The group of birds consisted of around ten Long-tailed Tits and six Blue Tits with a couple of Great Tits. The Long-tailed Tits called incessantly and were in and out of the water in small groups. The Blue Tits seemed happy to share in the communal bath frolics, but the Great Tits waited until, they could bathe singly.
Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea)Pam drew my attention to this dragonfly perched on a rose bush near the bird bath. Rather easier to photograph that the flying Emperor, this is a male Southern Hawker. There are often found away from water, and they can be very inquisitive, often coming close to people, as if inspecting them. They are quite regular visitors to gardens where they patrol the area catching small insects.
Evergestis limbataThe warm weather has brought a few more species of moths and amongst them this morning was this beautiful little pyralid, Evergestis limbata. It was first recorded in the UK in 1993 and I caught my first one here in 2003. This one is the 13th I've caught and is most likely now breeding locally, rather than being a migrant.
Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella)The Short-cloaked Moth is a fairly common moth and is classed as a 2macro" being in the family Nolidae. In fact with a wings span of 18-20mm it is a little smaller than Evergestis limbata, which has a wing span of 20-23mm.
2 comments:
I think inspecting you is exactly what they are doing. Dragonflies seem to have a visual memory of their territory and navigate visually, so if you step into their territory you need to be checked out. You will notice that if they are patrolling in a circuit they will inspect you the first time round, but if you don't move and they come around again they will usually ignore you.
Hi Susan,Do you get many where you are that don't occur in the UK? I remember camping in Provence and having Boyeria irene round the tent each evening.
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