Into the Great Wide Open - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakes

 from the eponymous album

 Th Daily Doings

Started with something of a minor bang as the first 

 SKYLARK
 to grace the Recording Area (RA) this year hovered directly above Slight II singing its little heart out at first light,
now we know it is Spring?Adiquately endorsed by our Broadwey (Weymouth) correspondent

who reports the first Frog Spawn in his garden pond.
Additionally, in a passing shower and attempting to emulate the
Portland Bird Obsevatory
in coaxing a Blackcap into the garden, we did attract a 4th species to the stratigically placed apples.

 Having only just resited the apples from the shelter of the
Corkscrew Hazel
Into the Great Wide Open

 BLACKBIRD
(cor that fence ain't half rockin' about)

 now joins Blue Tit, Robin and Wren on the
Cox's Orange Pippin List
and to continue the familiarisation of our RA, not suprisingly the Sewerage Works that marks the northern boundry is one of, if not 'the' most prolific site across the RA. Blessed with having restricted access to the works, when activity is at an ebb, the usually expected Wagtails, Pipits and assorted Gulls are the main fare but it is the 'cultivated not natural'

HEDGE

that shelters the Good Stuff.
We have shown Gold and Firecrests in previous posts, which are annual,
but historically it has been the loan

 BLACK REDSTART

 there across the winter of 2015 / 16,

(with c3 others since at various locations)

plus c2 quite seperate
Yellow-browed Warbler
in 2017 and 19
There were c2 others in previous years at other locations but all fell into the catagory of
Camera Shy 
 To redress this we can field some images taken on the
Buchan Alpha Floating Oil Production Platform in the North Sea
where these tiny birds were annual, occassionaly numerous (low double figures on certain days)
and very easy to catch. In fact my Birding Apprentice then, Dave Penney, voiced the analogy refering to these captures as similar to picking blackberries.
Most were dried, warmed, boxed and sent ashore on the next helicopter.

We also know how to attract the Ladies, just show them around a
Sewerage Works
and they are putty in the proverbial, which became fact on one of the Australian jaunts.
If the memory serves we will try and dig out some images?

The Helicopter Safety Netting seemed to be a particularly good attractant for these tiny Warblers

The final batch from Norfolk

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER

 KNOT

GOLDEN PLOVER

 RED KITE

 RUFF

MEDITERRANEAN GULL

 GREY PLOVER

 RED-THROATED DIVER

SANDERLING
What a weekend Great Birds, Great Company, Great County

Garden - Groundhogs

from the classic album
Thank Christ for the Bomb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdI2aRDEBZ4

Lyrically, one of my top 5 ever rock compositions.

Add to that meeting prime mover, lead guitarist and vocalist

Tony TS McPhee

in Finns, Weymouth’s finest House of Sounds, he graciously signed my vinyl sleeve.

TS stands for ‘Top Strat’ relating to the Fender Stratocaster Guitar

Overnight temperatures continue to hang on doggedly to
lower double figures but again no Moths in the traps unlike our mutual friend in
Weymouth who has seen his 16th species of the year already, while our tally stands at a humble 3!

So now the furore of the second launch of the

Bagsy Blog 

(have you informed ALL of your pals??)

has passed and gone maybe it time to show, particularly the uninitiated, around the

Recording Area (RA)

across a number of editions starting with

A Room With a View - a.k.a. Slight Return II

To the north of Slight II, lies the 

Chicken Shack (Stan Webb)

of which I now have full command, pleased to feed the dozen inmates, water as

necessary and collect the continuing bounty of ‘new laid eggs’ on a daily basis.

There is something of a ‘record breaker’ about this command

for me as the only one I have not thus far ‘put aground’.
 Then, while stood on my doorstep, to the east stands the

Farm House

with its newly fashioned extention, while looking south along the tennis court
 and beyond' the out of sight River Stour flows.
Finally, and not quite due west, are the private stables

and a bund atop of which is an ideal focalpoint for viewing/hearing migrant Birds and catching migrant Moths

Relatively lean pickings from the rounds today except to say that Birdlife certainly seems to be reacting to the Springlike conditions. Song Thrushes have been giving it large for weeks now but joining the chorus, right across all areas, Coal Tits have never seemed so numerous here. It was thought that conditions had also taken effect with the northern thrushes, seemingly departed, that is until well over 100 were found ground feeding in the soggy northern paddocks. Otherwise, in addition to the remaining c5 Tufted Ducks plus 2 or 3 Little Grebes, more Wildfowl have been returning to the 2 main ponds. OK, only

 CANADA GEESE
and

MALLARD 
for now, but "from tiny acorns Mighty Oaks etc"!

When we issued the Last Knockings of Norfolk posts we hadn’t accounted for, or even remembered we’d generated, another file of relevant images gleaned from various sources. So now, for your delectation, here over 2 posts are the other species which made up the total of 50 additions to the 2020 bird list.

BLACK-THROATED DIVER

 YELLOWHAMMER

 BRENT GEESE

 SKYLARK

 COMMON SCOTER

SHORT-EARED OWL

DUNLIN

MARSH HARRIER

 GREY PARTRIDGE

My garden is all overgrown,

and the weeds are creeping up on my home.
Grass has grown over two foot high,

and the trees are blocking out the sky.
French windows won't open any more,

from the moss that's grown outside the door.
A hundred birds are nesting in the trees,

looks like a wild-life sanctuary.

But I'm not going to cut a single blade of grass,

my garden will look just like the distant past.
Before the days of agricultural land,

before the time when pebbles turned to sand.
When I leave this house I'm going to stay,

I'm forsaking my comforts to live another way.
Get my clothes from heaps, my food from bins,

my water from ponds and have tramps for my friends.

In part I can very much relate to this and highly recommend it!