Monday 21 April 2014

A Few Good Birds and Damselflies!

I was up and out of the house this morning at 5.30am where a few minutes later I was listening for a Nightingale but without any luck and so onwards to Beltinge where I then walked the cliffs in the hope of a Grasshopper Warbler but despite nice conditions I drew a blank here. All was not bad though for as I walked back I caught the sound of a Nightingale singing and waiting a while I was treated to the lovely song of this bird. With the sun coming up I parked up at the towers and walked down to Coldharbour and inland to Chambers Wall before returning. There was a lovely sunrise giving me time to be artistic with the camera and catch it as it rose through Reculver Towers.

Sunrise through Reculver Towers

It was a good morning for the birds with a few good species seen including 17 Whitethroat, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Shelduck, 3 Sand Martin, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 24 Oystercatcher, 4 Sandwich Tern and a Tree Pipit flew west calling. There were 15 Swallow, the 2nd Nightingale of the morning singing at the Poplars, 3 Bar tailed Godwit, 2 Gannet, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Greenshank was heard, 12 Common Scoter, 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 adult Mediterranean Gull flew east, 2 Grey Partridge and 1 Yellowhammer. With the sun shining I then drove over to Westbere where I wanted another go at the Large Red Damselflies. I had a few plans up my sleeve with settings, backgrounds etc and was soon looking around the pond for them. I must have seen c10 Large Red Damselflies with a few newly emerged and drying out. This gave me the opportunity again to practice with the macro lens. I was trying to concentrate on the backgounds so the damselfly stood out a bit and subjects that would allow me to use the bean bag to prevent shake.




Large Red Damselfly

I was quite pleased with the results and as I have mentioned this will probably be my easiest quest as they are very approachable. Before I left I saw a larvae leaving the water in preparation to emerge and watched a few emerging.

Large Red Damselfly Larvae

Unfortunately most of this happened on the other side of the pond but what an education to watch this for the first time. Back to work tomorrow so I will leave you with a few more shots from today. Maybe if the weather allows, I may be able to make a brief visit out during the week!


Large Red Damselfly

3 comments:

  1. Getting right in there amongst those Large Reds I see Marc, very nice :-)

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  2. Beautiful shots, you certainly have it great with macro.

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  3. Fantastic sunrise shot and amazing Damselflies!

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