Sunday 8 June 2008

Sunny Days - Dragons and Damsels continued...


Banded Demoiselle's copulating in the wheel position, this one's not in the Kama Sutra!


Red-Eyed Damselfly - Keep an eye out anywhere there is floating vegetation, look slightly front-heavy when flying over water


Damselfly Heaven - On the River near You

Loads of emergence and activity at the moment across all sections even those without evident water as newly emerged individuals 'teneral' seek refuge and maturity in the greenery after a year or so underwater. Added Red-eyed Damselfly and large Red Damselfly to the year list but despite attempts, the latter have eluded being photographed so far, as have the Four-spotted Chasers which can be bloody annoying at the best of times....In fact come to think of it, most of them are!! I ventured south of the site today, down to Saddington along the Grand Union there where there are literally Damselflies everywhere including loads of Large Red, a few White-legged amongst stacks of Azure etc the habitat looks the same, conditions, vegetation, water flow.. and it's not far so why the absence of similar numbers of Reds and White-legged's.. Dragons are strange things!

Friday 6 June 2008

LBJ's - Warblers


Common Whitethroat - Male


Reed Warbler - A true LBJ


Reed Warbler - He's been singing so much he's actually fallen asleep!

LBJ's - Little Brown Job's - My Favourites.... The Common Whitethroat is quite a widespread summer visitor and a breeder on the Meadows and can be heard and seen pretty much anywhere there is some decent scrub and vantage/song posts and perches. It's lovely scratchy song can be heard pretty much all day long at the moment especially in the vicinity of the boardwalk on the north section and the packhorse area in the south. There's plenty of song-flighting going on right now especially at the former site as rival males vie for the best spot.

More an LBJ than the Whitethroat, The Reed Warbler is one of our scarcer birds and there are currently two males (up one from last year) singing on site at the moment.

Thursday 5 June 2008

Damsels and Dragons...


Broad-bodied Chaser - One of my favourites


Broad-bodied Chaser - Male


Black-tailed Skimmer - Similar to the Broad-bodied but look at the wings and tail


Blue-tailed Damselfly

The last few days has seen an increase in the emergence of a good variety of both Damsel and Dragonflies. Damsels are fairly difficult due to their small size but will generally perch for long enough periods to enjoy and identify. At the moment, all areas are very productive but especially the long grassy edges of the Biam and the main scrape beside the boardwalk. In fact spending anytime beside the main boardwalk pool is a real joy on fine weather days like today has been. There are currently three species of Damselfly showing (more to follow, hopefully soon), these are the Common Blue, Azure (gorgeous little things!) and the Blue-tailed Damselfly (pic above). There are also now a few Broad-bodied Chasers around, at least two Four-spotted Chasers and the odd Black-tailed Skimmer, these splendid beasts can be seen regularly patrolling the pools mid-morning or perched up on the reeds - the Skimmers often rest on the mud edges. Go and enjoy, you won't be disappointed and whilst your looking, the resident Whitethroats, Sedge Warbler, Kingfisher and Reed Bunting should keep you occupied!

Tuesday 3 June 2008

Reed Bunting


Warming up..


His favourite perch..


Male Reed Bunting in full song!

Still writing up China, so little time to focus on this blog but here's a few images I took earlier today. I guess this bird should be regarded as 'habituated' as it sings daily alongside the boardwalk. Believe me, elsewhere on the reserve they are rather typically more elusive and shy.