New WWA website

The WWA have a brand new all-singing and dancing website which incorporates a blog, so from now on that will take over from this sightings blog

The new site is at http://www.watercresslnr.org.uk/ so update your bookmarks. It incorporates all of the posts from this sightings blog and all new posts will be made on that new site.

Saturday 6th November.

The usual peace and tranquillity broken by the frenzied squawk of a small group of parakeet!

Eventually seen off by equally vociferous magpie

interlopers!

present on site today, some welcome, some not . . .

the pair of little grebes are back, I assume it's the same two.
Here's one of them, they are staying close together compared to previous seasons.

there were about 10 collared doves on the feeder today, nothing else got near while they mobbed the perches.

one of the four ring-necked parakeets seen today, if this lot get a hold in the area, things may never be the same!

Daubentons on the lake

Last night we went on a 1.5 mile walk, organised by Herts Middlesex Bat Group, to learn more about the bats in the area using bat detectors. Our guide was bat expert Hazel Makepeace. Here is her description of the event:
Managed to have a quick whizz through my recording from last night: on the walk down to the bridge on the reserve I’ve a recording of a Noctule, then the Daubentons (at least 4) from the bridge, which we also saw. (Also at the Sopwell Nunnery site there was a Serotine, and quite a few recordings of Common pipistrelles and Soprano Pipistrelles throughout the walk).
An amazing evening, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a real treat to have heard and seen the daubentons on the lake. I have attached a picture of a Daubenton's bat which I took in August of this year

The recording of a Daubenton is available as a WAV sound file here.

The ‘butterfly bush’, not

It struck me this year in my weekly monitoring of butterflies that I didn't see more than an occasional butterfly at a time on buddleia (known as the ‘butterfly bush’) whereas last year I saw on at least 3 occasions more than 10 (comma, peacock, painted ladies, red admiral). It’s all been a bit disappointing this year apart from a flurry of gatekeepers and not on buddleia. Has anyone had a different experience with buddleias this year?

A very pleasant pheasant

What a handsome fellow!

Sunday August 29th

The swans are back, chasing away allcomers. Even the heron....
.

and the WWA are crowned Water Vole Champions by the Herts and Middx Wildlife Trust......

but just where are they? Answers on a postcard please.

No need to get wet!

On this rainy day, I have been rewarded with a sighting on the reserve of a little grebe; a kingfisher; & two swans... all from the warmth & dryness of my kitchen. Magic!

2 sights for sore eyes

Occasionally you see something that delights the ole spirit. In the last week, I saw 2. The first occasion was at midday during the week when I spotted a muntjac (my first) near the heap for grassnakes. Funny dog, I thought and the way it moved its tail was most odd. I know other members have seen one or even 2 before but they had always escaped me. I was amazed it had ventured so far into the reserve and think it's not only foxes which are becoming less fearful. My second impressive sight was a few days later,when I was doing my regular butterfly monitoring. I came across at least 10 gatekeepers, flying in a group but as you can see from the photo doing their own thing. (It was impossible to get all 10 in a photo as I had to get quite closeup for them to be visible.) It was also pretty impossible to count them, as you can probably imagine - worse than counting sheep! That day I also spotted the first water lily I've seen on the little pond and saw a little frog and heard another croaking away happily. The photo below was the best I could do without falling in ......

yet more damselfies

25.06.2010

while attempting to photograph these little creatures,
I became a little sidetracked by the banded demoiselles.

When perched on a leaf they obviously present a pretty picture.
In flight their wings seemed to act like helicopter rotors.

That was it, I had to capture one in flight.

here's one at rest

in flight, look at the helicopter wings!

here, we have a female banded demoiselle.

another variation, here I think we have a ruddy darter.
My trusty nature book leads me to this identification -see bottom of posting.

this is a mystery bug, anyone got any ideas?
There are so many minute creatures whizzing about and they all seen to be tiny,
fast and hard to capture, with a camera, a net may be more successful.

here's another, sitting on a lily pad -not found it in my book, yet.

my trusty book by the way: the Collins Complete British Wildlife by Paul Sterry.
It's really useful as identifying photographs convey exactly what one sees in the field.
I found one cheap in a garden centre last year. Have a look for it.

