A walk round the pond - week 26

The season is hotting up, quite literally.  There were two new dragonflies this week, the first was a male common hawker and I had a brief glimpse of a teneral common darter (I didn't get a photo but I expect there will be more next week).  The hawker was flying constantly so I didn't see it at rest but I did manage a few half decent flight shots

There were more than half a dozen male emperors patrolling and fighting.  Eventually it was so hot that even they stopped for a rest.  This one is showing a few battle scars on its wings.

This one looks a bit fresher and is probably a bit younger.

Denise & Phil came with me on one visit to help me spot things and identify them.  We saw lots of four-spotted chasers, mostly chasing and fighting males but also several mating pairs and ovipositing females.

We saw five species of damselflies - large red (only males now),

common blue,

azure,

blue-tailed (not shown), and emerald.

This hungry furrow orb-weaver spider (Larinioides cornutus) was planning to have two azure damselflies for lunch.

The highlight of the week for me was a hummingbird hawk-moth but it was so fast moving through the grasses that the autofocus couldn't lock on and by the time I had changed to manual focus it was gone.

Another new moth for the year was the five-spot burnet moth of which we saw many.  Its caterpillars live on bird's-foot trefoil.

The cinnabar moths have disappeared.  Their caterpillars live on ragwort but the ragwort is only now coming into flower.  I suspect the moths have already laid their eggs on the young plants so I'll keep an eye out for the caterpillars.

Butterflies this week included small heath,

large skipper,

speckled wood,

meadow brown,

and ringlet.

We found lots of this pink flower which I think is common centaury.

The two swans from last week have moved on again.  The Canada goslings are now stretching their wings and practising take-off.  I expect they will be gone soon.

I found a very weathered shell at the edge of the pond, which I think probably belonged to a great pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis).

I'll try to get some common darter photos next week.

The fox and the crow

Sometimes the foxes get a special treat so they don't get bored with peanuts.  The first to turn up is the winner but the crows don't approve.  The fox can't do much about it as the crow is on the roof.

Here's the video.

The Fox and the Crow is one of Aesop's fables.  In the tale the fox tricks a crow into dropping its cheese by flattering it and persuading it to sing.  My crows are smarter than that.

More fun with the trail camera

Although I put food out for the foxes every night, most times I don't put out a camera.  From time to time I do, just to keep an eye on what they are up to.  These photos are with the old Wingscapes camera which takes flash colour stills. From the number of photos in one night you can see the fox doesn't mind the flash.

Cordulegaster boltonii ♂

I don't remember many scientific names for dragonflies but Cordulegaster boltonii (the golden-ringed dragonfly) is one that sticks for some reason.  I took some good photos of a female a couple of years ago and I have been after a picture of a male since then.  After many happy hours hunting for one I finally found this within 10 minutes, only 50m from the car.  Male golden-ringed dragonflies spend much of their time patrolling up and down their territories but this one rested briefly so I could take a couple of photos.  It is a bit of a surprise to see such a large dragonfly on such a small stream.

Northumbrian hornet

Well this was an amazing find.  It is a queen European hornet (Vespa crabro) and was found this afternoon by Paul, the warden at Gosforth Park Nature Reserve, in his garden.  I didn't know we had them up here as this is the distribution map on the BWARS* website.

Paul has seen one here before, several years ago, but he didn't get a photo and no-one believed him.  This was very definitely real and was huge.  I have seen a lot of hornet workers in the Midlands recently (more to follow) and this one was much bigger.  You can see from the 5mm grid that she is about 30mm long.

After the photos the queen flew back into the woods so with luck she has already started a nest.  I'll keep an eye out each time I visit, hoping to see more.  It is only 2km from here as the hornet flies so I may eventually see them in the garden.

* BWARS = Bees, Wasps, and Ants Recording Society.

A walk round the pond - week 25

There was a new arrival at the pond this week.  I saw several newly emerged emerald damselflies (Lestes sponsa). They are also known as common spreadwings as, unusually for damselflies, they rest with their wings outspread.

Most of those I photographed were females but this one is an immature male - he has very similar colouring to the females but will develop powder blue pruinescence on the thorax and abdomen when he matures.  This one doesn't have its wings spread.

Four spotted chasers and emperors were both present but as it was a cloudy and breezy afternoon they were not very active.

I was surprised to see a pair of mute swans on the pond this week.  Two were there on my first visit in week 13 but, having built a nest, they then disappeared.  I don't know if this is the same two.

I think the swans are causing some consternation to the Canada geese - maybe the ponds are not big enough for both to breed in the same season.  The goslings have grown up a lot in just a week and are now beginning to show their adult colours.

I hear lesser whitethroats every time I visit but this time I also managed to catch a glimpse of one.

A new butterfly this week was a ringlet.  Male and female are apparently almost identical in appearance.

I saw a female common blue for the first time although this one is a bit tatty.  She would probably say the same about me.