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