Bitter Suite - Marillion

 With nothing in the Moth Traps other than a most nifty

NURSURY WEB SPIDER
one of the arachnids that bucks the trend of spinning a web, relying entirely on its own speed and agility to capture its prey, which was not the only one bucking the trend.

A spider wanders aimlessly within the warmth of a shadow
Not the regal creature of border caves
But the poor, misguided, directionless familiar
Of some obscure Scottish poet

Masked up like a Rag Man's Trumpet we left the Recording Area behind in favour of Longham, where the lakes are close to the general public as Bird Flu had struck. Fortunately, the adjoining footpath to the Hampreston Water Meadows is still open and the gateway to almost a dozen

WHITE-FRONTED GEESE

a borrowed image to emphisis the point

along with the reasonably long staying

WHOOPER SWAN
Apart from Greylag, Egyptian, Canada and often many hundreds of overwintering Brent
'Geese' are at something of a premium this far south so well worth the short drive.
Back to base and more Tales of the Unexpected as we found this

STONECHAT
in the southern reaches of our area

an occurance that has only been noted once before from thereabouts!
Otherwise, it would seem, the

CORMORANTs

have re-established thier Winter Roost on the distant pylons
as one of the local

PIED WAGTAIL

foraged for survival at the dung heap.
Without expectation the day ended almost as excitingly as it had begun during a dusk stroll along our beat of the River Stour where this

BARN OWL

was quartering the banks.

The mist crawls from the canal
Like some primordial phantom of romance
To curl under a cascade of neon pollen
While I sit tied to the phone like an expectant father
Your carnation will rot in a vase

Marillion

Take a Look - Level 42 (Part III)

 To complete our trilogy of the visit to the Somerset Levels it was decided that the last few hours of daylight should be turned over to a dedicated search for the seemingly elusive

COMMON CRANEs

Starting at this vantage point above a rather nifty
Farmstead

where, if you look really closely you will see c2 Cranes to the distant right and a single to the left? Not exactly satisfactory, after clocking both

BULLFINCH
and

NUTHATCH
we wandered back to the bridge featured in the previous post

and where his

DAVESHIP
'who else'?

picked out c3 targets of our desire

crossing an increasingly cloudy sky.

A brief intermission to enjoy another couple of most welcome

and beautifully liveried

TRAINs

Into the distance, a ribbon of black,
stretched to the point of no turning back.

 

 A flight of fancy on a windswept field,
standing alone my senses reeled.
Fatal attraction is holding me fast,
how can I escape this irresistible grasp?

Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky,
tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I.

which drew our attentions to a much larger pod

of no fewer than

48 individuals

recalling the adage
"all things come to those who wait!"

Leaving our vantage point the track back home took us through the small town of

Langport, Somerset
stimulating memories of our annual visits there in days gone by to add

CIRL BUNTING
to our Year Lists the species being extinct in our home county of Dorset.
Not to put the hex on it, we are doing very well as far as visitations are concerned, but 'More would make the Merrier! Please pass the link on to your friends - Thank You One and All!

Take a Look - Level 42 (Part II)

 With the delights of the murmuration, Water Pipit and mass throngs of Wildfowl behind us we took the sort drive to this

BRIDGE

in the heart of the
Somerset Levels
which has, historically been the best vantage point for spotting the delightful Common Crane, but not on this visit. Nevertheless, there is always something to survey from this vantage point such as the

WITHEY BEDS
presumed grown for the likes of basket making?

which this year were of just one colour unlike last when there were rows of diffent hues.

Also the general vista was worth a click or 2

with someone's
FOLLY

A Vantage Point like no other

and a
Church Ruin on the Knoll
with the lack of avian activity being adequatly compensated for by these nifty looking

TRAINs

having always agreed on the superb livery.

presented the same dilema, few birds and nothing new, while to make matters worse the weather was also closing in,

but did resist the temptation of a pint and a pie!
Satisfaction can never be Guaranteed but hopes were high for our final venture to these parts as the objects of our desire had been broadcast on the website for weeks now and no prizes for guessing who spotted the c10

WHOOPER SWANs

first

yes his

DAVESHIP
and not content with that he went on to locate not only a

JUVENILE

WHOOPER
(to the right on this clip)

but also a

BEAN GOOSE

I was almost beginning to be pleased

I had brought him along and Goose images from the archive due to weather and distance!
HERE'S to the NEXT TIME!

Take a Look - Level 42 (Part 1)

 Just because we have not been celebrating the 'C Word' doesn't mean we have been sat idley by twiddling the proverbials, on the contrary, we have been more active than is usual. So much so that already we are 4 days behind and now looking back at a magical day across the

SOMERSET LEVELS
making a start at

and imperative that we arrived pre-dawn to witness one of the most magical moments the reserve has to offer. We could already hear the kerfuffle from the car park about a mile away as

many 'thousands' of

STARLINGs

made to leave their reedbed roost, known as a 'murmuration'
MAGIC!
While in the process recording all of the more common British Herons including

LITTLE EGRET

GREY HERON

GREAT WHITE EGRET

along with a number of the smaller version

CATTLE EGRET

and only dipping out on the most shy and secretive of them all the

BITTERN
On entry to a nearby hide the first thing to be noticed were a number of

OWL PELETS
regurgitated by most likely Barn or Tawny Owl before catching sight of the
Thousands of Waterfowl.

TEAL
in the majority and with small mixed

'flurries' ariving at regular intervals such as

TEAL and WIGEON (male's with thier 'golden caps')
in the background.

Male SHOVELER 

also in the background

and foreground with Wigeon before turning our attentions to something a little more agressive!

The first of at least c3

MARSH HARRIERs

spoiled for choice as far as

breakfast was concerned!

DRAINS

served by the mechanics of a

WIND GENERATOR

Of the passerines, small perching birds, there were decent numbers of

SISKIN left and LESSER REDPOLL
and just a single

WATER PIPIT
while representative of the Wading Birds probably a thousand

LAPWING
and who knows how many dozens of the less numerous

GOLDEN PLOVER
both mostly 'on the wing'.

A huge heap of PEAT thought for a commercial market rightly or wrongly? who knows, along with regular squeals from

WATER RAIL/s
The last of it before moving on was something of a fluke as walking along one of the drains coinsiding with the 'landing' of this Jack (small)

PIKE
which was successfully 'clicked' from some distance and with the anglers cooperation.

Part 2 Coming to a Blog near you in the near future!