Notice the Ring - Chris Isaac

 By the time the Mist had burnt off and the Moon had been Obscred By Clouds (Pink Floyd) we did find Moth (singular) or Moths in all of the traps but nothing new. That milestone was left to a

BUFF-TAILED BUMBLEBEE
of which there were also a couple or 3 'free-flyers'. Further to that and jumping the gun a little we recieved the 'heads up' from Dave that

ORANGE UNDERWING (Moth)
are now in-flight so gave the

ASPEN CATKINS,

which they seem to favour here rather than

SALLOW
a close inspection but without result.
Better news at the Irrigation Pond where a second, or the same returning,

COOT

bringing hopes of yet another successful breeding season?
(early days yet)

The silence was once again shattered by the

MERLIN HELICOPTER
but where would we be without the Royal Navy
even the Wafu's (nickname for membersrm of the Fleet Air Arm).
It was sure to happen sooner or later and at long last it was the day for clapping eyes on our first

DARTFORD WARBLER

although it had reached the log weeks ago

on song / call alone.

A bonny bird as it is but just wait until

they start trying to attract a Mate in
Best Bib and Tucker!
The fly-past of the

Electrickery Chopper

seemed to bring that part of the morning to an end but about to exit the Moor
we shaped up on a pristine male Chaffich which by the time we had depressed the shutter
had manifested itself into a far better male

SISKIN,
seemingly carrying nesting material, but there will surely be those who cry 'misidentification'!
Call us stubborn, which we like to think as dedicated, there was room and time for just one final and 5th try at Longham Lake in the shaddow of the

LEANING OAK
We found from a 'first for the year' Dr George Green that our target bird was still present but it was idle chatter that stole the theme, always great to talk with that gentleman!
Also chance to admire the recently bloomed

MARSH MARRIGOLD

before George relocated our target bird the female

RING-NECKED DUCK

(left)
some way off-shore with a small party of Tufted Ducks.

By no means 'blistering views', given the distance, but enough to

Slake the Desire

of seeing this nifty YANK, a resident of North America which had at least
travelled Trans-Atlantic to get here.
"It's One 'o' Clock and Time for Lunch (hum de dum de dum)" - Genesis
with eye-catchers on the way back to the car park including

now full blown

adult

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

in display and a

CORMORANT

just dying

to have its photie taken!

Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harem

Despite the inclement weather it has proved almost impossible not to succum to flashing up the Moth Traps with a resultant 'first for the year'

GREY SHOULDER-KNOT

ditto with a first
CADDIS FLY
plus another

DOTTED BORDER
With nothing more than a pair of

nest building

MUTE SWANs

and a 'brace' of

CANADA GEESE
looking likely to follow suit anytime soon, holding our attention we decided once again to toddle off to Longham Lakes.
Having given up on the Ring-necked Duck, which is still being reported but evading us, this was no more than a hit or miss expedition but started on the right note with this:-

Do you remember?
Chalk hearts melting on a playground wall.
Do you remember?
Dawn escapes from moon washed college halls.
Do you remember?

the Cherry Blossom in the market square.
Do you remember? I thought it was confetti in our hair!
At the lake and try as he may, the lad didn't seem to be havong much success with his offering

GREAT CRESTED GREBEs
By the way, didn't I break your heart?

Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart.
So sorry, I never meant to break your heart,

but you broke mine!

but then sauntered over to directly below my viewing possition which resulted in

catching this
ROACH

Blink and You'll Miss It!
That Moment of the Day was followed by The Bird of the Day

'another', but we use the word guardedly,

LEUCISTIC

BLACK-HEADED GULL

which may have been another but consideration must go to the possibility

of being one and the same as that found on our own patch on the

1st February 2021
just 2 or 3 miles up the road

and highly unlikely we will ever know but here is the
Sewerage Works Bird

 Leucism is a wide variety of conditions that result in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal causing white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales, or cuticles, but not the eyes.

For comparison, but before closing the subject ,another oddity from the same species onboard the

Buchan Alpha Floating Oil Production Platform in the North Sea

when one was seen to stalk, catch, kill and swallow whole an exhausted migrant
BRAMBLING!

Daffodils - William Wordsworth

 Despite the stormy weather of both Thursday and Friday we managed to capture 77 macro Moths of 12 species on the former, but unfortunately nothing new. The Best of these were

OAK BEAUTY

YELLOW HORNED
and

SATELLITE

Of the latter, we had to rely heavily on the Met Office, who get predictions just about 'spot on' every time, but so they should with all those Sputniks flying around and the amount of money they spend, out of the Public Purse, on huge quantities of Bladderwrack (seaweed) to tend the traps again for a very similar result!
However, awaiting was the main project of the day to count the nests now forming the

ROOKERY

within Bournemouth International Airport now restrictions have been lowered slightly.

It was not all about the Birds there as we were quickly distracted by the beauty of the boarders.
(ERICA CULTIVAR)

Just c17 nests at this time

FEEDING

(EUPHORBIA Species)

so still some way to go if they are going to

ROOKERY

(another ERICA Sp)

catch up with last years c36.

Once again we thank John Gifford for his horticultual expertise.
Maybe a case of self indictment having left my early education with no more than a
School Leavers Certificat in Gardening.
Certainly came in handy with all those Submarine Window Boxes!!
With only a brief glimps of the hovering

KESTREL
we felt sure it was contender for the returning male of last year and safe in the sanctuary of the Strange Rover

we watched, through a final shaft of sunshine, it

take 2 small Birds in quick succession

and deduced from the tiny stuck out yellow leg (lower right) that the second at least was a

DARTFORD WARBLER
The final sparkle of Spring, for the day at least, came as

I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o're vales and hills. 

When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils!

Orange Trumpeted Daffodils
with this being an example of the afternoon.

HAIL, HAIL we're back in Jail!