Butterfly beds

The butterfly beds are beginning to look good but where are the butterflies?
This summer I've seen orange tipped, small white, comma, peacock, speckled wood and common blue - but only a few each time I visit the site and none today

more damselfies

17.06.2010

by coincidence I was on site Thursday morning and also happened upon the damselflies

the rather disappointingly named common blue damselfy.
Most of the time, I have no idea what I've seen until I get home,
view the photograph, then refer to my ever-to-hand nature guide book.

a blue-tailed damselfy, according to the book.

look closely, this great tit has got his prized sunflower heart.

in a conventional pose, the ever wonderful bullfinch.

the hovering bullfinch!
I was lucky with this one, the colour's a bit off, but I enjoyed the moment.

Banded demoiselle damselfly

The male Banded demoiselle is very striking and familiar, with its electric blue body and dark patches on each wing that catch the eye as it flutters. The female is probably less well known. Here's one demonstrating the full emerald green bodywork and wings. There were loads of males and females as well as other species fluttering around the site in the sun today, particularly by the low bridge by the spit.

I didn't get such a good photo of the male, but I include it for completeness. I suppose it's kind of arty!

heron stalking ....

heron stalking .......metal duck?

careful what you touch

21.05.2010
It's warming up at the Mere

after sitting here for a while, squirrel number one hopped across the bridge using the handrail as it's own little highway.
Their agility has to be admired.

later, squirrel number two turned up and had a good old sniff about.
It then scurried across the bridge, in the wake of number one, sniffing everywhere it went, .
I know it's not exactly news, but we are surrounded by animal scents -we may well be mistaken for a squirrel by another as we probably have their scent on us . . . if we use the handrail.
I may well wear latex gloves next time I cross the bridge!

a snatch of yet another furious fight between a coot and anything else that happens to be passing.
Here it's the moorhen couple (see previous blog entry) who eventually saw off the intruder.
If there was a passing rhino, I think the coot would have a go. . .

one of the ubiquitous collared doves leaving the feeder.
I include this as a fleeting moment, normally the wing display would be lost in a flurry of feathers.

still four in number and doing well, the mallard chicks.
And elder brother in the background.

yes, the slime is back.
Looking at last year's blog, it was present 01.07.09.
The delightful, fragrant, blue green algal bloom.
It'll cover the Mere in a weekend I bet.
It's warming up at the Mere

noise

15.05.2010
A few unexpected noises and interruptions today.

there was a huge amount of noise upon my arrival, it turned out to be a great spotted woodpecker pecking an owl box.
A poor shot, but it shows the guilty party.
The box served to amplify his hammering -in a big way, if he wanted to make an impression, he succeeded.

here's a bit of a close up of the damaged box.

these mallard chicks now number four, there were ten.
Also with them is a presumed elder brother/ mongrel from an earlier brood. He is mentioned in Sam's previous blog entry,
also, he's the duckling featured in my post of 22.04.2010
I later saw the proper father return, so our mongrel must be the same hanger-on.

I think we may be parents soon!
There is already another successful pair of moorhens on the reserve.

to illustrate the interruption problems the reserve faces from careless people outside the site, this image does the job.
Here is a snap of a hound galloping along the Ver, it ran all the way past the inlet right up to the railway bridge.
There was nothing to stop him getting into the reserve and doing untold damage.
I find it incredibly irresponsible for owners to let their dogs loose like this.

Heron

A lovely picture sent in by one of our members.

Mongrel Mallard

The title is Sheila's description of the odd looking duck masquerading as the father of a brood of ten ducklings on the mere. It's probably a juvenile from a previous brood that's sticking with its mother still, so it's not the father (which is what I first assumed) though the father is almost definitely an odd looking duck itself, that has passed on its genes to this one.

It's interesting to note that one of the ten ducklings is similarly coloured and stands out from the rest - it is all dark bar a white breast.

sightings board April

Let sleeping snakes lie..

I nearly stepped on this grass snake that was
basking in the morning sunshine on the entrance

drive. A group of ramblers arrived at the same

and were thrilled to share this sighting with us.

This must now be the most photographed snake

in England! It eventually became camera shy

and slithered slowly away into the adjacent grass.

Perhaps it had only just come out of hibernation

as this occurs in March/April?

sunday 25th april

after a long absence, I've remembered the password and can include two pics from today's site visit.

First Chaenomeles, not native plant, but legacy of many years of cultivation.

Second is Speckled Wood butterfly taking brief rest in welcome sunlight......