Brackets, shields and darters

 Its good to have a little while this evening to look through some of the photos from my more recent ambles. The autumn sun has meant that there is still a lot to see, and DENR is as lovely as ever. Went along to see if the dragonflies were still about on Friday and went to sit at a favourite spot and the log I often perch on had come to life- covered with these beautiful funghi - I think they are bracket funghi but have very limited knowledge about these. But it was to be a good dragon day - two migrant hawkers on the wing over the pond and in between bouts of driving one another off theyspent their time hawking and munching on the wing.

 It was good to see common darters on three different ponds. Its quite fun to watch - the sun comes out and there are flashes of red as the darters appear out of the vegetation and then are everywhere for a few moments, and then the sun goes behinda  cloud and they disappear. It had been a cold night so it was a thrill to see them. It made me a bit sentimental to think that one of them will suddenly be alone, the last of its kind for this season.

And enjoying the sun was this green shield bug - Palomera Prasina, aka the green stink bug for the scent it leaves. These are common and as autumn goes on will darken in colour before hibernating as an adult over the winter. They live on plant sap and have a penchant for hazel. Reading their life story was quite fascinating, egg to adult in 6 weeks and then asleep for a whole winter before starting the circle of life again next year. Looking forward to seeing them then. 

More sun please!

Late summer dragons

 I had a tremendous week away in the sunny IOW and need to sort my photos out a bit more from that sojourn but it was good to spend a fair bit of time walking in the lovely countryside and on the coast. It made me think I would like to live by the sea and we did have a bit of time looking at houses on the internet on our return. That may be a dream and it needs to rest a bit, and I am not entirely sure which coast or where I would chose so dream it probably is! 

But yesterday was a lovely sunny day so I strolled in the local countryside to remind myself why I like around here! Its always easy to think the grass is greener but I think the attraction is a simpler life as well as the sea and country!

But yesterday was thrilling with several common darters and a handful of migrant hawkers. Mostly the migrants were hawking above ponds and snacking as they did so, as if they know the sunshine may soon give way to colder, even frostier days. I did see several dragonflies in the IOW - a southern hawker, migrants, and both common and ruddy darters, and it got me thinking about dragons and salt water- something I need to look up, but I am aware that some can even tolerate their larval stage in salt or brackish water.

And I had the moth trap out and not many moths but this nice barred sallow and an orange underwing were there with even more daddy long legs.

Its a busy time these next few weeks but I am looking forward to sorting my summer photos - the dragons, the flowers, the birds, and moths. They will tell an interesting story. But a little more summer would be nice............

Funghi and dragons

 A short interlude at Duck End was well worthwhile. The sun was not strong and I realised that soon I will need a fleece or cardigan when I go strolling but today it was good although truely the season is now Autumn. I had only just parked in the lane when two migrant hawkers buzzed me and today I saw 5 of these late flyers. One was kinf enough to perch a while for a photograph.

I looked closely around the pond and in the grasses and found one very weak immature emerald damselfly (female) but it was good too when an emerald flew in front of me over the water, but only two now.

But there were several common dartersm many darting and eating tiny insects but then taking a rest on a log or on the tufts of grass.

 An unexpected pleasure today was the number of funghi that have sprouted. I know little about these and have just read that they are neither plant nor animal. I have taken a few shots and it will be good to see if I can identify them although I suspect it will be a learning curve like with the moths, a need to get an eye for shape, size and even smell. Apparently funghi are sometimes called the 5th kingdom- the other four being animals, plants, bacteria and protozoa- the last I know nothing of at all but they include slime moulds!

So something to get reading and learning about and maybe I will be able to go along on a funghi foray and get to know more- sounds like a good time of year to get interested too,

The kestrels kingdom

 My camera finally came home after its extra sojourn in Cornwall without me and it has been good to look at the photos from my holiday in Cornwall. I had not been there for years and had forgotten how beautiful it is. I really loved the north coast wiht its cliffs and sheer drops, the whoel ruggedness of the landscape. Lands End- well it has to be visited once but its a bit like a second rate theme park with some fairly run down attractions but it is still wonderful to stand there and look at the sign and imagine whats out there.

 Cornwall has so many stunning gardens and Trellithic (spelling?) was stunning even in late summer. The number of different shades of green alone was beautiful along with the shapes and vistas. There were some fantastic plants and I fell in love with the soft colours and petals of this lacewing hydrangea.Not at all overpowering like the mophead but delicate and wistful, sighs of a bygone age, planted by a gardener long gone.

 And the one suneshiney day spent dragon hunting - and I was not disappointed. Finding Ventongimps Moor Nature Reserve was only slightly easier than finding a needle in a haystack, but worth the persistence. David is used to this determination so happily listened to his Ipod whilst I did some mud walking and came back truely looking like the long lost creature from the bog but it was so worth it - several of the beautiful golden-ringed dragonflies on the wing, plus ruddy darters, and by the stream the beautiful demoiselle. Wonderful and its good to get messy.

