Even the most beautiful of insects die, and this one died on the surface of the pond. Here a number of pond skaters gathered to feed on it from above, and at least one backswimmer fed on it from below.
At lunchtime I bumped into a couple of folks looking for the southern migrant hawker (one of who was Simon NL on Flickr, click his name to see his excellent pics). I got a couple of photos of the perched male today: Sadly with my Sigma 150-500mm rather than my 300mm prime, which I can’t…
When in the New Forest I saw more graylings than I ever have before, especially at Hatchet Moor, with another couple near Crockford stream. They didn’t want to pose, but I managed a few shots:
There were a few people in Wat Tyler CP today looking for the Southern migrant hawker dragonfly. If you are unfamiliar with this species see my last post. Today I was unable to use my long lens so didn’t get any more of it in flight, but at the end of the day I got…
In 2010 a number of Southern migrant hawker dragonflies (Aeshna affinis) turned up at Hadleigh Country Park, a few miles East of Wat Tyler CP. They also turned up at Vange Wick (not Vange Marsh) just to the south of Wat Tyler CP, so I’ve been hoping they would turn up here. Last year, I…
On Sunday I visited Crockford Bridge, a stream well known for its dragon and damselflies. My target species was the southern damselfly, one of the rarest species in the UK and one I had never seen. It didn’t take me long to find one! Here is a pic of my first ever southern damselfly! They…
A few photo from Wat Tyler CP during the recent sunny spell. First up a ruddy darter. This wolf spider was warming her egg cocoon in the sun. And this lizard posed for a photo… …before playing peak-a-boo.
I’m a bit of a pond dipper, as some regular readers will have worked out, but there is one species that has always eluded me, the water stick insect. This year I saw a preserved specimen and a captive one (which I never managed to photograph), but never before had I seen a live wild…
More recent photos from Wat Tyler Country Park. This time a female emperor dragonfly which was laying its eggs on some fallen reeds. This angle, although a bit top down, shows the tip of the abdomen in action below the surface. And I tried an in the environment shot too.
The rubbish weather so far this summer has stopped me getting much in the way of macro shots at all, let alone of the local speciality, the scarce emerald damselfly. However the improved weather last week did let me get the following.