Frolicking frogs

Went ringing again this morning. Didn't catch much, but the garden pond was stuffed full of these fantastic frogs. Love 'em!

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Burp!

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Chasers

male Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Faster than a speeding newt

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

A walk in the woods

dead branches

brambles

Siskins: male (top) and female

Dunnock

Chaffinch

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Waterlilyfest

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Small Red-eyed Damselflies

These are some of the first Small Red-eyed Damselflies to be recorded at The Lodge. Mark tipped me off as I happened to be wandering past and though I didn't really know what to look for, I managed to get a single photo of the pair 'in tandem'.

The problem is that they're really very similar to Red-eyed Damselflies, which are very numerous on the swimming pool at The Lodge. I was lucky to photograph the right pair, though a brief comparison with a nearby Red-eyed meant the size difference was discernable.

There's not much in it:

• smaller size - 29mm body length for Small Red-eyed, v 35mm for Red-eyed
• paler underside to eyes
• greenish shoulder-stripes on male Small, where male Red-eyed is all black

What we found most helpful on our second visit was the pale blue tail tip (I'm sure there's a more technical description of that). On the Small Red-eyed, the tip reaches up onto one more segment than it does on the Red-eyed. It gives an appearance of having been dipped into blue paint at an angle of 45 degrees, compared to the 90 degrees of Red-eyed.

Identification suggestions much appreciated!

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Plantlife

Waterlilies

What happens to poppies when they die

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Gardens

This is the old swimming pool I keep going on about...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Emperor

Female Emperor, egg-laying

What a girl!

I'm more fascinated by dragonflies than ever, and the old swimming pool at The Lodge is a great place to watch them. Emperor dragonflies are very much in evidence at the moment so, of course, I want to get some photos of them...

But when they either fly around constantly (so fast you can't even follow them with binoculars) or perch on lilypads right in the middle of the pool, it's not very easy.

Today I finally managed to digiscope a female Emperor ovipositing (that's egg-laying to you and me) in the pool. The first photo was taken without the scope as the sun was behind clouds and she was near the edge, but the rest are digiscoped.

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

It's insect season again!

Large Red Damselfly

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Birds' bathtime

Chaffinches

Male Blackbird

Coal Tit

Stock Dove

Bathtime at The Lodge once more. You would think that taking photos of bathing birds from a hide in bright sunshine would be a piece of cake. Not always so.

Some birds are too small and distant (tits, Siskins). Some are too big and quick and close (Stock Dove). Some move too fast (hmm... all of the above). About the only species that behaves itself in front of the camera is the humble Chaffinch.

Today was quite unusual because there were already three photographers in residence in the hide when I arrived. It looked like my planned lunchtime activities were going to be foiled by a lack of room, but it turned out OK. Which is more than can be said for most of the photos.

That said, I am very pleased with the first photo of the male Chaffinch. Quite a surprise.

There were no signs of yesterday's Mandarin ducks, sadly. That was a bit too much to hope for.

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20-60x eyepiece

Bathtime again

Back to the Lodge pond to try a bit more digiscoping. It didn't help that the pond was mostly frozen, but there was nothing I could do about that...

Blue Tit

Great Tit


Coal Tit






Chaffinches

Starting to think I'm wasting my time trying to digiscope small stuff. They move too quickly!

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece