First dragonflies

My dragonfly season always seems to get off to a slow start - perhaps I am just too impatient. This year the weather has been poor with just an occasional sunny day in between all the rain, not good for dragonflies.  On 17th May, I eventually saw a dragonfly, a female Broad-bodied Chaser at Prudhoe.

A week later I saw an emerging Four-spotted Chaser at Gosforth Nature Reserve, a mile or so from here.  I was a few minutes too late to see the start but was able to watch as it pumped up its abdomen and wings.

Here it has climbed higher up the reed.  It is always amazing to compare the size of the nymph with the fully expanded dragonfly, a miracle of packaging.

I waited as it readied itself for its first flight.

I am hoping to see a dragonfly emerge from my new pond this year.  In between all the floods over the past six months I managed a bit of work to deepen one end and in doing so I saw several dragonfly nymphs which looked to be large enough to be ready for this year.  I put one of them in a tray of water for a few photos.  It was covered in silt so the photos aren't great but it was fun to try.

This must mean that a Broad-bodied Chaser laid eggs in the pond in 2022 in its first season, even though I didn't see one there that year.  I am now checking the pond every morning in the hope of seeing an emergence.

A hornet in the garden

Four days ago in the meadow I spotted something large and yellow out of the corner of my eye but it flew off before I could see what it was.  Armed with a camera I stood waiting for another view and after a few further brief glimpses I got a couple of blurry photos to confirm it was a European Hornet queen (Vespa crabro).

The hornet was flying around the trees, looking as though it was searching for a nest site rather than hunting.  Yesterday I was standing by the pond in the meadow when the hornet flew down for a drink.  One thing I have learnt is always to carry a camera in the meadow so this time I was ready for it.

An hour later it was back for more water.  Hornets collect water to use with chewed dead wood to make the papier-mâché they use to build their nests so I am very hopeful this one has a nest nearby, perhaps even in the garden.  If it sticks around you can expect more photos here.

Hornets are present in most of England and Wales but are rare in the north.  I was pleased to find that this is the most northerly confirmed British record.  This image shows records in iRecord with mine in red.

I am about 2km north of Gosforth Nature Reserve where hornets were present in 2018 but haven't been seen since early the following year.  Here are a couple of my favourite photos from then.

An Aussie ladybird

A new ladybird for me, this is a native of Australia but was found in ivy in my mother's garden in Northamptonshire.  Rhyzobius forestieri eats scale insects and because of this has been introduced to various parts of the world as a biological control agent, notably to California in the 1890s and to Mediterranean countries in the 1980s to control scale insects on olive trees.  It was first reported in England in the garden of the Natural History Museum, presumably because there was someone there who could recognise it, and has since spread out across the South East and Midlands and has been added to the list of established British ladybirds.

Rhyzobius forestieri is small and black and covered in wavy white hairs.  The abdomen underneath is orange and this one obligingly rolled over for a photo of its tummy.

Blue tits in the camera nest box

Exciting news from my nest box camera.  The box was put up in 2009 and had a nest every year until 2019, first with great tits, once with tree sparrows and for nine years with blue tits.  The tree sparrows were a nuisance because they built their nest so the camera couldn't see in, so there is now a 28mm entrance plate over the hole to allow only blue tits access.  For the last four years the box was unused, although in one year a nest was nearly completed and then abandoned, probably because a sparrowhawk took the occupant.

This year things have looked more encouraging.  I checked the camera every few days and noticed nest material first on 20 April.

From 04 May the female was sleeping in overnight, usually a sign that egg-laying is imminent.

And two days ago, on 06 May, the first egg.

Yesterday I think there was a second egg, although it wasn't easy to see, and today I expect we are up to three but the bird has covered them over while she is out.

In the nine years that the box was used by blue tits building started between 09 March and 04 April.  The first egg was laid from 23 April - 10 May with clutches of 2-11 eggs.  The later the first egg, the smaller the clutch tended to be.  The total of eggs in nine year was 52, of which 51 hatched and all 51 fledged.

Three years ago I modified the box by putting in a slightly angled false back wall and moving the camera up and back as far as it will go so as to give a view of the whole of the floor and the entrance hole.  Looking at it now the focus is a bit too close so the nest is slightly out of focus but it is too late to do anything about it this year.  It will be fine once the chicks are hatched.

The camera and the software are old and the only computer compatible with them is my 16 year old Sony.  So I am keeping my fingers crossed that the sparrowhawk doesn't take one of the parents and the camera and computer last long enough to see the birds fledge.  I'll put regular updates on a separate page accessible via Nestbox Cam 2024 at the top of the blog.

WeaselCam and StoatCam in April

Stoats and weasels continue to turn up regularly on the garden trail cameras but I don't think either animal is living here.  Over the 30 days of April there were 14 weasel visits and 10 stoat visits.  In one eight day period there were five stoat sightings, three on camera and two by me looking out of the window.

I caught another mouse in the roof and retrieved it after perhaps two or three days.  I put it in the camera box for a couple of days but it attracted no attention so I put it outside, in view of the second camera.  A weasel eventually came to collect it when it was about a week old, so presumably not very appetising.  Weasels are used to their prey being stolen by magpies and crows so this one immediately brought its prize in under cover, before getting a better grip and running off with it.

I think most of the weasels and stoats I am seeing are males and this perhaps discourages any females.  This weasel, however, I think is a female, noticeably smaller and slimmer than a male.

One thing I have learned - stoats don't like the camera box.  I have only once had a glimpse of each a male and a female stoat in the camera box but they are in the garden fairly regularly.  It may be that the entrance pipes are a bit small for them at 100mm but they are the largest that will fit the box.  Or perhaps stoats prefer more open areas to hunt in.

Another lesson is how often the cameras miss a weasel or stoat when I might expect a recording.  There are five cameras in various places - both the camera boxes are also covered from outside but often only one of the inside or outside camera will record.  I think this is partly because the animals are too quick for the cameras and perhaps because they sometimes don't appear in the "trigger zones".  Even when there is a recording it is usually very brief.  Here are a few glimpses of stoats (perhaps all the same one) in slow motion.

Weasels, on the other hand, continue to visit the boxes but even then the views are brief.  Here are a few glimpses of weasels, all but the last at normal speed.  Although weasels are said to hunt day and night I have never seen one on the cameras at night.  The black and white infrared clip in this sequence was after dawn but not yet light enough for the camera to be in colour mode.