Never on a Sunday - Petula Clark

"Oh No Not Again"

SUNDAY SPECIAL

WALLCREEPER

Our Own

Modest Efforts - Bulgaria 2007

 along with extract from the fine tomb that is

4 years too early

for this kid!

Otherwise, with the early morning

TAWNY OWL
back in business at least there was something early to get us started which unfortunately didn't follow through at the

MOTH TRAPS

where ony BEETLEs were in evidence - there's a Poem there.
Some one came knocking at my wee, small door;
Someone came knocking; I'm sure-sure-sure;
I listened, I opened, I looked to left and right,
But nought there was a stirring in the still dark night;

Only the busy beetle tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest the screech-owl's call,
Only the cricket whistling while the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.

Some One by Walter de la Mare

 Across the 2 northerly ponds the female Tufted Duck, a few Teal and the regular trio of Little Grebe remain but an addition to the clan came by way of this smart

GREY WAGTAIL

seemingly

finding

plenty

to eat and if you are doing the same over breakfast at this time you may choose to
look away until you are finished!

with feathers on the fence-line and

feathers on the deck

it was 2 Big Boys as done it

and then

flew away.
The carcass of the hapless Wood Pigeon had gone by the time of our return
so likely they got their breakfast as well as our readers?
All on the Heath amounted to no more than a single

MISTLE THRUSH

along with a

constantly gaping

BLACKBIRD

along with a

ROE DEER

a string of eyecatching

BRACKET FUNGI
and ever blooming

GORSE
which is one of very few plants that can be seen in flower across every month of the year.
Not a single Bird or anything else living, except for myself, in the
Solar Panel Compound
but at the

LATE BRONZE AGE TUMULI

BROCK the BADGER

footprints 'n' all.

had been most industrious as had

Mr and Mrs MOLE
directly outside of Slight Return but symetrically in line.

The picture just 10 minutes later - but still raining but dried up nicely before daylight!

H M S OSPREY

 Harking back to the all encompassing rains of Friday / Saturday and why the Hell an outstanding decission on a bird identification should suddenly spring to mind is not known, but it did!  

While a good number of Bird Watchers throughout the land will be familiar with the term

ARMCHAIR TICK

the avid Twitcher holds it in hope as a by-word.

Should there be any discrepancy in the identification of particularly rare birds, or any doubts that it might be one of 2 or more very similar species that science has not sorted out yet, then that is where the Birding Experts and even the Scientists step in. A fair example of this would perhaps be

EASTERN

  and

WESTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER

In this particular instance 'call' and 'song' can be the clincher for those who know them but with the advent of D.N.A. things became so much clearer while accurate measurements and samples of feathers etc from legally traped birds can also do the trick .

While the occassional check has been made via the Internet since the sighting of the species which is about to be in question up until now, 8 years later, there has been no word? Across 4 visits to the wonder that is Australia it is doubtful we have encountered more than a dozen bird watches but those we have met have, almost to a person, bemoaned the matter about to unfold.

It was some days after leaving Perth for the second time, having been down to Cape Leeuwin the most south westerly point on the continent, a stop was made at the

something of a wonder

before a day stop at Lake MacLeod and Coral Bay and then
Bed and Breakfast at Exmouth at the tip of the North West Cape.
This is where was found the first of many dozens of what are now described as

EASTERN OSPREY

Pandion cristatus

in oppose to our own

WESTERN OSPREY

Pandion haliaetus

not shown on this post

only the Australian Model

and of no concern to the

CRESTED TERNs

Tonsils 'n' All

Footnote:- In Greek mythology, Pandion I was a legendary King of Athens, the son and heir to Erichthonius of Athens and his wife, the naiad Praxithea from where the Latin name derives.

and it may be of note or some interest that within a 10 minute’s walk from the Ospreys

BUDGERIGAR

(Long-tailed Finch top centre)

was also added to the

World List a TICK from the comfort of the ARMCHAIR
along with the Finch.