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.

Sussex Commons

I had a few disappointing days wandering around the Sussex Commons earlier in the year. The open heathland, the walking and the scenery were all great but the commons seemed devoid of bird life. You tend to expect more from such a unique environment. I have not been back since, but having seen a few promising reports on the SOS web site over the last couple of weeks, and knowing that the dragonflies would be about, I thought it would be worth another look.

I started off on Iping and Stedham Commons. Initial impressions were good, a lot of singing and plenty of birds flying. However, it did not last long, by 10am with the temperature gradually increasing and the humidity rising it started to go quiet. There were birds about but they were hard to find.

Tree Pipit

The Tree Pipits were perhaps the easiest to spot but they are going to have a difficult time nesting on the ground here. There were notices up all around the common asking for dogs to be kept under close control to protect the ground nesting birds, but of the thirty or forty dogs I saw on the common none were on leads and most were running backwards and forwards through the scrub. It was perhaps fortunate that there was nothing around for them to chase.

Tree Pipit

I did have a few doubts over this second Tree Pipit when I saw the length of the claws but the identifying feature is the rear claw which is shorter and more curved than on the Meadow Pipit and this can be seen in the picture above.

Stonechat

Stonechats seem to be in short supply this year. This is only the second one that I have seen so I was pleased that he was looking so smart.

Treecreeper

I am still trying to get a good picture of a Treecreeper. They are fast moving and usually stay in the shadows so it is hard to get a good shot of them. When they do come out into the sun the silky white on there underside burns out as soon as the sunlight hits it

Yellowhammer

There were Yellowhammers about on the common but my pictures there were poor so this is a shot taken on Cissbury Ring on the way home.

I tried Ambersham and Lavington Commons but by midday both were very quiet. Fortunately we are now into the dragonfly season so most of the day was spent photographing these. Getting good pictures is just as challenging as with the birds but you don't usually have to walk so far. Something I was grateful for on a hot afternoon.

See my next blog for the pictures.

American Golden Plover

I was up at 5.30 on Wednesday morning, ready to go down to Cuckmere Haven to see the AGP, but rain and poor light helped convince me that the bird would have moved on, so it was back to bed with a cup of tea for a copy of Birdwatch. I was not quite so happy later that day when I read that the AGP was still there and showing well.

Thursday morning and I set off convinced that it would be a wasted journey but not willing to make the same mistake twice. Fortunately the bird, which had been found by Matt Eade, was still showing well and there were only a couple of people around when I arrived. All credit to Matt as I don't think that I could have spotted the difference between this and a Golden Plover, but then I have only ever seen the Golden as a distant flock bird and do not have a close up photograph to compare it with.

American Golden Plover

It's nice to have a photograph to take home so that you can sit down later and really understand the identifying features. So on these pictures I can identify:-

• Four primaries projecting beyond the tertials
• Wing tips projecting beyond the tail-tip
• More white in the supercilium than for a Golden
• Gold spangled on upper parts - but more confined to the upper mantle

I did also see the grey underwing when it stretched its wings but I was a bit slow on getting the photograph.

Showing gold on the upper mantle, projecting primaries and wing tip beyond tail tip

It's not that I don't trust the experts but if I am ever going to learn I have to be convinced that I can make the identification. If you want more details on identification have a look at Matt's blog    -     http://seafordbirding.blogspot.co.uk/     now added to my recommended list on the right.

I stayed watching the bird for about an hour hoping to get a flight picture but with the number of observers gradually increasing I was reminded of why I tend to avoid twitches and decided to move on. The bird did not seem to be phased by the birders, nor by a party of about 40 school children going past less than 20 ft away, but I was. Everyone deserves a chance to see the bird but too many people around takes the bird out of its real environment and takes me away from what I really like in birding. It also spoils the background!

Wandering back to the car I came across this distant view of a Black Swan on the meanders. Unless it has completed a long flight from Australia it will be a bird that has escaped or been released from captivity. So cannot count this one, but who knows what will happen in the future. The BTO has reported that in 2003 there were 43 of these birds at large and that attempts had been made to breed. It may well be added to the list at some time in the future.

I stopped at Arlington Reservoir on the way home to eat my lunch but missed out on the Osprey yet again, it now seems to be settling into an early morning slot for fishing. I then made a quick trip to a local wood to have a look at a Great Spotted Woodpecker's nest. The birds are easy to view but the lighting is poor even on a sunny day. I was quite pleased with these shots given that they are at slow shutter speeds on a 700mm lens set up.

chick with red crown (ISO 640, f7, 1/13sec)

Female feeding  ISO640, f7, 1/15sec)

Male feeding   (ISO 640, f7, 1/25sec)

There were plenty of other birds about. The usual Chaffinch, singing its heart out - balanced on one leg!

Also a Jay, that I ended up stalking for about a quarter of an hour, but it would not come out into the light. This shot could have been so much better with a bit more depth of field and a couple of stops more on the shutter speed.

