor sound of a waterfowl but a huge change in fortunes as arriving at the Gravel Pit

to flush c3

COMMON SNIPE

First for the Year, but with Waterfowl there "to few to mention".
By and large the rest of the morning, before the rain set in, was a methodical search both inside and out of the main Solar Panel Compound with luck at the latter in finding the lone and elusive

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

trying to avoid our advances at any cost.
Some readers may recall that this bird has been teamed up with this cock

PHEASANT

and having clambered back to the 'safe-side' of the perimeter fence

to join its guardian, both became very

Camera Worthy
What came next was the find of the year thus far, even though still being in it infancy, the humble

HOUSE SPARROW
which has never been recorded in any of the Solar Panel Compounds

or for that matter across the  

    ¾ of a mile between the Fencing Centre and the Sewerage Works, so considered quite a find!         All else up north involved a collection of

at least c6

STONECHAT

the highest count

across the whole of the

WINTER 

while returning to Base we were met by a lone

GREEN WOODPECKER
but not the brightly marked one we had hoped would have graced our pages befor now, must have got wind that we are after it - but hopes are still high!

Rawhide - Frankie Laine

 Winter closed with another light

FROST

started the day in picturesque fashion just adding a certain dimention to the

SNOWDROPs
and

CROCUS
but nothing from the Moth Traps almost nothing to report from a sterile south save the clatter of a

ROYAL NAVY

MERLIN HELICOPTER
A lttle more action from up north the first of which could be heard from some distance

a new arrival

REED BUNTING

with

Great Expectations

while directly below, across the Irrigation Pond, seems the

MALLARD
are one step ahead noting the 'gesturing',

while next door

new arrival or returning

TUFTED DUCKs
were not going to miss out either.
Along the course of the Moors River

it looked and sounded as if

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERs
were well ahead of the game.
Finally, and as we don't usually get even half a decent shot

we will dwell on the

newly released from captivity

CHAROLAIS CATTLE

including the

New Born
preening, then end with another First for the Yera

DEAD-NETTLE