A walk round the pond - Week 28

There was a bit of a commotion when I arrived at the pond yesterday morning.  Fifteen greylags had arrived and were cruising up and down while the ten resident Canada geese watched from the bank.

The greylags moved into the middle of the pond which gave the Canadas the opportunity to get into the water.

After the two groups eyed each other warily (and noisily) the greylags moved farther up the pond.

The Canadas then manoeuvred into battle formation and set off after them.

The male Canada led the attack while the rest of his family got into blocking positions.

The greylags were split up for a while but eventually managed to regroup back where they started.

There was a lot more honking and wing flapping but suddenly the greylags decided they had had enough and they took off, circling once before flying away to the east, hoping to find somewhere a bit more peaceful.

The young Canadas can't fly yet but they do a lot of practice take-off runs.  I hope they'll be off soon and we can all get a bit of peace.  There is also a family of mallards on the pond with the youngsters nearly full grown.

Yesterday was rather grey and still so there was less dragonfly activity.  I saw only one four-spotted chaser.

And one emperor across the other side.

This time last year ruddy darters were more numerous than common darters but this year the opposite is true.

This common darter was struggling to fly for obvious reasons.  Damage like this sustained during emergence is not rare.

I saw no large red damselflies this week so maybe their season is already over.  The commonest damsel now is the emerald damselfly.

There are still lots of common blues,

azures,

and blue-tailed damselflies.

I am trying to learn one new moth a week.  This is a shaded broad-bar.

One I have seen before, a brown china mark

And one of many five-spot burnet moths.

Despite the mainly cloudy weather I saw lots of butterflies, especially ringlets and meadow browns.  There were also common blues,

small heaths,

and small skippers.

So not many dragonflies around and I still haven't seen a common hawker this year.  Maybe next week.

More demoiselles

Last weekend I was down south and took the opportunity to walk down to the river to see the demoiselles.  This is peak season for them so there were plenty around and most were in mature colours.  These are male and female beautiful demoiselles (Calopteryx virgo).

And these are male and female banded demoiselles (Calopteryx splendens).  I am a bit puzzled that the second female has no wing spots, possibly because she is not fully mature.

Nearby was a male white-legged damselfly (Platycnemis pennipes), an uncommon species found only in the south of the country.

Friend or foe?

As a general rule in life if something is bigger and meaner than you are it is best avoided.  There is a lot to learn for a young woodpecker.  What to eat and where to find it.  Who can be bossed on the feeder and who to give way to.  This youngster was happily trying out the seeds on the feeder when a bully turned up.

The woodpecker's initial plan was to stand its ground but a wood pigeon (600g) looks menacing when you are 75g.

The pigeon wasn't in the mood for sharing and began to chase it round the other side.

Then the woodpecker slipped over the edge and ended up dangling from the tray.

After a very undignified couple of minutes it fell off.

Once on the ground it tried to look unconcerned but was keeping a wary eye on the pigeon.

The pigeon, meanwhile, was giving to woodpecker a menacing stare to discourage it from flying back up.

I am fascinated by the way the birds can tell the difference between a large grey bird flying towards them (a wood pigeon) and large grey bird flying towards them (a sparrowhawk), processing the information fast enough to make a split-second life and death decision on whether to stay or flee.  Once you know it is a wood pigeon you have a bit longer to decide what to do.