Well I have returned to work today after a few days of illness during which time the most exciting thing to happen was a wander around Tescos in my nightie.

Today I was hoping for a light and skivey sort of time and I didn't do too badly.  It was a nice sunny day, conducive to lazing around and taking your time.  Here is a Great Tit doing exactly that:

Sun bather

In the morning I took a long and pleasant stroll to the far side of the reserve with one of the volunteers to open the paths which had been blocked off for the protection of the Peregrine chickies.

I found this:

Dead common shrew

After another pleasant stroll back around to the Peregrine Site it was time for a sit down and lunch.  Then I put out my moth trap, hard work carrying that car battery up the hill, but for my moths: worth it.  Then I dawdled back dwelling on the beautiful sights of summer:

Ringlet

In the afternoon it was time for a leisurely butterfly transect (It is specifically in the instructions that you go slowly!) and then back for a pleasant half hour of "admin".  A lift home from The Boss made sure that I had plenty of energy left... so I went shopping and got a very attractive Peace Lily (cost: 99p) who I have named McKay and who will hopefully inspire my previous lily Carter to regrow a little more enthusiastically.

I do normally enjoy a nice quiet morning of contemplation before work, but it was RUINED this morning due to the actions of a guinea pig OUT OF CONTROL.  Dougal has been recovering well from his earlier dental difficulties.  After coming home from hospital he weighed a pitiful 913g, but with generous applications of food he has chunked up to the respectable figure of 970g.  And still rising. 

In fact Dougal has become rather too insistent on regular feedings.  For some time now he has shown increasing interest in cereal.  I have occassionally fed him little bran flakes from my bowl, which in light of this morning's occurences may have been a mistake. 

There I was sitting on the floor with my breakfast on my knee, when friendly little Dougal came to investigate.  I thought it was cute.  It was not so cute when he grabbed the end of my spoon in his mouth and flipped it up and out of my bowl, spraying oat milk everywhere.  Little bastard.  I told him as much as I was drying off my legs but he was entirely unrepentant.  He remained at the scene of the crime licking the milk from the carpet, like a starving dog desperately tearing the last scraps of meat from a carcass... 

And then afterwards, when I had eaten what was left they swarmed around the remains, Strathpig joining in with the ill-gotten bounty:

Exhibit A

And let's have a close up on that:

Note the crazed expression in the eyes

Just as well I had a happy morning of mothing with the Moth Man to calm me after this challenging start to the day.  And a nice calming walk to work:

View from the blue path

2 new species were caught today, along with 3 very beautiful Poplar Hawk-Moths:

Spot the moth: Green arches

Light Emerald

I then went on a very pleasant walk (aka litter patrol) during which I found this dead Water Shrew:

Water Shrew

And perhaps more scenically some pretty flowers:

Red Clover and Bumblebee

Stitchwort?

There were children... a lot of children.  I don't want to talk about the children.  Let's fast forward to the afternoon when I took my moth trap on one of our regular walks in the wheelbarrow.  It had been raining quite heavily in the morning but once the children had gone the sun came out and everything was nice.

It was even hot enough for this little Ringlet butterfly to come out and sunbathe on the tarmac road just above the power station:

I have been given explicit ORDERS by The Boss that I have to spend more time just wandering around with a plant book trying to identify plants.  Well it's a tough job but I do my best and was able to find some time to stroll slowly along in the sunshine and find some plants.  Actually I didn't take a flower book but using the plant knowledge which my Mammie has implanted into my subconscious I made the following guesses (preliminary googling supports my hypotheses):

Possible Hedge Woundwort.  It was very hairy

Possible St. John's Wort

It's a rose.  Possibly a Dog Rose

And then I returned to the visitor centre and got a lift home.  I must retire and rest now.  Even as I type my moth trap is sitting patiently in the woods by the dipping pond, drawing in all sorts of little goodies for me to discover tomorrow morning. I think that the most distressing thing about finishing my job here will be leaving the moth trap behind.  We spend a lot of time together and are getting quite attached.

A historic day today... My last of the season at the Peregrine Site.  Next Tuesday I will be back up there dismantling everything and saying a final goodbye to the chickies and adult birds.

The day started very happily with one of the most beautiful moths around:

Peach blossom - side view

Peach blossom - top view

I had long admired the picture of this little beauty in my moth and guide and today I was somewhat overexcited to meet it in person. If I had been on a little walk in the woods, totally unsuspecting of the wonder that awaited me I might have been overcome with feelings. Luckily I was ready for mothing. I made sure that everyone at the peregrine site, volunteers and visitors also enjoyed the spectacle.

