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UK Wildlife Blog

Posts tagged with "darter"

Tame squirrels and macro fun

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Yesterday I headed to Raphaels Park a bit later than sunrise in the hope I would avoid the bulk of the dog walkers, which I had some success with. I wanted to avoid the dog walkers so the grey squirrels would be more cooperative and come close, so I could try out my new 100mm pentax macro lens :smile:

I had some success

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Dragonfly close ups

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A couple of weeks back on a sunny lunch time walk, we came across an area of hawthorn (not far from 'weasel alley' where I photographed the weasel in the last post) that had become a sun trap and was teeming with common darters and migrant hawkers. One common darter was defending his bench from intrudersHe was so obsessed with this bench, when he landed in a bad spot I gave him a gentle nudge and he refused to budge!

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Weasely recognised

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A few weeks ago I went for one of my early morning walks around Wat Tyler Country Park, where I saw a cormorant flying over

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crockford bridge dragonflies

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While in the New Forest we visited the well know dragonfly and damselfly site at Crockford Bridge. This site is well known as one of the best places to see the rare southern damselfly, but September is too late in the year to see this species (see here). On my first visit it was cloudy and a bit breezy, and I did not even see a common darter. All there was of interest was the large species of pond skater

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Oare marshes - waders

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Last month on a visit to Oare Marshes, the waders were on show. The were quite a few ringed plovers

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Wat tyler - birds and dragonflies

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Last month on one of my frequent early morning walks, the first thing I spotted was one of the stock doves poking his head out of the RSPB barn

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Pond creatures

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I set a quiz yesterday to ID the pond creatures in this photoThe answers are:
A: Greater pond snail
B: Waterlouse
C: Dragonfly nymph - this is probably a darter dragonfly nymph
D: Lesser water boatman

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Little grebe flying lessons

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On friday I had the day off work and went on a mini tour of some local sites. After a quick no eventful visit to Ingrebourne Valley, I headed to Rainham RSPB reserve. No sooner had I got out the car a large sparrowhawk wizzed by with something in its talons - no photo Im afaid. But in the pond by the entrance a yellow water frog (probably a marsh frog) posed in the weed

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Oare Marshes preview

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Here is a common darter I photographed last weekend at Oare Marshes.More to come

Thursley common Dragonflies and Damselflies

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Thursley Common is famous for its dragonfly diversity. In fact you can find more species of dragonfly and damselfly at Thursley Common than any other site in the UK, with 28 species having been recorded! (Smallshire and Swash, 2004). One of the site specialities is the small red damselfly, a species found only on boggy heathland like those at Thursley Common and a new one for me.This is a male.

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