Mellow Yellow - Donavan

Sauntering across to the Heath last evening the southern end of the

Bridleway was swamped in (out of focus)

BRIGHT LIGHTs

as it was seen that the

GO-KART CIRCUIT

is now back in business - good job!

We hope yesterday didn’t sound too much like a whinge, as that is not our style, simply enjoying everything and anything that Nature sends our way. However, we did seem to be on a bit more of an even-keel for Tuesday as we did get a little more excitement from the traps!

New Macro Moths for the Year included

 DOUBLE KIDNEY

 DUSKY THORN

along with a little beauty we have been anticipating and hoping for

 BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING

which to the unweiry could be confussed with 

 TRUE LOVER'S KNOT

befor opening their wings!

Caught previously during 2020 we show again the 'beauty' that is

MAGPIE MOTH

for that very reason alone.

After the Traps a dusk

ROOK

kicked the 'birding' day off and on the way to the 

Common and Heath

one of the NHS Airbuses was taxiing for its next sortie!

At this time of year, save for the resident Coot, Moorhen, Little Grebe and Mallard

Waterfowl are otherwise usually absent, so a lone 

TEAL

at the Irrigation pond, not uncommon during to colder months,

was a very welcome sight

which constituted the first ever record here for the month of August.

However, what manifested itself around the corner at a misty

Gravel Pit

outshone this by a royal mile and in the form of a 'calling' and briefly 'singing'

YELLOW WAGTAIL

 which falls into the

RARE

catagory around here with less than half a dozen records since 2013.

Another strange happening there was also the sighting of a new

Little Grebe Platform

next to the existing one, for which there is a theory.

We know from experience that when the parent birds leave the eggs in the nest,

they cover them with pond weed which 'might' be to keep them out of the clutches

(excuse the pun) of preditors and/or keep them incubating.

We have already braced ourself for a little head or 4 popping out in the near future??

Who Knows?

 The Heath  

produced a few Butterflies, at a bit of a premiun it seems this year, as

 GATEKEEPER

was a first while we have seen

 GRAYLING

"which never perches with its wings akimbo"

once before this year.

As stated both species are found on the Heath but slim pickings in the garden

where the attractants are proving ineffectual,

and finally an oversight prevented us publishing these 

clicks and short clips of

 SHORT-TAILED FIELD VOLE

 which likely qualifies as

 the most numerous

 MAMMAL

across the Recording Area.

We often feed them but usually only get fleeting glimpses by return!

Fly Me to the Moon - F A Sinatra and the Count Basie Orchestra

Fly me to the Moon and let me play  among the stars.

Let me know what Spring is like on Jupiter and Mars

in other words........

MOTHER NATURE

is a fickle lady especially when hopes are high for one thing and then,

she deals a completely different hand!

However there was one thing we could be absolutely sure of and that was the

FULL MOON

but seeing it might have been touch and go!

No cloud cover meant good views along with attendent Saturn and Jupiter

which wouldn't quite fit into the frame without being a total blur!

 WOOD PIGEONS

stole the show for the first 15 minutes as not only were this local pair

looking every bit as though a 'third brood' might be in production at any minute, but

also an estimated flock of maybe as many as 2 - 300 flying puposefully north west.

It was the Moth Traps (all of them) that were going to prove the first nuisance,

turning up just 29 species of Macro Moth between them, where it is usual to expect 

a minimum of 40+ at least during the summer months!

However, the Old Lady (not the Moth of the same name) stepped in and dealt

a fine hand of her own!

 SPOTTED LONG-HORN BEETLE

along with

 DARK BUSH-CRICKET

were plucked from the traps on 'home turf' while it was 

Towering Cumulus

on the Heath that seemed to be presenting a threat.

There half a dozen or so

HAWTHORN SHIELDBUGs

 were found in the traps along with a creature never even 'heard' of, let alone seen, before as

 John Gifford

sorted it out for us, an absolutely 'cracking'

 ROESEL'S BUSH-CRICKET

(get that green U at the neck-line)

That done our welcome to the Wider World was provided by a gathering of both

 PHEASANT and RABBIT

which was also the moment we realised the 

Willow Warbler's

of yesterday had been displaced by decent number of

 CHIFFCHAFF

 some looking a little juvenile

but

a charming sight to see!

BOURNEMOUTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

and another returning regular seeming back on the scheduale flights?

Seems like Thompson or Tui have had a bit of change of livery,

this in my view being a major case of

Something and Nothing,

having just tacked on a new tail-plane?

(PS - we missed a flypast by about 20 seconds but they won't escape us)

Being Sunday, it was then time to turn the Reptile covers, but like the Moths

there was no-one home, however in a similar way other things made up for that.

The tiniest

ANTs

 with loads of

 that we have ever seen, with surely the best being left until last.

 CREAM-STREAKED LADYBIRD

 We know little about its status except it is a relatively new arrival in the country,

which remains uncommon, this being only the second we have seen.

Dave Foot, not surprisingly, managed to find our first last year!

So, in a nutshell, the

Dear Ol' Dutch came up Trumps - and we don't mean freakin' Donald the Oaf!

As Howlin' Wolf once advised the Rolling Stones

"Always Stop at the Top"

so we will also end on a High Note as the family

Tilly , from Derbyshire,

(complete this year with grandson Samuel)

 once again return for there annual stay. Always a delight to see they are right next to me on the lawn so nice and easy for the odd chat and exchange of  experiences. Keen anglers, it wasn't long before catching this small Jack Pike. They have also shown me Minnows and a tiny Dace.

The Kids Are Alright - The Who

Not a Hope in Hell of saving the Best until last today

as there could have been little better than a visitation from my c3 younger

 APPRENTICES

Josh, Sophie and Oliver
(the latter back to Wellington boots rather than Football)

 who had additionally come to view 

Grandma Jen's new

 ARAB HORSE

In addition to having a keen interest in Wildlife Josh is a member of the 

Bournemouth Town Football Acadamy, Oliver the same at Southampton and little

Sophie, just 5, already an accomplished all round dancer.

She was told of my days of being a 'tap-dance' but had to give it up as kept falling into the sink!

My single hope now is that we get all of this isolation out of the way and get up the 

Common together real soon!

 Otherwise, things keep popping up from time to time and we continue

trying to capture them for your pleasure!

 Once again there were no new Moths to add to the Year List while this rather 

handsome lady

PHEASANT

crossing the lawn kicked the day off very well!

If indeed it is bad news we might as well get it behind us and report that the

 LITTLE GREBE

nest still shows signs of being abandoned - but you never can tell!

While what has become the norm in recent weeks

 MISTLE THRUSH

 still look to be doing very well

while the first of c2

 juvenile

 MEADOW PIPIT

was certainly obliging and the

FIDDLER

was on the Roof!

 The spotting of any

 DARTFORD WARBLER

let alone a full blown adult male is enough to bring the Canon to bear,

 and while we already had suspicions today we located the

COMMON BUZZARDS NEST

Any other activities, and there were a number, were confined to the 

other side of the Airport perimter fence where first to appear were the

HERP'sPEOPLE

 who seem to check the

 Reptile Covers

on a regular basis.

Today it looked like they were clearing them out so that

GRASS MOWING

could take place??

and what followed looked every bit like a

Machine for Sowing Seed another????

but whatever the airport spend a lot of money on this border of grassland!

There is a Light Aircraft repair station at the 'hook' end of this

Lofty Crane

so did linger in hope of catching some action - but no and moving on found both

Red

 and

 Yellow

Fire Engines underway but not stopping at the 

Fire Practice Yard - so no flames today.

Looks like

RYANAIR

are now right in the swing of things with, we guess, about half a dozen flights per day?

 Another, rather more ragged juvenile hove into view

with no intent of staring in a

 Feature Length Film

 TUGGING an AIRBUS

ROWAN in the BREEZE

 and looks like there shoud be some

 HAPPY CATTLE

 when this lot start falling!

While to put an end to things Paul Harris sends images of a 'scarce'

 ORACHE MOTH,

which we have caught here just the once, while his next find

 was on a traffic roundabout just outside of

Weymouth

where it has stayed since, a scarce

WOOD SANDPIPER