Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf

The visitation of last weekend by Paul and Annie Harris, along with Dave Foot, was in part something of a Moth Festival but this weekend will be 'strictly for the birds' when we welcome and hopefully entertain Paul and Tess Lifton from Emsworth. Our friendship goes back as far as 1978 when he and me attended the Merchant Navy College at Greenhithe, Kent and later convinced the Department of Trade and Industry to allow us to 'sail the 7 Seas' as Captain's of our own vessels, the blind, hapless, fools! History shows that we both got away with it and lived to tell the tale but, there have been a few Sea Stories well worth revisiting once again. For those who do not believe in such things as coincidence, turn away now, but that is precisely what happened just moment after their arrival,

THE RED ARROWS

the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Display Team

also did.

With the runway perimeter fence being no more than 600 metres from
Slight Return II (my caravan home where I live 'by choice')
we all enjoyed a Grandstand view.
"We saw them all out" and

"we saw them all in".

Not exactly the best catch of the year but a most significant one

BALSAM CARPET

from the only 'known' breeding colony in Dorset! An irony really 

as this was a particular 'target species' at last weekends

Moth Fest when Paul and Dave were here.

Sod's Law it simply wasn't to be.

Also new for 2016

LACKEY

EAR MOTH

and what is fast becoming the obligatory Micro the eye-catching

PYRAUSTA PURPURALIS

Our first encounter in the Other World was thought rather unusual,

JUVENILE HOUSE MARTINS
feeding on the ground.

A little research revealed that this is not unique!
Except for the persistent Coot which is still sitting on the nest at the
Irrigation Pond there was nothing else but,

moving along to the Gravel Pit the Mountain was occupied by this

STOCK DOVE
while

a female

TUFTED DUCK
and a

LITTLE GREBE
 have returned after an absence of 2 weeks or more to join the resident

CANADA GEESE

A First for the Year
was this

SMALL COPPER BUTTERFLY

 YARROW
 Later in the day we simply retired to the Heath

to sit among the

BRISTLEBENT GRASS and HEATHER
as the wind freshened just enjoying the tranquillity.
There were a couple more items we would have liked
to include in this Post, but due to the sporadic fluctuating
of out Internet signal throughout the day we are unable to do so.

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They Only Come Out at Night - The Edgar Winter Group

The fine weather continues making for some of the best catches from the Moth Traps so far this year. For the last few mornings we have been accompanied at our task by the raucous and continuous cries of the local

juvenile
GREEN WOODPECKERS
(sound track)

 POPLAR LUTESTRING

 DINGY SHEARS

DOUBLE SQUARE-SPOT

 BLACK ARCHES
and

 SCARCE FOOTMAN

have all been caught for the first time this year, the latter here in
comparison with the far more numerous close cousin

COMMON FOOTMAN
Aside of the traps we have been finding

just a single example of 

 EVERLASTING SWEETPEA

and in one of the only remaining puddles of water
BLACKBIRD BATHING

On the Heath the usually abundant

APPLE TREE
is now showing a good amount of fruit while the

FERNS
have now formed a complete carpet over much of the area.

On our way back it was noted that the Blackbird had been
relieved at the bathing pool by a

MISTLE THRUSH

Along the Sewerage Works fence the

WILD PRIVET

is also in bloom.

Returning to Slight Return II for a coffee
 the juvenile
GREEN WOODPECKER
was now showing in person.

Trail Camera Update
and it can be said that at purchase, of the bird, there were just 2 Species
in our sights as hopefuls. Already, Woodcock has been captured and it
was with great surprise that yesterday we caught the second a nocturnal

NIGHTJAR

just look at those eyes.
A pity
They Only Come Out at Night!

There was also an early morning

GREENFINCH

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Morning Dew - The Grateful Dead

1285 HITS yesterday was something of a
Record Breaker
For modern times. We would extend a
Thank You
to all of you that tuned in!
Another hot, sunshiny day resulted in a further decent haul from the

Moth Traps

 Many Hundreds of Insects

stuck to the collar of the trap by the Morning Dew, and as the
sun got uo so they all disappeared.

Yesterday's catch started with both male

 Male

and

 Female

 FESTOON

with the latter said only to come to light occasionally.

 SCORCHED CARPET

 While in passing and found on the 5th Tee a discarded

BLACKBIRD EGG

which looked more like it had hatched than been predated?

SMALL DOTTED BUFF

However, 'out in the field' things were far quieter but

 after this small clump of

 GREATER KNAPWEED

and

 the First

 MARBLED WHITE

of the Year, this juvenile

 WILLOW WARBLER

 was almost the only representative of the

 Bird World

until a feeding

SONG THRUSH

was happened upon.

 The first flowering

 MULLEIN

and unusually a lone

LINNET

Finally a

ROE DEER

also hove into view.

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