Friday 9 July 2010

This afternoon it was burning hot, 31c, thats about 88f I reckon, but standing in the sun it was actually a lot hotter. I spent some time over at the Lakeside Scrub area, moving between one shady place and the next, I saw a few Purple Hairstreak Butterflies, but they were out of shot, CHIFFCHAFF and BLACKCAP gave some half hearted song, which soon fizzled out in the humid heat, and a feeding flock of tits were moving slowly through the Oak trees, hardly noticeable, not like the noisy gang they normally are.

It became obvious that I was on a looser today, it was just too hot, the only thing seen in any number were Meadow Brown Butterflies. Oh well at least it's saturday tomorrow, I can get out early whilst its still cool (er).

Not much on the Photography front today, this is a shot across the Tree Nursery. The lease on the field expires next year, I can only hope it doesn't revert back to sheep pasture, as the adjacent Marchants field has.

Below is one of the many Meadow Browns on the wing today.


The next couple of Photo's were taken in my garden around 17:00hrs this afternoon. This is a Long Tailed Field Mouse, enjoying spilt bird seed.

This is the Grey Squirrel, eating the Hazel nuts from my tree, I was hoping for something a little more scarce than him, maybe a Dormouse :-)


Lastly.....back to the Unidentified Dragonfly from yesterdays post. Ive reposted the best shot ive got of it, and cropped it. Greenie seems to think it's a old female Emperor Dragonfly, and I dont disagree now.
It was larger than any Skimmer or Chaser - easily so. It seemed not much bigger than a Brown Hawker. Does this help Greenie. ?? click on the photo to emlarge it.






10 comments:

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

31C!!!!! Struggled to reach half that here today - different world down there!
Don't fprget to #slop slap slop' in those tropical conditions

Have a good weekend

cheers

Davo

Greenie said...

Warren ,
100% certain now that your unidentified dragonfly from last night is an 'old Empress' , a very mature female Emperor Dragonfly . If you look at your shot tonight , you can see the dark dorsal marking for a short distance from the thorax , before vanishing into the drab browny colour of the rest of the abdomen , typical of a very mature specimen .
Re. your question on mine , yes , I think it is just too hot for many species of butterfly , and will only be seen early and late .

Anonymous said...

Having seen the dragon in better light, i totally agree with Greenie.
Back to Odonata identification school for me ;-)

Have a good weekend Warren.

Warren Baker said...

Cheers Greenie. Something else ive learned from the ''Mature old master'' :-)

Bob Bushell said...

I love the Field Mouse, it's another great find Warren.

Chris said...

Well that's not a bad day for me, yes maybe for birds but the mouse shots and the squirrel are awesome! I got your sun mate ;-), yesterday evening and today for our first family day of holidays. Quite cool!

Jann said...

It's around 88F today too...love the mouse and squirrel shots!

Phil said...

I noticed the half hearted singing of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps at New Hythe today Warren. It seemed like a real effort for them. Well done with the mouse shot. I see them sometimes on my feeders but they're gone before I can get the camera.

Wilma said...

Great field mouse! I am heading down south tomorrow to visit my mom in Georgia for almost a week. The high temps there will be in the mid 90s (~35), so I'm not sure what wildlife will be out and about; aside from me and my mom, that is! ;-)

cheers,
Wilma

Kerry said...

Lovely shot of the Meadow Brown. I would be over the moon with a Squirrel in my garden.