A slice of Fishlake

Last week it was so hot and time before the England game was dragging so slowly, that I decided to spend a couple of hours looking round Fishlake Meadows (again). A quick glance at the pylon revealed the regular Buzzard...

... involved in a staring competition with a Wood Pigeon.

Which the Buzzard won incidentally. Damselflies were everywhere, but all I could find were Common Blues to start with until I stumbled across this one.

I'm not sure, but I think this was a Common Blue too, but an immature one. If anyone happens to come across this blog and knows different, I would love to know!
Dragonflies also abounded but proved too difficult to photograph, being so active in the hot weather. Only the Broad Bodied Chasers paused occasionally and conveniently on nearby landing posts.

Despite my worries earlier in the spring about the reduction in Reed Warblers, there appears to have been a late influx and they are singing every few yards in the reedbeds. Despite the metronomic song, I have always found it difficult to get more than a glimpse of these birds at Fishlake so I thought myself pretty fortunate to get the following two photos.

The Mute Swans which are regularly along the ditch where I was walking have five cygnets in tow, or did on my last walk, but I only saw one adult reflecting on things in an adjacent pond.

Although Meadow Brown butterflies are common enough, this is the first one I have seen here this year, and I hope to find a few in better poses in the coming weeks.

High above in the blue I heard Buzzards calling and looked up to see two and something else with bright white flashes and a slightly odd wing shape (the one on the right in the picture below).

I excitedly grabbed my bins and found it was actually three Buzzards, just that one of them had missing primary feathers.

Excitement over for the moment, I turned my concentration back to ground level and found this newly hatched  Small Tortoiseshell swaying around in the long grass.

Most often at rest they sit with their wings closed concealing their colour and looking a bit like a dead leaf, as this one duly did.

The Buzzards were not to be so easily ignored and started kicking up an unholy fuss. I have often seen squabbles between Buzzards but I can't remember seeing two attacking a third and driving to the ground using contact before. I should have been pressing the shutter really, but I got so absorbed in the fight, it didn't cross my mind until the very end by which time they were a way off, still I will post them for the record.

After the unfortunate single bird was forced out of the skies, the presumed pair rose up and thermalled effortlessly overhead.

As they moved towards the sun, I managed to get a shot of the one with the missing primaries with the light shining through it where you can see quite well the new feathers starting to grow through to fill the current gaps.

Back down to earth, literally, for it is the earth that dictates what species of plant grow, and currently there are all sorts of summer flowers out here of which I only know a few. However, I am quite happy to share my uncertainty and ignorance in the form of a few pictures.
Two ID problems for me here, I think the plant is Creeping Thistle rather than Marsh Thistle despite the surrounding marsh, and I think the beetle is one of the Soldier Beetles (of which their are about 40 species) but I could well be wrong. Please let me know if I am.

Next this handsome plant is very abundant and I think it is Marsh Woundwort. The little fly with red eyes accidentally caught on the leaf I think is a male Fever Fly (Dilophus  febrilis) but don't quote me on that (there is no evidence to suggest they cause fever by the way)

a crop of the fly

Next up, Forget-me-nots. I can't remember the difference between Wood and Water Forget-me-nots. I think these are the Water variety based solely on the fact they are growing partly submerged!

I am more confident that this is Tufted Vetch, and even more confident that this is a Large of which there were quite a few about.

Ok, I have no idea what this is, but it is very abundant in a few patches. Growing through it you can just see Mare's Tails which I seem to remember from infant school are found unchanged in the fossil record. I don't remember which geological era that was from, but I like to refer to my infant school days as my plasticine period.

There was a good hatch of one of our brightest moths (capable of GCSE's) the Scarlet Tiger. Although I saw 7 flying, they all settled up above head height in the trees. This one however I assume was newly emerged and was more reluctant to fly thankfully. It is settled upon...erm... grass species..

When you see it like this you may well ask why "Scarlet?" If I didn't know them well, I know I would. In this last photo you can just make out the colour of the hind wings which are covered at rest. As soon as it flies, your question is answered as the impossibly beautiful and brilliant scarlet is revealed.

This next one is a Large Skipper getting drunk on Comfrey flower juice, Comfrey grows everywhere along the ditches here both in the purple and cream flower versions. 

Here is another one on a Hedge Bindweed leaf. They are just in flower but I forgot to photograph one.

A new species to science is the Umbelliflora Warbler pictured below in typical habitat. Supercicially similar to Sedge Warblers in all things including genetics, but rather than Sedges, its favoured habitat is the huge and impenetrable group known as unidentified Umbellifera. I will have a go and guess at Hemlock Water Dropwort, but the chances of me being correct are slim.

This one I AM certain of. Bramble. The flowers attracting, in particular bumble bees, (which species were present I don't know) but also a number of Small Tortoiseshells.

Just to conclude today's identification blunders, I am not at all sure what species of damselfy this pair is and nor do I know what species of dead twig they have alighted upon.