STILL - Ken Dodd

 A rather pleasing but unexpected suprise kicked the day off with a transit by the

COAST GUARD HELICOPTER

which, for what ever reason, we believed had been abandoned but, without 'foot in mouth'

hopefully has not!

With overnight temperatures still hanging on doggedly to ‘Three Degrees’ we have, for now at least, given up on the Moths. However, that raises the question,

“when will I see you again”?

During more needed reperation works to the road surface down south we gave the area a miss heading instead to the Irrigation Pond where all that could be seen or heard were a brace of

CANADA GEESE

with backing vocals, if you listen carefully, provided by the now established
Little Grebes
but no signs of nest building yet from either departmant. Next door the still 'single'

COOT

appeared to be collecting dead reed but will need more observations to quantify it.
Otherwise we were very much relying on what the Moors River might throw up given the 'water-plain' is back after the moderately heavy rain, looking like the semi-residents were already

making their way back, c8 more Canada Geese joining what was a host of

BLACK-HEADED GULL

undoubtedly capitalising on a wealth of

Drowning Invertibrates
and watched over by the seemingly ever present

CORMORANT
in a cross-section of plumages.

A welcome diversion was provided by this male

BLACKCAP
only the second sighting of the year before ending the wait to capture at least one decent click of the 'scarce' and now semi-resident pair of

WIGEON

As a finalè the local and seemingly now only

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE
was again found bolt upright and not moving a muscle

during a 15 minute observation on the track outside of the
Solar Panel Compound.

Tiger Feet - Mud

 Eventually we hear you say, comes something of a tardy Sunday Report starting with rumblings from above

of a completly different profile than we have become used to, a local

EUROPEAN CARGO AIRBUS

only ever seen in this aspect as a rule.
Dragging ourself away and towards the Moth Traps with low expectations, given the chill,

there was but a single Insect, but of great interest, as having captured our first of the year

HEBREW CHARACTER
the night before but tofind this specimen being melanistic, of the 'dark' form.
The rounds of the Southern Sector started a feature of
Water Bound Birds

with this

BLACK-HEADED GULL

taking an early morning dhobie close to the Main Pond.
(there are now a lot of them about in full summer plumage)

Next, what was considered to be one of the dark-billed type

NORTHERN BLACKBIRDs
and further north

yet another return of

the

totally

irresitable

GREEN SANDPIPER
while there was still a pair of Coot on the Irrigation Pond, things had changed somewhat at the

Gravel Pit

where there are now a total of c5, so widely spread we could only capture 3 on this clip.
We now wait with baited breath for the pre-nuptual sparring!
Sunday, so next a visit inside the airport to find the 2

ROOKERY's
none the worse for wear given the recent gales, but still no signs of the
Lesser Black-backed Gulls
while it would seem the

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLs
are still undecided about the prospective nest site?

There are surely incubating birds in these tree-top nests, but arriving back at base there was another theory which we will voice at the end of the post, but before that

The Heath
and Dean's Ditch looking as though it is slightly polluted?
First impressions, Silent as the Grave, was unfortunately the way of things with a

vocal and expected

COAL TIT
but with no Great Expectations of any Insect life

least of all

GREEN TIGER BEETLE
So back to the theory on arriving home to find the usually

Ultra-Nervous

ROOKs
greedily stealing food from under the Chickens nose's and paying no attention to me,

maybe pointing to hungry Chicks in those nests as well??

Common People - Pulp

 A bit of a slow start to Spring and as the Headline suggests, nothing outstanding even though we did kick off with something completely new to us this what we believe to be a

JUMBO JET

with nothing on the livery to suggest from where it comes or to whome it belongs?

and a return to the GUINEAFOWL which always get fractious when
one is one side of the fence a 2 the other!
In sharp contrast and not seen on the lawn before, one of the

'dark-billed' northern

BLACKBIRD's

while also in hunting mode there

SONG THRUSH

with
EARTHWORM

but you'll need to be sharp eyed.

while
GREENFINCH

mostly in vocal mode seem to be (thankfully) everywhere.
With the 3 Paddy's now having retured to thier homeland, they leave behind a fine legacy atween

the ever blooming
GORSE

a brand new looking
BRIDLEWAY
(and a series of subsiduary paths)

and about to burst into yellow flower
BROOM
and it was just north of there that we managed a clip of

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
but only through the windscreen.
(Cecil B DeMille must be quaking in his boots?)

The Ponds produced nothing new, so onward to the Solar Panel Compounds where again it was Common People

including

MEADOW PIPIT

numerous, performing well and

preening.

A brace of

STOCK DOVE's
as we caught no more than a fleeting glimpes of the back-legs and excavated soil as

Mr / Mrs MOLE
added yet another mound to what must be 'Hundreds' across these fertile fields,
and we'll end as we started with a

CESSNA 560XL of AIR HAMBURG
(it would have to be XL if it has any intentions of carrying yours truely)

Art For Art's Sake - 10 CC (Part I)

To avoid more repeats, we'll give the Wildlife a little time to change and/or gather while turning our attentions in another direction:-

 We have no recollection if our bent for the Arts, in all of their forms, having ever been published through these pages before, but after this Post and the next in a weeks time, if not, we will never be able to make such a claim again! While still a child my mother had a passion for pianist John Ogden, particularly playing Rachmaninov, and the legendary Francis Albert Sinatra, while dad played euphonium with the Beeston (Notts) Silver Prize Band both of which certainly rubbed off on yours truly. However, as time passed, by the age of 12, it then became a case of Black Blues (Buddy Guy, Little Walter, J.B. Lenoir et al), followed in quick succession by, and in conjunction with, the White Mimics particularly John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, then :-

And my brothers back at home, with his Beatles and his Stones.

We never got it off on that revolution stuff, what a drag, too many snags!

All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople (penned by David Bowie)

and eventually

Prog Rock - which we still cannot get enough of before

before becoming seriously entranced with probably the sweetest sound ever heard and discovered via an advert for Gordon’s Gin on the TV, of all things, which with a little research was found to be the baritone / tenor duet, seemingly the only example of its kind in the whole world, from the Opera

In Un Temple Saint by Georges Bizet!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tLrPVkfCIQ

Being in the Oil Industry by that time the ear was kept very close to the ground in case of a performance of it at the Royal Opera House, London, a dream that was also fulfilled, sat in the front row of the balcony, binnoculars poised and much needed Kleenex at the ready! This single moment completely changed my style, travelling by night sleeper, to and from Aberdeen rather than flying, affording me a full day in London both ways and eventually resulting in memberships of the Courtauld Institute, Somerset House, The Strand and Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly, never missing an exhibition at either during that 17 years with my 3 firm favourite works in order being the mesmorising

THE BAR (sometimes refered to as The Girl) at THE FOLIS-BERGERE

(Edouard Manet)

PEACH BLOSSOM in the CRAU

(Vincent van Gogh)

both Courtauld Gallery (Institute) - London and

THE BOAT
(Odelon Redon)

Travelling Exhibition at the

Royal Academy of Arts.

with statue (beyond the pyramid) of patron and artist Sir Joshua Rynolds.

Well I drunk a lot of wine and I'm feeling fine,

gonna race some cat to bed. Is this concrete all around, or is it in my head?

Ooh, ooh, ooh, cus I’m a Dude man!    Bowie.

All this as a result of trawling through my Memoir (looking for inspiration on a stormy day) and finding it in Omaha, Nebraska in 2010, a beautifully clean and upbeat city with

To Be Continued!