Friday August 12

A warm, sunny morning with a moderate to fresh westerly breeze.

The walk to the pool produced three Whinchats in the Chat Field, but the pool itself was quiet and continues to lose water through evaporation. The Flash contained the juvenile Dunlin again, three Green Sandpipers, 35 Lapwings, the two juvenile Shelducks, and 59 Greylag Geese.

Things picked up on the return journey. The family party of Spotted Flycatchers had moved along the hedge from where they were last week, and were now definitely in camera range. The area was also busy with Chiffchaffs and Tits.

Adult Spotted Flycatcher

Juvenile Spotted Flycatcher

Chiffchaff

I was spoilt for choice when deciding which photos to show, but the opposite scenario played out a little further along the hedge when I realised that a Kingfisher was perched on the pool beyond. I got a shot through a gap in the hedge, but realising it wasn't focussed on the bird I edged to a position where I thought I could get it and tried again. The result was even worse, but two careful steps to the right would do it. As I completed the second step the Kingfisher decided enough was enough and silently flew off. Doh! This is all I can show you.

Kingfisher

Interestingly the bill appears to be all black, which means its an adult male. I had always assumed the birds we got here were dispersing juveniles.

The remainder of this post is devoted to insects. Earlier on I had had a great opportunity to photograph a male Common Blue butterfly.

Common Blue

However, further along from the Kingfisher spot I came across a small group of the closely related butterfly, Brown Argus. These tiny insects chased each other around but eventually one settled long enough for a shot.

Brown Argus

I was almost as thrilled to see a Peacock butterfly as they have been extremely scarce this year.

Peacock

Finally, the warm weather was good for dragonflies. The usual Emperors and Brown Hawkers at the Dragonfly Pools were joined by lots of coupled Common Darters, the males swinging the females  downwards repeatedly, as each time she laid an egg. I also saw a single Ruddy Darter and photographed what I believe is a female Ruddy Darter.

Female Ruddy Darter