Mostly Dragonflies

On Wednesday I was determined to have a break from butterflies and to get back to birding. There are still a lot of the common birds, that for some reason, I have failed to see so far this year. A report on SOS by Bernie Forbes listed Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plovers, and Sand Martins amongst other things and these would all be year ticks for me. Armed with the big lens for a change I headed off to Pagham Harbour for a look. My first stop was the lay-by at the Ferry Pool. As I opened the car door I was greeted by a cloud of Gatekeeper Butterflies. Impressive given that I had only seen my first one of the year the day before. Then as I walked in on the footpath there was a Dragonfly sitting in the middle of the footpath. It was red and with it down on the ground I had great hopes of a Common Darter, but closer inspection revealed black legs so it was yet another Ruddy Darter.

Gatekeeper

The ferry pool was a little disappointing. All the birds were distant and whilst I could make out the summer plumage Spotted Redshank I could not see enough to identify the Common or Green Sandpipers or the Little Ringed Plovers. Church Norton and the North Wall were also very quiet. The only picture I took was of a juvenile Swallow waiting patiently, and in the time I was there unsuccessfully, for its parents to feed it. They seemed more intent on encouraging it to take to the air and find its own food.  I think there were probably a couple of Sand Martins around but in flight it was difficult to separate them from the juvenile Swallows.  

Juvenile Swallow

Next stop was Chichester Gravel Pits. Possibly a Tern, or a Sand Martin or perhaps a Hobby hawking over the lakes. No, just more butterflies and loads of Dragonflies and Damselflies.

Azure Damselfly

Azure in tandem prior to mating

Black-tailed Skimmer

Black-tailed Skimmers - in the rough and tumble of mating

Black-tailed Skimmer

Four-spotted Chaser

Female oviposting probably an Emperor or a Common Green Darner

Not exactly a successful days birding but enjoyable all the same. The only consolation is that the bird sightings pages suggest that no one else is seeing much in the way of avian life either.

Dartford Warblers and Others

The birding is proving to be hard work at the moment. The end of June through to early August is always slow. There is no migration movement, there is plenty of cover for the birds to hide in, and the birds are not displaying for territory or mates as they were a month ago. This summer seems worse than ever and my own experience would seem to suggest that a lot of the birds have simply not arrived this year.

I commented in a previous post on how I had only seen two Stonechats so far this year. Like buses the next time I went out I saw at least eight in the same location on Iping Common.

Male Stonechat

Juvenile Stonechat

Hoping for a repeat performance - I have only seen one Redstart and have not seen a Spotted Flycatcher at all. If I could also add Turtle Dove to that list I could be a happy man after my next trip out.

I would have added Dartford Warbler to that list but I did manage to catch up with a pair on one of the commons. I had caught a couple of fleeting glimpses at the same location but did not feel that it was good enough for my year tick particularly as on both occasions the birds did not reappear. Fortunately on a recent early evening visit I was able to watch the pair gathering food for about half an hour. I kept my distance and with poor lighting the picture opportunities were limited. The shot below rescued by heavy cropping and from strong back lighting was the best I could manage.

Another almost picture - One in the bush and one flying

I also visited Warnham LNR. There was nothing unusual about in the way of avian life but I had some really weird lighting conditions. All my pictures appeared to have a colour cast but when you look at them they have both green and magenta in the same picture. This cannot happen as they are opposite ends of the spectrum (as far as Photoshop is concerned) and anyway the whites look clean. Even when desaturated as in the second picture the colours look wrong. Marvellous things the eyes, the scenes all looked perfectly normal to me on the day.

Great Crested Grebe

Young Grey Heron

This young Grey Heron looks like a nice friendly bird, not like the older version below, a true predator.

Grey Heron - Pagham North Wall

Also at the North Wall a Common Tern but not much else.

Common Tern

I did walk down to the lagoon to see the Female Scaup that had been reported there but I seem to have picked the one day when there were no sightings.

Actually there was one other sighting. The local police checking out the north wall, the lagoon, and the spit, and challenging one suspicious individual out on the mud. Given the recent vandalism to the spit hide this can only be seen as positive.

Patrolling the Harbour

Do this every day and he is going to have an impressive year list in his note book.

When the birding has been slow I have been adding to my collection of Butterfly and Dragonfly pictures although it is only in the last couple of weeks that the butterflies have started to appear in any numbers.

Another Four Spotted Chaser

Silver-studded Blue

Speckled Wood

Small Tortoiseshell

Adonis Blue

There have been some missed shots as well. An Emperor Dragonfly, a truly impressive species, that did not land in all the time I watched it. I took about fifty shots of it in flight but there is not a single decent shot amongst them. Also  a Green Hairstreak, searched for but not found. Next time perhaps.

Dragonflies and Damselflies

I know very little about Dragonflies and Damselflies but I am keen to learn. They are one of the key indicators that summer has arrived. They are colourful, fascinating to watch, and great to photograph. They are also about on hot summer days when most of the birds are on siesta time.

These are a few pictures taken on a couple of days out when the birding was a bit slow. I must confess that until recently I only knew these as red, blue, or green, with perhaps a fat or thin descriptor to help differentiate between them. Although I could probably have told you the difference between the Dragonfly and the Damselfly. I have now invested in the "Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland" and will be attempting to put a name to all the species that I photograph. Please feel free to correct any mistakes I may make.

The following pictures were taken on the 19th June on Iping Common, Ambersham Common, and at Lords Piece.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

 

Broad-bodied Chaser

The Chasers are a fairly easy dragonfly to photograph. They patrols a small area of the pond bank to defend it against other males, but are happy to sit out on a suitable perch where they can observe their territory. This gives good opportunities to get close.

The blue looks a lot deeper in real life.

Four-spotted Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Large Red Damselfly with prey

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Azure Damselfly

The next few pictures are of the two species of Demoiselles in the UK. They were taken by the road bridge just below the weir on the Cuckmere River close to Arlington Reservoir. The two species should really be in different habitats with the Beautiful favouring fast flowing, clean, pebble or sand bottomed streams and the banded slow flowing, muddy bottomed streams or rivers. Previous years I have only seen the banded here but the river does seem to be running higher and faster this year.

Banded Demoiselle ( I think! )

Banded Demoiselle

 

Beautiful Demoiselle

Beautiful Demoiselle in flight

A great start to the dragonfly season. A life list, year list, and Sussex list are already starting to form and the Sussex commons provided some of the best habitats in the country. They will fill the summer months when the birding starts to slow and along with the butterflies I now have an excuse to put off all the DIY jobs for a bit longer.