The next generation of woodpeckers

It's the second week of June, so time for a post on young woodpeckers.  I always look out for them in early June, or more correctly listen out for them as I hear them first when they arrive in the garden, but this year the first one arrived on 31st May, probably the earliest ever here.  I don't take so many bird photos these days but I always enjoy this subject.  These few were distilled down from several hundred photos taken through the kitchen window in the past few days.

The honeymoon is over on OtterCam

Well it was fun while it lasted.  The courtship began in early May, only two nights after the cameras last saw the mother and cubs together.  The female was very excited and noisy and seemed to be leading the male on.  The noisy phase lasted for three nights but my cameras are in only two positions and so we don't know what was going on elsewhere.  As I reported last time the male and female otters were still going around together after eight nights and seemed very comfortable in each other's company.

After 13 nights they turned up again, still very much a couple, and 15 minutes later one of the cubs appeared, still calling for his mother.

Then after 19 days they were still together, this time in daylight, rolling around on all the willow catkins and looking very relaxed.

The last time I saw them together was 22 days after courtship began but this time one was chasing the other and I expect they have now gone their separate ways.  It isn't easy to tell who is chasing who.  The first one seems to have a broader head and so may be the male.

The cameras now show only single otters although on occasion they are only a few minutes apart.

Paul Chanin's book Otters says courtship lasts for "four or five days", after which they split up and resume a solitary existence.  In previous years that is what I have seen on the trail cameras so the prolonged time these two spent together is a surprise.  I think both cubs have now moved on and I no longer see a rather lost and squeaking otter.  I hope new cubs will be born in July (the otter's gestation is 63 days) and I'll be looking out for them in October.  News here when I have it.

Ladybirds spring into action

Time is pretty much up for the current generation of ladybirds.  They overwintered as adults and emerged from "hibernation" (diapause) in early spring.  Time for eating and mating and egg laying and then their course is run.  Eggs are already laid and larvae have emerged to begin the cycle all over again.  In winter the easiest place to find ladybirds is on old gravestones but in spring they move to places that will best provide food for the larvae, varying depending on the species.  Some of my favourites are pine tree specialists and these are a few of those I found on young Scots pines at Havannah Nature Reserve, just a couple of miles from here.

These are Eyed Ladybirds.

And Striped Ladybirds.

The third of these three Striped Ladybirds temporarily got a bit confused.  He soon realised his mistake, apologised, and went off to try his luck elsewhere.

Two 10-spot Ladybirds, both f decempunctata.

Two more 10-spot Ladybirds, the male f. decempuntata and the female f. bimaculata.

Two Pine Ladybirds.

And two Harlequin Ladybirds, both variations on f. succinea.

Ladybird eggs all look pretty much the same and can't be identified to species.  These are on a pine needles which narrows it down a bit.

Most of the larvae are distinctive and can be identified to species.  This is a Striped Ladybird.

This is a 7-spot Ladybird.

And this is a Pine Ladybird.

This is what the larvae like to eat, a Large Pine Aphid (Cinara pinea).

The colours and markings of our brightly coloured "conspicuous" ladybirds are often said to be aposematic (denoting colours or markings that serve to warn or repel predators) but it struck me that on pine buds they can work as camouflage as well.  Look at these Striped Ladybirds,

a 10-spot Ladybird,

and an 18-spot Ladybird,

Maybe it's a bit of both but they aren't easy for me to see.  I'll be looking out for the new generation later in the summer.

Beautiful and Hairy

The dragonfly season is well underway.  The first I saw this year was an immature male Broad-bodied Chaser in Gosforth Nature Reserve on 9th May, also the first sighting of a dragonfly in Northumberland this year.

A few days later I saw three Broad-bodied Chasers emerge from my pond but so far they haven't returned (while I was watching) and no more have appeared.  My next dragonflies were two male Four-spotted Chasers on 19th May, again in Gosforth Nature Reserve.  They were already patrolling and chasing so they must have emerged a few days earlier, unnoticed.

At the weekend I was down in Northamptonshire and saw lots of Beautiful Demoiselles, a species that is not recorded in the North East, although it does occur in Cumbria and on the west coast of Scotland.  This is a mature male.

And an immature male with brown eyes and brown wings.

This is a female.

I also saw one male Banded Demoiselle, a species that we do see up here.

