A Good Day for Common Fare

but for Migrants - Forget It!

 Again it was a poor show from the 

MothTraps

with just c2 Insects but along with a Red Chestnut there was, for the second time this year,

something of a 'star'

 SCARCE PROMINENT

 is described in the literature as being

"Very Scarce (as the name already suggests) and Restricted Resident across Dorset"

so maybe we should be thanking heavens for having a colony on our patch!

It never ceases to amaze me how the presumed male

 CANADA GOOSE

 maintains this posture for most of the day stationed close to the nest 
where the female is incubating

and of the other waterbourne just a couple of male

 TUFTED DUCK

unless you want to be bored with more

Little Grebes and Coots!

 Additionally, the was a most obliging

GREEN SANDPIPER

 feeding in the margings before trying our luck at the

Sewerage Works Fence

with

GREY WAGTAILs

 seemingly showing off and a small host of other small birds including

 GREAT TIT

 COAL TIT

 and

 BULLFINCH

 ALL,

not surprisingly, in good voice!

 Along the strip of mature Oaks bordering the horse paddocks

 NUTHATCH

are still hard at it while strangely we have not seen

hide nor hair of a Treecreeper so far this Spring

while a few

BLUEBELLs

are also starting to push through

Linnets are now mob-handed across the Heath with Woodlark also seen daily

but still no signs of that Osprey, Red Kite or for that matter

Hobby across that 'BIG' Sky, so for now we will have to content ourselves with

 DARTFORD WARBLER

BLOOMING BLACKTHORN

 and the odd 'flying' aircraft

Bombardier Global

owned by Gama Aviation UK

At Home with the Ozoux's

It has been impossible to resist the opportunity of showing you a little more of my

New Found Friends

Roong and Jean Fracois Ozoux who live in Peninsula Thailand

but also have homes in  France and French Guyana

Thought best simply to portray as more or less a Pictorial 

 HOME in THAILAND

 A SELECTION of EXQUISITE PAINTINGS and DRAWINGS

 from

 Jean Fracois'

 Field Notebooks

sometimes tinged with elegance and humour

 Self Made and Designed Kimono

 along with a selection of  

 

since J F has also paid me a visit in sunny Dorset!

As Marilyn Manson might warble

"The Beautiful People - The Beautiful People"

The Magnificent 7

Another day, another dollar and a bit breezy our intent was to catch up on some of the

WATERFOWL

which have produced a few young

With just a single

WHITE-TAILED BUMBLEBEE 

in the local trap it was straight off, via the newly harrowed

WILD FLOWER PATCH

 to the

Irrigation Pond

where the Coot parents are nurturing no fewer than 

c7 Magnificent Chicks

Around the corner at the

Gravel Pit

strange happenings indeed as it would seem that the absent for 4 days 'prodigal'

LITTLE GREBE

chick has returned to the fold

Mum or Dad

Far more likely it has been holed up in the depths of the reedbed

keeping well away from that

Grey Heron

One of the traits of the Grebe Family

is to carry their young 

Piggyback style

During this observation perion a pair of

REED BUNTING

had been knocking about with the female landing, all be it briefy,

right in front of me

With little else to amuse it was off to the Heath where it was also deathly quiet

but did think that the large tracts of Heather that had been cropped to
stimulate further growth had also seen another benifit as an attractant to 6 -10
Woodlark

All else included an encounter with this male

CHAFFINCH
no big deal there but a cracking bird,
clumps of now flowering

JACK-by-the-HEDGE 
and a new Butterfly species for the year

 ORANGE TIP

 It would have been easy enough to photograph the upper side on the day
but that would surely only have told half of a
Beautiful Story

This specimen was captured last year in one of our Moth Traps 
and while still logy we were able to capture all sides before release,
What a Beauty!