A Walk Along the River.

X4 time again this morning when I took my favourite mode of transport over to Oundle. As a change from my normal routine I walked from the north bridge to Cotterstock before having a quick look at the site of the old Dragonfly Museum at Ashton Mill.

Cotterstock.

While we're still very firmly in the grip of Summer it's not difficult to detect the gentle touch of Autumn on the countryside. Rowan berries are already red on the trees and providing a meal for Blackbirds and other thrushes while many blackberries and elderberries are also ripening. With the haws slowly beginning to colour up too and the first leaves beginning to change it's hard to believe that yet another Summer is passing by. A trickle of passage migrants is beginning to filter southwards and will soon become a stream, eyes grown accustomed to looking down will have to get used to looking upwards again but for now the emphasis is still very much on insects.

One of several Grey Herons seen today.


 

A rather worn looking Small Copper.

It was still a little cool when I set out and the only things stirring were the birds, the riverside vegetation seemed alive with warblers. Swallows and Martins were joined by the occasional Swift in their dashing pursuit of insects while a passing Buzzard annoyed the local crows. I enjoyed watching a family of Green Woodpeckers feeding in one of the fields and also heard Great Spotteds calling from the trees. Once again I was treated to good views of Kingfishers and Herons while at Cotterstock weir a Grey Wagtail showed well.

Male Grey Wagtail.

Yesterday's Migrant Hawker disappointment was soon forgotten as one of several seen today stopped long enough for my autofocus to work, sadly the Brown Hawkers did not oblige. Even in warming conditions it was a struggle to find much, a tatty Small Copper at Cotterstock was one of the few highlights. Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper numbers were low and a single Common Blue was a meagre return for my walk. A couple of Burdocks did at least give me the chance to admire a male Brimstone which was joined by a Comma and two Red Admirals.

Gotcha! Migrant Hawker.

 

Brimstone.

Continuing along the river a couple of Common Darters showed well and several Red-eyeds were sitting on the lilies with a single Blue-tailed keeping them company. Closer to Ashton a male Black-tailed Skimmer was having a bit of a lazing session on a log. Around the mill itself it was butterflies that grabbed the attention, a single male Brimstone was rather eclipsed by an immaculate Painted Lady. Lots of Peacocks were feeding on the many teasels and a few Large Whites flitted by. A Brown Hawker did land but was so obscured by the stalks of thistles and grasses that I didn't bother with a photo.

Black-tailed Skimmer.

Painted Lady.

A Little Bit of Everything

It really was a good day to be strolling through the Northamptonshire countryside today with a good range of stuff to keep me entertained. I walked through Weldon and the Woodland Park before passing Harry's Park Wood and then moving on through Deenethorpe, Deene and Priors Hall before returning through Weldon to home.

Juvenile Willow Warbler at Bears Lane.

Bears Lane had many finches feeding along its length with Yellowhammers and House Sparrows keeping them company. The first few butterflies were seen here too with Brown Argus being the pick of an otherwise undistinguished bunch. There then followed a quiet patch as I followed the footpath through the fields, it was only when I followed the sheltered hedge line down towards the A427 that things picked up again.

Ragweed attracted many species today, this time it was Comma and Red Admiral

An increasing collection of butterflies were sheltering from the wind and included some Red Admirals and a Speckled Wood. If you wanted to see a grown man shouting and shaking his fist at an insect then you should perhaps of joined me. A Migrant Hawker, my first of the year, settled on to the hedge for just long enough for me to point my camera and then flew off just as the autofocus was kicking in, I hope that I get other opportunities during the year. Having recovered my composure somewhat I crossed the road and headed up between Weldon Park Wood and Deenethorpe Airfield.

A favourite of mine, Small Copper.

More Brown Argus were showing along with Common Blues though my favourite of the smaller species present was a Small Copper, always a treat. Four Silver-washed Fritillaries, three males and a female showed well while a Comma shared some Ragwort with a Red Admiral. Several Ringlets were also observed here, their numbers have plummeted recently and they're now scarce. Strolling on past the airfield I added a Peacock to my list before reaching Deenethorpe village.

Female Silver-washed Fritillary.

The stream here had several damsel species including White-legs and Banded Demoiselles. Across the A43 at Deene Lake inflow a large number of Lapwings seemed to include a lot of this year's young. Feeding amongst them were two Green Sandpipers, this appears to be a regular spot for them. The Wheelie Bin Triangle as well as Lapwings had a juvenile Shelduck dabbling close by while another fed in the nearby shallows. A Little Egret fishing looked beautiful in the sunshine, perhaps we take them for granted sometimes.

You Beauty, a stunning Little Egret.

