Space Oddity - David Bowie

Firstly the Bad News, as heading for Parley Court Farm this morning I stopped to check out a report Dave had given to me over the weekend. Unfortunately, it was accurate in every detail, they have

'back-filled' the Hurn Gravel Pit. I know, from reliable sources, that it was a pre-requisite that on completion of gravel extraction the whole site had to be transformed to it formed state. Nothing to be done about it, particularly as the die is cast, but on the up side there was still a single Little Ringed Plover and a few Lapwings remaining there.

 It will be interesting to see what returns to the area next year.

Of note from the Moth Traps this morning was
BLAIR'S MOCHA
which is the 300th Macro Species for the year on the farm.

 GARDEN CARPET
of no great value but looked so pristine it was thought worthy of inclusion.

Attached to the side of one of the traps an unknown

  SPIDER Sp Nursery 

(looks lie the young have already vacated?
Back to the weekend for the remained of the photographs and

MERRITOWN HEATH

is now in full bloom

with the LING and BELL HEATHER contrasting sharply with
Gorse and Pine alike.
While there is much to be seen among this herbage it seems to be
the small 'stand' of Aspen Trees that attract or supports the most
diversity

 BRONZE SHIELDBUG (nymph)

which should look like this

 BRONZE SHIELDBUG

in short time. (Wiki Image)

 BROWN HEATH ROBBERFLY

 A particularly 'dark'

 DRONEFLY

 FIELD GRASSHOPPER

 GREAT BLACK SLUG

 GREEN SHIELDBUG

 HARLEQUIN LADYBIRD LARVAE

which could eventually turn out like either one of these two

 contrasting

 HARLEQUIN LADYBIRD

 HEDGE CRANESBILL

 ICHNEUMON WASP Sp

SPIDER
Tetragnatha extensa

Two plants I have been mistaking for Redshank

 PALE PERSICARIA

and

 

 RED GOOSEFOOT

 PEGOMYA Sp

SPINY SHIELDBUG

Picromerus bindens

(from Wiki) is a carnivorous species of Shield Bug in the family Pentatomidae. A large (12 to 13.5 mm long) and distinctive predatory shieldbug, which has unmistakable thorn-like projections on the front of the pronotum, a prominent plate-like structure that covers all or part of the thorax of some insects.

 ADULT 

of the above

 SPANGLED GALL

(unknown type)

 Unknown species of

Pardosa

SPIDER

John Gifford has come up trumps, Big Time, again as I have never 

seen most of the creatures above let alone have the ability to identify them.
THANK MATEY!

Also outstanding from the last Post was, during our little party on Friday evening Dave looked to the heavens to see the International Space Station cutting through the late evening sky. For those Readers based in Dorset the following may be of interest:-

It Is seen every day but best next bet seems to be Tuesday (today) evening at 21.31. Should appear from the West and go SSE, will be on view for 4 minutes in case you want to get the camera ready! It was really bright when I saw it last night, quite impressive. I was amazed to read that it is 260 miles up and travels at over 17 000 miles an hour, that's just under 5 miles per second!

Space Oddity - David Bowie

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FRIENDS - Led Zeppelin

Despite the returns from the Moth Traps having been a little lack-lustre over the past few days and the elements conspiring to keep it that way, so far the 'extended' weekend has thus far been quite to the contrary.

 As the Thunder Clouds gathered once again and the breeze freshened
my friend

 Dave Foot
was again blown in on it to enjoy 2 nights (extended) Mothing here.
There were to be more visitors later in the day making it something of a small
Mothing Convention.
As if waving a magic wand, Dave first pulled out of the trap

 SALLOW

 an addition to the Property List
and soon after another addition

 JERSEY TIGER

 It is said that there are quite a few of these on the wing this year

 so a surprise really that we haven't captured one before.

 HEDGE RUSTIC

 made up the trio of new additions, but this only to the
Year List.
Running 7 traps was taking quiet some time even though 'returns' were a
little low, but we were about to experience the perfect
Natural Break.
Suddenly, the local Swallows started alarm calling which is an alert to
us humans to start looking for the Bird of Prey causing them to
irrupt in this way.

 Looking to the heavens it wasn't long before Dave was pointing out

 what was thought to be a 'migrating'

OSPREY

 Always at great altitude it flew past our position before seeming to
catch a thermal taking it even higher.

 It then turned to the south, which by definition is towards the sea, and
slowly disappeared from view.
Next stop Africa??
Returning to the traps there was nothing else to add to either List
but there were a few very nicely mark Insects among those yet to sort.

 LESSER SWALLOW PROMINENT

 a rather 'dusky'
SINGLE-DOTTED WAVE

 COMMON WAVE
with dark patches on the fore-wings and a

 PARSNIP MOTH
 which is a Micro.

By noon all the traps had been emptied and over a cup of coffee some of the photograph editing had also been completed, so it was agreed that we continued our search for more Orange Balsam the food plant of the 'rare' Balsam Carpet Moth. Walking the banks of the River Stour a few new shoots of the plant were found, but what came next was both a Great Delight marred by a deal of frustration. Kingfishers are a part of daily life here with never a day passing when one isn't seen or heard. While it is known that they breed along the 'beat' that passes the farm getting concrete evidence is difficult to say the least. 2 or 3 had flown past during the first 500 yards of our walk but then a kerfuffle among the reeds brought hopes of seeing young birds. We didn't have to wait long as one

flew in and perched directly underfoot

but the frustration set in as it was mostly screened by the

PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE

Any photograph of such a beautiful creature is welcome and the
colour contrast looks great don't you think?
As it departed it was almost immediately replaced by an adult and a

JUVENILE

GREY HERON
the latter not being at all put off by our presence.

BRACKET FUNGI
and a little further along some sort of 'harvesting' was underway.
This had attracted the attention of a number of Gulls, Carrion Crows, a Kestrel and this

LITTLE EGRET
which had chosen an old Tool Shed as a perch making it visible above the grass line.
We then disturbed c2

HAREs

invisible while in the Game Cover Weeds,
showing themselves only briefly.

GREENFINCH
 Close to the Pheasant Pens there is a small pond which I have only
visited a couple of times before, and there we found endless amounts of

ORANGE BALSAM
I feel a Trap move coming on!

COMMA BUTTERFLY

 MALLARD DUCKLING
one of 2 still on Parley Pond.
 With the arrival of long standing friends Paul and Annie Harris(right)

it was time for a PARTY. Dave (left) was of course already in place
and it's safe to say there will never be a party at Slight Return II without
Hugh, Janet and yes alright Flipper!
I have had to write this part of the account of the week-end events quickly

as we are running out of ink, but please look out for Part II in the none too distant future.

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