Lady of the Lake - Arthurian Legend (Part II)

 After release of the Common Carp we set our sights on the Main Island where was found, not surprisingly, residents and those which may have already moved in for the Winter?

CORMORANTs
along with the c3 species of Egret including

CATTLE EGRET (yellow bill) LITTLE EGRET

and ever present
BLACK-HEADED GULLs
Also in attendance a single

GREAT WHITE EGRET

which are always of great value

if only for their

Contorting Necks.
Heading towards the
Hampreston Water Meadows

another familiar sight as more

CORMORANTs
indulge themselves in their High Wire acts.

Directly below the pylon 2

GREY HERONs

were in 'stalking mode'
While circumnavigating the South Lake, the larger of the 2, we happened across
mostly more of the same but conducting different activities with male

TUFTED DUCK and POCHARD
looking to be in a serious 'face-off' while

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

and yes, sorry to say,

even more

CORMORANTs
were engaged in 'hunting' and around this side of the lake the

LITTLE EGRETs

were favouring perches

in the

SALLOWs
Only a few paces from the car park there was to be something of a minor and unexpected finale, as all of ours have now disappeared, a lone

STONECHAT
feeding on the reed seed-heads.

Lady of the Lake - Arturian Legend (Part I)

 Still they come despite only small numbers but on the cusp of Winter every one is a bonus!

VESTAL

migrant or home-grown who knows, or cares, as long as they are still showing up.
Otherwise it was just left to a handful of

RED-LINE QUAKERs
to make up the numbers.
With things still a little baron around our home patch just for a change, if nothing else, we took a wander down to Longham which we will publish in 2 halves. Almost the first Bird was a hoped for

COMMON GULL

which soon settled down and became our

First of the Season
as considered an extreme 'rarity' on home turf.
At the same time we took advantage of the lone

POCHARD

cruising back and forth close by

before being distracted by some human activity close by.
This young angler

had struck into what was potentially a decent size fish which

he was now gently and skilfully teasing towards the shore

while his mate made ready with the landing net.

Love it or Loath it these 2 chaps certainly knew what they were doing
and were treating thier prey like a new born baby

with a cradle to transport it from the lake to a nearby

bed to process it, we were amazed at the degree of care and respect they were showing.

Weighing in at 27lb this COMMON CARP was a catch indeed but the care didn't stop there.
With a gentle touch they treated the mouth with a special lotion and although not needed
there was a special 'glue' on hand to replace any displaced scales - never seen the likes of that!

Continuing our own search a small pod of

GREAT CRESTED GREBEs
drifted by, seemingly to the annoyance of a
Black-headed Gull

before we started our scan of the main island where

CORMORANT, GREY HERON
and the same species of Gull are usually in attendance but we'll leave it there for now.

MANANA!

He Who Pays the Piper

 For 3 cosecutive mornings now the

dawn silence has been broken by the most welcome yelps of an unseen

LITTLE OWL
leading to hopes that it may have found something to sustain it

overwinter and maybe attract a pal?

Weatherwise, it remains fairly dull but still a few bits and pieces around to keep the interest up especially at the Moth Traps with

SATELLITE

MOTTLED UMBER
and

YELLOW-LINE QUAKER.
in numbers, being consigned to the log but nothing new.
At the main pond it was a case of

"if the Devil should cast his net" with a swarm of
MUSCOVY's to starboard and

EMU
to port but yet again with no sign of Rod Hull.

Not an unfamiliar sight at the Fencing Centre where at least 2 of these

Heavily Laden Lorries
turn up every day stowed well below the Plimsol Line.

On the Heath both

NUTHATCH
and

TREECREEPER

were seen and heard

which could be the case every day should we put the time in but then,
more than a mile from where they were last seen, the

wide ranging

and so photogenic

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

were encountered once again.
We have towed a wide audience of sea-going vessels astern over the years with both

Harbour Tugs and Ocean-going Salvage Tugs

but never one of these - Tug and Tow.
All that could be seen through the tree-line along the Moors River was this lone

EGYPTIAN GOOSE
while in the
Solar Panel Compound
was found

a second flush of

GOLDEN WAXCAP
the first wave having disappeared weks ago.
To end, the pilot of this local

PIPER PA-28-161
was flying in ever decreasing circles above Slight Return II
without disappearing!

CALLS THE TUNE!

Come Sunday - Duke Ellington

 With the Government Guidelines concerning Covid being so ambiguous there is a good chance of being Damned if You Do or Damned if You Don't that's why we search for common sense and do it  Our Way! It was about time for another Sunday off-piste and what better than to circumnavigate the

'second largest' Natural Harbour in the World - that of Poole, Dorset. 

A 'must' in checking the tides showed that with Low Water at 08:30 by the time we arrived the Waterfowl should be closing to shallower water and the Wading birds on closer shore-lines.

However, while browsing something else came to my attention, finding that since Sydney, Australia has reclaimed so much land from its own harbour, once the biggest in the world, Poole now owns that claim to fame! Live and Learn! We wont go into the in's and out's of locations only to say that starting at Sandbanks Road leading to the Chain Ferry to the east that is where our search began with a few

DUNLIN

on the foreshore along with

DARK-BELLIED BRENT GEESE
and a most unexpected

GREY PLOVER

which we don't remember ever having seen at this location before?
Over the Chain Ferry we were also lucky to see the

PURPLE SANDPIPER
and continuing clockwise around the harbour we soon found a few

RINGED PLOVER
and

GREATER SCAUP

that was so far away we have fielded an archive shot.

A few

AVOCET

around the western rim along with

CURLEW

in the adjoining fields with Best Saved Until Last.

MARSH TIT
(long time extinct on our own patch)
serched for as we crossed the small hump-backed bridge at Norden.