A slice of Fishlake

Last week it was so hot and time before the England game was dragging so slowly, that I decided to spend a couple of hours looking round Fishlake Meadows (again). A quick glance at the pylon revealed the regular Buzzard...

... involved in a staring competition with a Wood Pigeon.

Which the Buzzard won incidentally. Damselflies were everywhere, but all I could find were Common Blues to start with until I stumbled across this one.

I'm not sure, but I think this was a Common Blue too, but an immature one. If anyone happens to come across this blog and knows different, I would love to know!
Dragonflies also abounded but proved too difficult to photograph, being so active in the hot weather. Only the Broad Bodied Chasers paused occasionally and conveniently on nearby landing posts.

Despite my worries earlier in the spring about the reduction in Reed Warblers, there appears to have been a late influx and they are singing every few yards in the reedbeds. Despite the metronomic song, I have always found it difficult to get more than a glimpse of these birds at Fishlake so I thought myself pretty fortunate to get the following two photos.

The Mute Swans which are regularly along the ditch where I was walking have five cygnets in tow, or did on my last walk, but I only saw one adult reflecting on things in an adjacent pond.

Although Meadow Brown butterflies are common enough, this is the first one I have seen here this year, and I hope to find a few in better poses in the coming weeks.

High above in the blue I heard Buzzards calling and looked up to see two and something else with bright white flashes and a slightly odd wing shape (the one on the right in the picture below).

I excitedly grabbed my bins and found it was actually three Buzzards, just that one of them had missing primary feathers.

Excitement over for the moment, I turned my concentration back to ground level and found this newly hatched  Small Tortoiseshell swaying around in the long grass.

Most often at rest they sit with their wings closed concealing their colour and looking a bit like a dead leaf, as this one duly did.

The Buzzards were not to be so easily ignored and started kicking up an unholy fuss. I have often seen squabbles between Buzzards but I can't remember seeing two attacking a third and driving to the ground using contact before. I should have been pressing the shutter really, but I got so absorbed in the fight, it didn't cross my mind until the very end by which time they were a way off, still I will post them for the record.

After the unfortunate single bird was forced out of the skies, the presumed pair rose up and thermalled effortlessly overhead.

As they moved towards the sun, I managed to get a shot of the one with the missing primaries with the light shining through it where you can see quite well the new feathers starting to grow through to fill the current gaps.

Back down to earth, literally, for it is the earth that dictates what species of plant grow, and currently there are all sorts of summer flowers out here of which I only know a few. However, I am quite happy to share my uncertainty and ignorance in the form of a few pictures.
Two ID problems for me here, I think the plant is Creeping Thistle rather than Marsh Thistle despite the surrounding marsh, and I think the beetle is one of the Soldier Beetles (of which their are about 40 species) but I could well be wrong. Please let me know if I am.

Next this handsome plant is very abundant and I think it is Marsh Woundwort. The little fly with red eyes accidentally caught on the leaf I think is a male Fever Fly (Dilophus  febrilis) but don't quote me on that (there is no evidence to suggest they cause fever by the way)

a crop of the fly

Next up, Forget-me-nots. I can't remember the difference between Wood and Water Forget-me-nots. I think these are the Water variety based solely on the fact they are growing partly submerged!

I am more confident that this is Tufted Vetch, and even more confident that this is a Large of which there were quite a few about.

Ok, I have no idea what this is, but it is very abundant in a few patches. Growing through it you can just see Mare's Tails which I seem to remember from infant school are found unchanged in the fossil record. I don't remember which geological era that was from, but I like to refer to my infant school days as my plasticine period.

There was a good hatch of one of our brightest moths (capable of GCSE's) the Scarlet Tiger. Although I saw 7 flying, they all settled up above head height in the trees. This one however I assume was newly emerged and was more reluctant to fly thankfully. It is settled upon...erm... grass species..

When you see it like this you may well ask why "Scarlet?" If I didn't know them well, I know I would. In this last photo you can just make out the colour of the hind wings which are covered at rest. As soon as it flies, your question is answered as the impossibly beautiful and brilliant scarlet is revealed.

This next one is a Large Skipper getting drunk on Comfrey flower juice, Comfrey grows everywhere along the ditches here both in the purple and cream flower versions. 

Here is another one on a Hedge Bindweed leaf. They are just in flower but I forgot to photograph one.

A new species to science is the Umbelliflora Warbler pictured below in typical habitat. Supercicially similar to Sedge Warblers in all things including genetics, but rather than Sedges, its favoured habitat is the huge and impenetrable group known as unidentified Umbellifera. I will have a go and guess at Hemlock Water Dropwort, but the chances of me being correct are slim.

This one I AM certain of. Bramble. The flowers attracting, in particular bumble bees, (which species were present I don't know) but also a number of Small Tortoiseshells.

Just to conclude today's identification blunders, I am not at all sure what species of damselfy this pair is and nor do I know what species of dead twig they have alighted upon.

The harsh realities

I have been in two minds about posting these few pictures. There was great excitement at Blashford Lakes a couple of weeks ago as 3 out of the 4 Little Ringed Plover eggs hatched. I missed the event but happened to pop in the following day. Unfortunately, from a photographic point of view, the parents had taken them a bit further from the hide into the cover of such sparse vegetation as there is. However these too cute little balls of fluff could be seen running around looking for insect life to pack in the protein.

They never really came within range for good pictures and I got distracted by one of the parents having a wash and brush up.

Indeed it seemed to be the time of day for personal hygiene as a Common Tern dropped by for a prolonged bathtime experience.

No need for a towel on the beach for this bird, drip dry in a flash.

Meanwhile the adult Plovers, although they may not look it, were constantly on the alert for signs of danger, any alarm call causing the chicks to freeze, relying totally on their camouflage for protection.

Its funny with chicks of pretty well any species of bird, their feet look far too big for them ever to grow into. 

This was as close as any of them came during my hour or so watching.

I visited the lakes this week to see how things were progressing but sadly all of the chicks had been predated in their first week of life. Cute and fluffy they may be, but they are also on the menu of many other animals and birds also trying to bring up their own families at this time of year. On a brighter note, a new scrape had been prepared and the business of egg laying had already begun. I hope for a happier outcome this time round.

Nearer home

All sorts of things are happening around the garden, slugs and snails are eating lettuces, blackfly are appearing on the runner beans and greenfly on the roses. In my very small ponds, Palmate Newts are still busy courting, and a surprising number of young frogs have appeared. Nearly all are between 3-5 cm from snout to tip, and although impossible to be sure on numbers, I have counted 35 at one time.

There seems to be a bit of a lull in butterflies currently, but all sorts of moths are drawn into the house at night and I spend a lot of time catching them and putting them back outside in the evenings. My favourites are the Poplar Hawkmoths, I guess its the size which impresses me. On the opposite side of size scale, I found about 25 males of the commonest Longhorn moths, Nemophera degeerella, dancing in the sunshine.

These diminutive creatures have the longest antennae of any British butterfly or moth. Although common, they are often overlooked, but still it seems terribly wrong that this record breaking moth has no common name.

On the birdtable front, it is as busy as ever, in fact busier than ever, as all manner of fledglings have been brought by their parents to take advantage of my generosity. Favourite food is definitely the insect loaded fatblocks, although sunflower hearts are coming a close second. The latest crop of blue tits numbered 5 (now 4) as did nuthatches, so it seems to be quite a good breeding season which is probably as well given the harsh winter. At last something has taken up residence in the back garden nest box. After two years of abondonment, a pair of Great Tits have signed the tenancy agreement. I can hear babies but have no idea how many there are yet and am looking forward to them fledging. Anyway, despite the gloom, I took a few shots last friday.

Sunday afternoon

A lovely Sunday afternoon lulled me back to Fishlake Meadows to try and photograph the large hatch of Four Spotted Chasers that I had seen a few days before. However, I was very soon distracted by the number of electric blue Demoiselles skitting around the canal in shafts of sunshine, both Beautiful Demoiselle and Banded Demoiselle flying together. Because I had half a thought there maybe Hobbies about, I had only taken my 400L lens and hoped it would double up as a close up. I hadn’t thought this through to carefully as the minimum focussing on this lens is around 12 feet, so when photographing insects in undergrowth it inevitably means there will be something in the way, but they were reasonably happy to pose in the open with a bit of patience and shifting about so I set about experimenting. Male Banded Demoiselles with the dark spot on their wings were my first quarry as they were in much greater abundance that day

This one in particular caught my attention as I have never seen one do this and I’m not sure what the waving was about.

Beautiful Demoiselles proved more difficult to find settled, but here is one with the more solid dark wings which sometimes look black, and sometimes electric blue depending on light and age.

Oddly we saw no female Beautiful Demoiselle, but lots of Banded although they were mostly a few yards away on a small ditch where only a few males were present, so this was a lucky picture to get them both together.

Despite the exotic and eyecatching colour of the males of both species, my favourite is the female Banded. It might just look green from a distance, but in the right light and close up it has most colours of the rainbow. Its dressed to kill and given its few days of reproductive capabilities, it has to be. Even if you are a bit squeamish about insects, there is no doubting the technicolour overload delivered in this small package.

and my favourite

Anyway, having dragged myself away from the canal and ditches, we walked a little further afield to the floods looking for dragonflies. Yellow flags were out in full flower as were the marsh buttercups, giving the whole meadows a hue of butter yellow

The Four Spotted Chasers I had seen a few days previously were curiously absent, well maybe not so curiously, as two Hobbies suddenly, and briefly appeared diving acrobatically for insects

Not great photos, but I was caught as much by surprise as no doubt the dragonflies were. However, there were plenty, mostly Broad Bodied Chasers which occasionally paused from there very busy business to allow a portrait. 

It is always a wonder to me how so much stuff is packed into a flying insects brain equivalent. Just to fly at all must require some considerable skills, but to fly like a dragonfly requires an advanced pilots licence. On top of that there is all the normal things like deciding on a mate, working out what is prey and what is predator and taking the appropriate actions, and choosing whether it is better to take out a repayment or endowment mortgage. I don't know who designed them, but they were good.

We also saw Emperor Dragonfly which refused to settle, indeed they refused to slow down from the 100 mph   passes across the ponds. I didn't even try to photograph them. 

In the background the odd Warbler sang, especially Sedge and Cettis, but from the depths of the reedbeds, rarely showing themselves. However, one particular Sedge Warbler decided bravery was the better part of valour and picked a willow sapling to sing its heart out from regardless of passers by (with odd pauses to make sure we were listening).

Azure Damselflies abounded although I was hoping for one of the rarer varieties, but nevertheless lit up the ditches

Several pairs forming the mating wheel added their romantic heart shaped bonding to the late spring fever, occasionally flying surprisingly stably in this formation, no little feat of aerodynamics

I know that at some time during our lives, we have all thought three is a crowd

Last, but not least, the Damselfly that I am most familiar with because it is the commonest one in my pond, is the Large Red Damselfly. I have a soft spot for them because in my garden, if you hold your hand out while they are flying over the tiny pond, they will frequently settle on you. It feels like trust although I know (assume) its just warmth. I still find my teenage children with hands outstretched over the pond even now, so they are ambassadors of the insect kingdom to me