While the cat's away, the mice will play

Or in this case, while the sparrowhawk is away all the small birds will make the most of it.  The trail camera is set up to watch the new sparrowhawk perch in the kitchen garden but it records a lot of other birds while he is away.  Even when the coast is clear they are still very much on edge.  Here is a taste.

There is a surprising amount of activity after dark, including this rather indecisive wood mouse.

A walk round the pond - Week 32

I managed one fairly short visit to the pond this week on a sunny but windy afternoon.  There were lots of darters about including many mating pairs like these ruddy darters.

I was there around tea time and a female ruddy darter was tucking in to what looks like a solitary wasp of some kind.

A male common blue damselfly was munching on a small moth.

Other damsels were azure,

blue-tailed,

and emerald.

There were several male emperors but they were busy flying and fighting.  I guess their season will be over soon - it probably already is for the chasers as there were none to see, or perhaps they didn't like the wind.  This has been a very different season from last year.  Apart from the brief sighting of a female southern hawker last week I haven't seen hawkers.  Last year common hawkers were here by week 26 and migrant hawkers by week 32.  And no black darters yet - they appeared in week 29 last year.

The knapweed is now in full flower and there were lots of butterflies, including peacock,

meadow brown,

speckled wood,

and green-veined white.

Moorhen chicks are generally very shy but these two felt safe enough across the far side.

I could see and hear several young willow warblers, still going around in a gang.

I am hoping for some dragonfly-friendly weather next week to see a black darter and a hawker (any hawker would be nice).

A walk round the pond - Week 25

At last there are more four-spotted chasers - patrolling, chasing, and occasionally basking so I can get a photo.

I saw no emperors this week and haven't seen one since the teneral male three weeks ago.  Maybe the recent unsettled weather hasn't suited them.  There are plenty of blue damselflies, both azure and common blue,

large red damselflies,

and blue-tailed damselflies.

Butterflies this week included more painted ladies,

more large skippers,

more common blues.

and several speckled woods.

The site is home to several pairs of willow warblers.  The odd one is still singing but there are lots of calls so I occasionally catch sight of one.

I heard another call I didn't recognise, sounding like a persistent alarm call.  I eventually got a glimpse of the source - a garden warbler.  You can hear the alarm call in a xeno-canto recording here.

The garden warbler was joined at one point by two willow warblers and they were all troubled by something low down in the hedge, although I couldn't see what it was.  A stoat or weasel perhaps.  Both birds nest close to the ground.

A walk round the pond - Week 23

At last!  Some dragonflies.  As I started walking back to leave yesterday morning I saw something flying ahead of me, just above the reeds.  Its silver wings were glinting in the sunshine as it dropped down into the reeds.  When I caught up I couldn't see anything at first and then I spotted this.

It is a teneral male emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator) which had just made its maiden flight.  It was sunning itself as its wings continued to harden.

After a while it flew a few metres farther from the water to rest in the grass.  The abdomen will turn bright blue as it matures.

You can see how well it is camouflaged, useful as at this stage it isn't a strong flier.

This is just about as far north as the emperor gets.  Here is the distribution map on iRecord for the past 10 years.

The emperor wasn't the only new dragonfly of the week.  Four weeks later than last year I finally saw a four-spotted chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata).  There were only three, whereas by this time last year there were probably a couple of dozen flying around.  I don't know why the delay as the other species have emerged on time - the emperor was on precisely the same date as I first saw one last year.

There were many dozens of blue damselflies this week, mostly common blues.

These azure damselflies came to grief in an old spider's web.

These two were also being harassed by another male.

There were still plenty of large red damselflies.

But only occasional blue-tailed damselflies.

Butterflies this week included common blue,

dingy skipper,

and small copper.

A couple of other interesting insects I saw were this ichneumonid, one of the 2500 UK species,

and a beautiful bejewelled beetle, one of the 4000 UK species.

Plenty of warblers were still singing including blackcaps, chiffchaffs, common whitethroats and willow warblers.  All were typically shy but I did spot a willow warbler.

Long-tailed tits are much more obliging.  There was a large tribe in the hedges, with many young fledglings.

This is a youngster (R) with an adult (L).

Next week I hope to see more chasers and an emperor on patrol.