Er, Yeah. Stuff To Report On.

It's the mostcrazyful time of the year, so this will be short and to the point.

No, really.

Friday and I zipped off after work and found a) Warleigh Point DWT [which is very nice] and b) the Velvet Scoter lurking in proximity to it.

Velvet showed very well, and scarfed five not at all small crabs while I was there. Legs and all.

I was impressed.

Saturday, my head decided to foil my plans. This was extra vexatious as The Teacher found a Hawfinch ON THE DECK at the Nose.

I've never even had a flyover there. Or anywhere else on Patch.

Bugger.

Sunday. the head was behaving but I had Things to Do. I got to the Nose first anyway. Lots of Blackcaps, lots of Common Scoter, an few GNDs, one calling. Four Grey Seals, a few Common Dolphins. A Painted Lady was nearby, basking in the windy sunshine. Look at my socials.

😇

Up Exe way some time later and I found nothing particularly noteworthy, though lots of waders and a few Brents around, which is always nice.

Closer to Home,  [Right at it, as it happens] a female Blackcap has turned up [best thing that happened on Saturday]. She has a metal ring, which is not only upside down, but very hard to read as she naturally splits her time between trying to kill the male and terrorising everything smaller than a Blackbird... I have '..T075..' with the 5 a touch speculative.

That's it.

Be Seeing You...

The North Wind Blows: Surf's Up!

I had something important to do on Saturday, but was able to find an hour to answer The Call from my fellow Irregulars;  "Big scoter at the Nose!"

Big-nosed scoter at the Nose; a 1w Surf Scoter was with 5 f-type Common Scoter in Hope Cove, closest to Black Head and so best viewed from Bishop's Walk.

Twitter and Bluesky have lots of pics and video, but gaggle still suck, so nothing here. [Be grateful, mine aren't good]

Still there the following morning, as I stopped in on a patrol of the lee side of the peninsula, hoping for something else sheltering from the NW now N-NE blast.

A fair-sized for these days group of about 45 [couldn't count accurately with the swell; couldn't even get them all in a photo!] Common Scoter were out by the Buoy Farm, and a few Gannets were tootling about. The shelter at Meadfoot had persons, assorted in, so I had to reesort to going to the cafe and buying a coffee to do a scope scan [oh, the sacrifices we make]. I'd brought rations, so no chips, btw.

I found 2 GNDs on the sea, and a Razorbill flew N while a Guillemot flew S.

Wow.

On to the Harbour, where on the Real Living Coast I found there were at least 8 Sandpipers Purple, in small groups among the boulders. 

Anglers on the end of the pier [not allowed to do that, but they didn't care] meant I had to go around and scan the upper Bay from Princess, where 2 more GNDs, 1 GCG, and a Grey Seal [plus of course the usual plethora of Shags and Cormorants] were all to be seen on the sea. A nicely dark and streaky Guillemot was in the Outer Harbour, too.

One GND came close enough for half-decent photos, but my hoped-for BNG, let alone anything sexier, was not to be had.

Nothing better than Firecrest in terms of land birds, and that calling and resolutely not showing.

So, WAHOOOOOOO!!! for first Surfer on the deck at the Nose, and a well-twitched easily watchable one, too [much better].

Be Seeing You...

Borrowed Powers

Circumstances saw me at Dawlish Warren at lunchtime today, where I would spend some hours looking for a Dusky Warbler that turned up earlier in the week. In very un-Dusky style, it has been tarting about in the grass in front of all and sundry like an Olive-backed Pipit, when it should be hiding in bushes and showing once an hour if you're very lucky.

Today it seemed someone had told the bird that, as after showing it was still present to LC first thing, it then vanished.

Others saw BlackRed and Firecrest while searching the most salubrius bit of the Warren the DW had chosen; right next to the gokarts and pirate golf, by the railway line.  I didn't.

A lovely male Bullfinch did show up for myself and KR, which I will stick a pic of up on butterflies at some point, but the Dusky was not having it, it seemed. We walked a good loop of every possible bit we could think of, but no joy. A Song Thrush and the Bullfinch again was the best that could be found.

 

All others had already abandoned hope, and the weather was closing in with intent, so Kev too called it a day [he has seen it, I believe, a few times to be fair]. I'd wandered back to the car park with him, so did one last loop through the main area on my way back to where I was parked [as I refuse to pay what would be extortionate summer rates in winter; Teignbridge Council can go BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP]. We had cheerily discussed the possibility of it showing for me, with me saying "I can see it popping up and going 'Nah nah, nobody'll believe you!' "..

And so I was slightly faster with the camera than I might have been if I was on my last gasp otherwise. The first view was just get on it and be sure, yes, but then it flew up to hide behind the pirate golf and I got a snapshot off. Amazingly I hit it, wings spread. Unamazingly, it was not at all in focus, but you could see it was not a Robin or a Wren or a Dunnock [or a BlackRed].

Pic [plus the same view without the bird in comparision. This is a Backward Birder record shot......] on the birdie. I will probably inflict it on butterfly, too.

It popped up by the gokarts, coming out of a teeny Pine in a small patch of cover by a sheltered bit of long grass - which is where it had probably been happily foraging while Kev and I were wandering everywhere else.! - zipping over to the corner where Lee had it in the morning. A couple of minutes later it nipped through a gap in the security fencing and into the thick Buddleias behind the pirategolf, along the railway line. I gave it half an hour, then ten minutes more. No further sign.

Time pressed, so I exited, stage left.

Also at least 9 GC Grebes offshore, with assorted divers seen by those who hadn't pinged their backs and could lug scopes about.

[It had been a fun morning]

Anyways, I'm sure there's more to say but now is not the time.

Be Seeing You...

[[Oh, the title? I'd been hanging around with legendary birders, and some of their bird-finding Power had rubbed off on me. I doubt it'll last, but it was fun seeing something and getting any kind of pic. :) ]]

Late Again

And I don't even have 'had to wait until I sorted the photos out' as an excuse any more... Oh dear.

Been a bit under the weather, for various reasons, but I was determined to get out, depite having Things to Do as well.

Bearded Tits have been seen on the upper Exe reedbeds on and off, and they're on the 'to do' list, so I figured it was worth a try, being in the area anyway on Sunday and having lunch and the afternoon to play with.

Needless to say, they weren't having any of it and I got not a sniff.

I did run into a very nice Siberian Chiffchaff at Dart's Farm ponds; quite likely fresh in, as there seems to have been an influx of eastern birds over the weekend. I heard it first, among sporadic standard Chiff calls coming from the Penduline bit [IYKYK]. A group of maybe 4 or 5 warblers were actively feeding in there and the muddy Snipe field next to it and fairly soon a wonderful grey and white type Sibe appeared. Would it let me get a shot? Would it BLEEP ...

But one Chiff did actually pose, and you can see it Over There or Over There if you feel like it.

The usual Kingfisher was even more mobile after being flushed by a Cormorant [yes, really; it came in to land, saw me and took off emergency style] before I could get it, and the Cetti's wasn't showing at all but that's not a surprise. No wildfowl or waders other than a handful of Canadas and Mutes was, though.

No Brambling among the finches and pipits and wagtails, either.

The Exe herself had the family of Black Swans at Topsham Rec [['not self-sustaining' my arse Ahem.]], a few gulls and a flyby Common Sand. A lot of the usual waders further downstream, including Avocets off the Goatwalk 😁 A juv Marsh Harrier dropped into the reeds opposite the Quay, which may go some way to explain why nothing else popped up from said reeds.!

Loads of ducks on Bowling Green [that's where they all were hiding] including 24+ Pintail, 86+ Shoveler, and the 1w male Scaup [right at the back in the awful light, the rotter...]

The birds have been ravenous on my feeders with tits in good numbers particularly, though worryingly I haven't seen any Greenfinches for a while, now...

In case I haven't mentioned it, I caught the male Blackcap on the fat feeder and while the photos are through angled glass with curtain reflections, they are point blank. [Which is why curtain reflections were necessary].

Ok, I think that'll do.

Be Seeing You...

Only Mad Dogs And Seawatchers Go Out In The Noonday Storm

Bert by name, frisky by nature. Sunday saw me able to get myself together in time to get out and see what was going by [sometimes backwards].

[[Now there are those who say you shouldn't go out in a weather warning, but this was only a Yellow, and it was very necessary for my mental health to do some seawatching, so we'll have no more of that]]

I got to the Nose not long after sunrise and was surprised to find absolutely nobody else there. Not even a Bass angler?!?

"No stamina, folk these days" mutters I as I manage to get down without being blown off my feet to Glonk Corner; well out of wave range, perhaps a little too out, but you can't have everything.

[I'd include a nice scenic shot to show you the impressive swell, but google still blow goats, so what can you do?]

I gave the sea 6 hours, though the last was more 'I don't want to get soaked packing up' than 'birds are still going by woo'. Then, having seen The Teacher turn up, I wandered over to find him cooing over a nice array of divers and scoter in Hope Cove. I didn't fancy climbing down into the Quarry, so I looked back over the Slick, where only common spp. were about [not even a Med. Tut.] and thus was looking the right way when a couple of Sandpipers Purple were kicked up by a wave.

:D

 

I got the odd photo, so go look at twitter [or bluesky if you're allergic to people you don't agree with] to see a couple, look at The Teacher's for better quality images of divers, too. More may well appear over the next few days, but not of birds so much.

This, having no character limit, is where numbers go, and you're expecting some, yesno?

Hope so as you're getting them.

Glonk Corner, 0810-1410

[All S]

Gannet                        227

Kittiwake                   544

Auks [Raz bar 2 Gu]  134

Little Auk                    1 [poss 2nd]   0855 [0908]

Fulmar                        29

Great Shearwater*        1     1026

Sooty Shearwater        2    1010, 1029

Manx Shearwater        1     1026

Shearwater sp.             1     1023

Bonxie                         1     0957

GN Diver                     2

Swallow**                       1    0919

wader sp.                     2 groups [heard only]

C Scoter                      14

Com Gull                    19

BH Gull                      31

LBB                            7

4 more GND on the sea, including one which flew in from the N. 12 more GND, 1 RTD, 3 C Scoter in Hope Cove so full totals are;

GND         18

RTD           1

C Scoter     17

Hourlies;

G  20, 59, 31, 76, 16, 25

K  191, 156, 78, 81, 23, 16

A  22, 43, 9, 34, 20, 5

F  3, 16, 8, 1, 1, 0

Spot where the front came through, the wind turned and eased, and the heavy rain started.!

All of the good stuff was in the leading or trailing edges of the vigourous if not feisty squalls that were a feature of the morning. Rain never really hard in them, but enough to hit visibility.

The Little Auk[s] came through on the Manx line [second was a very small auk, but I couldn't get enough on it in the gunk to rule out 1w Puffin], the shears were all outside it and seemingly angling out into Lyme Bay. The Bonxie came through inside the Lead Stone, which is why I got a half-decent picture. It was small and slight and dark and I confess I got a bit interested, but photos showed it had no wingmoult and a hint of rufous to the mantle, so just one of 'those Bonxies'.

One day.

A very rewarding - in variety if not numbers - watch, though I was really hoping for at least Little Gull if not a Leach's coming into the slick. The SWBCM was working all day, with lots of gulls always in attendance, but I guess you gets what you gets eyes on.

Be Seeing You...

[[* In late November?!? Climate change, people.]]

[[** Questioning its life choices, I suspect...]]

Autumn Afternoon

An Autumn Sunday afternoon by the Dart with the Folks and Sister the YoungerYounger was very pleasant, though with two Whisthounds it wasn't always peaceful.!

Though with chews of distraction employed, coffee and barmbrack went down well, and a couple of Dippers and a Goosander showed nicely, too.

As we were climbing back up from our spot, 2 late Swallows went over at treetop height; it's not quite Winter yet!

[Though with the drop in temperature today, you do wonder...]

At Home, it was 2 for 1 on Nuthatches on my feeders on Monday afternoon, with 3 Great, 3 Blue, 2 Coal Tits, 2 Dunnocks, a Robin working on getting at the newly re-positioned sunflower and pellets feeder [moved to foil Woodpigs and Magpies] while still trying to beat up the Great Tits.! [This was simultaneously; busy busy!]

Eyeing the forecast with interest..

Be Seeing You...

Halleluia. Sort of.

Dragged myself up and out and had a go at getting a better view and maybeevenyouneverknow a photo of the Pallid Harrier.

I failed.

I did succeed in getting a very nice view and even some grainy photos of the male Hen Harrier that's been knocking about the area, from The Pulpit [which is a stone circle, as religion in Devon goes back a Long Time]. Thus the title.

Amused, aren't you?

A flock of 11 Redwing were going to be the next best thing, but a Dipper gave me a flyby as I loitered about Cadover in vain hope of a last minute Pallid perforfmance.

I'd not been up Trowlesworthy Tors in many many years, so that was nice, too.

And nothing fell off the car this time, which was a bonus.

Be Seeing You...

Three Up North

After a slight delay due to technical issues [when bits fall off, you need to get them put back... Ahem] I was able to go filthy twitchin' up North.

Sandymere at Northam Burrows is basically a big puddle between a car park and a shingle bank. Not exactly the sort of place you'd expect to find waders, what with all the dogs running around.

But this is perhaps what's so appealing to the White-rumped Sandpiper that's settled there. Being a yank, it's pretty bomb-proof and just flies over to the other side when someone gets too close. More regular waders wouldn't tolerate anything mammalian within 30m at absolute least. So the WRS has the place and all the food - and there clearly is a lot it's finding - to itself.

This also means you can, with very little patience, get very close views indeed.

A  far better state of affairs than my last and only other in Devon, my view of which was largely a white arse flying off never to be seen again!

Ah, if you could see my pics. But gaggle still suck, so. ::shrugs::

Go look at various sightings sites, or twitter feeds.

I allowed myself a celebratory fried egg sarnie* at the caff [nice but pricey], tried a quick seawatch [epic fail], then headed over to Fremington, to seek out the first Slav Grebe in the county this year [what is going on?!?]

I had to toddle upstream a way and troll out over the sands [with care, I've seen SLAS], but it was there and lovely. The Glossy Isbis was visible on my way out along the Pill, so I stopped and zapped it immediately, as while I didn't need it for the year [remember? I got very soggy and cold and also a Green-winged Teal], there are principles.

Rewinding, and during my trip up the A361 - after I got off the duke but before I got to the Temporal Distortions Of Dooooom - I was very creditably able to keep driving in a nice straight line when a Short-eared Owl went overhead!

 

I'd been considering trying for one in the various places in t'North you can sometimes find them, if time permitted, but this was quite convenient.

Not very convenient, as then I would have been able to crash stop and get a picture or two for Over There, but you takes what the Goddess of Birding gives in Her wisdom.

So, three in a day and I've broken 230.

Result.

Be Seeing You...

[[* Not just a yeartick, but actual unequivocal photos, too!]]

Flurry of Goodies

Still place-keeping for now.

Normally October is the month for rares, but it seems the shift to November [and the clocks going back to where they should be] has had an effect.

It got to be a 'which do you try for?' yesterday, but with a Devon Tick versus a bird highly likely [as I thought] to get flushed off by hordes of dogs, that was also half the distance away, it really wasn't such a trial.

Unlike trying to get to and then find the darned thing.

A similar story on Friday with the Rosey Starling - allegedly at Whitford, certainly in a vast mass of regular-flavour Starlings roosting at Colyford Common/the Black Hole - where I could have just sat down and waited.. Ah well. Exercise is good for you, and all birding is worthwhile.

Reader, on my way back, having given up that the Pallid Harrier was anything other than a fly-through, and walking a different way back out of bloody-minded propriety, I flushed it. Got a lovely if very brief view of that spectacular arse [look at the photos; orange and white and dark and woooo] as it zipped off over the brow of Ringmoor Down [that's where it was all day; asleep in the long grass on a lee slope.].

Photo? I barely had time to get to get bins on it and start swearing.

Of interest,

The White-rumped Sand is still showing today, I understand. Despite being on a pool that is literally next to the car park with nothing to keep anyone off it.   Go figure.

Friday.  If I get my car fixed in time [Oh yes and that's another story]

Be Seeing You...

Note

I like Snow Buntings.

That's it.

Be Seeing You...

Insert Something Witty Here

I'd like to be able to put some lovely pictures of birds like Ring Ouzels, Whooper Swans, and so on, but that would involve a) actually having them and b) gaggle giving up.

Oh well.

I'm considering just going back to the Olden Dayes and being text only, with a few pics for those brave or foolhardy enough to go on twitter and find my presence there [though I'm almost as bad at posting as I am on here, dearie me]

Anyways, I've been out twitching winter swans and hunting down winter thrushes, and have even found my first lithic of the year [woo]

Also a few waxcaps, which were far more amenable to being photo'd.

Anyways,

I shall

Be Seeing You...

Happy October

 

Marked the start of the month with some filthy pre-work twitching of a gorgeous Black-winged Stilt on Exminster Marsh.

The Goddess of Birding rewarded my dedication with a surprise Pectoral Sandpiper; doubly surprising in that it even showed a couple of times.!!

 

 

Google still suck harder than a double-vortex vacuum cleaner.

 

 

Another wandering wader has turned up, but will I get to it, too?

 

We shall have to see.

 

 

 

Be Seeing You...

'Don't be evil'?  'Don't be greedy'.

Just Keeping The Dust Off

Gaggle still glow boats.

In other news, I'm under the weather.

In other other news, I went and saw a nice Long-billed Dowitcher and went and didn't see some nice Ruddy Shelduck.

I've also done skywatching and sunny day seawatching [this is what Great Big Scopes are for] and had a lovely day on t'Moor with t'Folks.

One day you might see some of this.

Be Seeing You..?

.........

::Kicks can down street::

::Whistles::

Google still suck.

Laters.

::Whistles nonchalantly::

Still waiting.

I've been seawatching when I can and horribly missing that fracking heron when I can't.

This included after work yesterday, when a reluctantly-enforced 'just one hour' at the Nose saw 625 Manxies, 2 Balearics, 10 assorted skuas, and various others coming by.. 😁 and indeed foraging not far to the NE

4 Common and 4 Green Sand, plus 2 LRP and 12+ Snipe were on Exminster and a Hobby overhead during my latest failure to photo that heron. 3 juv Knot and a Whimbrel were where the Little Stint and Curlew Sand weren't at DW the day before. Though a glorious BTD was increasingly close offshore and the Wasp Spiders were wonderful [Cheers Lee!]

Week earlier I got down to Prawle for two wonderful hours of big shears and storm petrels followed by four hours of fog [it was clear as close as Slapton.... 😕] and another watch at the Nose was a matter of fog coming and going and coming and going and comi-  yeah.

Also, Here there have been bats. Mostly Common Pipistrelle.

 

Perseids were almost as disappointing as the latest aurora [I saw, but I wasn't impressed]

And google still suck.

Be Seeing You...

Still Twiddling Virtual Thumbs

Well, recently I have been trying to get a photo of a Purple Heron, in order to add at least a vague hint of credibility [or at least reduce the deniability] of my Devon Yearlist. 

I have failed repeatedly, but that's hardly a shock. Even seeing one of those reed-lurkers is more Favour of the Goddess than anything else.

 

Getting photos of birds generally is rarely easy - or possible; for example at a workplace where Camera = The Sack - but it is nice to try, if only to give you something else to look at than my ravings.

Thus my vexation at google, demanding access to my system to upload anything. They don't need it, they're just in a paddy because I have a browser set to 'Feck off and be happy with the money you already make off of me'.

I am putting a few pictures up Over There, but Elon's happy land of Utter Freedom To Do Anything...ANYTHIIIIING!  isn't exactly the place to blog.

And my lovely [no really, I've got some good ones] moth pics have gone down like the proverbial base metal dirigible. .

.

.

Which is just... What?!? I mean, how much effort is a Like? One little click. What does it cost you? NOTHING. Less than a calory of effort, and no effect on the algorithm [not that you should care if you annoy mr m] that controls your feed IF you let it...

Argh.

But it's a fee world, so hey. It's not like I do it for Likes. They're just an addictive form of self-validation....

 

 

😩

But at least the heat's finally broken.

Bright side, eh?

Be Seeing You...

G**gle Still Suck

Still here.

Still unable to upload images.

Still waiting.

Odds, ends, and something approaching what I'm getting up to may be found here;

https://twitter.com/BackwardBirder

Unusually for twitter, I'm hardly ranty at all.

Yet.

[It's saying something about the state of the world that mr. e is more reasonable than the gaggle of fools who run this place...]

[[Though it has to be pointed out that he only lets people who've signed up {though all you need that's real* is an email, btw ;) } see anything, at least he lets you put photos up without demanding access to your system!!]]

[[* I am of course certainly not advocating or even suggesting entering false details to protect your privacy and/or screw with anyone's algorithms. Definitely not. ]]

Come On...

Prior comments on goggle's rationality were overstated.

😞

Backward Birding is again on hiatus.

😠

[Hey, idiots, you're making Musk look reasonable...]

I'm Back. Uh-oh...

Moths have been few and far between, and mostly of less than a half dozen species so far this year.

Not good.

I'm hoping it's been the cold nights, but we shall see.

Here's a nice one, for me noctuids are a treat;

White-line Dart

Dark Arches

Two in a week or so? Woo.

 

 

Brown Silver-line

Common on t'Moor, very rare down here.

Some of the more expected;

Buff Ermine

Dark Tussock

Mullein Wave

Plain Pug

[poorly-named]

Box Tree Moth

[slayer of non-native hedging]

Something, possibly, new, now.

Possibly

Isle of Wight Wave

Also?

 

Compare with,

Dwarf Cream Wave

Note DCW lacks the rufous leading edge and has a more rounded forewing and dots inside the trailing edges of both wings.

If IoWW, then they're over from the continent as, as the name suggests, they only [might] breed on Wight.

If.

Anyways, that's enough for now.

I do have some nice pictures [of butterflies] and awful pictures [of everything else] to come, with something maybe like a proper update coming directly.

And more moths.

Heh heh heh...

Be Seeing You...

Service Notice

Due to goggle being arseholes, this blog is on hiatus.

When they stop demanding access to my computer - for the privilege of giving them my art* for them to train their [and anyone else's who'll pay] AIs on - I'll be back.

Don't be too worried, last time it took two whole days for them to give up. The time before, a couple of weeks, so we shall see.

In better news, this is sparing you a moth post  [[Oh, stop cheering]]

I have been seawatching a bit, seen the odd good thing. Missed a few good things too, I suspect...

Anyways, until they give up, I shall

Be Seeing You...

[[* Yes, photos are art. ** ]]

[[** If a set of dirty bedclothes are, my blobs are. 😛*** ]]

[[*** Ok, nobody's offered me a million quid for one of mine - even my really good ones of beetles and things - but it's the principle that counts.]]

We're Going On A Bug Hunt. Pt.1, Chasing Phantoms

In which I headed over to the East Devon Commons to perform my annual pilgrimage in search of the Blessèd Silver-studded Blue [having failed awfully the weekend before.. Ahem]

Reader, I had a mare.

Lots of Horseflies found me, and it was running combat at times [me running, that is..], but my Pet Spot, where I've found SSB for many many years.. Drew a blank.

Bugger.

So I headed out to try to find somewhere else. Somewhere a small, low-flying, oft-resting, elusive and always scarce butterfly might be found.

It was hard yards, and in heat and humidity, too. Of course.

I did find the SSB's tag team partner - again with difficulty, as people seem to think that dragonfly pools on nature reserves are the right place to encourage big fat Brown Labs to jump in [FFS] - and this is the thumbnail;

Small Red Damselfly

Not very photogenic, perhaps, but shot at a tricky angle through a lot of vegetation [as oh yes, DWT seem to be allowing their favourite pool to vegetate over...]

Small Red Damselfly is not a big flashy obvious insect. They tend to stay low and sit around a lot. But if you take the time to find the things look carefully, you'll see they're quite lovely.

