Yellow - Coldplay

 The scarcity of a vocal and overflying

SKYLARK
as the first bird of the day would have been enough to slake our thirst

for the rest of the wander, but its popularity and scarcity value was to be short lived!
Having been an Asdic (later to become Sonar) Operator in surface Warships and Submarines alike, probably the best of my senses is my hearing, it was just the rest of me that they had to amputate! Even before the above had disappeared there was the quiet calling of a

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER
coming from the nearby bushes.

which is an extremely 'rare' bird across the whole of the Recording Area.

Only the second to be found in the garden here

with another along the Sewerage Works Fence a couple of years ago

puts the grand total at just c3 over a 14 year period. This find also coincided with a 'fall' of the species across Portland and with no more than fleeting glimpses the 'stills' come from the Buchan Alpha Oil Rig, where they were anual and quite numerous and the 'clips' from the Somerset Levels 2 years ago. Well, it was safe to say that we were not going to be able to upstage that but hanging around Slight Return II for a while did produce a few minor returns.

The STARLING flock is

murmurising again, as a

GREY SQUIRREL

appeared to have located a

food source as the first of the 'heavy mob'

BEOING 737 

owned by Maleth Aero now plying cargo on a daily basis between
Bournemouth International Airport and Dublin.
followed by a record number of c7

PHEASANTs

were watched scurrying across the lawn while yet another

GULFSTREAM - G650 belonging to the

Bahrain Royal Fligh
has also been put through its paces seemingly after something og a refit.

No need to go any further, but the pull is too strong and we did find the

MUTE SWANs
at the Irrigation pond still tugging reeds to the Island.

Met at the gate to the Heath by the

OLD ENGLISH WHITE
steer

munching away but thereafter nothing, but we had alraedy done
Very Well!

We once again thank John Gifford for the Aircraft Info.

Thick as a Brick - Jethro Tull

  The band take their name from the inventor of the Seed Drill.

Given the prediction of frequent and heavy flash rain showers overnight it was decided (reluctantly) to abandon the Heath Moth Traps but flash up the 2 closer to home. Good call as along with yet another brace of Mervielle du Jour came a

First for Year

BRICK
bringing the annual total to 381 species of Macro Moths. Others of interest included

only our second of the year

BLAIR'S SHOULDER-KNOT
along with a couple of

SILVER Y's
Additionally, there was a most welcome contribution from one of our 

Weymouth Correspodents John Gifford of a

DOCK SHIELDBUG
a fine looking fella. 

With nothing or just same, same across all of the watercourses we headed diectly to a very sombre looking

HEATH
which just gave the impression that there might not be a lot going on?

A visit to the GOAT ENCLOSURE found them carrying out the function they were put here for,

browsing the invassive plant life such as Gorse etc with a
Great Spotted Woodpecker
'calling' in the background before the most wily bird in the jungle landed right beside us. With both images and footage a little substandard we were not going to miss this moment

of a

JAY

foraging.
Right out of our depth but an eye-catching species the fungi with the

MOSS (left) could be PUNCTELIA BORREN?

but rather more confident that this is

WITCHS BUTTER
followed by something a little unusual. We only very occassionally see

REED BUNTING

at the reed-strewn ballancing pond between the Heath and the Aiport
but today this individual was found

feeding along the main track which is close by.

Otherwise, after a quick look at the

CHAROLAIS

along the Moors River it was off to the Solar Panel Compound where

MEADOW PIPIT's

still abound and where the c3

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

 were relocated

on the doorstep of the

BADGER SETT

dug into the Late Bronze Age Tumuli.

Also discovered there where what are likely to be the vangaurd of

overwintering

MISTLE THRUSH
and penultimately a gift from our Senior Apprentice Chloe

now tacked to the dashboard and to which we can associate ourself with.
THANKS CHLOE
and why this image should have found it's way out of the archive and onto the desktop is unknown, but rather than just delete it, we give you the

RING-NECKED DUCK
from our 2017 trip to Scotland, with Dave Foot at Pitlochry, Scotland.

A FINE LOOKING FELLA!

White Bird - It's a Beautiful Day

With the back having dropped out of the temperature overnight Saturday hopes were not brimming, but fear not Stout Yeoman “all good things come to those who wait”! First up, and not ‘in’ the trap at all, there perched on the collar was another example of

 

MERVEILLE du JOUR

along with 2 others from within making for a fine trio. However, there was better to come with a

Fresh as a Daisy and First fot the Year

SATTELITE
A washed out and bedraggled

BORDERED BEAUTY
seemed to have been pushing its luck as far as 'flight period' was concerned, but less unexpected

the continuing pulse of
SHUTTLE-SHAPED DART
Had we not seen this Fine Fella on the Heath

COCK PHEASANT
another record may have been achieved but not one that would readily have been added to the ARCHIVE as the only Bird 'seen' across a full rounds of the Moor.

Time for an executive decission and a venture 'off-piste' and fitting the bill

LONGHAM LAKES
It was mainly White Birds that attracted us but anything that has not been seen on our own patch would be equally welcome. The Mute Swans above were not exactly what we meant but the

regatta of juvenile MUTES further out fitted the bill.
Maybe the reason for having none of our own this year?

The more expected

TUFTED DUCK

and

MALLARD
were not difficult to find but after an unexpected

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY
it took quite some time to locate both

WIGEON

and

GADWALL

seemingly just c2 of each?
An inflight

LITTLE EGRET
gave the game away for the Herons as 2 of the 3 reported

GREAT WHITE EGRET

were found on the Island

with a few of there smaller cousins.

 The clip also incudes a lone

GREY HERON

and a couple more

LITTLE EGRET

COOT

and

CORMORANTS et al
were also present in resonable numbers, but surely to increase as Winter approches,

while the BEST was left until last as spotting

long time Birding Friend
DOCTOR GEORGE GREEN

author of the tome that is 

THE BIRDS of DORSET

and the Bible to County Birders at least!
We see each other all to infrequently so there was much to catch up on,

 not least haveing set up a Moth Trap in recent months at long last.

 On that subject the conversation turned to Insects and he finding a

MIGRANT HAWKER DRAGONFLY
in the car park. My contribution was to introduce him to a couple of Moths he had not encountered before, which just happened to be in the cold box in the car, Merveille du Jour as above and

PINK-BARRED SALLOW

before the parting of the ways!