Jackpot - Jack the Lad

Jack the Lad were an Electric Folk Rock Band

formed in 1973 by 3 members of the recently defunct Lindisfarne.

Not at all my genre until they regrouped in 1979 just to play the Reading Festival

where they blew the crowd away, including myself, if my memory serves me!

It hasn't been particularly bountiful for Wildlife, particularly Birds, over the past few days but just like every facet of life when you least expect it a little gem turns up. First on parade at the Irrigation Pond was a

 JACK SNIPE

 which rarely make for a good photograph

as usually distant and concealed plus only being about the size of a

tennis ball doesn't help.

There were also a couple of noisy

 CANADA GEESE

which quickly departed.

Nothing was the story at the other ponds so we cut along to the

Sewerage Works Hedge

where a small group of at least c5

BULLFINCH

appear to have re-established themselves.

Close by we found a second noteworthy bird for the day a

LITTLE OWL

busily 'worming' in the hardened ground until we sent it to the trees.

On our way to the Heath we did call back into the ponds
to find just a small smattering of Ducks and a single

BLACK-HEADED GULL
 before encountering a

DARTFORD WARBLER
 awaiting our arrival just inside the gate.

 Coincidentally, a second Warbler turned up within 5 minutes, this time a
CHIFFCHAFF
leading to the hopes of maybe a 3 species of Warbler day - but no such luck.

 Despite the 'tributary' being amply supplied with water there has been no sign of

 Wildfowl or Wader
in the last couple of weeks.

 Continuing in attendance is the 'pied'

CARRION CROW
 while something a little more surprising is that the

ALDER BUCKTHORN
 is still holding on to its leaves?

 The FERNS have now just about had their day, but it is hoped that
this years 'spraying' will deter at least some of the growth next year.

 Our final location of the day was to be one of the
Solar Panel Compounds
where a small flock of

MISTLE THRUSH

were found, but unfortunately still no sign of any
Fieldfare or Redwing.

Back to the memoir p.m. and late afternoon these

MAGPIES

arrived to hoover up the bread we had scattered earlier.

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Raven Ravine - Genesis

Nights continue to be chilly so we were quite expecting everything to be frozen during the last couple of days. Lucky thing was, when its not shining directly in your eyes, there was also uninterrupted sunshine throughout daylight hours with the ice/frost readily turning to melt water.

 Here comes the Sun, Here comes the Sun

and I say it's alright!

The Beatles

But it was still early and would take time to soften things up below.

BLACKBIRD and ROBIN

waiting on the Solar Panels and watching for movement below.

Irrigation Pond

solid as a rock

and these young 'dark morph'
PHEASANTS

having the same problems as everything else.

Gravel Pit

ditto to above and similarly not a Waterfowl in sight.

 Best plan was thought to be heading for the Heath but one thing

we just cannot get our heads round - how do the Birds know

when you are about to/or just have pressed the shutter and fly off??

 The other of only c2

STONECHAT

recorded did stay ad was marginally more obliging, but for all the chill

 the Trees look fantastic in their coating of tinsel.

 An opportunist shot of a passing

RAVEN

as we were exiting before giving things a couple more hours to thaw out.

Had we done a little more 'thinking' and a good deal less 'cackling'

with some of the people we met at Longham on the last day of November,

 we may not have had to make a return visit to secure video footage

of the c3 

GREAT WHITE EGRET

which very luckily decided to stay put.

So, to utilise the waiting period that is precisely what we did and 

immediately managed to capture all 3 Egrets together (top image) 

which we didn't do on our first visit.

That Good Start was very quickly followed by a Bad Start as a

mist rolled in from nowhere, blotting out everything.

 Luckily it was short lived and as it lifted it was found that one of

the Egrets had shifted position.

Good for comparison in size between

Great White Egret and Little Egret,

but as we have the 'shakes' when drinking a coffee in the

warmth and comfort of

Slight Return II

what chance holding a camera steady, without a support, 

at passed 3 'o' clock on a

Cold and Frosty Morning

Good Morrow Masters All!

 A short interlude as a

CORMORANT

flew over and back to the original spot.