On the way home I called in at RSPB Old Moor near Barnsley and had my first good sighting of Hairy Dragonflies, two males and a fleeting glimpse of an ovipositing female.  This one is also unknown in the North East.  Eventually one of the males landed for long enough for me to take a few photos, even though it was a fair way off and the photo is heavily cropped.  It doesn't look hairy in the photo but closer up the body is a bit furry, an adaptation to cooler weather in its early flight season.   Otherwise it looks a bit smaller and darker than the hawkers we see later in the summer.

This is just the start, with plenty to look forward to as the season progresses.  Let's hope it is a good one.

All change on OtterCam

A lot has happened since my most recent post on the local otters.  Last time the camera had shown an encounter between the dog otter and the female and cubs.  A few nights later they met again but the dog was much more forward, although at that stage the female was still discouraging him.  There was a lot of chasing going on and much of the action was off camera so it isn't easy to make a coherent story out of it but this video gives the flavour.

That was the last time the family were together.  Within two days the female was very noisily and excitedly chasing around and obviously encouraging the dog otter.  As far as I can see from the cameras the courtship went on for about three nights but they only sporadically appeared in front of my two camera positions.

Since then mostly only single otters have appeared on the cameras.  My impression is that the mother abandoned the cubs, rather than them leaving her, as for a few days one or both were showing up and calling for her, probably trying to work out what was going on.

There have been two episodes that I can't quite work out.  In the first, one otter (a male) was rolling and grooming for several minutes at the water's edge whilst another (squeaking) was mimicking its actions only 2-3 metres away.  Obviously the first knew the second otter was there but didn't acknowledge it.  When the first otter left the second came down to roll in the same place before following into the water.

Then a similar episode a couple of nights later and eight days after the noisy courtship started. These two seem to be getting on pretty well and I presume they are the dog and the female, still together.  They were certainly spooked by something at the end although nothing appeared on camera.

The recent otter family has been the most exciting to follow so far.  I hope the female will now be expecting more cubs in two months time and with luck they will appear on camera around October.  I'll keep a couple of cameras out all the time to check on what goes on.

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My very first home-grown dragonflies

This is something I have been looking forward to for ages.  This morning I saw the first dragonflies to emerge from the pond in my meadow.  The pond was dug in early 2022 so this is its fourth season.  In 2023 and 2024 it produced large red damselflies and azure damselflies. Also in 2023 I saw, separately, male and female broad-bodied chasers perched beside the pond. I hoped, but wasn't sure, that they had found each other and that I might see dragonflies emerge this year (the nymphs take two years to reach maturity).  Early last year I partially drained it to deepen one end and while doing so I found several chaser nymphs so things were looking promising.

I have been checking the pond each morning for the last few days.  I noticed large red damselflies two days ago and azure damselflies yesterday.  This morning I spotted a dragonfly nymph at 07.30, low down on a stem but accessible to a camera.

At 09.00 it climbed a bit higher and gave me a better view so I settled down to watch.  Despite the sunny forecast it was a cloudy morning and the light was poor so I used flash for most of the photos.  The nymph began to split along the back of the thorax at 09.25.

Then the dragonfly heaved out its head, thorax and most of the abdomen and hung upside down of several minutes.

At 10.02 it suddenly swung forward, the legs grasped the exuvia and the rest of the abdomen came free.

Then began the slow process of expanding the wings and abdomen.  I could confirm by this stage it was a female broad-bodied chaser.  It was interesting to see how rapidly the colours were changing as well.

At 12.13 the wings suddenly clicked open.

Ten minutes later I was surprised to see the wings closed again.

By 12.47 the wings were reopened and stayed that way.

The dragonfly climbed to the top of the plant and flew off at 13.10, three and three-quarter hours after the whole process began.

While she was still expanding her wings the dragonfly shifted position and as I moved to get a better view I noticed another one only about six inches behind her but more hidden in the vegetation and a bit behind in the process of eclosion.

After the female had gone I switched attention to the second dragonfly and could see it was a male broad-bodied chaser.

Eventually it also climbed higher before flying so I could get a better view.

While I had been watching these two a third newly emerged chaser, another female, flew into the grass at the far side of the pond and, after fluttering for a few moments, flew up into the trees. Broad-bodied chasers are rather like London buses - you wait ages for one and then three come along all at once.

The female will remain yellow but will become broader and darker with age.  The male's abdomen will quickly become royal blue and then turn pale powdery blue as he reaches maturity. Newly emerged dragonflies fly away from the water and spend a few days hunting, feeding and gaining strength and maturity.  The males return to hold a territory and the females come back to the water to mate and lay eggs.  I'll be keeping an eye out for them.  And don't worry, there will be more otter news here soon!