ROSIE - Don Partridge

 With a somewhat reduced +8°C overnight hopes were high that by morning the Moth Traps would be ‘brimming’ - No Such Luck - NADA! A touch of putting the horse before the cart there as we didn’t even have to swing out of the hammock before encountering our first Wildlife of the day:-

INCY WINCY

in the
Hand Wash Basin

and outside another irresitable
Rosine Morning

 and once again the Southern Sector produce very little except for a

small and grounded

MURMURATION

of

STARLINGS
and distantly "shrouded by fine mist" a

BLOSSOM TREE
which seems to have bloomed overnight?
We have been dragging our heals a little over the

Badger Sett Survey
started at the Late Bronze Age Tumuli

where there are c7 burrows despite being covered by chicken wire

with other evidence such as footprints and

GRUBBING
also running along the edges of all

pathways
and with another 3 sattelite setts as well.

while there has been some excavating at last years very successful site
just outside of the compound, we feel an evening visit coming on!
A most obliging

COMMON BUZZARD

flew in and landed close by while some mention should be made of our
National Bird the

ROBIN

of which there must be 'dozens' scattered across the property!
The quip on Saturday's post, Sod's Law in Reverse, refering to Great Crested Grebe never likely to visit out Patch and hoping it might as having made that statment it still has not but yesterday's obsevations came very close as far as the common

WIGEON

was concerned categorizing it as 'most infrequent' and yesterday in stepped Sod fielding both a

Male (fore) and Female grazing on the banks of the Moors river, trees and bushes preventing even half a decent snap! 

As a finalè and reference to the damage left by the recent 3 named storms, with the assistance of Genesis but more particularly the excellence that is the album

and the track ‘Forth of Fifth'

The path is clear though no eyes can see,

the course laid down long before.

And so with Gods and Men, the sheep remain inside the pen,
though many times they've seen the way to leave.

Oh Deer What Can the Matter Be - Nursery Rhyme

 With the calls and songs of the 2 Tawny Owls now having become part of the furniture (between midnight and dawn) we will make no further reference to them unless we find the nest or later the youngsters. Some improvement at the Moth Traps despite a small drop in temperature with c4 more

COMMON RUSTIC
(one escapee)

with singles of
DOTTED BORDER

CHESTNUT
and 

'first for year'

CLOUDED DRAB

Another new aircraft out of Bournemouth International, but we know not what it is, save

Package Holidays You Can Trust
there followed a short dalliance with the local

 ROE DEER

at closer quarters and likely readying themselves for the on-coming breeding season,

after which it seemed rather strange to see this
RYANAIR

approaching the Airport from the North West?
That was about IT from the Southern Section but up north

we immediately bumped into

what is presumed to be the

returning

GREEN SANDPIPER

last seen a couple of weeks ago, same puddle, same plumage and considered a good start to the  New Season.

All else up there were Tufted Ducks and

SHOVELER
On the strength of that we decided to pay a long overdue visit to the heath, which has been made extra difficult to access by an uneducated (so called) management!!

At least the

GOATS

were pleased to see us

as we were them
FRENCH ALPINE

BAGOT

and as ever

DEAN'S DITCH

like Old Man River
"just keeps rolling along"!
First of the avians was at such altitude it could only be presumed it was a Merlin

with a

drumming

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

a complete BLANK from beneath the
Reptile Covers

HEATHER FIELD

punctuated by tufts of
BRISTLEBENT GRASS

with all else incuding

forelorn looking
ASPENs

an unknown number (considered small) of singing
WOODLARK
close to the

BRISTLEBENT FIELD
"sorry Dave no Lesser-spot but it should be better next time"?

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