Reactions from others were mixed and I have now changed my opinions of people accordingly:

People I like
Jack2: "Peach blossom is one of my alltime fave moths"
Willie: Something along the lines of it being a beauty
Peregrine volunteers: thought it was impressive and beautiful

People I don't like
The Boss:  "It looks sort of mouldy"
Schoolgirls:  "Ewwwww!!!!  It moved!!!!"

Of course there were other moths, 14 other moths including 5 new species for my list:

Clouded Magpie

Bright-line Brown-eye

Flame Shoulder

Heart and Dart

Peach blossom!

Having safely deposited all my moths at the point where I had gathered them I was ready to spend the rest of the day watching Peregrines.  They weren't around much and when they were they weren't in the mood for doing much:

Sleepy Chickie

My 7 hours of waiting were richly rewarded in the evening however, when one of the chicks flew up the gorge with the remains of a Woodpigeon carcass in its talons.  Dangling down behind the chick was a trail of intestines.  The chick circled round twice with the intestines trailing gracefully behind while Chick 2 followed in hot pursuit of the meaty goodness.  What a beautiful sight.

A very very wet day.  Fortunately this evening seems to have dried up and I was able to put the moth trap out again... it's so addictive.  Here are some pretty moths of the day:

White Ermine

Denisia similella

Common White Wave

Map-winged Swift

Just as well I had the moths to entertain me: the little Peregrines are spending more and more time away from the nesting site.  Coupled with the very wet weather this meant an uneventful day.  They did stop by for a short while though, one of them clutching a juvenile starling in its talons.  Juvenile peregrine ate the juvenile starling and then they flew off again.

Or at least they did after I chased them away.  It is part of my new job as Peregrine Bitch.  Because we are reopening the lower path next week we have to dissuade the chickies from perching on the trees there.  Dissuading means frightening them off.  This is a bit sad when staring at a beautiful peregrine would be just the thing to pass the time... but if it's for the good of the chickies it must be done.

White Foxglove in the rain

Today I was in a bad mood.  Everyone and everything annoyed me.  Apart from Dougal and Strathpig of course.  And the hawk-moth

The hawk-moth made me happy

Of course the chickies were not annoying.  They did keep flying back and forwards necessitating continual adjustment of the webcam, but they are so lovely I can forgive them.  They did have their quiet moments:

Sleepy Chickie

There were other things which were alright about the day:

? Thorn

Nice pair of ghost moths

Yes, they were all  moths. And here is the hawk-moth in action:

Today a combination of Mothing and Peregrine watching means that I have taken 402 pictures, Woohoo! 

The chickies were being most scenic today.  Their new favourite perch is right in front of the viewing area which provides for excellent photographing:

beautiful and obliging chickie

Not dead... sunbathing

Tawny-barred Angle

Adult male and rose

Of course these are only a select few of the 402... but don't worry I will be preparing a slideshow to show to my nearest and dearest which will be MUCH more comprehensive.

The little falcons have fledged the nest this morning.  Although I'm happy for them the little bastards could have done it yesterday while I was around to watch.  Then again I suppose I was lucky to be able to spend a last day appreciating their antics on the ledge. 

Today I was in charge of children.  There were 56 children and me and The Boss split them in half.  The group that is, not the children.  

Children are boring after a while.  Here is a nice moth I found yesterday:

Common wave

Dougal weighed in at 898g today, which is 15g lighter than yesterday.  However he has been stuffing his face all evening so hopefully he will start to get fatter again as of tomorrow. 

Dougal the man is back in town.  Good times.

In other brief news the baby peregrines are no longer babies. Here they are with their handsome father.  They have ingested so many carcasses that they now rival him in size (although not in looks).

The boys

However they will never reach the same dimensions as their considerably sized mother:

Mum and her Boys

In the morning I abandoned my official position to the volunteers and examined the contents of my moth trap.  I found many beautiful beasts inside but this was my favourite:

The Map-winged Swift

House moth

Today I didn't get out much.  I sat and fretted about my Dougal.  Luckily for me a rather sweet little moth came to visit me and relieve my tension:

BEHOLD THE WHITE-SHOULDERED HOUSE-MOTH Endrosis sarcitrella.

Hiding in my window frame