A walk round the pond - week 30

The hot dry weather continued until yesterday but in the last 24 hours we have had rain.  I reckon the smaller pond is at least 20cm below normal level and the larger one 30cm below.  There is a little more rain in the forecast but I expect it may not do much to refill the ponds, although it may at least refresh the vegetation.  Ruddy darters were still the most numerous dragonflies this week.  There were several mating pairs.

Common darters are around but I saw only one male with mature colouring and he was camera shy.  His outfit was a perfect match for the berries.

Emperors, four-spotted chasers and common hawkers were all flying but this week I saw no black darters, although I expect they are still around.  Common blue, blue-tailed and emerald damselflies are still present as well.

There were plenty of burnet moths.  It isn't always easy to count the spots but these look like six-spot burnets, whereas a few weeks ago I was seeing five-spot burnets.

One of this pair has orange spots.

They were joined on their flower by a male red-tailed bumblebee looking for nectar.

I did monthly the bumblebee walk for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust this week and saw far more bees than in previous months.  It was hot a sunny and most were feeding on common knapweed.  This one is a common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum).  You can tell he is male because he has no pollen baskets on his hind legs and has 13 segments in his antennae (as opposed to 12 in a female).  In the second photo there is a scorpion fly in the background.

The continuing warm weather has also been good for butterflies.  This week I saw lots of peacocks,

and a small copper,

and some fresh-looking walls, presumably from a second emergence as there have been none for the past few weeks.

The green woodpeckers were much in evidence and I now recognise their squeaky contact calls.  I saw four but whether they are all youngsters or one is an adult I couldn't say.  I also found a stone surrounded by smashed snail shells which I am sure is a song thrush's anvil.

I haven't seen the little grebes for many weeks although I have heard them calling from the reeds.  This week they reappeared with a second brood of five chicks.

One parent caught what looks like a tadpole but it seemed to be a bit too big for the chicks.  It was offered and passed around for several minutes but I didn't see if one of the chicks managed to swallow it.

Two of the chicks preferred to take a ride on mum's (or dad's) back.

And - for the first time since my first walk in week 13 - no Canada geese.  The youngsters must have grown strong enough to fly but they have left the place looking a bit like the morning after at a festival site.  I'll hope for a pair of swans instead next year.