Reeds at Woodwalton Fen

photo taken with iPhone 4S

Autumn at Woodwalton

Rosehips

Acorns

Result of some kind of gall wasp infestation?

Red leaves

Common Darter - the only dragonfly species we saw today. Most were going around in tandem

Phragmites

Sunlight shining through a bit of bark peeling off a branch

Sloes

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Woodwalton

Large Skipper butterfly

Male Southern Hawker dragonfly

Mating longhorn beetles Strangalia maculata

Also seen, but not photographed:

• Lots of Ringlet and Meadow Brown butterflies
• My first Common Darters of the year
  
• Cute Muntjac family: Mummy, Daddy and Baby all trotting around together
  
• Exhausted racing pigeon which I grabbed and put in a tree, out of harm's way
  

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Local birding

Green-winged Teal (right, front)

The above Green-winged Teal was probably the highlight of our day in the Peterborough area, today. It was first found at Woodwalton Fen NNR a couple of weeks ago but has only been visible intermittently, as the Teal flock it's hanging out with like to hide in the reeds. So that was quite lucky.

Male [Common] Teal

Chinese Water Deer

Chinese Water Deer are very odd-looking beasts. There's something rather teddy bear-ish about their faces. They seem to be quite tame - this one came wandering towards us.

The marks on its body are intriguing. Is it the result of fighting or just moulting? You can often see clumps of very coarse fur lying on the ground at Woodwalton - it almost looks like porcupine quills.

You can read more about them at the Deer-UK website.

We started the day at Aversley Wood - a few springy shots below.

Dog-violet

Blackthorn blossom

unidentified flowers!

new Hawthorn leaves

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Woodwalton on a cold day

Frosty log and moss

Reed-stems cast shadows on pea-green algae

Backlit Phragmites

Frosty mole-hill (see below for close-up)

It's really frosty!

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Woodwalton Fen NNR

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Saturday morning

*
You can't tell from this rubbish photo, but that's a Wood Sandpiper on the gravel next to the two Little Egrets.

Wow. It's not often that there are two Little Egrets in the PBC area at the same time, let alone two at the same site together. And standing next to a Wood Sand... amazing stuff.

I went to Prior's Fen this morning. It's not something I do very often, but it's been good there for the past week or so. Looking at the weather forecast last night, I decided an early visit would be in order, since a band of rain was due to arrive mid-morning.

I saw one Wood Sandpiper (Brian had two yesterday!), three Greenshanks, one Common and two Green Sandpipers, two Marsh Harriers (one juvenile, one moulting sub-adult male), two Little Egrets, heard a Curlew calling and got some more shots of Common Darters...



After that, I decided that, since I was out and about already, and I was sort of in the general vicinity, I might as well go to Woodwalton Fen before it started raining. So I did.




Common Darter (it's that time of year)

It has to be said that WWF is rubbish for birds at the moment. The place was as quiet as I've ever heard it. Good job there were some nice insects about to make up for lack of bird action.






"...and then I'm going to eat you..."

Female damselfly, Common Blue, I think.


Large Skipper



Like it often seems to when I'm there, the weather took a turn for the worse. Cloud billowed across the sky, the sun went into hiding, it got windier and started raining.


Female Southern Hawker - the Chocolate Lime of the dragonfly world, I think...

I finally got some better pics of Southern Hawker just as it started raining. It, or rather, she, was looking for somewhere to perch. By crawling across the path I managed to get close enough for a few photos.


Ruddy Darter


Spider crocheting a new web


Speckled Wood on a heap of vegetation - perhaps some warmth from the decomposing matter?

*really bad digiscoped photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 20-60x eyepiece. The rest just with the mighty Coolpix