 And from a cliff top great views of this little cove - a protected place for the grey seal. There were 70/80 of these strnage animals lying on the beach and a few bobbing about in the ocean. They included many young and it was special to stand and just watch them.

 But a real highpoint in more ways than the cliff top was for this most beautiful kestrel to come flying in and perch so near to me as I watched the seals. I have never seen one so close up and observed the loveliness of its colours. It is a wonderful bird and I am so pleased with this photo. Its not the closest photo of the bird but shows him perched high on the cliff face looking out proudly across his kingdom,  bright eyes keen and intelligent, and so alert. What a brilliant experience to feel the vibrancy of life from this handsome creature.

Autumn damsels and darters

 Lunch was a leisurely hour in the sunshine with two old friends of mine but before we met up I grabbed a few moments by the ponds at MVCP.  I love the purple michelmas daisies - a kind of North American aster I think. Timely flowers as it will be michelmas in a couple of weeks time when we celebrate the feast of the archangels. A real sign that autumn is with us and the months moving on. Can't say that I like autumn- the colours yes, the fruits on the trees yes, even the mists, but it is a sign that summer has gone and winter will be here too soon. I really love the spring most of all - a season of freshness and expectation. But no gloom today the sun was out, good friends putting the world right, laughing lots and a nice lunch.

 

By the ponds I saw several common and ruddy darters and watched with some pleasure the migrant hawker as he flew back and forth over the ponds snacking as he went.

And then a late afternoon stop at DENR. Again the signs of autumn were obvious, not least the wonderful aroma of apples that were both on the trees and the ground, the blackberries still glossy and purple and a few butterflies still on the wing. It was good to see the butterflies having just read that the recent weather had killed off many of these fragile creatures.  Had the wrong shoes on really as the reserve was quite wet underfoot and my camera has not yet caught up with me from its sojourn in Cornwall, but I had my pocket camera and managed to take some shots of the 6 emerald damselflies all perching around the long pond. They were all very still and almost torpid, probably an indication that this is the very end of the season for these prettiest of damselflies.

A restless migrant hawked over the pond and nearly made lunch of a tomato red ruddy darter. Sadly I also found this spiders web and the spider had made lunch of a a damselfly and from the bright blue eyeball still in the web a pretty emerald I think. 

I hope my camera will be reunited with me soon so I can look at the dragonfly shots from my recent visit to Cornwall - the striped golden ring being in much evidence. But today was a lovely if tinged with the sadness of autumn coming on, but then too planning for next years dragon forays and maybe even a few more sighting this year yet............

Autumn glory - one season follows another

 Shades of autumn were very real this afternoon as I took a short stroll around this lovely site. The sun came out for a short time but the blackberries are ripe, apples are on the trees and the berries on the hedgerows. I was feeling a little melancholy thinking how it would have been my Mum&Dads diamond wedding anniversary tomorrow. Dad has been gone nearly two years and life has to go on but I miss him very much. I read the story of the young widow today who lost her husband to a shark attack and she said the thing he knew was that she is not good at partings and she would not say goodbye. I think thats me too, farewells are hard enough, goodbyes too final.

 But there was a sudden vivid flash of orange/red and this lovely Comma fluttered by and perched in the suns beams. They are often the first butterfly I see each year, and are ragged yet beautiful. There were several speckled woods as well which all served to lift my spirits.

 I was so pleased to see a couple of emeralds around the long pond. Always stunning, but a little sad to find a teneral emerald in the hedgerow. What are its chances? This is a late emerging species but there were few around and I hope the little creature will find a mate and be in time to create the next generation. This one was by the pond and is mature. The larva will not emerge from eggs laid now until next year but will then develop quickly to emerge in their loveliness in the summer. Lets hope the newly emerged one finds a few sunny days.

 But it is September tomorrow and the reserve is putting on its autumn glory ahead of the coming colder months. I have been thinking about butterfly egg hunting this winter - and time at DENR is always so good and gives me a sense of wholeness and peace even if the rest of my world feels the sand is shifting around me. Change is a process and as the egg becomes a larva and then the dragonfly emerges so we all have to change and mvoe through the seasons that life brings.

Dragons of all sorts.............

 I have had a busy busy week and have a packed weekend, so was delighted to squeeze in an hours sojourn at Duck End mid afternoon when the sun came out. It was great to see four brown hawkers, and at one point the two females were both ovipositing into the same piece of floating driftwood. This is fantastic- the larvae will hatch next sping and then the larvae will develop over 2-4 years so I look forward to seeing them circa 2014/15! These are sometimes written off as dull hawkers but in the sunlight their wings are truely golden brown and very beautiful.

