Fishlake Meadows ...continued

I have been taking photographs, but I have been very lazy in sorting them out and sharing them. These date back to the 19th of July on a pleasant enough day when I was hoping to hear a bird again that may possibly have been a Savi's Warbler. Unfortunately, I never heard it again. Fortunately, there are always other things of interest, and on this day it was mostly Sedge and Reed Warbler fledglings, and insects. There was one fledgling that I couldn't positively identify and looked different from the others, so I will stick it in in the hope that someone more experienced than me might help me out..

A less welcome visitor to some, is this one..

Orange Balsam may not be anything like as invasive as Peruvian Balsam, but I suppose it really shouldn't be in this sort of setting. (I quite like it though).

One of my favourite small breeding birds on Fishlake is the Reed Bunting. Although the striking looking male wasn't showing himself on this day, and despite not usually being attracted by women with moustaches, I actually prefer this female's subtle mix of creams and browns

Very close to where she was sitting was this Water Knotweed looking pretty in pink, it isn't scarce here, but neither is it in profusion

One species that was in profusion was the Gatekeeper, they were flitting about everywhere, but finding one not on the wing proved quite difficult until this one eventually stopped by for a quick slurp of Ragwort nectar.

Also feeding on Ragwort, but in a different manner, were the Cinnabar moth caterpillars which had put on a considerable bulk since my previous post. Here they are still wearing their stripy pyjamas and gorging themselves on their unfortunate host.

I haven't seen so many Peacock butterflies as in previous years, but maybe its just been a question of wrong place at the wrong time, so I spent a little time in the company of this fresh as a daisy example (while being eaten by Horseflies). When the wings are folded, there is little to suggest what treasure may lie between

This one was a little shy in exposing its full glory

I know its a familiar butterfly to everyone, but I wonder how often we stop and really examine its beauty, the tiger stripes at the front, the dusting of bronze near the body, the ginger hairs, the raggedy but perfectly symmetrical coastline of the trailing edges, the gold tipped antennae... I suspect most of us are too mesmerised by the eye spots to take all this in. And that is just as well, because that is what they are there for.

On the way back up to the canal I at last found a Blue tailed Damselfly at rest in a place I could photograph it.
I love watching these things fly, the body almost gets lost against the dark ditch water and they look as though they are towing a bright blue flag by an invisible bit of string... ahem...maybe thats just me

When looking for butterflies, it is always a good idea to look not just on flowers, but on the ground. Butterflies often supplement their diet with various minerals and nutrients to be found in soil and other less palatable things to be found on the floor. This Red Admiral was not sunning itself as I first thought, but tasting something from the path as can be seen in the second picture

Near the canal the parallel ditch forms a very small pool which is often a good resting spot for dragonflies. Its also a good spot for the very strange Branched Bur-reed flowers, the male flowers above and the female flowers below all borne on the same stem.

I was buzzed here a few times by an Emperor dragonfly and a Southern Hawker (I think) but neither hung around for portraits. Much more obliging were the Common Darters of which there were quite a number around, each with their own particular perch. Of all the dragonflies these remind me most of helicopters, they hover quite regularly and at rest often fold there wings down as though ready to go in the hanger.

I know this looks like a studio shot, but it really isnt!

I tried a few in flight shots of which none were really successful, but I include this one as to me it reminds me of that helicopter in Thomas the Tank engine. I know. I have a vivid imagination. Anyway, it looks to have a cheeky grin. Actually the main reason for posting it was to show how the legs are tucked up in flight to reduce drag.

From the archives - Little Egret v Black-headed Gull

The weather down here last week was to say the least... blustery. Winds gusting to 60 mph is a little unseasonal and although the accompanying rain was much needed, the combination of the two was about as conducive to butterfly activity as it was to photography.
Instead, I spent a bit of time looking up some pictures from earlier in the year which for one reason or another I failed to post here and came up with a visit to Keyhaven with Russ and Maureen dating back to the 18th of April.
The weather does not have the monopoly on unseasonality.
I had hoped to post an animated gif here of the Little Egret below, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be supported here. I tried flash as well but that didn't work either. Very annoying. Anyhow, this Little Egret had seemingly strayed  a little too near to a Black-headed Gull's nest and a noisy squabble broke out. One may assume that an Egret's size and armoury would make this a rather one sided battle...  but not a bit of it

Driven away, the Egret carried on fishing and the Gull carried on... gulling. Of course there was a point to this, a Little Egret's diet would happily include Gull chicks given the chance.
A couple of crops of the Egret, showing that just occasionally a bit of wind can make a photograph a lot more interesting.

