Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

 The day may be best described through slightly altered lyrics of the 

Buddy Holly Classic as

 The Sun is out the sky is blue. 

There’s not a cloud to spoil the view.

And it’s not raining, raining in my heart!

Add to that no more than a gentle zephyr from the northern quarter and an overnight +5°C on the gauge it felt like ideal conditions to alter the Moth catching technique a little and attempt to secure the unarguably most eye-catching Insect resident on our plot. This would amount to recovering a

PHEROMONE CAPSULE 

from its year-long hibernation in the deep freeze after extinguishing the

Burning of the Midnight Lamp(s) - Jimi Hendrix

We might just as well have not bothered as from this very first trap, the very first Moth was this

EMPEROR MOTH
(female not even needing the pursuasion of her gentleman friend)

Male
(seen later in the day in free flight)

and eggs, gently teased from the egg tray and scattered among the Heather, should survive!

It's 6 'o' clock in the tower blocks, the stalagmites of culture shock!

And the trippers of the light fantastic bow down, hoe down, spray their pheramones on, 

this purfume uniform.

 Heart of Lothian - Marillion

Additionally, there were also c2 new Butterflies for the Year List with the appearance of firstly a

PEACOCK
and soon after from what might have been described as a plague

BRIMSTONE

showing those outstandingly beautiful and contrasting
Pink Antenna

Just creeping into early afternoon was when 

(showing old rickety metal Moth Equipment Table)

Rich called to say that the

replacement, made from recycled wood, was now completed

and could be delivered 'immediately'.

Sooner would have been much better but we were then raring to go,
along with makeshift rainguard for the header tank and watched over by a pair of

nest building 

JAYs
After his departure we claim to have seen another daytime flying Moth the tiny

LIGHT ORANGE UNDERWING
which presents some identification difficulties if not

'in the hand' or 'at perch' which was not the case.

Maybe the c2

JAYs
associated with the nest were seen briefly.

BALLANCING POND
which was re=cleared some 3 years ago but quickly clogged again with the likes of Greater reed Mace and other aquatic plants, is a drain off channel for excess rain water from the runways but as far as our memory serves it has never hosted a

REED BUNTING

until now!

The late afternoon wander ended in a most surprising way as we encountered a very long standing associate, not seen for many a year

Ex Dorset Bird Recorder
MARCUS LAWSON 

along with his son Will whom we had never thus far met.
Their news was that they had also been watching a male Emperor at virtually the same spot along with a number of 'possible' Light Orange Underwing Moths - one of which was perched. However, all of that paled into insignificance once telling of a

 flying, displaying and calling

GOSHAWK

the images of which have been 'borrowed', never having been this lucky, for your illumination!
What a chance meeting - Cheers Will, Cheers Marcus!

All Too Much - Ducks Deluxe

 An exciting London Pub Rock Band of the 70's whose name was nicked from a Slot Machine at the Severn Bridge Service Station! Nothing like waking up to a bit of Rock 'n' Roll trivia!

Otherwise, our next and final stop was just around the corner from Daphne du Maurier's gaff, or more correctly the

JAMAICA INN

on which she base her novel of the same name.
The only thing that can be guaranteed at

DOZMARY POOL
is that if there are any waterfowl at all they will surely be at the furthest point from where you are standing, but we get ahead of ourself. The track to this location from Newlyn takes you squarely along the

HAYLE ESTUARY
location of many, many a 'rarity' so it would be a foolish fella who simply passes it by. On the day there was nothing more than a

lone,

preening

and gaping

CURLEW
and a lovely bunch of

Forget-Me-Not.
The rare Ducks as hoped for were all there and in line but as usual at the said distance and totally unaproachable so thank heavens for Dave's telescope and our trusty archive to bring the picture to you. The more common of the 2 and a resident was the

pristine

male

GREATER SCAUP
but even taking a subdued wander along the

Northern Track
got us no closer to the far more rare / uncommon visitors from across the Atlantic,

x2 pairs of

RING-NECKED DUCK

male

The Cattle Are Lowing and it's only Easter.

female

but even this, for me at least, was not the best find of the visit as waiting to make our aquaintance close to the car was one of the most charming ladies we have met in many a day. The conversation was stimulating, if not a little ribald at times, but worth every minute of our delayed departure.
"We Hope You Are Reading This Ma'am!

Jonathan Livingston - Richard Bach

 Putting the geography to one side it was decided that 'Rare' should be more of a consideration than 'Location' as were soldiered on to the next 'goodie' and feel the 'press' would paint the picture far more elequently that myself so will hand over to them.

CORNWALL

A confiding 'first winter'

AMERICAN HERRING GULL
has become something of a regular and most obliging fixture in

NEWLYN HARBOUR

since its discovery there on 17 March - the second record of this species at the site in the past 12 months.

The bird has seemingly settled at the site, which has track record of rare and scarce gulls down the years, many of which are enticed to the area by the fish market and associated trawlers. Photos from local birders suggest it is an especially tame individual, often performing down to a few feet in and around the harbour.

HARBOUR ENTRANCE and nearby 

SAINT MICHAEL'S MOUNT

with vids

Open Harbour

with our own
HERRING GULL
(background)

(ours foreground)

R.N.L.I. LIFEBOAT

Entering Harbour

It's that

Gull Again

Bring in the New

Ring out the Old

All at Sea

BEAM TRAWLER

Setting Course for the Fishing Grounds

"You Shall Have a Fishy on a Little Dishy
when the Boat comes in".
Apart from other Gulls the only other bird seen was this rather striking

FERAL PIGEON

and just time for one more

Close Up!
Having inadvertantly left my tripod in the car this

ADMIRALTY PATTERN ANCHOR
with wooden surround proved to be a fine substitute.
Off for the final leg of the outing which will surely save until tomorrow,
CHEERS!

 

If Oliver’s parents are reading this I would like to give him a gift. If acceptable maybe we could meet at the car park we were at on Sunday and you just state a time and date via this comment slot please.

CHEERS - Bagsy