From the dam I was able to watch a lot of Small Red-eyed Damsels, a surprise to be honest as I didn't know that there was a colony here. Unusually several mating pairs and some singles chose an island in a fast flowing stream to rest. Others on the main lake were opting for duckweed and lilies as perches, this is something I normally see with Red-eyeds but my identification was correct. A small number of White-legs were seen in the same area but at this point it clouded over for a bit so I moved on.

Small Red-eyed Damsel.

The large field to the northwest of Priors Hall was my next stop and it was alive with butterflies with Common Blues and Small Heaths almost matching the numbers of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers. A Peregrine provided a little excitement as it flew overhead while the usual kites and buzzards soared. Closer to where a bridge crosses the stream to the north of Priors a number of Migrant Hawkers jostled with a pair of Brown Hawkers and a make Emperor, the Common Darters present perhaps wisely stayed on their perches.

Brown Argus and Small Heath.

A heavy rain shower meant that Priors was a bit of a wash out but numbers of Ruddy Darters seemed high once the clouds had parted and a Painted Lady flew past. The last noteworthy find was a Southern Hawker that posed obligingly at Weldon Industrial Estate. I was glad to get home after over eight hours walking and it was good to rest my feet while enjoying a cold beer.

Southern Hawker.

Surprise Tern of Events

 

A doctor's appointment meant a trip to the Lakeside Surgery which at least gave me the chance to have a walk around the boating lake. Cloudy conditions ruled out any chance of dragonfly watching and I had to be content with looking at the birds. The big news here was my first sighting of a boating lake Common Tern, while I'm aware of at least one previous record from this location I hadn't been able to catch up with any before. The bird was present for at least quarter of an hour before it gained height and departed. I was able to take a couple of record shots of this historic occasion though none were that sharp. Common Tern remains a very scarce passage migrant in the town despite them breeding as near as Eyebrook reservoir. Nothing else of note was observed but that was hardly a shock given the time of year.

My first Common Tern at Corby's boating lake.



 

Another view.

Deep Purple

With the sun putting in a welcome appearance I decided to head out after work and so took a short stroll over to Willowbrook Industrial Estate where I checked the open area next to Cockerell Road. Although butterfly numbers have yet to recover there was quite a good variety of species and also a few other interesting things to have a squint at.


Male Common Blue Damselfly.

 

Male Common Blue butterfly.

A Buzzard doing a low flypast of the area attracted the attention of two Peregrines and they swooped and screamed at it until the unwelcome interloper had moved on. A male Kestrel was content to sit on a large light while a Heron passed over on its way to the nearby ponds at Stephenson's Way.

Aphid's eye view of a Red Admiral.


 

Peacock.

It was probably from these ponds that the few dragonflies present came and they included Brown and Southern Hawker which were hunting along the line of bushes on the edge of the site. A few Common Darters and some Common Blue damsels completed the list of species seen.

The few Marbled Whites were looking a little worn.

Many of the butterflies seen today were choosing to feed on purple flowers with both knapweeds and buddleia proving popular, the latter particularly with the larger species. One of the species that did not appear to be feeding at all were the many male Common Blues zipping about, I didn't see any females. A Brown Argus showed briefly but did not settle while the two Essex Skippers seen were happy to pose. Numbers of Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper remain healthy but Ringlets appear to be decreasing somewhat and only two Marbled Whites were found with both of them looking a little the worse for wear.

Painted Lady.


 

Essex Skipper. The orange skippers always hold their wings in this unique fashion, the black antennae tips separate this species from Small.

The larger species included several Peacocks and Red Admirals and one each of Painted Lady and Small Torty. You may notice that I do more repeats of pictures than the BBC does its programmes but if I take what I think is a good 'un then it goes on. Small, Green-veined and Large White seemed drawn to knapweeds which also attracted lots of Burnet moths.

Another picture of Six-spotted Burnet, a fairly common species at this time of year.

Bee is for Beautiful.

Well I finally had to give in to temptation and go and see the Nottinghamshire Bee-eaters, with them breeding a little over forty miles from my home it would have been crazy not to. So it was that my brother and I took an evening drive over to East Leake where we hoped to catch up with these harlequin plumed smashers. Things looked good as the clouds which had blighted most of the day parted and we were treated to some lovely evening sunshine.

Not your average British sign!



On arrival we coughed up the five quid for parking (cheap at half the price) and headed over to the watchpoint, it was a case of following the dead grass trail to the point where the Bee-eaters showed best from. Luckily for us there was a woman scoping a distant pair in a hedge so we connected immediately. We were able to watch this couple for a few minutes before they both disappeared but from then on at least two showed intermittently though always at some distance. Hearing that call that I associate so much with the Mediterranean seems a little strange here in the Midlands but if it becomes a regular feature of our Summers I will not complain!


