What a Grey Day

Rain delayed play for most of the morning and I didn't get started until after twelve. Thinking that the conditions were far from ideal for insects I picked a route that would hopefully provide some birding interest. Taking the bus as far as Upper Benefield I then walked back via Deenethorpe, Deene and Weldon.

The picture's not great but the Tree Sparrows are pretty good.

The first part of the minor road between Benefield and Deenethorpe is one of my most reliable spots for Tree Sparrows and I'm happy to say that it did not disappoint me today. A flock of thirty plus included rather a lot of youngsters and they spent part of their time perched on the hedge tops. This area is also good for Brown Hares so it was not a surprise when I saw one racing across a ploughed field.

A trio of Teals.

Conditions at this point were still on the gloomy side and this may have prompted a Tawny Owl to hoot a couple of times from within Burn Coppice. Between here and the village two flocks of Lapwings totalling over a hundred birds were seen. Further small parties were seen elsewhere during the day including at the inflow of Deene Lake. A pair of Ravens were also noted here while the field margins seemed full of both partridges and pheasants, how many of these will survive the next few months?

It's evidently a tiring business being a Snipe.

At the Deene Lake inflow the water level remained high and duck numbers had increased with Gadwalls and a Wigeon joining the usual Teals and Mallards. As well as the Lapwings the Autumn's first Snipes had arrived with a brace of birds present. With time moving on I didn't visit the main lake and instead headed towards the airfield seeing the first of three Red Admirals on the way.

Red Kite.

The sun was beginning to appear and this encouraged a few Small Whites out but apart from a pair of Hornets menacing the smaller stuff around some Ivy flowers that was it as far as insects went. There were a few Meadow Pipits around but a large group of Swallows and House Martins passing through provided most of the migrant interest. Some warblers are still about with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap being noted.

Buzzard.

Approaching Bears Lane a Buzzard perched nicely on the top of a hedgerow and another couple of Ravens could be heard croaking in Laundimer Woods. From the lane I scanned through a group of gulls but could not find anything too interesting though there were a few Lesser Black Backs associating with their smaller cousins.

The same Buzzard buzzing off.

Yesterday was spent at an airshow at Duxford where amongst the selection of aeroplanes I managed to find some moths, a couple of hawks and a wildcat. A few pictures feature below.

Demoiselles Dance On

Having spent the whole day at work peering out at blue skies I was more than relieved to find the sun still shining once two o'clock came around. Wanting to exploit the conditions for as long as possible I stayed local and so went down to Weldon to have a further gawp at the Banded Demoiselles.

Male Banded Demoiselle.
 

A female Banded.

Luckily enough there were still a few around the stream, seven in total and this included four males. Two pairs were coupled and showed rather well and it was also nice to see their territorial dance. Although I'm hoping one or two might linger into next month I was still pretty happy to see this gorgeous species today so late into the season.

Two different coupled pairs.

With the cycling event now well and truly over I was once again able to walk around the pond. An Emerald Damsel was my first for the site although I've long anticipated seeing them here. It did not hang around for long but while I was trying to find him again I located a Blue-tailed Damsel which is quite a late sighting. A female Southern Hawker flying around the margins was surprised by a male which snatched her out of the air and bore off with her to places unseen. Clearly dragonfly courtship is a little more abrupt than that of the Demoiselles.

A site first Emerald Damsel.

A Migrant Hawker was also found while a brace of Small Red-eyeds were seen, one of these showed very well. By this stage a light rain shower was falling so I took off and headed home.

A nice close Small Red-eyed Damsel.

Other wildlife highlights included both Heron and Kingfisher while butterflies seen where Small and Large White, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood.

Awful pic of a Blue-tailed Damsel.

Further Darter Deliberations.

 

Sunday saw me stringing darters yet again despite complacently thinking that I had finally cracked Common Darter identification once and for all. Having wiped the egg off my face I decided to have a closer look at what is an even more variable species than I initially thought. Hopefully my tiny bit of research may help anyone else struggling with these characters. I should point out that I'm primarily a birder who has a bit of a dabble in the dragonfly world and you may well want to back anything I say on the subject up with info from more learned sources.

