The Kid's Are Alright - The Who

 A promising start to another day dogged by heavy showers but when

MISTER BLUE SKY
(Electric Light Orchestra)

shows his hand then it cannot be all bad especially when arriving at the c2 Moth Traps and being met unexpectedly by my 3 younger Wildlife Apprentices

Oliver, Sophie and Josh
Enough is usually Sufficient but when there were also a couple or 3 Socially Distanced Moths as well it was equal to holding a Prial in Cribbage! Gently tossing the potted Insects to each other they were able to study

WINTER MOTH

YELLOW-LINE QUAKER
and

SILVER Y

The Seed having Already been Sown - just need to see Chloe now.

Next came a timely reminder of that fantastic trilogy which is

Tolkien's - Lord of the Rings at the

Sign of the Prancing Pony
"short cuts lead to long delays Mr Bilbo", "yes Pippin, and Inns lead to longer one"!

we watched the 

MUTE SWANs 

fly in to the main pond from the south, absent for over a month now,

but not knowing if they were our regulars but were soon tucking into the groceries.
No action on either of the more northerly ponds but along the course of the

Moors River / Water Meadows both

CORMORANT
and

GREY HERON
had found a common perch.

The other 'common' factor along this stretch is the

TREE-LINE

between the Mobile Bird Hide and the Subject Matter

which more often than not grabs the attention of the focus.

We were happy'ish

with the outcome.
On the Heath nothing more than a broken down generator, a lone

STONECHAT
along with a totally unfamiliar and very distant

HELICOPTER
while there were some difficulties clicking

and videoing

this lone

MISTLE THRUSH
in the Solar Panel Compound

but not quite the same problems

with the dozens of

far more obliging

MEADOW PIPITs

but the weather still was not calming down!
"Gale Warnings for Thames - Dover - Wight - Portland - Plymouth" you have been advised!

A Time and a Place - Greg Lake

 With a change in the weather

much for the better on Sunday and no more than c2

noisy
LITTLE GREBEs
on home turf another, what is continuing to be a weekly, visit was paid to

Longham Lakes 

but not with Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Only the Usual Contenders across our couple of hours starting with this scruffy looking

GREY HERON
which must have had one almighty itch and sticking with the Herons on the Main Island both

LITTLE EGRET
along with c2

GREAT WHITE EGRETs

to maybe prove significant later in the day as what were considered to be c4 more were recorded?
Along with a collective from left

CANADA GEESE, GREY HERON and CORMORANT
before the familiar thunder of one of the

EURO-CARGO AIRBUSES
provided a completely different view of the daily 'side-on' we have become used to.
Wot's all that Blue Stuff?

LITTLE EGRET with inquisitive MOORHEN
Along the centre path, deviding the 2 lakes, we encountered the usual array of

POCHARD

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

DITTO PREENING
It may be of interest to freeze frame this clip right at the begining to note
the 'webbing' on the feet of these highly skilled hunters by comparison to the full
cover of most other waterfowl.

TUFTED DUCK

TUFTED DUCK with POCHARD

BLACK-HEADED GULL

and similar in strange streamline posture, but the tranquility was not to last for long.

A COOT among the POCHARD had surfaced with a beak-full of groceries which set off

the formerly lethargic

BLACK-HEADED GULL

Swooping in from Angels 12!
It was good to see that the

HAMPRESTON WATER MEADOWS
were back as nature had intended and where a total of 4

GREAT WHITE EGRET
were now stationed.

GWE Stalking
and it could just as easily have been that one of the Birds from the Island

had flown over to make up the 4 on the meadow

GWE with accompanying Cetti's Warbler

but surely too much of a coincidence that they were both in the same place on our return?
We are claiming c6 even though there was no record of such on the
Dorset Bird Club
website the following day.

Our wander ended on something of a

Tranquil Note

as the Model Yacht Brigade were out in Full Force.

Somewhat theraputic and of course in the knowledge that it would be me again to put a ship
AGROUND!

Like the Curate's Egg, Not All Bad - Part II

 It was always going to be High Water when reaching Ferrybridge, Portland so expectations were never like the tide - HIGH! However, not to write things off there were but c2

BRENT GEESE

but not, it should be pointed out, those shown.

The low profile of a
GREAT NORTHERN DIVER
amid the choppy waves was enough to claim a sighting

but had it been a First in My Life it would not have cut the mustard.
Reaching a completely deserted

PORTLAND BILL
(Lighthouse and Trinity House Obalisk right)
it was a chance worth taking to park on the mini roundabout and

Look to Seaward across the notorious

Portland Race dashing over the Shambles Bank
(Shambles being, the same as the narrow thorougfare in York, a Slaughter House)
Most of what Birds were seen were numerous but unclickable 

such as

CORMORANT

in just about equal numbers to

GANNET

but only a single discernable

SHAG
There was no way we were going to even attempt the walk to the cliff edge

where there was a likelihood of

PURPLE SANDPIPER
on the ledges but from the lee of the Lighthouse wall did manage a few

GUILEMOTs

skimming the turbulance of the Race along with just a sole

RAZORBILL
No attempt was made either at the Bill Quarry to find the

BLACK REDSTART
but poor views of a

LITTLE OWL
in the Obs Quary via the camera zoom but left the
Lower Light

PORTLAND BIRD OBSERVATORY
until another day given the worsening virus situation.

Some further effort was put into trying to find maybe a

RED-THROATED DIVER
as well, but no such luck!
Despite the foul weather and the Headline an enjoyable day was had as always good to be back in
This Part of Dorset!