 It was slightly disappointing to find a lot of the long grass around the long pond cut. I am really appreciative of the volunteers who look after this site but it has reduced the number of emerald damsels I could find by about 50%. But there were 27 of these lovely creatures to be found around the site today, including some that were making the next generation and a couple laying eggs. These will hatch next spring, but unlike the brown hawker, the adult will emerge after the larvae has grown rapidly for only 2-3 months.

 It was good to see two blue-tailed damselflies today. The books always say these are one of the commonest species but I have not seen them in great numbers. The males are territorial and the adults remain close to water so may be worth looking in this spot again on my next visit. They are also more active than any other damsel in cloudy weather so one to look for a little harder I think.

 A truely tomato red colour caught my eye and this ruddy darter enjoyed the sunshine. They are said to be less abundant then their cousin the common darter but I saw more of these today. They have very black legs and they often return to the same perch.

 And I was so pleased to see this lovely migrant hawker perching in the trees behind one of the ponds. Another one was hawking across the same pond. My first of this species this year. Its a little smaller than the southern hawker and is quite common in this part of the world and will be on the wing until late October given some decent weather.

And a quick stop off at Flitton Moor on the way home- again to find the marginal plants and grasses cut whihc seems to have done for the dragons around the pond. There were several small red-eyed damsels in the pond. They seem to like pondweed and algae which is just as well and flit about at a lwo level. What a nice way to pass a sunny hour. Love it.

Lunar and a pug

 It has been a very wet and not very warm summers day - not one for getting out - but good for me as I needed to do some work around the house and some other tasks. Yesterday I went to use my camera to take some photos of the moths in the trap and the device told it the memory card was full - so have today backed it all up and cleared the photos - all 1983 of them! Amongst the moths I did see in the trap were two more new ones for me, and this is the first the Lime-speck Pug/ As always I say I think! This is the first pug I have identified although there have been quite a few around. I am not surpised at what the moth book says about them- "Deciding the moth is a pug is relatively easy...but identificaiton is often tricky"- and its not wrong! This oen fits the bill for size and the time of year and can be found anywhere in the UK. The book says its "umistakable" - and that point I and the book think differently. My first guess was a moth that when I looked is around only much earlier in the year. Lets hope I have arrived at the right moth now!

And lastly this plain looking moth but underneath it was a lovely yellow-orange which pointed me to the Underwings, and from the markings I think it is the Lunar Underwing. Its common and abundant in the south, and hte flight period is August- October. The small mark at the bottom of the wings also is mentioned in the book. There were at least three of these in the trap. 

I have lots of moth photos to work on but am so far delighted with my first months of moth trapping. There were lost of footman and plume moths in the trap this week as well - some to work on when I have some time.  What a diverse and interesting insect group they are!

Yellow shell diversion

There are very many moths and I am very slow at working out what they are. I am beginning to see now different wing shapes, antennae lengths and size and that is starting to help. They are fascinating creatures, not at all like I imagined, and even the dullest looking often has lovely detail and markings on looking closer, and often a big range of colourshades. I was unsure about this one yesterday and asked for confirmation from the experts and was very pleased to find I had got it right. One of the things that throws me is colour variation and often the creatures I see are very different shades from the ones in my book or even photos on other peoples blogs. But nature is wonderful and diverse and that makes moths all the more interesting. Anyway this is the Yellow Shell another ubiquitous creature but my first. And this morning there are lots more for me to ponder but I have to go out now so something to look forward to later on...............just a small diversion from essay writing.............

Wasps, slugs and primitive moths

 Been a busy few days but put did the moth trap out in the garden last evening. Luckily it stayed dry and there were indeed a few although not lots of moths this morning. But on my way to the trap I nearly put my foot down on this large ugly slug- in fact there were two of them on the lawn. Despite being brown they are large Black Slugs. and these are molluscs and related to snails but do not have a shell. Its name is more attractive than the slug- Arion Ater Ater. It has rows of rough pimples and this one was nealry 12cm long.

 On the outside of the trap was a Common White Wave- from the Geometridae family.

 And inside the trap this strnage creature which I believe to be an Ichneumon Fly- although they are actually wasps. The adults visit flowers for nectar but the larvae are parastic on moth caterpillars so cannot imagine the moths were very thrilled to see this. There are over 1200 different types of this in the UK so it is not surprising that I am not sure which one this is - best guess is a Ophion Lutues but this could be way off beam.

A few different moths in the trap - one is waiting for some expert help- have amde a guess but am uncertain. This one though looks like the  Orange Swift- part of a family of primitive moths wiht elongated wings that it holds vertically against its body whan at rest. These do not feed and have very short antennae which ticks the boxes. 

So far so good- looks like another dry although not so warm night so will leave the trap out and who knows what may be there tomorrow - all part of the fun!

