Birds of a Feather - Joe South

of "Games People Play" fame.
Yet another 'coolish' summer's day which, if truth were known,

suits me down to the ground, but before anyone starts making my wish

come true please allow me to add 

Balmy, Still and Rain-free Nights please!

We didn'd do too badly at the traps as it happened with a nice little trio of

 DUSKY SALLOW

 DOG'S TOOTH

and

 DOTTED CLAY

all added to the 2020 tally.

Otherwise, there were but c3 happenings of note one of which

we will leave until last as it is bound to get you swooning!!

 Unlike the 

GREY PARTRIDGE

(these Norfolk birds shown just for comparison) 
ours here went extinct back in 2014)

which is pretty much a 'stay at home' gamebird, while the

 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

seems to have something of a wanderlust 

 with the resident 'pair'? plus the new arrival being relocated today

about ¾ of a mile from the original position.

Secondly, the 'swarms' of

STARLING's
continue their mass gatherings at a number of locations and with such flocks
there is sure to be a disaster or two!

On our return to base there on the lawn was a hapless individual rotating, seemingly,

in ever decreasing circles, and looking every bit to have a broken wing?

Were that the case there would have been no alternative than to administer the

Coup de Gras
but no, on closer inspection it was seen to have just twisted primary feathers
which sent my thought reeling back to the 1970's when we lived on the
Isle of Portland.
One day a grounded Common Swift was found in the back garden which is not an option
for a bird that spends its entire life 'on the wing' save for breeding.
The only option was to transport it to the
Portland Bird Observatory
to seek the advice of the then Warden Mick Rogers who said immediately that he could fix it!
He boiled a kettle of water and then gently passed the wing through the steam,
and as if by magic the feathers all fell back into place and flew off powerfully once 'ringed'.
Following that lead, I too boiled the kettle and opened the lid to let out the steam at
which point I dropped it into the boiling water!!!!
Only joking, as it also flew away seemingly no worse for wear!
Then, last but not least, our attention was directed to this little lot
in the eaves of one of the wooden buildings - we will let the images do the talking.

While Dad was busily filling his own crop

MUM CHAFFINCH and the KIDS

were left to get on with

 the real

 
LABOURS of LIFE!

PHEW I'M NEARLY FULL NOW
time for a little noddy, I'll mow that lawn tomorrow!!

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!