Insects of the season

Large Red Damselflies

Four-spotted Chaser

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

At the swimming pool

Four-spotted Chasers mating (the female was busy ovipositing and the male flew down and chased and grabbed her. She managed to get free)

and ovipositing (egg-laying). These dragonflies fly along the surface and jerkily dip their rear ends below the surface

Large Red Damselfly

This Carrion Crow has learned to catch small fish in the pool

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

Big Reds

close-up of the female

It was busy at the swimming pool again today. As well as a scattering of Large Red (pictured), Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies, there were at least 4-5 Four-spotted Chasers on the loose, too. They seemed to be spending all their time chasing each other.

If I spend all summer there, I might stand a chance of getting some flight shots.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Rednecks

The crucifix is a nice touch, don't you think?

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

LeO Sayer

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

Spring at The Lodge

Some kind of gall thing on an oak

My first damselfly photo of 2008

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

Fence-sitter

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

Dead Wryneck Sketch

OK, not a sketch, a photo. But it is a dead Wryneck.

It's a sad story. This was the first Wryneck in Bedfordshire for a few years. It fed on ants on someone's front lawn and charmed them with its confiding behaviour. Then, after a couple of days, it was unfortunate enough to fly into the path of a car, and was killed.

The householders buried the Wryneck in their garden. Then they exhumed it when Darren asked if he could come round to see it on behalf of Beds Bird Club, three days later!

This one is not going in the freezer...

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

May Day

Bluebells

Blossom

Bumblebee on rosemary

Horse-chestnut

Peacock on bluebells

Young oak leaves

Sycamore

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

'How do I get up there?'

I've taken the crumb tray off the bird feeder for now, as it was getting emptied too quickly (Rooks are to blame, I think - they seem to have a penchant for sunflower seeds). Now the male Red-legged Partridge can't work out how to get up there.

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

Return of the Whitethroat

A male Whitethroat has been in the garden again this week. I wonder if it's the same one as last year? It's certainly making its presence known, singing from the tops of the shrubs and performing song-flights.

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

A snail's progress

photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Bluebells

It's that bluebell time of year again

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Beds birding again

Graffiti-covered building, Marston Moretaine

Stewartby lake

Bedfordshire birders have been revelling in a superb spring passage over the past couple of weeks. Mark Thomas wrote about his Sunday, April 20. On Monday lunchtime, I twitched a flock of 10 Whimbrel at Broom gravel pits, where on Wednesday lunchtime there were around 70 Arctic Terns swooping gracefully over the water (Ferry Meadows had around 200!). We dropped in at Stewartby to see a Sandwich Tern flying around on its own there, but missed a Red-throated Diver near Leighton Buzzard by a few minutes.

On Thursday, a singing Wood Warbler was found at Marston Vale Country Park. It was too much to resist, so we drove there through the rain after work. As I got out of the car, it was thundering and threatening to throw it down, so I decided to leave my DSLR in the car, for its own sake.

Of course, we got to the bird, it sang and was pretty showy for a leaf-lurker, and the sun came back out. As Messrs Blain and Whitney snapped away, I tried to tell myself that I'd only have been disappointed with the photos I'd have taken. Now I'm going to have to paint it, or something...

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Annual leave

Got to use up the last of my annual leave, so headed to Norfolk

Arnold's Marsh, Cley

Speckled Wood at Kelling Water Meadows

Celandines

Hoverfly

Alexanders, Smyrnium olusatrum (thanks, Roy)

Dead nettles (this is the kind of plant I can identify)

Er... red campion? No, Herb Robert (thanks Charlie)

Ramsons, or wild garlic... no, Garlic Mustard (thanks, Brian. I did say that I'm no good at plants, and I've just proved it)

What did we see? Started at Kelling Heath where Darren relocated the Great Grey Shrike just as we were leaving. Next stop was West Runton for two Shorelarks seen in a clifftop field; we couldn't find them but we did see a nice fly-by Hobby hunting the Swallows there.

Then on to Kelling Water Meadows, where there were lots of bugs and greenery down the lane (see above), a Ruff on the pool, a little flock of Yellow Wagtails containing two which looked vaguely blue-headed on a brief glance, a male Wheatear and three Ring Ouzels on the way to Weybourne.

I think we went to Cley next. The new visitor centre is very nice but the rainwater-flushed loo was a bit feeble. Nice idea, though. On the shingle ridge by Arnold's Marsh, we caught up with two Shorelarks; on the marsh itself were nearly 200 Sandwich Terns and an assortment of waders including a smart breeding-plumaged male Bar-tailed Godwit. Mustn't grumble.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640 or Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Beds birding

Thursday evening:

Tempsford twitchers l-r: Darren, Lloyd, Mark and Richard

Thursday morning:

The brown blob in the middle is the Stone-curlew

It's been a strange week in Bedfordshire, as far as I can tell. On Monday night we went to see a flock of 24 Black-tailed Godwits at Fenlake Meadows in Bedford. I've been spoiled as far as Blackwits go by the Nene Washes, but it was funny to see them with towerblocks and houses in the background.

On Thursday, we got a call about a Stone-curlew at Tempsford airfield, for which we made a quick diversion from work. That was pretty amazing. It was decidedly distant but it'll probably be the only one I ever see in the county.

That evening we were back at Tempsford. We went round to Station Road to see the Redstart which had been found by someone looking for the Stone-curlew but who'd got lost! We got good but brief views of a beautiful male bird, something we're usually deprived of in the east...

(If you want to see a nice Redstart photo, head over to Weedon's World)

Next stop Fenlake Meadows again, where a Grey Plover was showing well with the godwits. I was really surprised to see it hadn't cleared off before we got there, but there it was. It's a shame it wasn't in breeding plumage, but you can't have everything. It still looked pretty nice in the evening light, and beggars can't be choosers.

We were going to go to Broom to see if the Whimbrel was still there, but opted for the pub instead so we didn't dirty our 100% record for that evening.

So, maybe I should stop moaning about how crap Bedfordshire birding is.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640 +- Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece