Well, the neck's not gotten any better, but due to going slightly stir-crazy [I have been out, just not for fun..] I decided to do something anyway and see what happened. Having been woken up at 5-30am by the Herrings dive-bombing an adult Geeb [it was utterly unimpressed by their efforts] may have had something to do with my decision... Wasn't intending anything major, though, just a damselfly hunt.
Having heard report of a proper dragonfly hunter seeking Small Red-eyed Damselflies in the vicinity of the Old Sludge Beds [back in June, and with no luck], I figured it was worth a shot as they were now out at the Axe [see Steve Waite's blog for details and pretty pictures]. I had been thinking about heading over there, but as I'm trying to be good and burn less petrol, going half the distance seemed worth a shot.
Arriving to find more wind than I'd hoped for, I set off down the canal in more sunshine than I'd feared I'd get [especially having been ambushed by sea mist on the coast road!]. As ever, the wind was blowing the delicate aroma of the sewage works my way [[I think its some kind of Inevitable Law, that whichever way you approach, you always get the smell blown at you....]] but despite the wind, there were plenty of damsels knocking about on the patches of floaty weed, plus the usual patrolling Emperors. Common Blue and Azure Damselflies were unsurprisingly present, and there were good numbers of regular flavour Red-eyed Damselflies sitting on the weed [or maybe that should be 'hanging on to-', the breeze was pretty brisk]. Still in the mouth-breathing zone I found what I was looking for - not just a Small Red-eyed, but a paired couple! They were sat by a small gap in the weed, but didn't appear to be ovipositing. Then a male Red-eyed landed by them and showed what a Big Boss Damselfly he was in comparison - at this point I went for a photo [with my Paparazzi Setup* all ready, I was hopeful] and of course the little gits moved... This turned out to be something of a theme - and as they never got that close to any of my viewpoints, I didn't get a single Small Red-eyed shot [not that I'm too broken up over it, but it would have been nice, you know?].
Moving to the Sludge Beds themselves, I had a nice time trying to tune out everything and imagine it was 3000 years earlier.. Why? Well, they've got some neat little walkways there through the reeds - two planks wide, with the reeds right there, and if you can tune out the M5, the planes, the sewage works, and the pylons [I never said it was easy! ;) ] you could almost be back with the ancestors..
Ok, I'm a romantic idiot sometimes.
Amid much singing from the Chiffchaffs, there were the expected Reed and Cetti's Warblers, plus a surprised Water Rail and a flypast of 5 Little Egrets in formation. Whilst trying to photo a particularly vexing Comma, a gorgeous form violacea Blue-tailed Damselfly flew past me and struck a pose. Much better! :D I got a shot of the Comma, despite its best 'fly at the last second or just hold your wings shut' routine - it probably won't come out....
What must have been one of the last Hairy Dragonflies buzzed past me on one of the paths, and back by the canal, singles of Black-tailed Skimmer, 4-spotted Chaser, and I think a Keeled Skimmer added to the species count. I thought the chaser was going to pose for me, but as soon as I opened the first section of my monopod, off he went! Git. I had a couple more sightings of Small Red-eyed among the big ones [ratio of maybe 8 big to every Small - possibly more, as I never saw more than 3 Small at once] but there were a lot of might have beens, as much of the reeds were too tall to easily see over and the damsels were clustering behind the little fake islands to shelter from the wind rather than coming close to the banks.. Not just 'might have been' Small Red-eyeds, either, as a hawker sp. zipped past twice, too close and fast for me to be sure which one it was ["Too much black for an Emperor and too big, wrong flight and not enough black for a Hairy" was all I could say. {Ok, that's quite a bit, but not enough to say what it was}].
Wanting to avoid the rush hour, and melting in the heat, I headed back up towards the car park, pausing only on the causeway, to watch a funny-looking female Emperor ovipositing. I think she must have been a hot [I know they change abdomen colour depending on temperature, but I didn't think they were 2-colour?] over-mature one. I nearly tried a photo, but traffic and time made me think better of it. [[It's amazing how many vehicles go back and forward on that road - tankers you expect, but all the vans and cars??]]
*Paparazzi Setup; my ME Super with my Big Lens [a whole 75-300mm zoom - entirely manual, of course!] with very OTT shade, mounted on an Opticron monopod I got free when I bought my li'l scope [and haven't used since, of course...]. I'm hoping this will give me some stability, and thus maybe even something recognisable [::knocks on assorted pieces of wood::]. You never know....
I'm still thinking about tarting over to Brucklands - the dragons there seem to be shameless posers..... ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment