Snap!....Snap!Snap!...Snap!..Snap!

What madness is this?

Wait and see...



First of all, more blobs on the blue;

Swifts

Swift

Thingy vs Wotsit

[Actually Crow vs Buzzard]

Right, after that wonder and joy, onwards.

Sunday saw an actual wander on t'Moor with the Folks, for the first time in a long while. Ok, we only wandered about Fernworthy, due to weather, but still.

It was warm and close, with hill-scraping cloud and waxingwaning dizzle - plus the odd bright bit. The wind waxed and waned a bit, too. Which was important, as the damp heat was brilliant for the insect population..

Yes, butterflies and dragonflies are nice, but all the other flies are less so, especially when they all want to buzz about your head. Then you have the midgies and mossies. And then there are the Horseflies.... :O

It's a guerrilla war, with the little gits only needing a moment's inattention to get you. Though just sometimes you get them;

Biting Clegg

[Note proboscis protruding on left...]

And that is just one reason why you should always have a hardback notebook to hand!


Perhaps I ought to make it clear that I don't set out to mangle our wildlife. Even Horseflies. Avoidance, repellent, frantic swatting, and full on running away come before offensive action, but sometimes they really won't give up...


Wandering back onto point.

Here's some atmosphere;

The two faces of forestry

Isn't it gorgeous? Yes, "Argh, non-native!" some may cry. I'd make a point about how far, in what is an effectively entirely 'un-natural' environment, they would like to go? I'd also ask about some species in particular which really do need these sorts of habitats. I'd wonder aloud about proportions and coverage..

But it is lovely. Especially on a bit of a misty day. So very Northern. [[Insert X-Files / Twin Peaks / ::cough::Twilight reference etc. etc.... Here.]]

Sheltered pasture

We heard more birds than we saw. Some being very noisy young things indeed. Crossbills were flying around, but hardly ever in sight and never in camera.

Butterflies were better behaved;

Two-dot Gatekeeper

One dot Gatekeepers

Bashful Ringlet

Ok, not all the birds hid;

Ooh, what's that?

Spotted Flycatcher!

A couple were very showy, munching flies under some trees and also nabbing the odd unlucky passing butterfly!


Speaking of flycatchers, our lunch - somewhat fly-afflicted - was the scene of the blog title. Many of the flies were just buzzing around; they seemed to like high points, and trekking poles set up upslope kept a lot of them from us. The LBD, however, was universally popular; despite being markedly, well, Littler. This was not such a problem to her, as she likes flies - live ones anyway - and is crocodile-quick on the snap. The fly population was steadily reduced and by the time we were getting ready to leave, we were pretty much alone!

The Dogodile

On the lookout for seconds

It was noted that, now that she's getting on a bit, she's more of a pied flycatcher.

Strange and unusual sightings were the order of the day;

Why did the Froglet cross the road?

She'd heard the humans were realllly crazy for fishing...

Nope, not sinking, that's a chap in a little inflatable thingy. There were four of these on the res., so no birds other than the Inevitable Canadas. I'd seen them before - a very neat and quiet way to fish, if a bit cold on the lower half! - on Crowdy Res. after I'd first seen the Great White Bird, but this time I could immortalise them.



Be Seeing You..