At this point, I was going to stick a load of 'all the other stuff' up and keep you waiting until the end - which is what I had to do, after all - but instead we'll get to the fun bit.

You are walking along a track on a heath. You need to keep eyes up for passing birds, eyes about for other birds, eyes down and to the side for the butterflies you are after, and eyes behind you for that HorseflyAAARGH...  You also need to watch where you're walking, and even more carefully for the twenty feet you are about to walk, in case there's something there you're about to flush.

So, can you see what I saw?

Snapshot.

I have learned the very very hard way to shoot as soon as physically possible. You might get something awful, but that beats nothing by an infinite margin.

Oh, what I could have gloated ab   the sights I have seen what I might have shown you..

Ahem.

Getting back to the point;

I then circled very slowly and carefully right to get an angle for a better picture.

 

It flew. Right as I was squeezing the BLEEPing shutter, it flew.

I followed.

Another snapshot.

Bit better.

You can see it now, I hope.

Hit the zoom, boy.

Silver-studded Blue

It flew again, I followed again, and never mind the Brambles and Gorse.

I just couldn't get an angle;

 

"Oh, you little blue

sod, you..."

 

 

..and then it was up and gone gone gone.

Still, it saved the day. Yes, lovely SRD, and yes, this wasn't bad either

The stuff of battleships'

nightmares.

😁

But I mentioned a lot of other photos, didn't I?

Large Skippers in numbers, at least.

Green Hairstreak, either side of the light. Annoyingly mobile, but worth it.

Cinnabar Moth!

Worth kneeling on a Bramble for.

[Knees heal, photos are forever!]

Keeled Skimmer

Remember I said about looking up?

Here's a reason why.

Sprawk!

And to look down?

Time for wasps!

Darwin Wasp sp.

Digger wasp sp.

Different Digger sp.

Digger sp.1; m and f

Bees!

 Flower Bee

 

Yellow-face Bee sp.

[not all have yellow faces] 

 

Grey-tailed Furrow Bee

So tiny! So cute!

 

[So hard to keep up with, she was all over this Heather, as you can perhaps tell]

At least I can ID with confidence.

[[Comment saying "Oh no you can't.." in 3, 2,...]]

Flies!

[Flies?]

Things that fly.

[::Whistles innocently::]

Hot, frequently frustrating, but there were moments. Oh, there were moments.

Be Seeing You...

We're Going On A Bug Hunt. Pt.2, That's More Like It!

Much bigger, sexier butterflies were prime target this time around, and oh my did I find some?

Boom!

Pow!

Splat!

Almost as wide as my grin.

Glare. I don't care.

Love the hair 😀

The eyes, the eyes.

That'll be a 'yes, just a couple', then.

So I got a few half-decent White Admiral shots. At least three individuals, there.

And...

[And?]

[And!]

Brimstone

Only the second time a Brimstone has properly posed for me, and this time I didn't have to wade through knee-deep Brambles to get the angle.!

Ringlet

Best Ringlet shot ever.

Unexpectedly, odonata pretty much stole the show. Well, sort of.

Big hawkers don't sit and pose, usually. Very rarely, anyways. GRD aside, at least.

So...

Emperor!

Eating what I choose to believe was the Horsefly that had been determinedly pestering me, then just stopped.

This is what dragons are for!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Gorgeous. Will pose. I love them.

Have another!

One GRD, nice. Two is a good day.

Emperor's don't stop. Kind of famous for it.

But having lunch?

Very good day.

Then..

ID this dragon, if you will.

Have a prettier angle;

Southern Hawker.

Immature male.

Though not too far off.

June was a little early for SH.

What's this?

Southern Hawker.

Female

Wowzer.

I once met an immature SH on my way into Smallhangar. I got a half-decent photo, and this was on film..

 

It's been a few years.

 

 

 

Purple Hairstreak had been reported in the area. I had to look.

 

 

The Oaks were alive with winged things, indeed;

 

 

Dozens and dozens of Beautiful Demoiselles. I've never seen so many in one place.

Couldn't find a hairstreak, though.

Some nice bees and hoverflies also.

But oh, those Admirals.

Be Seeing You...