Cats in the Cradle - Harry Chapin

Decent overnight temperatures once again brought with it a number of

Firsts For The Year   

but perhaps beating them to the punch were the ever voracious

 ROOKs

in the early morning mist before daylight.

 COMMON WAINSCOT

 BUFF ERMINE

 COXCOMB PROMINENT

(which brought up the 100th species of Macro Moth for the Year)

COMMON WAVE 
additionally

 SUMMER CHAFER
was also caught on what turned out to be an otherwise relatively quiet day!

 The first

 TUI
(with U in the middle)
we have seen since the virus took hold but have no info as to
whether it was carrying passengers or not?

Baby Birds
such as

 GREENFINCH
seem to have done very well this year while the adult male

 CHAFFINCH

 was sounding every bit as if trying to attract a female!

 The single young

COOT
also seems to be holding its own

 while

HOUSE SPARROWS
are doing likewise.
To take the sting out of such a short post we can add a few images from
our trip to Korea, having been stowed away for such and occassion.
Self Found

 AMUR CATs
the female is up the tree with a male on the ground.

 There seemed to be little interaction between them, just a couple of growls

 but reliably advised that they are prone to cannibalism!

Prior to this stunning experience I had never even heard of such a creature - TICK!

I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover - Emmy Rossum

The Royal Navy version of this being
"I'm Looking Over a 3 Badged Stoker" 
Well we've been waiting and asking for it and now it seems we have got it,

warm 'end of spring' days and 'balmy nights' and that's only at the 

Pig and Whistle!

A few new Moths as well, which is always a boon, so now to hope it lasts.

The first of these comes with an element of difficulty when compared with it's sister 

 TREBLE-BAR

(which we caught earlier in the year but caution with the other almost the same.

 It comes down to the angle, as indicated on the schematic above,

sent to me by my good friend and mentor Dave Foot to see if I can get the hang of it with

 LESSER TREBLE-BAR

(after all it is a science!)

Not quite so much difficulty with the other additions

 PEPPERED MOTH

 SMALL SQUARE-SPOT

 LARGE YELLOW UNDERWING

 SQUARE-SPOT RUSTIC

and a second hapless

GREEN CARPET

caught and devoured by a Spider within a trap - impossible to keep the little rascals out.

Onward, and leaving the still 'lone' Coot on the Irrigation Pond,

we arrived to find more than a 'little' interest at the Gravel Pit with first on view c2

 EGYPTIAN GEESE

which beat a very quick retreat and leving us to find

a pair of

GADWALL

this the male

and here the

 female.

 Not rare but only an occassional visitor, these 2 were in fact the first ever seen across our

Recording Area

during the month of May!

A brief encounter with a first of the year

COMMON BLUE DAMSELFLY

was not to be sniffed at which also applied to the brace of

GREYLAG GEESE

dropping in very soon after.

 That was by no means the end of it as 

I caught a fleeting glimpes out of the corner of my eye,

I turned to look but it was gone I cannot put my finger on it now, the child has grown,

the dream is gone.

For I have become Comfortably Numb!

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd - from The Dark Side of the Moon

 At long long last we had our first

SAND MARTIN 

of the year which has always been the first of the 3 more common 

Hirundines

to arrive, followed usually by Swallow and House Martin.

The image above is the best of 53 shots to capture the c2 birds involved,

'hawking' Insects over the pond, so maybe best we field a couple from the archive........

 Sand Martin

onc a breeding bird here but sadly no more!

On the Heath there are a number of these 

Gravelled Areas

specially laid to attract Reptiles but more specifically

 SAND LIZARD

which catch the warmth of the 

Sun

which helps to get the early morning metabolism of these

remarkable creatures going and have been seen here to double as breeding areas.

Also on the Heath there was

 JAY

to the left of me

PARTRIDGE

to the right

"here I am stuck in the middle with you"!

as

Stealers Wheel

once sang.

PURPLE CLOVER

is in bloom,

MEADOW PIPIT

are surely feeding young while the 

BOG MYRTLE

has lost its orangy brown of winter for that

Delicious Green!

Step we gaily on we go, heel for heel and toe for toe
Arm in arm and row on row, all for Mairi's Wedding

Over hills and up and down
"Myrtle Green and Bracken Brown"
past the shieling through the town
All for sake of Mairi

Plenty herring plenty meal, plenty peat to fill her creel
Plenty bonnie bairns as weel
That's the toast for Mairi

Mairi's Wedding - Noel McLoughlin

Underneath the Arches - Flanagan and Allan

Oh Dear, Oh Dear

A severe case of 'slack hammock' (getting out of bed late) but it wasn’t my fault sir!

It was my Portuguese (him) and Russian (her) friends fault for ‘making' me go to their party last night. After a gullet full of decent wine, some wonderful Iberian food and renditions from Hendrix, Genesis, and even a mutual Savage Rose et al we eventually got turned in at 05:00, it will do me good as gone are the days when I’d do such things on a nightly basis!

The overnight temperature had stayed at a decent level and brought with it

a few new additions to the Moth Year List but, like just about every other hobby, interest or passtime there is always a thirst for more!

 LEAST BLACK ARCHES

 LIGHT BROCADE

while watchful of the local

PIED WAGTAIL

and Robin hopeing for and opportunist breafast we dispose of our catch into the

Long Grass

it seems to work!

 MARBLED MINOR

Juvenile Robin with remains of 

Large Yellow Underwing

"I rest my case Mi Lord"!

MIDDLE-BARRED MINOR

 As Spring (and by defanision May) grow long original and new findings 

become harder to source and already we are scratching around, but........

While in the process the 'all too regular'

SIKORSKY

twin rotor did a pass which blocked out the sound of the parent

STARLING
(what a gape)

feeding its

youngster.
There had been some concern in recent days as to the disappearance
of one of the Gravel Pit 

COOT

but today the female was back and not alone

 just a single

 MOORLING

 but one is better than none.

Here's hoping it survives longer than the next door neighbours!

Extremely quiet on the Heath save for a canoodling pair of

STOCK DOVE
another juvenile

 STONECHAT
along with a small 'charm' of juvenile

 GOLDFINCH

feeding on 

Grass Seed Heads
A moment of myrth before leaving was to watch the latest

NHS Airbus

itself being towed into the

SICK BAY
while the drive around the Solar Panel Compound 

added nothing to the tally!