Timed to perfection, we were even lucky enough to catch a 

GREY HERON 

sneaking out of cover as well.

On our return to Parley Court Farm

more on a hunch than anything else we entered the 

Eco Recycling Works

rather than passing it by and saw what we had hoped to see, a

 FERAL PIGEON

 which (maybe surprisingly) is an addition to the

Ongoing November List.

In company was also a young

STOCK DOVE

As hoped, at the Gravel Pit we found a few

EURASIAN TEAL

taking advantage of the melt contentedly feeding in the margins,

and which were found to be a record count for this end of the year, c15 in total,

and how nice to see the males in full adult/winter plumage

sporting their gold quarter patches!

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Video Killed the Radio Star - Buggles (Part II)

On a cold, frosty, sunny and extremely quiet for Wildlife morning, it was decided to fill our time by videoing what is our daily route around the northern part of the Recording Area known as The Common. This Virtual Tour shows just what a bugbear life can be - but somebodies got to do it!

CHAPEL LANE

 Turning into Phase I of the Solar Panel Complex

Now on the main Bridleway and

turning into the

Irrigation Pond

Driving the northern edge of the largest of the

Solar Panel Compounds

which is Phase II

Returning from the Heath 

Merritown Heath / Parley Court Farm Gate

Back on Parley Court Farm

The Moors River 

is beyond the tree to the right

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Tea For One - Joe Bonamassa

The first day of Meteorological Winter looks as if iy will dawned in much the same way as had the last of November, with a temperature of -5°C, a reasonably heavy frost, no wind along with a stunning sunrise but small Birds particularly were scavenging what morsels they could find!

SUNRISE

Of Cabbages and Kings

and not to forget

WOOD PIGEONs
as Lewis Carroll might have written had he thought of it
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships -  and sealing-wax
Of cabbages - and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."
as they nicked Hugh's brassicas!

At Parley Pond the British sub-species of
MUSCOVY DUCK
was firstly doing its impression of Roald Amundsen 10 minutes away from
the South Pole before

Skating on Thin Ice.

 At the Irrigation Pond there were no more Wildfowl than c2

MUTE SWANs

which even then were pushed for space with no more than a 'postage stamp'
of open water.
With no time to jockey for position we captured, through the windscreen this

GOLDFINCH

finding some sustenance from the Teasels,
while all else on Parley Court Farm amounted only to c5

BULLFINCH

along with a couple of feeding

GREENFINCH

With little or no interest in the tiny Wader found at

LONGHAM LAKE
yesterday, firstly thought to be a 'possible' White-rumped Sandpiper
and then later a Semi-palmated Sandpiper, both vagrant from the Americas,
but a further report had highlighted c3 Great White Egrets
which were far more to my liking. We don't often go off piste and all
through the morning it was touch and go as to whether we would today.
At the 11th hour we bit the bullet and headed off on that epic 10 minute journey.

 With the huge size of these beautiful creatures

 they were not difficult to find or see

 but never gave 'point blank' views.

 Two of them were content to remain fixed on their

  Island Refuge

 while the third was most flighty. Just before we left it again took to the air
and gained great altitude and headed east, and at one point invaded

Parley Court Farm Airspace
another new species added to our
Recording Area List!
and what about the relevance of Tee (sic) For One we hear you ask?
On our way back to Slight Return we discovered this

'LONE' MUTE SWAN

on the 4th Tee which in our slightly warped thinking brought to mind
 a play on words and the Joe Bonamassa 'cover' of the Led Zeppelin
track (from their 1976 album Presence)
'Tea For One' Link

Personally I am not a great lover of 'cover versions' and no one messes with Led,
but this track, which first brought Mr Bonamassa to my attention, goes down as
the Golden Example of the Exception to the Rule. An extremely difficult number to sing,
I have practised it until black in the face but never subjected it to a live audience as
Bowie and Sheila would tell you!
This Post is dedicated to those 2 Dear Friends, what a night that was!
Sweet little Ille, you'll know her if you see her
Blue eyes and a ponytail
Her checks are rosy, she looks a little nosy
Man, that little girl is fine.

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