See Birds - Sea Birds

Don't know what happened to yesterday's Post but most like another all too frequent Senior Moment, idea's are being buck up as we speak! Apologies, but strange to relate the highest number of 'hits' for weeks.

From my recollection the heavy pulses of rain started just before midnight with more persistent downpours after the witching hour and continuing throughout yesterday. Despite Fire or Tempest one thing remains paramount which is to log and then release the Moths to the wild which we did during the still heavy showers.

From among a below average catch did come a very handsome First for the Year

GREEN CARPET

and just 30 minutes later bright sunshine
which preceeds the 'Cop Out'! It was Sunday last (09/05/2021) that we recieve notification from Dave Foot of a rare bird on Longham Lakes with precise detail of the area it was favouring.

Met close to the gate by the Greylag Goose Goslings, which have grown apace since hatching the week before, we spotted the crowd well before the bird.

WHISKERED TERN

has a wide distribution

so who knows where it might have come from

and which we have seen in

Great Britain

no more than a handful of times.
Great that Dave should call in the fist instance, equally to make the reacquaintance and did stimulate memories of a similar situation back on the 06/05/2017 on the same lake, across a very similar period and on the same
Depth Guage.

On that occassion and from the opposite direction

BONAPART'S GULL,

still a juvenile, must by definition have transited the

Atlantic Ocean
being in a similar scarcity bracket and seen a similar number of times on home turf as the above.
Unfortunately the Videos of the occassion refuse to upload.

Days of Future Past - Moody Blues - Part II

 Having redistributed the Moth Traps in the garden by leaving one at

Low Level

and the other placed high on the Bund in an effort to attract a few 'migrants' with the maiden voyage turning out to be a Mixed Bag to be sure. All Steaming Lights were Burning Brightly as we swung into the hammock but by dawn the one at lower level was again extinguished and the other holding not an Insect. However, the balance was redressed when finding a fairly scarce

BALSAM CARPET
clinging to the funnel. The food plant which supports this Insect

 ORANGE BALSAM

is an import from the Far East, which used to grow here readily, and considered to be how the Moth got here in the first place with this being one of the only sites in the county.

Additionally, there was also another 'first for the year' within

CHAMOMILE SHARK

With the weather looking like it could change for the worst at any minute we only took time to check the Gravel Pit en-route to find just c3

TUFTED DUCK
(c2 males and a single female)
while just for once the

RARE BREED GOATs

were found doing what they are paid to do, keeping the Herbage down.
A decent little tickle from the traps there, all F.F.Y. included

GREY PINE CARPET

BROWN SILVER-LINE
(common and often a daytime flier)

along with

CLOUDED BORDER
and away from the Lepidoptera there was also a

BLACK SEXTON BEETLE

playing host to a number of

PARACITES

and a lone

PILL WOODLOUSE

not so much 'in the traps' but more clinging to the outside.

There would have been nothing in Bird-Ville had it not been for c2 feeding

WOODLARK

which were hoped to be providing for 'young' but even that and the Moths combined were outshone

by this

overly obliging

HOBBY

which has been knocking about

for 2 or 3 days now,

but always 'on the wing' so not a hope of either

CLIP or CLICK!

Trivia:-

It would seem that Inventor and avid Birdwatcher Peter Adolph of Royal Tumbridge Wells had no qualms when patenting his now world famous

Table Football Game back in 1946

Hoping for great success with his newly invented hobby he decided to name it in honour of one of his favourite birds - fittingly ‘the’ Hobby!

So what better name than

SUBBUTEO

Falco subbutteo

 being the falcons Latin name!

All in a Mouse's Night - Genesis

Bearing in mind all things come in 3's it would seem we published 2 Posts on the 14th but rather surprised there was no reactions from our peers reference the content? Reissued today, best brace yourselves for Senior Moment 3 coming to a Blog near you SOON!

Overnight Thursday, yes we are still in arrears, was about as good as it has been so far this year with the lowest temperature being +10°C, 8 okta’s cloud cover and not a breath of wind, but it wasn’t a mammoth haul of Moths that started the day! No, far from it as about to issue a Post while starting up with that 05:30 cup of coffee and then hearing

3 x 30 second reeling breaks from from the doorstep of an unseen

TURTLE DOVE

somewhere close to the River Stour just 70 yards away!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl9fSA58kks

An avian that thus far had not reached our Recording Area List and a full 2 years, almost to the day, since the last which amounted to a brace of

COMMON CRANE
flying in a North Westerly direction and being relocated by others the following day in NW Dorset. By no means a disappointment even though the expectations were higher than 2 f.f.y. with

SPECTACLE

makes you wonder where and why they drum up such names sometimes

along with the by-product of a

DOCK SHIELDBUG
while

MAIDEN'S BLUSH
is added again just for its delicacy and sheer beauty!

On the west edge of the gravel Pit there is a short promontory where, with a little stealth the

Potential Parental Activities

of the
LITTLE GREBEs
can be viewed at closer quarters having seeming already abandoned this nest, of which they can sometimes build 4 or more,

but are meticulous in construction stamping down as they go and

already have

one or more eggs, usually covering them with

Pond Weed.
In sharp contrast to all of that and passing the now dead remains of

DANDYLION CLOCKs
we decided to turn the Reptile Covers a couple of days early, but finding no Snakes or Lizards

but did get lucky with a

rather nippy

LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE
with pockets of

RED CAMPION
and

LORD ROBERT
(thanks John)
seeming to have sprung up overnight.
Finally, at 'lighting up time' we came across this

FOX

in the twilight as

PIPISTRELLE BATs
(borrowed image)
of one denomination or the other were intent on reducing our catch of
MOTHs.