Thursday's, Thanet, weather forecast was a doom laden tale of thunderstorms, on a biblical scale, plus heavy rain with accompanying flood warnings. Total and utter "bunkum" !!! Whilst it is certainly true that we did experience thunderstorms and rainfall during the day, it certainly didn't live up to the pre-event publicity. Early afternoon, I decided to take Bruno out for a stroll and headed across to Stonar Lake just for a change of scenery, plus the van wouldn't be too far away should the weather take a turn for the worse? It was just the job and ninety minutes flew by as we meandered around the boundary track besides the fishery. It certainly wasn't busy, the few guys I encountered were, bivvy bound, Carp anglers and not particularly communicative but, "hey - ho"; each to their own. Back at home, I was at a loose end, and on an impulse decided to get the kit together and take a drive across to the Mandarin Pool. It was around 16.45 hrs when I left, there still being a few spots of rain falling, but nothing significant. By the time Bruno and I had done a lap of the fishery, decided on a swim and got set up, it was 17.45 hrs and I had little over two hours to make something happen. To be honest, I was pretty confident purely due to the events of the previous two visits and sure enough it was less than thirty minutes when my left hand alarm screamed into life and it was "fish-on".
An amazing scrap, using the ABU carbon specimen rods, fitted with ABU Cardinal 66X reels, I was delighted when I drew a very angry, gnarly, old, Mirror Carp over the net chord. I managed to secure a few record images of the fish, but didn't get to fussy because, at 15 lbs 7 oz, it was no monster - although most welcome none the less. Within another forty minutes I had a second fish on the unhooking mat, this one a scamp Common of 8 lbs 3 oz. We sat it out until 20.00 hrs, but no further action was to be had, yet I packed up very happy with this result from such a short visit.
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| Chequered Pearl (Evergestis pallidata) - new for the garden, yet recorded on the same date as Folkestone got their first for 2025. |
And so on to the garden moth records. Although I am not (and have no desire to join) part of any formal cyber network of Kent "moffas", I am able to keep abreast with the general feel via the websites of Dungeness and Sandwich Bay Bird Obs plus Ian Roberts brilliant Folkestone Birds Because of the accessibility to this info, I am fairly well placed to pick up on any local traits which might be occurring? Quite obviously, it is an influx of rare migrants species which gets the adrenaline flowing and yet, there have been some very interesting records of species which aren't considered to be migrants, yet are very unusual in this part of the UK. As I've said on many occasions, the running of my garden moth trap is purely for enjoyment. Under no circumstances do I wish to become involved with a recording structure which is so Neanderthal and moronic as to still be using id techniques which Queen Victoria considered "cutting edge". Three "Ear sp." turned up last week and despite looking like Large Ear, the Kent Moth website clearly states that they are only identifiable by dissection? It's bloody 2025 - surely we have the DNA technology to assist us?
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| Ear moth agg. - killing moths in order to tick a box doesn't figure in my perception of enjoying wildlife. |
Other good records have included a couple of Light Crimson Underwings, a Pretty Chalk Carpet (just my fourth garden record in twenty five years), a Golden Twin-spot and an Oak Processionary. Still I await that mega, but will happily settle for whatever comes my way until such time as the moth gods deem me worthy.
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| Golden Twin-spot |
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| Pretty Chalk Carpet |
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| Light Crimson Underwing |
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| Oak Processionary |
The Mandarin Pool is still calling and I am already querying the choice of hook pattern being used? Plenty of time, and scope, for me to tweak my rigs and tactics - keep watching this space!
