Dragonfly emergence

In the years I have been watching dragonflies I have never witnessed an emergence.  Until now. After a cold wet spring we have finally had some sunny weather and our first four-spotted chasers are on the wing.  Yesterday I was out fairly early in the hope of seeing just this when I noticed a nymph on a dead reed about 40cm above the water.  It was still moving and getting comfortable so I sat down to watch at 09.30.

All movement stopped and at 09.45 the first split along the back of the thorax began to appear.

The split extended to the back of the head and the head appeared.

Then the dragonfly gradually hauled itself out until only its abdomen was still in the exoskeleton.

It hung like that for quite a few minutes until at 10.09 it suddenly sprang forward, grasped the exuvia and pulled out the rest of its abdomen.

Then over the next hour the wings and the abdomen slowly expanded.  At the same time the body was darkening and the wing spots began to appear.

The dragonfly's position was changing as it was being blown about in the breeze and the wings suddenly opened at 11.13.

The next stage was to climb up onto the exuvia and a few minutes later to climb higher up the reed.

It sat in the sunshine at the top of the reed for several minutes and then suddenly flew off, exactly two hours after the whole process started.  This dragonfly is male and he will stay away from the water while he hunts and builds up his strength for a few days.  Then he'll return and go on patrol in the hope of finding a mate.  

This was one of the most amazing things I have seen in a long time, even though I knew what was going to happen.  To watch an ugly water-breathing nymph turn into a beautiful, air-breathing, flying dragonfly was mesmerising.

Night owl

This was a thrilling encounter.  I was sitting hoping to see a badger when a tawny owl landed right in front of me, about 5m away.  It was staring intently but facing away from me, presumably hoping to find a mouse or a rat.  The owl sat for ten minutes but then a badger came up behind it.  The owl was increasingly distracted by the badger and kept turning round to watch it. Eventually it gave up and flew off.  It was a memorable experience.

I recorded video to avoid any shutter noise from the camera and found I could get the owl to look towards me by making what I hoped were mouse-like noises.  The photo above is a frame grab from the video.  The owl sat completely motionless for several seconds at a time so I have edited this short extract.  The camera was hand-held but the result is not too bad.

Badgerwatch

I have been lucky enough to see badgers before and from time to time I have targeted them with trail cameras but I don't think I have ever been able to take a photo.  This was a real treat.

An exciting night on OtterCam

I am still not completely sure what went on here.  This episode was seen by three cameras which between them recorded 64 video clips of 20 seconds each over the course of 20 minutes. That is by far the most otter activity I have seen on the cameras in four years and the first time I have seen four otters together.

To give an idea of the excitement and chaos I'll post the first clip from each of the three cameras separately.

This is how it started.  This is the view from the top camera.  The mother otter appeared to challenge the dog at the edge of the water before chasing him in, back out, and back in again. The dog was unsure of the female's intentions and jumped out again, just as a startled cub appeared.  There are no cuts in the video.

Here is the simultaneous recording from the middle camera.

The bottom camera was slightly slower to trigger and the first two otters were already entering the water as it started recording.

Here is a version with the three cameras cut together.

After that there was a lot of splashing in the water, mostly out of view as I don't have camera looking out over the water.  At the very beginning of the next video the two adult otters were in the water together and they swam off leaving the cubs squeaking on the bank.  Eventually it calmed down bit and over the next few minutes both of the cubs went into the water and swam out of view.  I can't show it all but here is a taste of the activity. These are fragments and not consecutive.

Several minutes later the dog got out and came up the bank.  Another five minutes later mother came out and hurried up the bank with the two cubs keeping very close to her.  And then three minutes later the dog went back in and swam off and there were no more recordings that night.

I think this is the dog showing interest, the mother either warning him off or, perhaps more likely, encouraging him, and the cubs frightened and puzzled by it all.  The cubs will leave the mother soon and either before or after that the female will be interested in mating again to start another litter.  The dog is likely to hang around until his luck changes.  It will be interesting to see if the cubs are still with their mother next week.

Comings and goings on OtterCam

Most of my cameras are positioned on a short trail where the otters go in and out of the water but it is also where they are repeatedly scent marking.  It tells them who is about and they sniff every time, even if they don't leave a message.  They often sniff the camera as well, just to check it is mine.  Here they are going back down into the water in daylight.  As usual, the smaller one isn't keeping up.

And here is the dog, calling in to check his messages.

The otters more often turn up on the cameras at night.  Here the cubs are both keeping up with mother as they get out of the water but the smaller one is lagging behind again when they return.

There has been plenty of otter activity recently.  More news to follow.

The one that got away

I hear a bird strike on the kitchen window from time to time and it is usually caused by a bird fleeing from a sparrowhawk attack.  Like all good strikers, the sparrowhawk is experienced enough to anticipate the rebound.  When I went to look this time I saw the sparrowhawk swoop down from the tree to below the window.  By standing on a chair I could see it had caught a female great spotted woodpecker.  A woodpecker is a fair-sized catch (80g) for a male sparrowhawk (150g) and it was putting up a fight.  The fight moved towards the next window so I went round to the sitting room.  As I approached the window I saw a magpie dive down to attack, perhaps hoping to steal the catch.  By the time I reached the window all three birds had gone and all that was left was a few feathers.

I couldn't be sure what had happened - at best either the woodpecker got away or the sparrowhawk escaped with its prize, or at worst the pirate stole it.  Then the next day I saw a tatty-looking female woodpecker on the feeders with a lot of missing feathers so I think this is the same bird.  It obviously escaped when the magpie attacked the sparrowhawk.

One thing is for sure, the sparrowhawk will be back.