The Hungry Must Be Fed!

 In the early gloom of another new day the

JACKDAWs
were mustering atop of the Ash Tree close to the horse stable prior to invading the garden bird feeders.

with a couple of

GREAT TIT
right outside the door hoping to get their beaks in with the follow up being this

SONG THRUSH
finding something nourishing in the margins.
Due to icey roads and frozen ponds more northern climes were abandoned for today at least with the focus turning more to the west and the Horse Paddocks where the dung-heap was sure to be an attractant to something or other, starting with the odd hungry

STARLING

singular

and ditto

PIED WAGTAIL

sharing the same spoils,

and while there is no firm evidence to show that this is the same

FIELDFARE

of a fair few days ago now

this Beauty was in the same Crab Apple tree.

and finally, the conundrum of the quickly disappearing Aircraft of yesterday was solved for us by our friend John in Weymouth. An Airbus ACJ of the Omani Royal Airforce and bringing back personal memories of a Diving Contract there, on Masirah Island, back in the 80's!

Ice Cold in Alex - Christopher Landon

 We could certainly do without these 'Cold and Frosty' mornings, but do bring with them some eye-catching images.

even from the door-step

and what may be allowed as a Dawn Chorus by a solo

WOOD PIGEON
perched on the Chicken Coup and followed at full daylight by a
New Kid on the Block

a carrier that has flown to and from Bournemouth International before and thought to be part of the new destinations reported on the local news channel?

No surprise to note the / a

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
on the garden feeder and elsewhere

and likewise with the

KESTRELs
more often seen, but difficult to 'click' on the overhead cables just waiting for that hapless
Mammal or other to drop its guard.

A little more severe in more northerly climbs where the
PUDDLE of MUD

has been re-dubbed

THE RINK

while seemingly still sustaining the local

ROBINs

while the
Blow-Holes

on the Irrigation Pond have also succumbed to the weather and to end with

A Fine Pair - Pink Floyd

a second new carrier that just escaped our clutches as to identification.
Don't worry Mate "Our Day Will Come" - Ruby and the Romantics!

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Audrey Hepburn

 

With the starboard side of the Main Pond, looking east, frozen solid it was felt that the uneffected water to port was something of a minor miracle even allowing one of the local

GREY HERONs

to catch, quite a breakfast, what we believe to be a
ROACH.
Continuing the theme at the junction of the main road and Chapel Lane this

KINGFISHER
at least a mile from the nearest watercoure

which was also just about completely iced over!

Something of a

WINTER WONDERLAND

within the
Solar Panel Compound
as just about every panel was adorned with frozen Spiders Webs also giving some idea of just how many Arachnids are within. Otherwise, things were getting a little 'thin on the ground' until the almost reliable

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE
(can you see it yet?)

conveniently appeared

from under the

Accumulator Cabinet

with the Frost seemingly not upsetting its breakfast!

Dorset Delights

Some positive movement as far as 'HITS' are concerned but would love to see that magic '4-Figure' sum return?? Don't be shy, please pass the link on to others! Thanks in Anticipation!

With total absence now of any sort of 'dawn chorus', replaced by beautiful

SKYSCAPES

and frosty ground, we did venture up north

IRRIGATION POND
more in hope than ambition

and unsurprisingly not a Moth to be seen, but all was not lost. 

A little late in publishing we had to trek to Weymouth for that now annual flu jab regular readers will not be surprised at the brief stop at Land End to view the

Little Belters

there by way of

YELLOW HAMMERs
but not surprisingly no Brown Rats! With the next stop being Lodmore we approached from the Avenue Road end in hopes of scoring a

BEARED TIT

of which we found but a single before heading for the shelter and booking

a couple of

COMMON SNIPE
en-route with the spectacle of the morning

being the large number of

GOLDEN PLOVER
A brief stop at the surgery for the afore mentioned inoculation and a couple of
'Smarties' for being such a brave Sailor, we headed for Portland where at the Bill there was little more than one of the resident

LITTLE OWLs

an equally lone
OYSTERCATCHER

along with those fabulous

over-winter visiting

PURPLE SANDPIPERs
and the continuing story of singles a

TURNSTONE
Such a visit would be nothing without popping into the Lower Lighthouse that is the
PORTLAND BIRD OBSERVATORY
and to meet up with only the Warden Martin Cade, recently returned from a bird-ringing visit in Kenya. About the most interesting of many, many conversations with the man and as a welcome cherry on the cake, as it were, the brief arrival of his Right Hand Lady (Assistant Warden) Jodie. The flood tide at Ferrybridge seemed to have brought little with it save for what looked every bit to be an all to distant

KNOT
(the image having been plucked from the archive) - Manana!