Feathering Thier Own Nests

A National Record Breaker for the number of frosty nights across April looked as if they were very much about to subside, but not so Sunday night. The forecasters (who rarely get it wrong these days) had forecasted between +4°C and +7°C, for our neck of the woods, but came nowhere near with a +1°C at home and a disappointing Zero° from the Heath.

(It was amazing to see just how quickly the Trees have turned 'green' along the southern bank of the River Stour 

Nevertheless, that didn’t lead to total disaster with 14 Macro Moths of 8 species species attracted across all traps including a sample

LESSER SWALLOW PROMINENT

  a quartet of

SCARCE PROMINETs

(some would give their high teeth for just a single)

RED CHESTNUT
and

this unidentified SPIDER looking radient in the morning sunshine.
Had we caught this there would have been a few missed heartbeats, but to come clean it is a

SPANISH MOON MOTH
nurtured from a larvae by one of our friends. Leaving the traps and hoping for better to come we stopped the Mobile Bird Hide to watch this 

ROBIN
obviously dropping into a nest site to

Feed Young
and by consequence noticed another nest at the edge of the Gorse

without having to leave the sanctuary of the
Strange Rover and that of the

LINNET

there are severe penalties for knowingly disturbing the nests of breeding birds, a practice that we never follow - 2 'clicks' and we were out of there. The only item of passing interest from within the main Solar Panel Compound was to find a couple of the

EWES

are still weaning their Lambs but birdlife was restricted to a few Pied Wagtail's and please don't say "oh no, not again" as these are the most favoured and scarce of all our resident birdlife and you never know where you might come across them, today a single

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

atop the Solar Panels themselves - a first!
Inspired by the spotting of the first nest and approaching the southern paddocks we wandered down to the end of one where a pair of

WRENs
had nested in a box where tack is stowed but with no signs last year.

Different Year, Different Result

as at it again and by just lifting the corner of the canvas dodger the

Eggs were Expossed.
As for the weather, they say there are westerly storms and rain on the way but..........

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west

and my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
and the voices of those who stand looking!

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune

then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
and the forests will echo with laughter.

Do you remember laughter?

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

Something For the Weekend - The Devine Comerdy

 With nothing in the Moth Traps that our readers would want to hear about again and very little in the Wilder World, after a quick circuit it was decided to give Longham Lakes another look. With the main thrust being the report of newly arrived

SWIFT

Backing vocals provided by masses of

Sedge Warbler that just wouldn't be clicked.
The only other

Warbler to offer itself up was the diminutive

CHIFFCHAFF

which were also numerous but only tollerated us for 11 seconds at a time.
At the other end of the scale this

MUTE SWAN
caught our interest as still having something of the 'juvenile' about it and talking of which this

BLACK-HEADED GULL
was not quite in its adult prime either

but looked good against a full adult and being serenaded by a
Cuckoo.

We have no
BEACH TREES
here so make the most of the Giants along the western perimiter

while being in varying stages of leaf.

Unfortuneately, we cannot claim

COOT
(with Black-headed Gulls)

nesting here so far this year and having been almost totally absent we try not to loose hope.
Even on an 'away day' we seem not to be able to dodge the traffic from

Bournemouth International Airport
(Airbus A340)
It is highly unlikely we will ever record

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

locally but remain ever hopeful

maybe one day?

While the Models Yachts remained more or less

BECALMED

numerous

REED BUNTING

strut their stuff

in an effort to secure the hand, or maybe that should be claw, of a

FairMaiden

while we close 

with a reminder of the weather, in part, from the doorstep on

SATURDAY!

Living in the Past - Jethro Tull Part II

 Creeping along the Venezuelan

PRE-DAWN BEDROOM CORRIDORs
had the desired effect as both

RUFOUS-VENTED CHACHALACA
and

BUFF-NECKED IBIS
were making the most of the Cattle Trough and the

SKY
looked fair set for another day at the office!

Widespread across most of the America's

ROADSIDE HAWK

jaunty

SAFFRON FINCH

CAPIBARI
likely singing

"So folloe me follow down to the hollow,
and there let us wallow in glorious mud"!
not exclusive to the Hippopotamus!

GREAT KISKADEE

SWALLOW TANAGER

MUSCOVY DUCK
(not the 'plastic' kind as found in UK)

RINGED KINGFISHER
One of the absolute favourites anywhere in the world is getting down with the

LOCALS
and if they just happen to be Female then all the better!

SPOT-BREASTED WOODPECKER

JABIRU

AMERICAN FLAMINGO + BROWN PELICAN
A strange kind of bird is the Pelican,
its bill can hold more than its belly can!

WHITE-HEADED MARSH TYRANT

RUFECENT TIGER HERON

GREEN IGUANA

WHISTLING HERON

ANHINGA

YELLOW-CROWNED PARROT

HOME SWEET HOME

with one more to come next Sunday!