Hurried and Harried.

Most of the macro moths I'm catching at the moment are pretty straight forward to identify, so an unidentified pug was taking time this morning when my phone went. It was news from our newest Bockhill Birder, Alison, that she was watching a Montague's Harrier. There was no contest, I left the Pug, still as yet unresolved and hurried off to see the Harrier.

I caught up with it about twenty minutes later and Alison and I watched it head past the Empty Wood and head up the hill towards Kingsdown Road and the horse paddocks beyond.

It did quarter along the large field of flax, and we had some hopes that we would be able to keep it in view for a while.

In case this was the only chance I got I did take some distant photos, I reckon that it was around 500 yards away, so they were never going to be more than distant record shots.

Finally it made one more sweep along the top of the field and disappeared over the ridge towards the next valley. We decided to walk to the top in the hope that it was still hunting in that area.

As we walked up the hill a Northern Wheatear ran along the path in front of us and stopped on the side to give us a quizzical look.

We were surprised at how close it allowed us to walk before if flew a short distance in to the field. We walked to the top of the path where we had a panoramic view looking NW. Unfortunately we failed to relocate the Harrier.We did witness some soaring by a pair of Sparrowhawks and had a Hobby speed past us at the Freedown.

At this time of year their are always a good number of dragonflies patrolling the foot paths around the wood at Bockhill. The seem to particularly like one area of bramble and elderberry trees. It may be that these attract a lot of the small flies that these efficient predators feed on. Today there were two Southern Hawkers, Aeshna cyanea hunting in the area. Dragonflies are very nosey animals and as soon as I stood watching them one or other would break off it's normal circuit to come and have a closer look at me. One did have a short rest quite low down. Both Southern and Migrant Hawkers are often found here, and both have a narrow yellow triangle at the top of the abdomen. The Southern Hawker has two broad yellowish green stripes on the top of the thorax (antehumeral stripes), while the Migrant Hawker has just two tiny lines.

This close up of the business end of the "Dragon" shows the yellowish-green sides to the thorax, the Migrant Hawker has two distinct broad yellow stripes.

Air conditioned

The air-con on Pam's car has been playing up ( aluxury mine doesn't have) and having had a new part fitted I took it to be re-gassed today. I was going to walk to the downs at Temple Ewell, to look for Silver Spotted skippers but in the end decided on Bushy Ruff and an attempt at photographing the Emperor Dragonflies that would almost certainly be flying today.

It was hot, very HOT and I wasn't the only one feeling the heat when I got there. This Blackbird was "panting" to cool itself down. There were two Emperors on the lake and they spent a lot of time chasing each other at a good distance from the edge. Neither seemed to have a regular patrol route that took them close to a suitable position and I didn't see any egg laying. Last year one that I photographed had a couple of fixed areas where it spent a fair time hovering, but not so this year. I did take a few shots and having looked at them I've now pressed the delete button. Shame but hopefully there will be other chances.

While I was following one of the Dragonflies in the view finder, the familiar call of a Green Sandpiper rang out, and to my surprise one landed on the water weeds and algae right in front of me. It didn't hang around, Like Garbo it wanted to be alone and soon realised that the click of a camera meant that there was company close by. By the time I got back to pick Pam's car up I was really pleased that the air-con now worked and I could cool down on my way back.

Grrr- I'm not jealous, not much!

Going through my moth traps this morning revealed a rather dull and impoverished collection, so when I got a text from Peter Wells to say he had an interesting Hawk-moth in his trap I was pleased to go and have a look.

I was surprised to find that he had a Striped Hawk-moth. After my Bedstraw Hawk-moth earlier in the week I had expected the same species and possibly the same moth. A Striped Hawk-moth is high on my want list, as I have never caught one of these beauties. I hope it flew SE when it left Peter's garage window; full story here.

The books say ( John and Gill Brook's "Dragonflies of Kent" and Smallshire and Swash "Britain's Dragonflies") that flight period for small red-eyed Damselflies extends right through to September and the later shows the peak being at the end of July and through August. Over the years I've photographed this relatively new colonist at Walmer Castle on the formal fish pond. The first time was on 4th July 2006, then on 13th July 2008 and last year on 21st July. So I've been getting steadily later in the month, but in each case there have been a good number around. Today was the first occasion, in the last couple of weeks that it's been both sunny and I had the inclination to go and have a look. I now wish I'd gone earlier because there were very few there today, I'm only sure there were five. What I don't know is have the numbers dropped of as they peaked earlier in the month, or were there far fewer there this year.

