Misty morning at The Lodge

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Woodwalton Fen NNR

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Autumn at Minsmere

Comma on blackberries

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Small Copper

photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Bugs

Shieldbug


Common Darter


Migrant Hawker


Feathered Gothic

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Damp, misty morning

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Dunge

Another RSPB reserve 'tick' for me. Went daaaahn saaaaahf to Dungeness with the same crew as last weekend in search of... well, migrants, I suppose. We were greeted by a Wheatear on the roof of the toilet block and there were shed-loads of Yellow Wagtails calling overhead.

But otherwise, finding birds took a little more hard work. Bramble-bush-watching found us Whitethroat, Blackcap, Sedge and Willow Warblers, while scanning across a field picked up a distant Whinchat. OK, so they're not exactly top-drawer rarities, but it felt really good to be getting onto birds that we wouldn't have with just a casual glance here and there.

Hooray for birding!





The Marsh Frogs on the reserve were, I suppose, a UK amphibian tick for me. One of the pools was filled with them in a variety of different sizes. That hadn't gone unnoticed by a Grass Snake, which was wending its way through the water and had its eye on Marsh Froglets for lunch. Though we didn't see any actual action, it was fascinating to watch.




Migrant Hawker

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

Birds of the day...

... were undoubtedly the two juvenile Dotterel at RSPB Snettisham. As well as having huge Bambi-style eyes, elegant looks and the good sense to pose nicely among the ox-eye daisies, they endeared themselves to assembled birders even more by being very tame indeed.

Hurrah for Dotterel!


The resident female Scaup on the pit nearby had less appeal, somehow.


Curlew Sandpipers were present in good numbers (c30) at RSPB Titchwell Marsh.

I really should get off my backside and get up to Norfolk more often. Thanks to Darren, Dave, Joy, Pete and Corinna for a grand day out!

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

River Nene

The reflections of vegetation at the edge of the river caught my eye. I was watching some Common Darters perching on some debris which looked like a cross between some white plastic sheeting and a lump of loft insulation, when it suddenly dawned on me that it was a sheep at an advanced stage of decomposition...

Moving on...


Banded Demoiselles have got to be the most gorgeous insects going.






Female munching on a small insect

All these photos digiscoped along the River Nene just west of Ferry Meadows. For reference, the pronunciation of the river name is as follows:

If you're downstream of Oundle, it's Neene
If you're upstream of Oundle, it's Nenn

Incidentally, when I visited Slimbridge as a youngster, I wondered what the connection with Hawaii's state bird, Branta sandvicensis, the Nene Goose, was...

I have to be a bit careful when I go home to Northants, because I live in Peterborough now I tend to say Neene, which probably reveals me to be a traitor. I grew up in the Nene valley; I still haven't escaped it and I can trace ancestors who lived in the valley (at Little Addington) back to at least 1680...

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

Ferry Meadows birds

Feeding time for baby Swallows! It was all a bit fast for me





That's some primary projection...

Grey Heron on Gunwade Lake

Coot on a backwater

Ferry Meadows on a sunny bank holiday weekend is a busy place to be, but there were a few birds around nevertheless. I decided to seek out somewhere more peaceful...

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

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