Thorn in My Side - Eurythmics

While daytimes have continued to be sunny and warm over the last few days, with temperatures holding at low double figures we are using our own theory reference the Moths. In such conditions ‘cocoons’ must be splitting open in droves during the day and temperatures not dropping until midnight, it seems well worth flashing up all steaming lights, even if only for those first few hours of darkness! To emphasise the point we did catch repeats of

PURPLE THORN

BRINDLED PUG

EARLY GREY

plus an
 ICHNEUMON WASP

but with Pride of Place falling fairly and squarely with a 'first for year'

EARLY THORN

our 38th such of the period thus far among 27 Moths of 12 Species.

While neither the 'still' or the

'video clip' indicating as much there must have been a minimume of 100 mixed Gull on the newly harrowed and likely seeded 18-Acre not a single one provided us with a full frame shot.
Leaning on the archive as a substitute and illustration they were in turn

HERRING GULL

BLACK-HEADED GULL

but more importantly and welcome were numerous

MEDITERRANEAN GULLs

which have been seen and heard overhead on a number of occassions during the year
but always a welcome sight on the ground.
Reverting to Botony en-route to the Heath we found clumps of

CHERRY LAUREL

in bud

and as if having appeared overnight a carpet of the minute

MOSSY STONECROP
(thanks John)
along with

LADY'S SMOCK
We didn't have to wait long for our expected and predicted

'male'

WHEATEARs

to show up

with c3 absolute 'peaches'

which may have stollen all the thunde for themselves had it not been for the

appearance of something of a 'rarity' to the Heath a

PIED WAGTAIL
which are so infrequent we didn't even need to remove the other hand from the pocket
to calculate previous number sightings here!
Another

SLOW WORM
along with another active

ANTs NEST
were welcome finds while finally a male

LINNET
was captued feathering his own nest to the accompaniment of a
Willow Warbler

while maybe his BELLE was sprucing up for the upcoming nuptials?

ROSY - Don Partridge

Given the overnight temperature of -2°C expectations were not high as far as Moths were concerned but the day started with something of a bang as this

BRINDLED BEAUTY

was plucked from an assortment of Common Quaker, Hebrew Character and Small Quaker and

another smart

FROSTED GREEN
A short snippet of the

DAWN CHORUS
before getting underway while at the Gravel Pit the situation continues to be worrying

as the still 'loan'

LITTLE GREBE
has not as yet attracted a partner, they should at lest be displaying by now, but

quite the opposite in other departments

as our furry friends will doubtless be breeding like
RABBITs
in the very near future, while

MOORHEN
numbers have increased to c4 - maybe 2 x pairs?
Another concern comes from among the

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

with these 2 being encountered on a daily basis always within a few yards of the gateway to the Heath while

while the other c2 which seem to favour the northern part of the Solar Panel Compound

seems to have been reduced to this single bird.
We have never seen one of this in this sitting possition before and for our money it looks a little forelorn?

Back on the Heath another female

WHEATEAR
while we await the appearance of the far brighter males as is usually the way in the
Wild World

As the ever 'ripening' male LINNETs are now showing.

The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land
Plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking

He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough

Sorrow - Pink Floyd

Leavin on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul and Mary

 Having decided to leave the 'best until first', just to break with tradition, the Bird of the Day was undoubtably the scratching sounding

SEDGE WARBLER

found along one of the drainage ditches around the field know as Mead
and bringing up our 94th species for the year across our patch.

The next shocker was found at the Main Pond where the presumed c2 'male'

MUTE SWANs

now have no fewer than

'six' eggs but have to admit we could only manage 3 in the early morning omelette and

a strange sight to watch one of the local Wood Pigeons feasting on blossom?
An early morning encounter with a brace of

Eddie Stobart Ladies
this one not encountered before but

the other most familiar. We won't go into the Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses) anagram scenario again!

Much activity on the Airport

didn't seem to be

disturbing

this preening

COAL TIT

among the swaying Catkins.

We are now reliably informed that this
AIRBUS

is now plying the route between
Bournemouth and New York City
for reasons best known to themselves but we are keeping an ear cocked.

Additionally,

between bouts of hunting in the Heather, some

MEADOW PIPITs
continue to maintain these strange gaping postures while should there
be a reason for Moths to be on the wing, surely the

Blooming Sallows
are it and which neatly leads to one of the handsome ornimental

WEEPING WILLOW

All on the Irrigation Pond were these c2 male
TUFTED DUCKs
and a nosy Canada Goose with backing vocals provided by a still alone Little Grebe.
However, better than the misty

GRAVEL PIT
where there were no signs of life at all but something of a reminder of the Genesis classic
'The Lamia'

Inside, a long rose-water pool is shrouded by fine mist.
Stepping in the moist silence, with a warm breeze has gently kissed.

Thinking he is quite alone,
he enters the room, as if it were his own.
But ripples on the sweet pink water
reveal some company un-thought of.

Rael stands astonished doubting his sight,
struck by beauty, gripped in fright.
Three vermilion snakes of female face,
the smallest motion, filled with grace.
Muted melodies fill the echoing hall,
but there is no sign of warning in the sirens call:
Rael welcome, we are the Lamia of the pool.

We have been waiting for our waters to bring you cool!

From the album - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

It's Just Another Day - Paul McCartney

 As the chill nights continue we have nothing new to report from the Moth Traps but looking through an early morning window something of a novelty.

HERRING GULL

seemingly having bitten off more than it could chew and even stayed for an

outside shot - it will be in the crop in short time.

On the Main Pond the

CANADA GEESE
look to be incubationg as we missed any signs of nest building while most of the rest of the action was confined to the Heath.

Still a little quiet

but with another very brief sighting of the

GOSHAWK
(borrowed image)
more than enough to warm the cockles of the heart.

As for vocalists it has become a 2 horse race with

BLACKCAP

(male)

(female)

just about upstaging the now numerous

WILLOW WARBLER
Having had no chance of captureing our first

WHEATEAR

with the Canon that matter was redressed followed by a few seconds with this obliging female.

ROE DEER
as industrious

LINNETs

continue nest building apace.
Finally, and again what some might describe as dowdy the humble

ROOK

surely comes into its own when caught in the right sunlight!

Of note - there was a very early juvenile on the lawn yesterday unfortunately not Clicked.