Jay  (ISO640, f7, 1/25sec) - My missed shot of the week

 

I could have got faster shutter speeds by increasing the ISO, but despite what the camera manufacturers say I think the quality has gone once you get above ISO400, particularly if you are cropping the shot.

And finally in the reed beds a Little Egret, always great to watch.

Little Tern

Being determined to catch up with a Little Tern I had another trip over to Rye Harbour. This time I was more successful, although I didn't quite get the crystal clear image I had envisaged of the male Little Tern passing a fish to the female. At about 100 metres distance and barely visible through the binoculars this falls more into the Kitsonian school of photography than the style I had been looking for. Still I follow the mantra of

 - see the bird
 - get a record shot
 - get a quality picture

To you this may look a rubbish picture but at the moment it takes pride of place in my collection and gives me a life tick. Just a pity that it doesn't look quite as good as the shots of the decoys that I had in a previous blog, but it will do until I can get a better picture.

best kept as a small image!

(Apologies to those that don't get the Kitsonian reference and no disrespect is intended to a birder who has more knowledge than than I will ever get in my lifetime).

Rye Harbour held the expected Common and Sandwich Terns along with Black Headed and Mediterranean Gulls. There were also Dunlin, Godwits, Wheatear, and lots of Avocets although I missed the two Knot that were reported later that day.

Avocet

I had then planned to return via Pett Levels but after being told of a Redstart showing well at Dungeness Power Station I headed off there instead. Bad mistake, I could not find the Redstart and others that went to Pett Levels did get to see a Turtle Dove which was the next target bird on my list. However, there was consolation in a Marsh Harrier over the ARC pit.

Marsh Harrier

Would have been a great picture if the bird had a head!

Out again around Arlington Reservoir the next day, with Dave who seems to be getting fed up with being at home ill. Either that or he is not happy that my year list is now longer than his. We were looking for the Turtle Dove and we did have a possible sighting but we could not relocate the birds so this will have to wait for another day.

We spent most of the day with Dave happily photographing his Orchids and insects and with me thinking that I need to invest in a decent Macro lens. I think I will keep the Dragonfly and Butterfly shots for a separate blog but I was pleased with one in flight shot and it gives me hope of capturing some of the more difficult Dragonflies that never seem to settle.

Beautiful Demoiselle in flight

Nothing very exciting on the birding front but nice views of a Collared Dove and the much under rated Dunnock.

Collared Dove

Dunnock

One of the highlights of the day came whilst we were having a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea. We had been watching a Mistle Thrush gathering food and taking it to a nearby nest. All was going well until a Jay strayed a bit to close. A couple of very aggressive parents soon saw it off. It was all too fast for me to get a picture but here is a more peaceful shot of one of the birds.

Mistle Thrush gathering food

A Few Quiet Days Birding

Its all been very quiet on the birding front lately. I have been out plenty of times but its just the usual suspects around, I have not managed to see anything new or unusual. I have had some target birds in mind, Turtle Dove, Flycatcher, Little Tern, Osprey and they are about, if only in small numbers, but so far not visible when I am there. Still it's great getting out into the countryside early in the morning, it really makes you feel alive. I know my luck will change soon, I just need to go birding even more often to make it happen!

The following pictures are the best from the past weeks birding and where better to start than the ubiquitous Whitethroat.

Whitethroat - Seaford Head

Linnet - Hope Gap

Another Whitethroat - Hope Gap

Rye Harbour looked like giving the best chance of seeing the Little Terns and at first I thought I was in luck, but you start to get suspicious when you realise they are not moving.

Perhaps if I added a bit of blur in Photoshop ......

Plenty of Common and Sandwich Terns there and a few Mediterranean Gulls on the edges of the Black-headed Gull colonies.

Sandwich Terns nesting amongst the Black-headed Gulls

Sandwich Tern

and in flight

Common Tern with half a fish

Mediterranean Gulls

I also called in on Arlington Reservoir. There are Turtle Doves around there somewhere and I often hear them calling but I have yet to see them. The Osprey did drop in whilst I was there but unfortunately I was off investigating the river just below the weir which is usually a good place for Damselflies and I missed it.

I did get to see a Great Crested Grebe trying to swallow a large fish. It took about a quarter of an hour to get it down as the bird was getting tired and the fish kept slipping out. It did succeed in the end but as it sailed off into the distance it still had the end of the fishes tail sticking out of its mouth.

Great Crested Grebe with its catch

Just a quick swallow

Proving a bit harder than expected - keeps slipping out

All gone - nearly!

 Do birds suffer from indigestion?

Nice to see so many so many fledglings about as well. This Pied Wagtail was busy trying to keep three hungry youngsters happy.

Already bigger than its mum.

And to finish off a nice sunset shot of a Sanderling in full summer Plumage.

Sanderling