The males are fairly distinctive, at least in a British context, though if you venture abroad you could encounter very similar species, let's just say that you're on your own with those! No it's those pesky females which present the real challenge and most of those problems, as so many things appear to be to me nowadays, are age related. Female Common Darters appear to undergo gradual colour changes as they grow older and the colour range appears to encompass everything from straw yellow to almost black. I know that individuals from northern populations (which I believe were once known as Highland Darter) are darker than more southerly populations but didn't know such dark specimens could be found here.

As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject it's the yellow on the legs which if seen should decide the issue and it looks as if I should concentrate on this feature if faced with an unusual darter. Both Ruddy and any unlikely Black (one confirmed county record so far) are smaller than Common, Black is the smallest British species of dragonfly but any individuals seen in isolation may be difficult to judge. It certainly seems as if a photograph is very useful when faced with a potentially confusing specimen and is probably essential if claiming a rare or vagrant species. The following pictures depict the range of colour forms that I've encountered this year, there may well be others out there waiting to confuse me, but as you may have already concluded, it doesn't take much to achieve that!


A fresh female showing the mainly yellow colouring on the body and also on the legs.

A more mature individual, a little darker and showing a greyish underside.

Another individual showing red along the spine.

A view from beneath, this individual has noticeably pale legs.

Sunday's "black" darter, an old female Common.

A crop of the previous picture showing red where the wings join the body which is not a feature of Black.

A male Common, relatively straightforward in the UK....thankfully!






 







Hawkers

Before I start banging on about today's offerings I must begin by saying that the possible Black Darter from yesterday was in fact a very definite darkly coloured female Common Darter. I've not seen one that dark before but should perhaps have considered this option before settling on Black. Never mind it just means that I'll have to go and look at some real ones.

Egyptian Geese.

The most visible of seven Mandarins.

Today I journeyed over to Oundle where I once again hoped to find some Willow Emeralds and once again failed. My walk along the Nene did not produce a single dragon though that may have had something to do with the early hour. It didn't take long to see the first of three Kingfishers speeding down the river and the marina had a small family group of Egyptian Geese. More Meadow Pipits and hirundines continue to pass through though they were the only signs of migration.

Comma.

Green-veined White.

By the time I had got back to Barnwell CP the sun was fairly warm and had brought out some Red Admirals to feed on the Ivy flowers, a nearby Comma ignored the nectar and appeared to be basking on some brambles. Other species of butterflies included the three common whites and Speckled Wood.

Male Brown Hawker.

....and a closer look at him.

Mill Lake still held three Small Red-eyed Damselflies and also a small number of Migrant Hawkers. A little further on a Brown Hawker posed well and while I was photographing this a Southern Hawker appeared and flew around me several times. Close scrutiny of the banksides revealed seven Mandarin Ducks which had concealed themselves pretty well amongst the vegetation.

A couple of views of male Migrant Hawker.

The largest lake, the one nearest Oundle had more Migrant Hawkers and several were very obliging with one even hovering long enough to let me grab a flight shot. A single Common Blue showed very well here too, I'm not sure how many more of those I'll see this year.

Common Blue Damselfly.

Black Sabbath?

A misty start to the day but a promise of some sun a little later in the proceedings was enough to convince me to head over to Priors Hall. Normally I walk  there but this morning I opted for the lazier option (blame it on a few beers last night if you must) and took the bus. A Jay in the village was nice but not too surprising as there are a lot around at the moment and it would seem that our Grey Wagtails are back.

Speckled Bush Cricket, probably common but my first.

Still a bit on the grey side at Priors so I concentrated on the birds though in truth there was not much to report from the quarry lake where a pair of Mute Swans were the highlight. Quite a lot of Meadow Pipits passing through and a few Swallows too but the highlight was an Oystercatcher flying through. Always a scarce species in the Corby area this is the first Autumn record that I've had. A Grey Wagtail, a site rarity, was probably a migrant too.

Face to face with a Speckled Wood.

By ten a few sunny spells began to develop and a few insects began to stir. A single Emerald damsel was found at one of the ponds while a Speckled Bush Cricket was found on the herpguard fence. This plastic shield is also popular with darters, I can only imagine that it retains heat for some time. A barking Muntjac made me jump a bit while I had a similar effect on a Brown Hare which raced away through the thistles. While looking for more dragonflies a Kingfisher zipped through, it's surprising how many I see nowadays.

Common Darters.

An ovipositing pair of Common Darters.

