Scarce emerald
A quick photo of a scarce emerald damselfly, the last one I saw this year.
Marbled white
A few weeks ago in Wat Tyler CP, there was a patch of thistles covered in marbled white butterflies.
Clouded yellow butterfly
I was walking through Wat Tyler Country Park yesterday, when I flushed a yellow butterfly from the path. I saw the darker flashes on the wings and new it was a clouded yellow butterfly, which are usually a migrant from Europe. Eventually it landed and I managed one good shot in the sun before it…
Pond olive mayfly nymph Cloeon dipterum
A few shots of a pond olive mayfly nymph. This species is the one most commonly found in ponds. I managed some shots of the underside too.
Southern migrant hawker update
A post to update on the southern migrant hawkers in Wat Tyler CP. They have been seen most days , generally with sightings occurring in the afternoon, peaking between 2 and 4pm but I observed them on evening at 6.20pm Reports of up to 4 males on Sunday 4/8/13 were sent to me, from the…
Essex Skipper
Last week I came across a thistle bed covered in butterflies, including Essex skippers. I tried some shots with the wide angle too. And again on some ragwort.
Southern migrant hawker Aeshna affinis at Wat Tyler Park, Essex 2013
Regular blog readers will know I am lucky enough to frequent a place that last year had daily sightings of the recently colonising Southern migrant hawker Aeshna affinis, in fact its possible I spent more time than anyone else observing them last year. A month or 2 ago I was emailed about them by James…
National Dragonfly Week 2013: Scarce Emerald damselfly
Day 2 of my dragonfly species a day to celebrate the British Dragonfly Society’s National Dragonfly week. Today we’ll look at the Scarce emerald, Lestes Dryas Like other emerald damselfly species they are emerald green in colour and they have a habit of sitting with their wings at 45 degrees to the body, rather than…
Video of Emperor dragonfly mobbed by azure damselfly
A couple of weeks ago I was watching a female emperor dragonfly ovipositing (egg laying) in a pond, when an azure damselfly started mobbing it. I took some video of it happening and 2 other instances and have put them together in the video below.
Turtle dove in Wat Tyler Country Park
A couple of weeks ago the turtle doves were posing well, for turtles doves at least. Sadly the sun was elusive, and the turtles were never in a good position when it was out. Still I got a few shots in the cloudy conditions.