Distant but unmistakeable.


 

Living up to its name.

Conscious that the car park geezer might want to close up we departed after a while and headed back. On the way to the parking we found four Bee-eaters perching in a Hawthorn making occasional feeding sallies before returning to their perches. It was a nice way to finish a most satisfactory evening's twitching and they were also the first British Bee-eaters that I've caught up with since August Bank Holiday 1984 at Gibraltar Point. It's a shame that all of my pictures of them were a bit duff but that isn't going to stop me sharing a few with you - enjoy.

Closer but still a pretty awful photo.

Essex Revisited.

I'm going into time travel mode here and going back to a trip that a friend and I made to Hockley Wood in Essex with a view to finding some Heath Fritillaries. In this we were successful though only by the skin of our teeth as one individual was found just before we left and so a nasty dip was duly dodged. That is not the reason however for my Dr Who impression, no that was provided by a Migrant Hawker dragonfly that I photographed at the time.

The reason for our visit, a Heath Fritillary.



Migrant Hawkers are one of the latest species to take wing with individuals first appearing in mid July but only becoming common in August. As ours was seen on the 26th of June it was with some surprise that we noted this one. As I don't get many opportunities to photograph hawkers I jumped at the chance to get a picture of this and also a Southern Hawker and there the matter was closed.

The subject of further debate.

Or was it? When I came to review my pictures last Friday (the TV was dire) I noticed a couple of details that didn't quite fit Migrant and so I did a little bit of research. First off I put the pictures on several forums hoping for expert advice, my enthusiasm far exceeds my knowledge. Then while I waited for any response I began to trawl the net reading everything I could find and looking at every picture. The result of all this fuss and kerfuffle? Another new species for the day to go with the frit, a Southern Migrant Hawker.

A crop of S1 and S2 showing the face like pattern and the hat like marking.

This species is slowly colonising Britain at the moment with most of the small population being centred on Essex including (though I didn't know this at the time) Hockley Wood. While the date was early for Migrant even in a year when many species were a little early it does fall right at the start of SMH's flight season. The individual in the photo was a very immature male and had probably only emerged that morning which meant that its markings had not yet fully developed. Both species have a face like marking on the second segment of the abdomen, the "nose" on Migrant is rather thin and resembles a golf tee while SMH's is a thicker inverted triangle. The first segment on Migrant is plain whereas SMH has a marking which to my eyes at least looks like a hat. Another feature of Migrant which SMH does not show is a pair of thick stripes on the sides of the thorax. sadly I have no comparison photos of Migrant to show but there are many on the web.

We're on safer ground here, a Southern Hawker.

Several people offered their advice and knowledge during this process and they included a fellow from the British Dragonfly Society who serves as their migrant dragonfly officer. As a result of their input I feel I can confidently claim my first SMH though I'll probably want to see one of the more mature males as they're an attractive species.

Return to Priors

A day of sunshine and showers with some of the latter being pretty heavy, just as well there were plenty of trees to provide cover. The large quarry lake is still home to a collection of the commoner wildfowl though the swans have done a bunk. Singles of Grey Heron and Little Egret were fishing in the margins while once again several species of wader were present. Both Little Ringed and Ringed were represented by a single bird while three Common Sandpipers were found. Two Green Sandpipers were new in this week, I'm hoping more species will show as migration picks up. After the excellent count of Yellow-legged Gulls seen during the week I managed to count none, in fact only half a dozen Black-headeds showed. A Sparrowhawk flapped rather ponderously past with prey that must have been from the uppermost reaches of the size scale judging by the way the bird seemed to labour.



A distant shot of one of 3 Common Sandpipers present.



 

Reed Warbler, one of many seen by the largest pond.

Conditions for insect watching were less than ideal and numbers of everything seemed low. It may well be that the wet weather of the last week has taken a toll, very few of the larger species were observed, it could be that they struggle to find adequate cover during sustained periods of heavy rain. Brown butterflies were again the commonest with a few of the toughest individuals even flying in light showers. Another brown though not one related to the others provided one of the highlights when a Brown Argus posed very nicely for some pictures. These resemble the females of their close relatives the blues but are usually noticeably smaller then Common and to my eyes at least they seem neater. A female Common Blue posed too and you can see the differences in the pictures. I was very pleased to get some of my best ever pictures of Large Skippers, three were feeding on a Teasel and did not seem remotely bothered by my close approach. A few whites showed as well but no other species were observed.

Large Skipper.


 

Brown Argus.



Several moths showed during the day with Six-spotted Burnets becoming common. They're a colourful species and probably unpalatable to predators as they often choose prominent places on which to sit. Another moth that showed quite well was a Silver-Y, a migrant that appears in variable numbers each year. This has not been a vintage year for them but then it does not seem to have been a great year for any of the migrant insects.


