Angels 12

As the first signs of evening arrived yesterday so did the distinctive throb of

Merlin Engines

sending us galloping onto the lawn to

 'REACH FOR THE SKY'

to click and vid opportuist shots of one of 2

 SPITFIREs

 the other had already landed at

Bournemouth International Airport.

Such a sighting always brings back memories of driving on holiday's

with our 2 usually fractuous daughters, until they broke into a game of

Pub Legs!

Looking out of opposite windows the Duke of Wellington for instance would add 2 legs,

hence 2 points, where as the Coach and Horses a maximum of 8.

Like most families one of the girls was lucky and the other not quite so as we bombed off

down to Cornwall spotting firstly the

Brace of Millipedes, to one's great delight, while followed shortly on the other side of the road by

The Sir Douglas Bader!

Someone's got to Win!

 Soon after this 

HELICOPTER

seemingly lacking any pennant numbers / letter also did a pass,

the odds are on someone enlightening me?

About to stow away the trusty Canon there was a 

Monopoly Moment 

as this terrified

PHEASANT

tried to

Get Out of Jail Free!

The morning arrived with some joy as early intervention into the

Moth Traps

brought forth a splendid 'first for the year'

 PINK-BARRED SALLOW

It sometimes gets a little tiresome stating that 

"we don't do Micro's",

usually the smaller Insects of the Moth world, but that's only until 

something like this turns up.

 with no vernacular name
EVERGESTIS LIMBATA

 has to be one of the most beautiful of that divission ever seen.

The images, unfortunately, do not represent it at all well.

 Otherwise, up north there was little more than a lone

 lone

male

 GADWALL
(the missus seemingly disappeared)
and the now long staying and rapidly moulting

 MUTE SWAN

 On the Heath, where no Moth Traps were flashed up last night,

there were a few difficult to snap

 MEADOW PIPITs

along with

 a record number of

 WHEATEAR

 on site.

No accurate count was made, but certainly in excess of 2 dozen.

 More football sized

PUFFBALL FUNGI

in the 

Solar Panel Compound

followed by yet another new 

Eddie Stobbart Lady!

Cricket Lovely Cricket - Jah Thomas FRIDAY

APOLOGIES FOR THE LATE PUBLICATION TODAY
INTERNET MALFUNCTION OR MORE LIKELY
'OPERATOR ERROR' 
An average of +14°C on the gauge overnight would have attracted

poor returns had it not been for a couple of

 SMALL WAINSCOT

 of varying hue

 along with this rather bulky female

DARK BUSH CRICKET

Another relic to be added to the nely formed museum

which now holds 2 exhibits which is reflected in the new

entrance fee, now £2.00 at the door!

If we record all c3 resident Woodpeckers on any given day

throughout the year

we consider ourselves to have done very well with

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

on the Heath,

GREEN WOODPECKER

in the garden and then

later in the day we returned to the Heath and found a

LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER

Before that final visit we had scanned the

Solar Panel Compound

to find, if our memory serves us,

the first

WHINCHAT

of 2020.

The phenomena of gathering

HOUSE MARTINs

yesterday was just a single day late of similar activity

last year, but with the images and videos being effected by bad light

(and a shaky cameraman)

we have produced those taken on the 09/10/2019.

We raise our hats to the strange phenomena.
Soul-birds of a feather flock together.
We raise our hats to the hand a-moulding us.
Sure 'nuff, he has the answer
He has the answer

Strange Phenomena - Kate Bush

and finally our caravaning friends from Derbyshire have now decamped to

Cornwall for a couple of weeks where young

Samuel

appears to be tucking in to the Garfish, we have no prospects of seeing

one of those in our neck of the woods!

Spiderwebs - No Doubt

Another night of sub-double diget temperature saw nothing from the traps other than a 

CORRECTION!

Announcing the 'litter' of Hawthorn Shieldbugs on a previous post,

it turns out we got it wrong and not infact this

 HAWTHORN SHIELDBUG

but this

 BIRCH SHIELDBUG

We welcome the correction from Paul Harris with open arms!

Once again nothing to keep us at either pond so onward to the Heath
where en-route the

 Spider Webs 
were glistening with the dew

and looking rather like Brock the Badger had been having a mid-night feast.
Yet another 'pleasing' early morning

CLOUD FORMATION

However, looking back there was something far less pleasing although not going
to effect my day, but would have to make a telephone call as the

OLD ENGLISH WHITE STEER
had escaped captivity and already shoulder deep in Bracken
and Herdsman called.
We can report now safely back where it belongs!
Otherwise, and not surprisingly, more showy
FUNGI
 only ID'ed as to family group

TRICHOTOMA (Species)
and

ASCOBULUS (Species)
While we were in that area we did take a distant peek at the 

BEE HIVES

which appear to be thriving.
Birds were at an absolute premium

 and had it not been for this

 WHEATEAR

we could have been very close to a 'blank'!
A little relief came with the finding of another clump of more colourful
FUNGI,
which like the others were initially identified by
John Gifford,
but for this 
RUSSULA ATROPURPEA
we did find a vernacular name

PURPLE BRITTLEGILL
There was but a single bit of action within the
Solar Panel Compound
as on padlocking the gate we noticed this

COMMON BUZZARD

take this hapless

WOOD PIGEON

directly before us but at quite some distance,

feeling it was our attempt to get closer that saw it disappear into the trees,

with a few evidential feathers clinging to what might have been the
Plucking Post
had we been a little more stealthy.
Somewhat changed since early morning, the

Evening Skyscape