Home Alone

I miss them, of course, like the deserts miss the rain. That's the down side of the rest of the family spending the final week of the school holidays camping in Cornwall. I suppose there is an up-side though.

Juvenile Hobby, Morden Bog

Juvenile Hobby, Morden Bog

This bird ignored the warnings of its parents as I walked past. I know how they feel.

First, I get to avoid the scurvid privations of life under canvas. My views on camping are sufficiently rabid that a man from the BBC e-mailed the other night to ask if I would appear on a radio show to put the case 'against' it, presumably in the hope of provoking a heated debate with some tent enthusiasts. Perhaps I should tone it down.

This stunted pine at Morden Bog attracted (from left) Stonechat, Whinchat and Whitethroat

Whinchat, Morden Bog

Willow Warbler, Morden Bog

Second, I get to indulge the simple pleasures of a bachelorhood lost. Like leaving a tidy house in the morning and coming home to find it still tidy. I know, it's a wild life I lead. And, as my Scottish friend Ken so neatly put it, 'Ye get to set roond in yer pants, watching the fitba and scratching yer baw-bag'. Precisely, Ken. Spurs are currently 2-0 up, in case you're wondering.

A recently fledged Spotted Flycatcher, Morden Bog

Grayling were on the wing at Morden Bog

Crossbill, Morden Bog

Third, I get to go out birding dawn 'til dusk, or at least I did before I had to go back to work on Tuesday. The weekend was free though. Sunday was just one of those days. I arrived at nearby Morden Bog just after dawn, waking up the Woodlarks, Whitethroats, Willow Warblers and Whinchats before eventually stumbling across a mixed flock of Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers.

The light was poor but I hid behind a trunk and used it to steady the lens in the absence of a tripod

 Several Spotted Flycathcers were moving around in a vocal group...

...but birds in a variety of plumages often returned to this fence line

Then the weather in Purbeck took a turn for the worse so I headed west for the brighter climes of Portland, to twitch my first Dorset Icterine Warbler (that'll get it's own post when I get round to it), found by Brett who was rattling off 8 frames per second of it as I arrived. After a long wander round the Bill I ended the day at Ferrybridge with waders, terns and the setting sun. Dusk, naturally, was spent in the Radipole car park with the gulls, and, shamefully, one of their distant cousins who had fallen victim to Colonel Sanders. Well, when in Rome...

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

And , yes, you guessed it, Spotted Flycatcher

That's probably enough up-side. I do want them to come back, after all.

P.S. don't forget, just 2 days left to vote in this week's poll - see top right, and here for a long-winded explanation. Sorry about that, got a bit carried away. Home alone, see. No one to talk to.

P.P.S. make that 3-0 Spurs.

Star Terek

I was poised to go on news this morning if yesterday's Terek Sandpiper was still at Rye Harbour but unfortunately it had decided to boldy go somewhere else. A shame as this could have been my second British tick in consecutive weekends. I was so confident it would be there that, as you can see, I even had a blog post title ready prepared for my all-conquering return. It seemed a shame to waste it.

Hobby

Kestrel

Crossbill

This misplaced confidence may have been extra wishful thinking as twitching would have been a useful displacement activity to avoid knuckling down to a dissertation which I have to complete soon as part of a work-related qualification. I was up early anyway so made a half-hearted start on this. But then Steve Smith, who had offered me the putative lift to Rye, suggested a trip to nearby Morden Bog instead to search for odonata, which sounded like more fun than homework.

Male Downy Emerald

Downy Emerald - I think this is a female - the abdomen sides being more parallel and less club shaped than the male

Short, curved anal appendages help tell male Downy from Brilliant and Northern Emerald. But they don't occur in Dorset anyway. So the anal appendage close-up is just, well, gratuitous.

Downy Emerald was the main target and despite the efforts of three Hobbies to wolf them all down we managed to find a few. A couple of patrolling individuals on one of the main paths were difficult to pin down at first but eventually we did so - on a rhododendron bush to which they repeatedly returned to rest. The same area also proved attractive to damselflies and a few butterflies - Brimstone, Holly Blue and Green Hairstreak.

Brimstone

Common Heath

Common Heath underside

Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers were also on the wing, along with Large Red and Azure Damselflies.


Four-spotted Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

Green Tiger Beetle, I'm reliably informed

When I got home the laptop on which I am supposed to be typing my dissertation looked up at me accusingly. I ignored it and went for a nap. When I woke up it was still there, glowering impatiently. So I mowed the lawn. Now it's sighing despairingly while I type blog posts instead of critiquing academic theories of project management. Maybe tomorrow.

Large Red Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Azure Damselfly (male)