Love is in the Air - John Paul Young

 With news of eggs having hatched on the main pond it was lucky, perhaps, that there were few, 6 Species x 11 Insects, to delay us with but one addition to the Year List of note

BRIGHT-LINE BROWN-EYE
while the new arrivals,

not exactly 'mind blowing',

a gaggle of c7

CANADA GEESE

GOSLINGS
About to leave, out of the corner of my eye things turned quite dramatically to a

Tale of the Unexpected

preening away for all it was worth

a spectacular male

MANDARIN DUCK

(see epilogue below)
Expectations of other such things were considered possible, but unlikly, we had certainly had our share until just 200 yards later at the

SMALL POND

the new parent

MOORHENs

were introducing their new arrivals

to the wider world while at coffee time this

GREEN ORB-WEAVER SPIDER
very nearly lowered itself into the boiling brew below!

Epilogue

While the Mandarin does very occasionally visit the Moors River, where it has bred on at least a single occasion, it is extremely rare across the rest of the Recording Area. So much so that there has been but a single sighting across the whole of the farm during my time here at the same location and of note for another, quite different reason. The record on the 31/07/13 involved this

Male Bird
  in company with these c2

females while coinciding with my purchase of the Land Owner's car, the day when the

RANGE ROVER CHO4 OKS

was handed over at the same location to become the
STRANGER!

I Could 'Weasely' Fall in Love with You - Cliff Richard

 It was messrs O'Sullivan and Trump who were responsible for me forgetting to move one of the home-bound traps to its usual overnight site next to the paling fence, but........

plucking an
OCHREOUS PUG

from that trap followed by this rather spectacular

PUSS MOTH

from the trap squating on the bund, the pair of Snooker Giants were let off with a verbal warning.
It was pure Frustration rather than Fieldcraft that sent us scurring to the far western end of our beat of the River Stour in hopes of a feathered friend that should have reached the log by now.

c3

CETTI'S WARBLER
at least

all issuing those unmistakable bursts of song at frequent intervals,
while shortly afterwards clocking a couple of

STOCK DOVE
not often seen at this end of the property but numerous elsewhere, along with a

brace of

PHEASANT's
already into some serious canoodling.

Around parts of the Main Pond what we have only ever known as

NICOTINA,
rightly or wrongly, we feel sure someone will let us know,

blooming in both White and

Purple
and where the

MUTE SWANs
still show no sighs of producing!
Nothing to add to the Year List across the Solar Panel Compound Moth traps but beneath our single cover there

a quite unexpected

FIELD VOLE or SHORT-TAILED VOLE
if you wish.

We do know this is a species of

TOADFLAX
as having consulted John and while watching the

LAMB's WEANING
considered this

JACKDAW
photogenic enough for at least one click, as a rather overlooked Bird we think!
In the fields beyond the Moors River, but more particularly in the trees an

EGYPTIAN GOOSE

and with another at ground level it bodes well that successful breeding should follow as is usual
and to end, we considered the above mammal a bonus

which faded somewhat when catching sight of this

WEASEL

And Little Lambs Eat Ivy

 We start today's Post with some good news, for as we know

The path is clear though no eyes can see,

the course laid down long before.

And so with God’s and Men, 

the Sheep remain inside the pen.

Though many times they’ve see the way to leave!

Firth of Fifth - Genesis

 Which has been the case with this Black Lamb at large outside of the Pen for 9 days now! However, on our 6th attempt we did manage to repartiate it with

MUM
but where the escapee white lamb has got to we know not, here's hoping it got back on its own?

As for new Moths, well yes we seem to be doing alright as firstly

NARROW-WINGED PUG

was added to the Year List list as was one of our 'specialities' and introduced to the UK

BALSAM CARPET

while an also ran

7-SPOT LADYBIRD

was also a welcome addition and while the

MUTE SWAN
steadfastly continues incubating from further obsevations it would seem that both

MAGPIE
(what a sheen)

and

STARLING
(inward with food)

outward, are also feeding young and while

SWALLOWs

still remain very thin on the ground there was just a moment's evidence

that nest building might be in progress before they noticed the
Ancestral Home

had been demolished in favour of a 'new build'.
Among the

LADIES SMOCK / CUCKOO FLOWER etc

even the
Ornimental Wildfowl

are having a go at nesting!