The golden-ring at last !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its always a gamble with going to hunt for dragonflies as to whether the weather will be kind and favourable but we seem to have made a good decision this week with two fine and warm days - even though we booked the trip weeks ago. I was really keen to see some more species and had looked up good sites in the New Forest - and two of them did not disappoint. By a fast flowing, cool stream I found lots of these beautiful demoiselles. Their name is very apt and their flight butterfly like. The male is an incredible blue and this one was sitting enjoying the sunshine and it shone and glistened.

The female beautiful demoiselle is equally dazzling and is a metallic green with brown iridescent wings.

 They are different to the demoiselles I see locally which are also brilliant creatures but are rightly known as "banded" with their wing marking not spreading across the wings in the same was as their cousins. 

Not necessarily as stunning but equally fascinating was the next new dragon for me - the keeled skimmer. Also known as heathland skimmers this was where I found them basking low down on boggy ground wich led to very muddy and wet boots. They perch low down so the knees got wet as well! Slightly different to the black tailed skimmer and it likes the New Forest for the acidy wet heathland.

  

But the real high point for me was the wonderful Golden Ringed Dragonfly- a completely new family for me - the Spiketails  - Cortuleastridae.  Three Common Golden Rings were patrolling up and down the acidic stream, sometimes hawking upwards and flying off but always coming back to their territory. These are really distinctive and impressive creatures and were clearly great hunters. I was so thrilled that we went back again to ths site today and they duely buzzed and flew for me to see along teh same stretch of river. This is a very long dragonfly and its eyes are amazing and piercing. I am glad I am not on its menu. I still feel so excited seeing these as they have long been on my wish list. And the day ended with a 4th species for to add to my list- the southern damselfly or mercury bluet. Its the smallest damsel in the UK with a weak and low flight. Its flies only in sun so the sunny skies today were truely a bonus. Its called mercury because of the mark on Segment 2 - I could only see this with the bins or in my photos- but its clearly there. So a great two days- four new dragons plus large red damsels, ruddy and common darters - splendid.

Three beauties

 This pretty moth was in my trap earlier this week but pore over it as I might, I could not decide if it was the sallw or the poplar kitten. Anyway got some expert help and it is the sallow. Why ? 

"Its mainly the shape of the band across the middle of the wing and the black lines on either edge of it. Poplar has some thickening of the black lines in certain places whereas Sallow does not. Sallow is also the commoner species in the county and is slightly smaller than Poplar on average."
It's brilliant to get help liek that - I think I would still be procrastinating otherwise!

 And this morning after a warm night the trap was full of moths for me to potter over. The most striking was this quite large moth with very clear markings. I have decided it is the swallow prominent - right time of year etc. These moths cannot feed and are from teh same family as the sallow kitten - Notodontidae. Likes poplars and willows.

Not the first time I have had this little beauty in my trap- in fact last night I had more of these than any other - but that fine by me - the Ruby Tiger -common as they say and likes herbaceious plants and shrubs which is probably why they like my garden.

Think I have got a while winters worth of moth photos to pore over and probably still need a little help!

Headlight Hawker and Poppies

 It has been a lovely sunshiney afternoon so the call to get out with the camera was too strong to resist. Headed off from home into Centennary Wood. Never been a strong favourite of mine and it disappointed again today. Despite torrential rain yesterday all the ponds were bone dry and there were just no dragons to be found. I did see two brown hawkers on the woodland rides but that was it. This is the pond where last year there were good numbers of ruddy darters but this year just lots of pretty ox eye daisies - no water , no darters.

So I walked onwards and down towards Flitton. My path took me alongside the cornfields. Every so often there were patches of vivid red poppies which stand out like little oases. They always remind me of my visit to Ephsesus which was ablaze with these bright red wildflowers. As I walked the harvest had begun in some fields, so a sign that summer is truely here and time is moving on. Why do we have harvest festival so late when the harvest is gathered home around now most years?

Onwards to Flitton Moor which was much the better part of my walk. The pond was alive with dragons today. Two emperors were going head on for their right to patrol the pond, common darters were  busy enuring the next generation and the ruddy darters glittering in the sun. There were good numbers of azure damsels, a couple of bluetails and my first for this year- the small red eyed damselfly - quite a few of these, some sunning on vegetation on the pond, others in tandem and some ovipositing. These are really delicate little damsels and they amazingly tolerate well the brackish water. I walked along the Moor and was rewarded with the Headlight Hawker- the Southern Hawker posing for me and 17 banded demoiselles dancing in the sunlight along the River Flit. On such a lovely and peaceful afternoon I walked onwards to Ruxox- where people lived over 50000 years ago and maybe watched dragons just like me - what a thought, which led to me wandering into Flitwick before heading home.