Female Common Blue.


 

Ruddy Darter.

None of the larger dragonflies were recorded and only the two darters were seen and even then all but one of those were Ruddies. Damsel numbers were low too and only four species could be found with no surprises amongst them.

Six-spotted Burnet having a bit of a spruce up.
 

Silver-Y Moth.

 

Mystery Solved

The mystery damsel mentioned in my previous post is a Small Red-eyed, having put a plea for assistance on the always excellent Northants Dragonfly Facebook Group the county recorder was able to shed light on the matter. Small Red-eyeds are the only species that emerge like this from the water and the exuvia can be seen in the picture. I obviously misjudged the size at the time and didn't know the manner in which they emerge, it's all part of the learning experience. There are better pictures on the Northants Dragonfly page.

Summertime Blues

Today I gambled on the weather improving by booking off a half day's holiday only to find that my decision backfired somewhat as the cloud persisted. Confirmation that I had backed the wrong pony came when it started to rain, oh well you can't win them all.

A Holly Blue.

An e-mail came in today to confirm that my gulls from Sunday were indeed Yellow-legs, the Gull Guv'nor  got over to Priors Hall himself yesterday and found a staggering total of CA100. That really makes my two seem rather feeble but in my defence I did visit a couple of hours earlier in the day than he did. Traditionally this site does attract good numbers of passage Lesser Blacks and I've seen double figure counts of Yellow-legs accompanying them in previous years.

The altogether jazzier underside of a Common Blue.

Back to today's fun and a Holly Blue next to the steelworks was an early highlight, the new brood is only just beginning to appear. At Weldon Industrial Estate a few Common Blues were flushed from the grass, it was nice to be able to contrast the colourful underwing of this species with the rather plainer one of the Holly. Not surprisingly few other butterflies were about with just the three common browns and a pair of Green-veined Whites to look at.

Say aahhh, a Tufted duckling.

At the A43 pond the Mute Swan remains with a sizeable entourage of yucky eclipse Mallards around it. Most of the Tufted Ducks look as if they have moved on but a duck remains with at least four ducklings. Tufty ducklings are quite independent little beggars so it's not always easy to count them as they can feed some distance from their mother.

Banded Demoiselle.

I didn't really expect to see much in the way of dragons or damsels at the other pond but there was a little bit of activity. Banded Demoiselles were the most obvious species with a double figure count being made. A male Emperor was hunting despite the overcast conditions while a few Common Darters made their first flights. One at least did not make it as I saw a Moorhen swim past with one in its beak, I'm guessing that it took it from a reed rather than plucking it from the air as I seriously doubt their fly catching abilities. At least half a dozen Small Red-eyeds were sitting on moulted Mallard primary feathers while a single Red-eyed clung to a stick. A few Blue-tailed Damselflies rounded off the list of confirmed species though a large teneral damsel sitting on a Mallard secondary feather had me scratching my head, I've asked for some help to identify it and am waiting for the results.

Common Darter

By this stage the rain was steady if light and having logged a couple of last year's Grey Herons and a Kingfisher I decided to give up and go home.

?????? Mystery damsel.

Willows? Check. Emeralds? Check. Willow Emeralds? Er... No.

Had a look at the pond near Eurohub after work where the many overhanging branches have me optimistically thinking of exotic colonists. Suffice to say that I had no luck with my targets...this time, I will be checking again in the future. Star attraction was an Emerald which was my first for the site. He had to battle a string of Blue-taileds which may have mistook him for a big version of themselves but he had more than enough muscle to send them packing. Other damsels seen today included a male Banded Demoiselle, an Azure, lots of Common Blues, a few Red-eyeds and lots of the aforementioned Blue-tailed.

The Eurohub Pond, potential Willow Emerald site?
 



Close but no cigar, Emerald Damsel.

At the moment Brown Hawkers seem to be ovipositing everywhere, if I spilt a glass of water I wouldn't be surprised to find them on the resulting puddle within minutes! A male Emperor was ruling the roost over a couple of Four-spotted Chasers and Common Darters though a male Southern Hawker gave me a bit of a shock. He had been patrolling the shady margins of the pond for some time before he decided to land.. on my arm! A sweary moment of surprise and some one handed fumbling with the camera sent him on his way before I could get what would have been a memorable shot.

Yes it's another Brown Hawker but they are rather attractive.
 

Azure Damselfly

At least four Silver-washed Fritillaries were seen along with their commoner cousins, Peacock, Red Admiral and Small Tort. The usual combination of browns and whites were noted while a Large Skipper was also seen. Highlight amongst the birds was a Grey Wagtail near to the Tesco superstore.

Blue-tailed Damsel.