The Grass is Never Greener

 Not even IN the traps but clinging on doggedly to the wooden fence palings on a bit of a

Frosty Morning

another most welcome
First for the Year

FROSTED GREEN
somewhat appropriate!
Continuing with the 'green theme' the

GREEN ALKANET

is having a bumper year and question is have the

MUTE SWANs

finally constructed this years nest?? We'll keep our own council on that until we see eggs and keep you posted!

PERIWINKLE

was another welcome find before heading off to the more northern ponds

where all that was found were the c4 male and single female

TUFTED DUCKs
with one of the males still reluctant to be clicked.

From the main Solar Panel Compound just brief glimpses of a brace of
RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE

maybe lending a little more credence to the theory that the c2 found about a mile away, earlier in the month are in fact different birds??
Also there were a couple of

LAPWING

hopefull prospecting yet another nest site, along with this

MISTLE THRUSH

doubtless feeding young as early nesters while back at HQ our first

LARGE WHITE BUTTERFLY

of the year with a Larvea image taken from the archive just as pre-warning as to what will be visiting your Cabbage Patch in the near future!

along with only our second

and this time perched

SWALLOW
of the year as usual favouring the tennis court netting support.

The Happening - Supremes

 It had to happen sooner or later and while not O. T. T. the first decent 'crop' of Moths overnight, 48 Insects of 18 Species, with the most PROMINENT being the family group of PROMENENT's! Of the genre we managed to capture c4 seperated species overnight including

from the 2 traps at home

IRON PROMINENT

PEBBLE PROMINENT

along with

SWALLOW PROMINENT
all First's for the Year and also a far less beaten up and the second of 2022

GREAT PROMINENT
but in our excitement have jumped the gun slightly as before the lamps were even extinguished a

BRIMSTONE MOTH
had been plucked from a dew soaked lawn and likewise added to the Year List.

That might have been the end of it had we not recovered half a dozen

FLAME SHOULDER,s
from the more northen traps along with an earlyish

BIRCH MOCHA

and a single

MULLEIN 

from up north and also increasing the Year List.
Among the melee and transiting to the other traps we stopped to check on the Mute Swans to see if they had yet sorted their lives out - to be continued - but additionally catching no more than a 30 seconds glimpes of a

PIED FLYCATCHER
consigned to the RARE catagory here as only ever having recorded

this 3rd individual across our 10 years of recording here!

To the accompanying clatter of a Royal Navy

MERLIN HELICOPTER

we failed for a 4th time to coax the

Black Lamb
back into the compound, we will persist and to end on a high note we recieved reliable information

of c2

 RED KITEs

flying relatively low above the Fencing Centre the previous afternoon.

Hard Graft for Little Reward

 New Moths continue to appear as singles only but, better that than not appearing at all, with last nights contribution maybe more eye-caching 'down-side up

rather then in the conventional fashion

MUSLIN MOTH
accompanied by

a lone

DEVIL'S COACH-HORSE BEETLE

along with the first of what will likely be many hundreds of

CADDISFLIES

before the year is out.

Further north the

Broom is now in Bloom

while this young

ROE DEER
took to the high ground at the Irrigation Pond.
The first BLANK of the year from the second of the 2 Solar Panel Moth Traps

produced no more than this

BROWN-LIPPED SNAIL
(we hope you are not getting over excited)
and no more than these 2 fine looking

MALLARD
at the Gravel Pit.

A little rescue work required later on freeing this Ewe from the fencing
"the grass being ever greener on the other side"

while a second visit to the watercourses later in the day produced this pair of

GADWALL

an eye-catching
MOORHEN
and the still lone

COOT
Surely it can only get better??