Around about midday the sunshine became more sustained and the number of darters, mainly Common though with a few Ruddies began to increase. Lots of mating activity noted and for the first time I managed to get some photographs. Migrant Hawkers began to appear in small numbers and these included an ovipositing female. One Southern hawker was also noted around the first pond.

Migrant Hawker.

With the the sun now beaming down I returned to the quarry where I checked the shallow puddles and pools for any signs of Red-veined Darters. No luck at all with this optimistic pursuit but I did get a picture of something which might be an old female Black Darter, I've put a picture on the Northants Facebook group's page and am keeping my fingers crossed!

Black Darter?.... I hope so!

A bit of spare time before my bus allowed me to head along to the Woodland Park but a cycling event prevented me from walking around the pond. I was able to walk along the stream though and found about half a dozen Banded Demoiselles which appeared to include a couple of newly emerged individuals amongst their number.

Banded Demoiselles, the red eyes suggest that the male at least is newly emerged.

A lot of Small Whites about today and Priors Hall had a few Speckled Woods and Small Heaths but otherwise butterfly numbers were low.

Another shot of coupled Common Darters.

Dipping on Darters at Pitsford.

A sighting of Red-veined Darter at Pitsford reservoir yesterday backed up by a cracking piccy prompted an after work twitch as a friend and I nipped over this afternoon. Stopping at the fishing lodge in order to buy a permit I checked the butterflies feeding on the buddleia bushes and enjoyed views of several Red Admirals, a Comma and a Small Tortoiseshell. A Migrant Hawker was hunting over the grassy area nearby and the signs looked encouraging.

Common Darter, nice but not quite what we were looking for.

Walking out towards Scaldwell hide we picked out a Ruff on the water's edge, the level is really low at the moment and the place is looking great for waders. A distant Great White Egret was picked out and a good number of duck was present. We reached the area where the darter was seen and there were a few darters living up to their name and darting around but sadly the sun disappeared behind the clouds and all activity ceased. From then onwards there were only brief bursts of sunshine and we could not add to our haul of Commons and one Ruddy. The duller weather did not deter a Southern Hawker which flew around us several times before heading off.

Ruff.

Green Sandpiper.

A scope of the surrounding shoreline produced some nice waders of which a Spotted Redshank was the pick. At least five Greenshanks, some of which were very vocal and a similar number of Ruff were picked out. Two Black-tailed Godwits and a Green Sandpiper joined a Common Sandpiper that we had seen earlier on the day list. Another treat was a brace of Whinchats which were my first in the county this year.

Red Admiral.

Other things of interest included Speckled Woods and Small Whites as well as a slightly strange looking Garden Spider with a yellowy looking abdomen.

My wife will not like this picture at all!

Wicksteed Return

Showing a complete lack of imagination I repeated last Monday's wander and returned to Wicksteed Park hoping that the brighter weather might encourage something in the way of some dragonfly activity. Sunny spells did entice three Migrant Hawkers out to hunt but there was nothing else on view and I will have to return yet again if I hope to find Willow Emeralds. No butterflies either though I did see a single Small White near to my bus stop in Corby, exciting stuff or what?

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

Despite a lack of insect activity I still rather enjoyed my walk as there were a few nice birds on view. Gull numbers have increased since last week with well over a hundred Black-headed to search through. Still no sign of a Med but there were an additional four species. As well as the Commons sharing the posts with the Black-heads there was a small flock of larger gulls, mainly Lesser Black-backs but also two Herrings and the day's highlight, an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Another hopefully better pic of a Kingfisher.

Still only the regular waterfowl on the lake but at least the Mallards are beginning to look a little more respectable. For the second week running a male Kingfisher was seen, I still have not managed to get a decent picture of one but think I may have got slightly better snaps today. Little Egret numbers had risen to four and any anglers would probably not have enjoyed the increase in Cormorant numbers on the fishing lake.

Grey Wagtail.

Two for one deal this week on Little Egrets.

A few Meadow Pipits passing overhead and there were some Sand Martins in amongst the other hirundines. Nice views of Grey Wagtail near the boardwalk, a party of three were present and included at least one youngster. Finally a passing Sparrowhawk caused a little consternation amongst the tits before it spiralled upwards and drifted off towards Barton Segrave.

I hope that this Cormorant was not passing comment on my hunt for Willow Emeralds!