Fishlake - early July flowers, birds and insects

A lunchtime sneak around Fishlake Meadows last tuesday revealed a new species for me there, the Black-tailed Skimmer. I may have missed them easily before, but as it happened, I couldn't really avoid these two which landed on the path in front of me to warm up, a female first, and a little further on a male.

Although there were still a few Common Blue Damsels about, there were nowhere near the numbers of a couple of weeks ago. I tried really hard to get some shots of the few Blue-tailed Damsels fluutering around but failed miserably. Broad Bodied Chasers were still in evidence and this obliging female settled up quite close to.

Nothing was on the nearest pylon, but the next one (which is quite a way off!) had a bird of prey on it. I couldn't and still can't be certain whether this is a Hobby or a Peregrine. Apologies for the poor quality of photos, its blown up as much as it can be,

The only other raptor about was one of the tattiest looking Buzzards I have ever seen. For those birders looking for Booted Eagles in Hampshire by counting "fingers", good luck with this one! I'm frankly surprised it allowed itself to be seen in public.

A Little Egret was stomping about in the distance and plenty of Grey Herons seemed to be flying in from all directions, and some of those were in little better shape than the Buzzard above. Around the back, warblers were on the whole quiet. Cettis Warblers only gave a half hearted occasional call, and even the Sedge Warblers were mostly in hiding.
Reed Warblers however popped up regularly to tell me off. As most of them are busy feeding young at the moment, I didn't hang around for more than a few minutes wherever I saw or heard them, but took a few hurried shots as one came out very much in the open. Why it is soaking wet I don't know, maybe a quick bath between deliveries.

Nearby, I managed not to spook a couple of Tufted Ducks who were in charge of around a dozen chicks. Getting close to any wildfowl here is not at all easy, so you will have to forgive these shots taken through Reed Mace. The blurriness is also probably partly due to being eaten alive by horseflies and resisting the temptation to smack at various parts of my body. Shorts were a mistake here.

Talking of Reed Mace, some new flowering heads were just emerging, and many more have already lost the male flowers from the top. I don't know why, but they always remind me of bearskins.

On the margins of the reedbed, Hedge Bindweed has escaped the confines of any hedge that may have once been there and swamps small areas of Reeds and Reed Mace. Much maligned by gardeners as a difficult weed to control, its persil white trumpets are no less spectacular than almost any treasured garden plant.

Another much hated plant is Ragwort. A real glow of sunlight in the flowers betrays its poisonous nature, but one creature thrives on it, the Cinnibar Moth caterpillar for whom it is its sole food plant. Its black and yellow stripes (known as aposematic colouration) advertise the poisons it stores from the plant and an unpleasant taste, and as with many such insects, it happily stays in large groups safe in the knowledge that very few predators will attempt to eat them, and even then, probably just the once. They will usually completely destroy one plant before moving on to the next. These are the first I have seen this year.

A long time ago, having read in some ancient herbal or another that the perfume of Meadowsweet could not be captured, I tried to make an extract of the flowers which ended up smelling quite unpleasant. The meadow part of the name is something of a corruption of the much older name of Meadsweet or Meadwort which has nothing to do with the meadows in which it grows, but everything to do with a flavouring used in mead.
I like an old Shetland name for it, Courtship-and-Matrimony, arising from the sweet smell before, and the rather carbolicy smell after crushing.

Of course many plants have been used as medicines through the ages, some with more justification than others, and a few carry names to suggest their use in times gone by. One such is Self-heal, a herb much vaunted as a vulnery (wound healer) by many generations of herbalists. Anyone who knows me who reads this will understand why its Latin name is indelibly etched in my brain. Prunella vulgaris.
On this example, a Small Skipper was finding plenty to feast upon.

Back up on the canal I came across a huge example of Figwort. Once used to cure the lesions caused by TB (and piles), this interesting plant usually grows between one and two feet high. This one however is taller than me, and I am not between one and two foot high. I wonder what the record for Figwort is.

Another Scarlet Tiger caught my eye on one of the thistle flowers.

It was sharing this nectar bounty with a Soldier Beetle below and a Longhorn Beetle above (at least I think thats what they are)

 I waited what seemed like an age for it to fly to try and photograph it as it landed as it often takes them a few moments to sort their wings out and patience was in the end rewarded, although this shot reminds me very much of Darth Vader. Whilst I was waiting a Grasshopper Warbler started reeling close nearby, but I couldn't see it anywhere, at least I can only think it was a Grasshopper Warbler although it didn't sound quite right. Maybe it was because it was so close.

Back at the bridge, 3 or 4 large orange butterflies were mostly at tree top level, but just occasionally one would come down to feed on the brambles. Powerful fliers, and never still for long, they did present a bit of a challenge to photograph, but I was lucky on a few occasions to catch the odd one in focus. Silver-washed Fritillaries. Stunning butterflies.

Going up!