There weren't many of any species, just a few Azure Damselflies to add to the Small Red-eyed, and unlike in other years no Emperor Dragonfly patrolling up and down.

Trap Surprise

Last nights catch in my moth traps was probably the worst I've ever had in July. It was almost as if someone had beaten me to the traps and removed all the interesting moths before I got there! However I was surprised to find a Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) perched on the edge of one of the egg boxes. It took some time to warm up and fly.

Flapping around

In the garden there was a lot of activity in the ponds. The top pond has had a good clear out and look a bit bare, but it did really need doing. Because of that it is easy to see the growing frog tadpoles and more interestingly quite a few newts, almost certainly Common Newts.

In the bottom pond the first of the Large Red Damselflies are now out. This is a widespread and common species that is often found in garden ponds.

After wasting the afternoon watching two sub-standard football games, the cup final was really disappointing, I decided to have a look at Worth Marshes where a Montague's Harrier had been seen yesterday, but there was no sign today. At Restharrow Scrape three Shelducks were feeding. One took a rest on the nearest island despite being scolded by the resident Lapwings.

On the same island an Oystercatcher was sitting tight and it was joined by a second bird that flew in.

Oystercatchers are noisy creatures, and this one was no exception, giving it piping display and that strange animated march that is so characteristic.

The Lapwing meanwhile took exception to one of the Mute Swans that came to close, and continually dived-bombed it. I could really understand why, the swan, like the General Belgrano, was sailing away. Nor could I really understand why the Swan seemed to panic at the attentions of such a comparatively small combatant.

Just outside the hide a pair of Corn Buntings flew in and one stayed a while, calling, not singing, sitting on a post close to the path to the hide.

As the sun began to set the aggressive Lapwing was on the offensive again, this time leaving the scrape to see of a threatening Herring Gull. It was a pleasant end to the day, but like the cupfinal, it lacked any real drama.

New arrivals

After wasting time looking through the collection of common moths that arrived in my traps overnight I hurried off to Bockhill, hoping that the overnight conditions might have brought some migrants in.

I walked down to Hope Point, which was alive with birds, mainly Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats, with Chiffchaffs, Reed Warblers, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers adding the the warbler list. A group of four Whinchats were moving through, flying from bush to bush.

As soon as I had taken a distant record shot and started to try and get closer to the bird it move off and disappeared towards the golf course. Ahead of me four of the Bockhill group were birding along the Lees. When I caught up with them, it appeared that the Whinchats hadn't been there when they "did" Hope Point a few minutes earlier, showing that birds were still arriving.

Nigel pointed out this Ruddy Darter, resting on a bramble. Common Darters are far more frequent here, but since we don't have any Dragonfly breeding habitat around it is good to see so many around.

The Freedown was very birdy when we got there, and three Whichats on the tops were probably part of the group I'd seen earlier. A male Redstart jumped in and out of the hedge, but did a disappearing act when I tried to get closer.

There were several Spotted Flycatchers in the area, and they proved a bit more co-operative, although they seldom remained in one place for long.

I returned to the Freedown later this afternoon, hoping to re-find the Restart, but failed. Willow Warblers were still prominent, several chasing each other along the hedge.

The Spotted flycatchers were still around. They seemed to be using the large hedge to stay out of the wind, and were often perched on the fence.

Every now and again they would dive off of their perch and catch an insect, the click of their beaks being clearly audible.

When I got bact to the farm a Little Owl was sitting out on it'd favourite perch, but as usual as soon as the camera was pointing his way he was off.

He was quite content to sit in the tree while I took his picture, I suppose that he feels more secure in the denser cover.

A tasty snack.

A rather damp weekend at the birdfair had some high points. We were staying at the Old Rectory at Belton and the "kids" were camping at the same place.

On Sunday morning, instead of going into the Birdfair we did a bit of birding and general wildlife watching at the Rutland Water Reserve. As we were about to leave the camp site a Common Buzzard called loudly and circled overhead.

