And Now He's Singing!?!?!!

"Sun is shining in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
[FURTHER CONTENT CENSORED]


[[This blog has been edited by Order to protect Public Mental Health]]


Ahem.

Yes, well... It's true. And very very hot. Blech... Nope, no pleasing some people, is there? Certainly not those who have to work in factories full of great big 'ot machines, anyway. Ok, ok, stop whining..

Having gotten much stuff done on Friday, I went gallivanting off having fun on the weekend, instead! :) I got to a couple of places I really should have been to earlier, but have never previously gotten around to actually doing so.

Ye Gods and Little Fried Fishes, it really is hot.. Oh, work's going to be fun. [Stop moaning!]

Ahem, yes, right..
So, on Saturday I went over to Bystock Reserve - usually described as being near Exmouth, which it is, but it's off the Budleigh road. It was much much bigger and better than I expected! There's an actual car park now - not just the layby on the fishery road - which is on the Frying Pans road, if you know what I mean. The reservoir is very ornamental, with great big lilies, carp, and terrapins [tut]. Also still at least one Downy Emerald, though much harder to get a good look at than at Little Bradley, due to the size of the place. Its a very good reserve, with the big pond at the bottom, then heath with two smaller ponds and finally woods and a lovely flower meadow. Colour me impressed. The little ponds had a naughty male Keeled Skimmer, which as seems to be usual for this species posed just where I couldn't photo him easily... Small Red Damselflies were much more obliging, and I might even get a shot that works, we shall have to see.

Big boss Emperors patrolled all the water bodies, joined sporadically by Southern and Common Hawkers, while the usual commoner damselflies kept lower profiles [and I don't blame them!]. There were a lot of butterflies on the wing too, on this warm sunny day - high cloud built up later on, but did nothing to cool proceedings. I spent a lot of time wandering the woods looking for a better viws of a White Admiral, with no luck at all, but I did get somewhen I switched to the lovely meadow. Firstly a Marbled White came by - even I could recognise that one! - then, while I was following a Cinnabar Moth, I stumbled across a skipper! Trouble is, I'm not sure which one it was.. having consulted my Big White Tome Of All Knowledge, its either a Small Skipper or an Essex Skipper, but they're almost identical! I didn't know you have to crawl up to them and look at the underside of the antennae... Not that this one would have let me, but still. So, anyone who knows more about butterflies than me - ie. all of you - which one do you get at Bystock??

Getting to the birds.. Juvenile Moorhens trying to walk on lilypads like Jacanas were hilarious.. ;) Juvenile Long-tailed Tits were adorable and a family of Bullfinches.. :D The Green Woodpeckers also seem to have done well. All in all it was a really good trip and I shall have to make the effort to get over there more often.

On my way back I stopped off at Exminster Marsh to see about a Scarce Chaser - but with the wind having picked up I had no joy. There were a fair few Blackwit hanging around, though. When they were all put up I got to count 180 of them!

Later I went back out to Ideford Common for the Nightjars. I normally go earlier in the year, but the weather's been against me. I was treated to a very nice displaying male, with plenty of churring, but no gratuitous extravaganza such as I experienced on my first visit there. It was nice, don't get me wrong, despite the constant noise from the A380 and the stream of fucking chinese lanterns going past...

Right then. Yesterday was a Moor day with the Folks. We went to Bellever and from there over to Powder Mills and back. Quiet on the bird front, as you'd expect, but plenty of Golden-ringed and Common Hawkers, plus Large Red Damsels, what looked like a Small Red [but again got away from me - what is it with these little gits?] and my first darter of the year - a Black! Never had Black before Common before.

Powder Mills is more than just interesting industrial archaeology, its a very nice little spot full stop. While there were hordes wandering Bellever, it was very quiet - aside from litterbug DofE kids following the Lich Way [sigh]. The buildings are in pretty good nick - not surprising, seeing as they were built to take unfortunate accidents and of course made of granite - with a few still in use, as a pottery and an adventure centre, I believe.

You do [if you don't park at the pottery] have to cross some interesting ground to get there, with even the prepared route of the Lich Way [Mk 2, as the original route has been moved to protect a bog full of rare plants] being home to some dodgy ground. This Father found out the hard way; he tried to follow Tilbury over a muddy bit and sank horribly.. We tried not to laugh. Too hard. :) At least it was fairly firm peat mud rather than a proper watery hole, so he was able to shake much of it off... LBD herself also found a proper mud hole, which she sank into like a little black hippo, but she was quite happy to dive into the Cherry Brook and wash it off.

We then went back over the road to Bellever and had a wander over to Kraps Ring, at the north end, where I met the first Horsefly of the year.. Fortunately it settled on my shirt, which is one of those fancy insect-repellent jobs. To my joy this did its job, as the Cleg not only failed to bite me, but flew off and didn't come back! Yes!

This afternoon, just before I started writing, a kettle of 49 adult and 5 juvenile Herring Gulls, plus a Crow and two Jackdaws, were feeding on flying ants just over there. ::Points:: Not seen Jackdaws doing that before. The Swifts seem to have already filled up by the time I noticed the activity. [They are still here]

Just checked and they're all gone - must have been the tail end of it.