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
