Storm in a Teacup - The Fortunes

With 2 named storms already bearing down on us there seemed to be something of a precursor to those events as we swung out of the hammock at 05:15 yesterday, to a stiff breeze and light rain. Without resorting to panic buying we brought foreward the Victualing and Bunkering by one day even though this would not make any difference to Diet or Driving and were underway by first light. The Local 

HORSES.
My closest ney-bours in fact, looked worthy of a 'click' while what has become daily practice the

GREEN WOODPECKERs
were once again feeding from the tennis court

with there being a third, which we hope to capture soon, as good a specimen as we have ever seen.

After the scheduled
EASYJET
a wander down south to find a lone and distant

CORMORANT
performing a High Wire Act while further north at the Eco Works a rather interesting

WEATHER PHENOMINON
which we cannot put a name to but drummed up the lyrics of The Lamia by Genesis:-  

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

 At the Irrigation Pond there followed 2 timely reminders that, "if you don't get out there, despite the weather, you won't see a lot" as met by the vocals of the first 'singing'

REED BUNTING

  of the year but, not the first individual, which seemed to stimulate a descant from the presumed resident

WATER RAIL

which is a 'first for the year' even though remaining unseen!

With only a pair of GADWALL on the Gravel Pit
and the weather deteriorating it was thought best to concentrate on the domestics before enjoing a Lazy Afternoon

with an uninvited guest through the
Star Tunnel

WOOD PIGEON
in full voice.

Bats in the Belfry

 While the overnight temperatures continue to show the odd double-figure we continue to flash up the Moth Traps, taking no more than a flick of a switch, then paying the occasional visit outside to see if anything is flying about. That was the case a couple of evenings ago when one of our checks found there to be something flying about but not a Moth, but far more unusually a Bat. On size alone we considered it to be a

NOCTULE BAT

but if so something of a freak happening as their ‘flight-period’ is usually between April and October. That aside, should our eyes not be deceiving us if this was a Bat then surely it follows there should be Insects and hopefully Moths, we only had to wait for

daylight, on a Spring like morning, to find within a single

CHESTNUT
logged and added to the Year List while across the southern half of our area only a single

Northern Thrush

by way of this

FIELDFARE
building up fat reserves prior to flying back to Scandinavia or other parts of Europe.
("Fly away you sweet little thing, they're hard on your trail" - Supper's Ready - Genesis)

Surveying the Stubble Field in hope of a Lapwing only these 2

ANGLERS
were spotted, someting we have never seen before along this beat of the
River Stour. Returning closer to home the screeches of the local pair of

KESTREL's

caught the ear, close to their usual nest site, initially propossed for Owls,

and if not very much mistaken failing to capture a moment of 'food passing'?

With

SONG THRUSH's
(plaural)

now dominating the
Dawn Chorus

it was a completely new one on us

to see so many

BLACK-HEADED GULLs
perched on the wires of the National Grid while directly below

STARLINGs

engaged themselves in what we Mariners describe as a

Bath and Dhobie

while from up north the only news was the arrival of

Adrien Tugwell's
much needed Solar Panel Cleaning Team - A Great Gang
with Action Shots to follow once they get turned to.

Magic Moments - Perry Como

 Over some 50 years of being something of an avid Wild-lifer we have never had the urge to concoct a record or exaggerate one, leaning heavily on the fact, “you are only fooling yourself”! Additionally, should we be found to have made a mistake, mis-identification etc we are happy to broadcast it, and heartily thank those who put us right, which is the essence of the start of today’s Post. In recent days, we won’t go into dates, we have shown an image of what we believed to have been a

COMMON SANDPIPER

which was in fact a

GREEN SANDPIPER
(thanks Dave) and while the records have been amended out of laziness we have left the Post as it is. Secondly, and very, very much to our advantange we were advised that the image posted under the guise of

MOTTLED UMBER
was in fact this most welcome

SPRING USHER
an addition to the Recording Area List  and a species yet to be caught by our mentor, Many Thanks Bomber! and never to old to seek the advice of these YOUNGSTERs. While still in thankful mode we should make mention of the Master Blaster himself Phil, who is mentor to the whole Mothing Community, and John for his daily snippets which often have relevance such as the latest on the status of the Mew Gull which, for whatever reason, is being renamed Small-billed Gull by the Yanks.

