A hoverflies legs

Star tern

 Blogger still playing silly buggers and not allowing me to place text where I want it. Anyhoo, two shots of Common Tern at Whitt;e Dene the first of which a total coincidence of background and foreground. The second just checking the ring which is SV950 but pretty sure that's only part of the number.

Won't let me edit text either hence the l in Whittle.

Turning green

Banks Pond was heaving in the sunshine yesterday with Emerald Damsel joining the throng of Common Blue and Bluetail Damsels. Few words and single picture as Blogger is misbehaving.

getting Otter

There I was trying to photograph an Emperor in flight when I heard a plop from my right. Assuming it was a frog or the like I continued only to see a tail disappearing into the water and then a few feet further on a head appeared and stared back at me. After giving me some consideration the Otter decided to go to the other side of the pond where it continued hunting eventually coming up with what must have been a freshwater mussel judging by the crunching noise it made whilst eating it. NIce dentition.

Bridled & Banded

Fridays work stopped abruptly when news of the Bridled Tern at Cresswell broke. I rang the Alans but only AJJ was available for the trip and off we headed. On arrival a phalanx of scope and camera carrying people were rushing down the dunes toward the pond and the bird was clearly over the other side. Not easy to view on the ground when huddled with the Common Terns but when it flew it stood out like a dark shadow and very elegant too. One pass in front of us and plenty of action on the far side of the pond. 

Then alternating perching and flying before it flew out to sea going higher and higher as it went. Well worth the trip with the added bonus of two Arctic Skuas over the pond and a Cuckoo in the dunes. I repeated the venture again this morning hoping the late visit to East Chevington would mean the bird would still be around bit no show despite a gathering of fifty plus birders at Cresswell. Some interesting banter though with three birders from Norfolk and CP. Heading back home after news broke the bird was at Saltholme I called in at Bellasis. Perfect conditions for the Banded Demoiselles five of whom chased around below the bridge.

One male preferred this bit of flotsam on which to perch from where it made feeding sorties and chased two other males when they came close.

This female preferred a moss covered rock nearby.

The inevitable not quite flight shot. Just too tempting to resist.

Back at Banks

A bit of heat in the day and occasional sunshine saw me skiving off to Banks Pond for an hour this morning after recommendation from John A. When the sun shone there were two or more Emperors flying along with four or more Four Spotted Chasers and the many damsels hiding out of the wind included Large Red, Bluetail and Bluet. As I was rumaging a call rang out and it was Dick and Linda fresh from a trip to Northumberlandia. Both have been quiet on the blogging front of late all explained when I heard of their sad loss. As we chatted a Common Blue male drifted past and I was lucky to find his good lady on the way back to the car.

One of these also landed nearby, a moth which I had photographed a few minutes earlier for later identification. Upon getting home I typed black and white into the keyword search. Well you would wouldn't you? No joy and it wasn't until I found a netted species name that I tracked down the suspect ...a Latticed Heath.

A good few of these Ringlets around over the last two days and Meadow Browns also beginning to appear. Maybe summer is here.

Blue

No terning for me as time and workload will not permit so somewhat blue. One of these sailed past me at Banks Pond the other day but was gone before the camera was raised. Nice to see though as Butterflies are pretty few and far between this year.

I managed to catch up with this one at Hauxley at the weekend. A nice intense blue especially when seen against a background of contrasting colours.

Interesting then that the underside is so different. I've always puzzled that even against the light the pattern doesn't seem to show through to the other side when the wing material must be so increadibly thin. No doubt a trick of reflecting light and like some other blue creatures it's not actually blue.