Tuesday 19 May 2009

Not a lot was of note this afternoon - except of couse this now endless SW wind. I walked over to migrant alley, visited the wet 'Odonata ditch' on the NW boundary of my patch, and had a walk round the college grounds.

Migrant alley had SWIFT, SWALLOW and HOUSE MARTIN, all hawking for insects, the Swallows at times coming to alight on the ground to take prey. Two SKYLARKS hung on the wind, throwing out a stream of trilling that was snatched away almost immediately by the thieving wind. On the paddocks 25-30 LINNETS fed on the dandelion seed heads, and I was pleased to see also see the first fully fledged STARLINGS in the sheep pasture.

I paid a brief visit to the wet ditch to try to find some Odonata, but it was too windy there, so I went to have a look over at the more sheltered ponds in the College Gardens. I was more successful here, finding some Large Red, Azure, and Red Eyed Damselfies.

On the way back, I again visited Migrant alley, and was surprised to see another Med. gull, most probably one of the same ones that visited on sunday. The only raptor seen today was a SPARROWHAWK.

Below are some damselfly pics. first is an Azure damselfly
Below is a Large Red Damselfly
This one I believe is a Female/immature Red Eyed damselfly. I hope Ive ID'd them all correctly!
Lastly a Photo of the Med. Gull




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Warren, i think that last one might be a female Azure.

PS : i`m also fed up with the SW`rlys and more so the heavy showers that are accompanying em.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Warren: Great shots of the dragonflies. They are such a pretty creature.

lee said...

Hi Warren, send the med gull my way please, i watched a couple of Swallows on the ground today and it looked like they were collecting mud for nesting material.

Phil and Mandy said...

Lovely photos again Warren. I have just got Dave a Dummies Guide to digital photography for his birthday and got one for myself also. Going to sell my big lens 170-500 Sigma and put money towards a Scope, I fancy trying out Digiscoping. Regards Phil

ShySongbird said...

Lovely photos Warren, we've had more heavy downpours here again today, it's getting monotonous!

Kelly said...

...between the wind and the rain you're having no luck. I've never seen a red damselfly. I wonder if we have them here. I'll have to look them up.

Chris said...

Hi Warren,
i guess i still have your good weather over here but it is slowly going away, so you should have it back by the week end!!!
So the Med gull stays around for you as well as my ring-necked duck that I again saw yesterday. It looks like he is having fun with some tufted-duck females and he probably decided to raise a family on this pond!! Cool for me, but now all birders of the areas are joining in to see it!! So yesterday was a nice BBQ party there! ;-)

Ipin said...

Nice dragonfly pics Warren!