As well as the birds on the reservoir we had a good time watching the butterflies and dragonflies along the nature trail. Common Darters and various species of Hawkers were common. Many were Migrant Hawkers, but there were a fair number of Brown Hawkers and I think Southern Hawkers as well. I did try to get photos of a Brown Hawker but failed. From one of the hides we watched a Grey Heron stealthily stalking through the pool.

It seemed to have spotted an item of prey and slowly swayed before swiftly darting towards it. I assume the swaying is to enable the Heron to just the exact distance it's prey is away from it. As it's eyes are on the side of it's head it doesn't have 3D vision like ours, or an owls, so the swaying is needed to get the two images than allow it to use parallax get get a measurement.

I was expecting it to get a frog or a small fish, but I was surprised to see it had caught a Brown Hawker that we had been watching ovipositing a few minutes earlier.

The Brown Hawker is one of our largest dragonflies.

This certainly wasn't the way I expected to get a picture of a Brown Hawker, but you can certainly see enough to identify it.

When it finished it did seem to have a satisfied expression, it mush have been a tasty morsel.

We did see three Osprey, two juveniles and a male. The female hadn't been seen that day and may have left on her southward migration. The juvenile above is sitting by the nest.

The views were distant but not bat through a scope. It did have a short fly round a couple of time but didn't come any closer.

The male was nearby on a post and it also seemed a bit restless, it might not be long before they are passing through St Margaret's on their way to a winter holiday in West Africa.

Cornmill Meadows Dragonfly Sanctuary

We had an afternoon out with Simon and Sam and went up to the Lee Valley Regional Park.

The Cornmill Stream

The Cornmill Meadows Dragonfly Sanctuary is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and with a species list of 23 Dragon and Damselflies is the best site in Greater London for seeing these beautiful insects. Unfortunately the sun was rather hidden behind the clouds for much of our visit, but we still saw a few species and had an enjoyable walk.

The Cornmill Streams runs across the site and is the favoured habitat of Banded Demoiselles. I only saw males, the females are are a metallic green and do not have the striking band.

I noticed several groups of Mother of Pearl Moths. Although I catch them in small numbers quite frequently this is the first time that I have seen them in colonies flying in the day time.

The day was great, but not the journey home! The Blackwall Tunnel was closed and I made a complete mess of it when I turned off the approach road and managed to end up almost back to Simon's, by getting to Whipps Cross. We finally got to the Dartford Crossing and arrived hope at 12.30 p.m., hence no blogging yesterday and a late start to my moth traps this morning.

Changing Skins

Walmer Castle is a real gem and one of the best of English Heritages sites in Kent. But at this time of year it isn't the castle and it historical contents that bring me here, too many summer visitors for that. It is the formal pond in the garden that I go to visit.

Small Red-eyed Damselflies were first observed in Britain in July 1999, at Bradwell-on Sea in Essex, and I actually went there to see them. They reached Kent in 2001, when Barry Wright found some at Bluewater. Fortunately they have spread from there, as I have resolved NEVER to go the Bluewater.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly pair (Erythromma viridulum)

The species is now quite widespread in Kent and Walmer Castle is the nearest site I know to St Margaret's where they are breeding. When I arrived today it was quite overcast and there were just a few to be seen on the Water Lily leaves.

I found one that had very recently emerged. The nymph, that has spent the last year in the pond, crawls out onto a leaf, and when it's casing splits the Damselfly emerges. At first all the external parts are soft and colourless and it takes time for the adult to become "air-worthy" as the wings have to be pumped up and hardened.

The last "skin" of the nymph is left behind. This is known as the exuvia and experts, like John and Gill Brooks are able to identify the individual species from this piece of jettisoned evidence.

Their book say the the male has fine antehumeral stripes on the thorax, but I've never been able to see them. However on the picture above I do believe there is just a hint of a yellow stripe.

When the sun came out a male and female Emperor Dragonfly began to fly up and down the pond. I noticed the female landing in amongst the lilies, ovipositing (laying eggs).

A closer look showed that this female was still in quite good condition, normally I find the females laying eggs have very battered and tatty wings, presumably the result of some very vigorous "courting" by the eager males.

Emperor Dragonfly female (Anax imperator)