MEW GULL

Maybe as a Seaman, no wonder this is my firm favourite family group,

having chased around the Planet for many years in an effort to record all of the 54 species  which was fulfilled in 2012 when catching sight of Relict Gull on a third visit to South Korea but none compare to the bizarre Mew which nest both

on the ground and in

Bushes and Trees! Images taken in the Yukon.
OUTRIGHT FAVOURITE?

Having befriended and visited the 

CAPTAIN
of the Charter Vessel

Luna Azul
early every morning during a stay at Puerto Ayroa on Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos he offered me a complimentary trip to the tiny Isla de Pinzon, with 2 female and 2 male Finnish snorklers.

SWALLOW-TAILED GULL

adults and

juvenile.
Also during that magical moment both endemic

GALAPAGOS PENGUIN
and

GALAPAGOS HAWK
were added to the World List.
See what you've done now John, sending me ooff on a Tangent!!

Beyond the Horizon - Bob Dylan Part I

 As introduction to yet another proposed 3-part Sunday exposé of what is intended to be, a pictorial of Wildlife at Sea, we lean heavily on the magical lyrics of Led Zeppelin to paint the picture. 

Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, and stars that fill my dreams. I'm a traveller of both time and space, to be where I have been. To sit with elders of the gentle race, "this world is seldom seen". They talk of days for which they sit and wait, "ALL will be revealed"!  

Of course restricted to Crew Members and Associates only, as far as Wildlife is concerned it is a Forsaken Place but with instinct so strong to cross for instance the North Sea and even Oceans we find a whole new world of Migrants, almost in alphabetical order.

At 08:00 precisely on Saturday 13th May 2017
Deck Foreman Ricky (The Hammer) Grant 
 depressed the PURPLE BUTTON onboard the

Semi-Submersible Oil Production Platform

BUCHAN ALPHA 

 anchored 120 miles North East of Aberdeen in the North Sea, effectively bringing to an end a 37 year long struggle to produce oil from a water depth of 131 metres, with no fewer than 150,000,000 Barrels of Brent Crude being produced over that time span! 

(or, in approximate terms, 4.1 million barrels per year at a day rate of 11,106 barrels)

 Neatly, and almost in Alpha-Betical Order, this compossision was one part of my extracurricular duties, to be presented to Conservation Groups and other Interested Parties shore-sides, with the other being Author and Producer of the satirical monthly magazine

‘The Buchan Ear’ 

which captured the foibles and/or mistakes made by ALL and ANY crew members, and visitors alike, from the Rig Manager to the lowliest Dung Beetle - myself included, with never any shortage of libellous material!

ATLANTIC GREY SEAL

often watch from our Sub-Sea Camaras at maximun deapth catching the abundant Coal Fish.

ARCTIC TERN

picked up by one of the Roughnecks, nurtured and sent on its way.

BARNACLE GOOSE
never any shortage of this species and no fear of humans as is the case ashore.

BLACK GUILLEMOT
considered a magical shot.

BLACKBIRD.

BLACKCAP
in the hand and

DITTO 

(soixante neuf)

BLACK-HEADED GULL

catching, killing and swallowing whole an unlucky Brambling,

a far luckier
  BRAMBLING

BRAMBLING
partially albino.

CARRION CROW
not often thought of as migrants.

Yes, there were 'thousands' of Casualties which before the arrival of Bird Flu
were all sent to the laboritory in Aberdeen, with a well oiled system between Ourselves, Bond and Bristow Helicopters not even having to manifest them for transpotation, in the name of Science!

CHIFFCHAFF
this individual being captured with a 6 inch length of what could only be described as 'cotton' down its throat. Undoubtedly we extended its life!

COALFISH or POOR MANS COD
would occassionally come to the suface on warm and sunny days.

COLLARED DOVE
another seat taken on the 'chopper.

COMMON SCOTER
suprisingly only very occassional visitors.

CONVOLVULUS HAWK-MOTH
not alone in its appearance, but did lead to a cameo part for myself in a BBC TV nature programme.

CROSSBILL
(female)

and some time later a male which was at first sighting a Heart Stopper! No doubt about the family group, but at distance looking to have 'white wing-bars' it could only be a 'rare'

TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL
on capture the 'white' was seen to be paint, looked good for a minute or two! 

While the weather picture looks none to cleaver at least you have the Bagsy Blog to cling to!!

HERE ENDETH PART ONE!