The Young Ones - Cliff Richard

 Apart from a welcome tickle or so from the Moth Traps it seemed a promising start to the day weatherwise which soon turned to

GLOOMY.
and little to catch our imagination save for Common Fare.

GREY BIRCH

BLOTCHED EMERALD

and Grey Birch again for size comparison.
Otherwise it was left to the

BLACK ANTS

attempting to form a colony in the inverted nipple of one of the egg trays.
The eviction order was soon posted!
Within the Solar Panel Compound

parent

ROBIN

ROBIN

were feeding young

with juvenile

RABBITs,
lots of them,

were feeding themselves

while not to be outdone

recently fledged

MIRSTLE THUSH

seeming still relient on the parent birds to bring home the groceries!
We end today's saga on a low note as

SWALLOWs

have come nowhere near the numbers usually recorded

and only a single nest found amoung the vast number of sights available,

here's hoping for a late influx??

While even lower the readership has now plumeted into an unsustainable 300's, we don't want to Shut Down but feel we are getting very, very close but will give it a couple more days!!

The Lord of the Wings - J.R.R.T. - Part I

 No, we haven't developed a lisp but if it's good enough for the likes of film produced Peter Jackson then it's good enough for us! Doubtfull that we will reach such a wide audience but since our brief dalliance with Kiwi Derrick a few days ago we have had NZ firmly in our sights, kicking off with our 10 days on North Island!

Starting traditionally with the
HAKA

our series of New Zealand wildlife images is fittingly started with the

KAKA
as we take you on another merry 2 part series!

another Gull species in the log

BLACK-BILLED GULL

N.Z. BELLBIRD

VARIABLE OYSTERCATCHER

RED-CROWNED PARAKEET

TAKAHE
and among other sea-birds such as

CASPIAN GULL

MAURI

PIED SHAG

SURF CANOE's
and something far more familiar, 'thousands' of UK species such as the

BLACKBIRD
taken there by the first and susequent imigrants to remind them of home
(some have proved in part to be somewhat destructive)

WHITE-FACED HERON

N. Z. KINGFISHER

BARBARY DOVE
(another in-comer)

WHITEHEAD

AUSTRALASIAN QUAIL

PIED OYSTERCATCHER

Cruise Ship Secured Alongside at Queen Charlotte Sound
(Cook Straits)

PACIFIC BLACK DUCK

something a little closer to home
BAR-TAILED GODWITs

unidentified
BUTTERFLY

SILVEREYE

N.Z. DOTTEREL

RED-BILLED GULL
and leaving enough Ammo for at least one more look at the Kiwis we'll leave it there for now!

Cherry Red - Groundhogs (again)

We would like to be able to attribute our 'No Show' yesterday to a Mechanical or Electrical fault but the only fault was yet another Serious Senior Moment! Certain we had glued the page in place it wasn't until late afternoon that the reality was discovered! In addition the Reader Hits fell to their lowest in a number of years, which might be a prompt for considering Calling it a Day???? 

 The weather thus far hasn't exactly been what we had hope for at the start of Summer, but not prohibitive, but has started a slow trickle of some of our Favourites from the Moth Traps starting yesterday with

the beautifully markd and perfectly camoflauged

SCARCE MERVILLE du JOUR
followed by close cousins both

RIVULET

SMALL RIVULET

LARGE YELLOW UNDERWING

showing that underwing
and finaly, for today at least,

MOTTLED BEAUTY

followed by something of a downward spiral but finding

BIRD CHERRY

an opportunist

BLACKBIRD
at the second trap

and soon after

HEDGE WOUNDWORT
(we thank John for his help)

with a rather poor turnout across the rest of the site with a first

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

followed by a second

at a distance but brought underfoot by the trusty zoom,

which just left it up to the

Blue-eyed Boys

JACKDAWs

to bring the all to short day to and end!
Under such circumstances we like to think that
IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER - HERE'S HOPING!