Never on a Sunday - Part II - Petula Clark

 The continuation started as we turned into Bournemouth International Airport mainly to check the nesting activity, if there was any, where maybe a

HERRING GULL
was incubating (or maybe not)

which might also have been said of the

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLs
but again not a Great Black-back in sight.
It being Sunday a visit to the Heath was thought worth the effort where after checking-in with the

GOATs
and clearing the tree-line jammed straight into another f.f.y. and

vocal

COMMON WHITETHROAT
(a most welcome start)
with more avians being in short supply while turning the 'covers'.

between bouts of

c6 or more

SLOW WORMs

there were small bouts of

SHORT-TAILED VOLE

The once familiar and regular sight of the
EUROPEAN CARGO AIRBUSES
on the pan,

a small flock of

LINNETs

and

LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE

before leaving as we started!
(Just Wait Until Next Time!)

Never on a Sunday - Part I - Petula Clark

 

Despite the overnight -2°C causing a moderate

GROUND FROST

by 07:00

The Sun was shining in the sky, without a cloud passing by.

it stopped raining and everybody was in the game,

and don't you know it's a beautiful new dau, hey, hey hey! 

along with c12 Moths of c4 species including both

CLOUDED DRAB
and

CHESTNUT

but nothing new save enough ammunition to string this post out into 2 episodes! Close to the traps an

EARTHWORM
while at the main pond this

GREY HERON

unusually allowed for a develishly close encounter while a

FLY-PASS

was provided by the
ELECTRICITY BOARD
Counting only as eye-catching

down south the only representative was the

King of the Dunghill

before proceeding north for that pre-determined look at the activities across the
Satelite Section of the Heath which,

apart from a most welcome interuption by a first for the year,

LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER
amounted to a complete cropping and a series of small

BUNDs
or maybe

HYBERNACULA
still needing confirmation!
but whichever hopes are that the tiny colony of

SMALL YELLOW UNDERWING
(only recorded here on a single occassion back in 2015)
are not effected by this activity, maybe we will find out in May or June when these day-time flyers should be on the wing? However, much better news within the Solar Panel Compound where, upon entry, c6

brightly plumaged

and newly arrived

male

WHEATEAR

were vying for the hand (wing)

of a loan

female

type.
Part 2 Tomorrow - We Hope.

In the Middle of An Island - The King Brothers Part II

APOLOGIES FOR YESTERDAY'S 'NO SHOW' A FULL DAY WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS! LET'S HOPE TODAY'S OFFERING MAKES UP FOR THAT AT LEAST IN PART!

While we stuck doggedly to the 'flatlands' of

Saint Paul's Island (the more northerly of the Pribilof Group below the key) in the Bearing Sea last week, this second and final look at the island mostly relates to the Cliff Dwellers

and in the first instance the delightful

HORNED PUFFIN
along with the not so eye-catching

but no less bizzarre
CRESTED AUKLET

and close relation

PARAKEET AUKLET
and what the Americans describe as

Thick-billed Murre

which we know at home as

BRÜNNICH’S GUILLEMOT

(Ten's of Thousands of them)

but who could ever have imagined that one would turn up in
Portland Harbour, Dorset, to the delight of 'hundreds', across the winter of 2013?

RED-FACED CORMORANT

and penultimately,

another long distant stranger to have visited our

Green and Pleasant Seaways

TUFTED PUFFIN
and only right we end with the greatest personal delight on the Island, a last look at

RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE

 Don't Let Your Friends Miss This!