Saturday 24 May 2014

Heavy rain persisted throughout the early part of the morning, keeping me indoors, but the rain finally relented around 09:30hrs, so I headed off out to the Wet Woods, Scrubby Woods and Lake areas of my patch.

I checked the GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERS nest as I passed by it in the Wet Woods, the nest hole was all quiet, obviously they had fledged, so that's another species to successfully fledge young on my patch this year  :-) Nearby on the flooded woodland floor, the MANDARIN DUCK had mixed its young with a duck MALLARD and her brood, safety in numbers I suppose. A NUTHATCH was watched as it brought food to its partner who was inside the nest cavity, whilst overhead I heard the call of a BUZZARD.

Nothing was new on the lakes, the COOT and SWAN pair continue to tend their young, so i moved into the Scrubby Woods, where I watched the COAL TIT pair feeding their young, at least 5 were seen, a TREECREEPER was also seen feeding young, but they were much better hidden and I only saw two youngsters. A SPARROWHAWK circled low over, which attracted the attention of the SWIFTS, and I was pleased to see the TURTLE DOVE on the power lines again, I haven't heard one sing this year yet though, a singer I did get to hear was a LESSER WHITETHROAT, not had one in the Scrubby woods for a couple of years now, so good news there  :-)

The sun started to shine for brief intervals, so I set about trying to find some White-legged Damselflies and Beautiful Demoiselles, the latter of which I found just one, but a few more White-legged Damsels had emerged, along with a few Common and Azure Damsels. I took quite a few images, before the next rash of showers sent me scurrying off home again!
Male White-legged Damselfly
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Male White-legged Damselfly
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Female White-legged Damselfly
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Female Beautiful Demoiselle
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4 comments:

Marc Heath said...

Very nice Warren, looking forward to catching up tomorrow and maybe a good dragonfly or two.

Warren Baker said...

Marc,
We should find something if we keep on looking, :-)

Wilma said...

brilliant shots, Warren. Such intricate detail - the closer you get, the more you see.

Warren Baker said...

Thanks Wilma,
Paid the price for those images with nettle stings and thorn scratches!