Hully Gully - The Olympics

A quick flash back before we kick off proper and the

irresistable capture of a

 WEARY

 WOOD PIGEON

(right outside our door)

 and guess you'd be a little knackered had you knocked out

c3 broods already this year?

With the Summer weather still nowhere near its best

at least the overnight temperatures remained in double figures

wih something to show for that!

From the garden traps only came First's for the Year............

this little beauty a

 SALLOW

 followed by a rather early

 ROSY RUSTIC

along with

 DARK SWORD-GRASS

and the diminutive and this time 'late'

ORANGE FOOTMAN

On the main path to the Gravel Pit

 an all too distant juvenile

WHITETHROAT

 which did its level best

to make for good footage

but then perhaps you need to look at the cameraman!!

 The mixed Gull flock was once again adorning the

Solar Panel Compound

but in far fewer numbers than the privious day but on the up-side

far more obliging!

 adult

HERRING GULL

 along with a

 juvenile

and an adult

 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

 along with one still in

juvenile plumage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSNoXEpF8y4

(It's been a while)

These larger Gulls take 5 years to develope from egg to adulthood

and don't you just luv 'em!!

As previuosly stated the traps on the Heath produced nothing new for 2020

but best of the bunch did include our 6th

 LARGE EMERALD

for the year along with an almost pristine

 PINE HAWK-MOTH

which we only ever seem to capture in a ragged state but cannot say why?

The video clip shows it warming up prior to tave-off - chocks away!

There was also a

 GREEN LACEWING

whie flying right in the face of our favourint saying

"we don't do Micros"

but when they look like this and seemingly easy (????) to identify

its worth a bash as we reach for Micro Moths of GB by 

Phil Sterling and Mark Parsons with illustrations by Richard Lewington.

 BEAUTIFUL CHINA-MARK

(no relation to the above)

and maybe, just maybe

BROWN CHINA-MARK

there will be a queue if they are wrong which is welcome

"never too old to Rock 'n' Roll or learn something new"!

Across to the 'ever changing scene' that has become

Bournemoth International Airport

this, the 7th

 AIRBUS

to arrive here in recent time has now been on the pan for about 2 weeks

but it was only today that we noticed that they have also

Set Up Shop

here as well - it's an ill wind that doesn't blow some good!

Very little going on within the 

Solar Panel Compound

unless you like

 MULLEIN

 which grows apace here

while the only remaining juvenile

 LAPWING

 seemed to be surveying its domain from the crest of the

Late Bronze Age Tumuli

 SPIDER's WEB

holds raindrops as

CENTAURY
also florishes.

As something of a final bonus we also netted a day-time flying

SMALL GRASS EMERALD

which was released to the wild after identification.

PLEASE KEEP TUNING IN and TELL YER MATES!

And Then There Were Three - Genesis

The title of their 'ninethe studio album' was coined as a result of lead guitarist

Steve Hackett

leaving the band, to concentrate on other things, as had

vocalist Peter Gabriel a number of years before,

effectively turning the original 

Quintet into a Trio!

After a strong cup of coffee and all the other early morning rituals we usually

sally forth at about 06:00 on these summer mornings, which on the last 5 has 

coincided wth a 

GREY HERON

flying in from the north and alighting somewhere along the course of the

River Stour.

we'll get it perched before too long???? 

There has also been an upturn in the numbers of Macro 

(usually, but not always the larger Insects) Moths of late with the mornings collective

reaching a total of 192 specimens.

 Of these but one was added to the 2020 list, which is not a grumble

as good to see

 FIGURE of EIGHT

back in the traps.

Additionally, there was another Arachnid secure by dew to the windscreen

which John Gifford suggests is one of the

GRASS SPIDER
(species)
With little, or rather nothing, to keep us in the more southern climes we headed north

with thoughts as to if the c3

GREEN SANDPIPERs

might still be there, but no they seem to have departed but having left

more than adequate replacements.

We haven't knowingly seen more than a single

 LITTLE GREBE

at the Gravel Pit for a number of weeks now but that is not to say

that we observe the same 'singleton' each time!

 That riddle was adequately resolved as from the smart plumage 

of this adult popped the tiny head

 of what looked like a very young juvenile indeed?

 The other adult did appear and passed food with the opperation

being so quick we were unable to capture it.

Like all of its kind the tiny

HUMBUG

was totally confident in the water

only returning to Mum and Dad when the groceries arrived.

Before the next prile there was a visit from

Sod, who most of us know because of his Law, and we, like everyone else

get our share of that.

No doubt the 'ardent' readers among you will remember the reference of a few days ago

regarding not having seen or heard a

 SEDGE WARBLER

since the very small influx of April,

well in a nutshell we spoke too soon

as one, likely male, was giving it big licks at the

Irrigation Pond.

Having travelled no more than 300 yards from these 2 findings what came next

was in keeping with what was becoming a

Three-fold Rule as not 

 ONE

 not 

TWO

 but an unprecidented

THREE

 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

were found within the

Solar Panel Compound.

We have got very used to frequent encounters with what we describe as a 'pair',

now we might have to get used to a Trio!

Perhaps enough surprises for one day, but not a bit of it as waiting in

the diagonally opposite corner of the compound and some distace away

 were found an estimated 200 mixed Gulls

represented by just

 HERRING GULL

and LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

 Don't You Just Love 'Em!

Eventually, we got around to the other traps from where, as already reported, there was nothing new, but just sat there listening to the likes of

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

'chacking away',

finding our first for the year

MARBLED WHITE BUTTERFLY

 getting a first 'blurred' look through the chain-link fenceing at the only

 BEA Passenger Jet

no longer obscured from veiw now British Airways are pulling out apace,

while adding yet another

Eddie Stobbard Lady

to the already extensive list.

 HERE'S LOOKING FORWARD ALREADY TO TOMORROW,

BRING IT ON!