Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Damselflies and Dragonflies emerge at Messingham Sand Quarry.

Although I was going to catch up with a few things at home, the weather yesterday was too good not to be out so I packed a quick lunch and headed the Freelander towards the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reserve of Messingham Sand Quarry.  This has the reputation for being the premier site for dragonflies and damselflies in the county and is part of the Lincolnshire coversands.  The reserve has been created following sand and gravel extraction; there is a series of lagoons surrounded by woodland and a small area of heathland.  As well as dragon and damselflies the reserve is good for butterflies and over 180 bird species have been seen here.  Flowers are good and the reserve supports 6 orchid species.  It is the only place that I have seen the unusual water plant, bogbean, which I photographed on this visit.  As usual, I followed the excellent visitors path around the reserve making two slow circuits with lunch in between.  It was good to see that there had been a mass emergence of damselflies and I saw and photographed azure, common blue and blue-tailed.  I saw my first dragonfly of the season: a hairy hawker, although it wasn't stopping to have its portrait taken.  Butterflies were plentiful with brimstone, speckled wood, green veined white and orange tip being on the wing, and I managed to photograph the single small copper that I saw.  There were good displays of cowslips and meadow saxifrage with some cuckoo flower and the small, protected are of petty whin which was in flower.  Marsh marigolds were nearly at the end of their season.

Another excellent day out in beautiful Spring weather.

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Azure Damselfly
Azure Damselfly
Blue-Tailed Damselfly
Blue-Tailed Damselfly
Bogbean
Brimstone
Common Blue Damselfly
Common Blue Damselfly
Common Blue Damselfly
Meadow Saxifrage
Meadow Saxifrage
Small Copper
Small Copper
Small Copper
Speckled Wood
Nursery Web Spider
Nursery Web Spider

Monday, 5 May 2014

Two Sunny Trips to Horseshoe Point and Tetney Dunes.

It was beautiful on the sea Bank between Horsehoe Point and Northcoates Point on the way to Tetney Dunes: the sun was out, a gentle breeze was blowing and the only sounds to be heard were the birds and the gentle soughing of the wind.  Views were expansive to the Lincolnshire Wolds, spangled with the yellow of oil seed rape and, in the other direction, across the mouth of the Humber to Spurn Point and its lighthouse.  It was good to be alive.  Heater and I were on the way to the beach at Tetney dunes to look for and photograph flotsam and jetsam for an assignment for my photography degree - don't ask!!!  We walked along the sea bank to Northcoates point and then cut through the dunes before walking along the beach.  We chose this location, partly because Jet enjoys a beach walk, and partly because it is always a good spot for beachcombing.  On the way we had good views of a couple of little egrets in the drain and on one of the lagoons in the dunes were two pairs of avocets which looked as if they were having a go at nesting.  When I returned on my own two days later there was also a pair of black-tailed godwit in their fabulous chestnut breeding plumage.  There were also skylarks, meadow pipits and wheatears flitting around.  Again, on my second visit a pair of roe deer had made their way onto the beach and were enjoying a paddle.  There was also a large flock of oystercatchers on the tide line.

A very enjoyable couple of days.

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Friday, 2 May 2014

An Excellent Day out at a New Reserve.

As Roger and I pulled into the car park we were rewarded with a superb view of a little owl sitting on to of a stack of bales.  Needless to say neither of us had a long lens with us.  Only a few minutes previously Roger had mentioned that, although it was regularly seen at this spot, he had never been lucky.  We were at Hatfield Moors NNR near Bawtry.  It was a reserve that I had never visited before and had a good number of adders showing well in February/March.  Unfortunately I was unable to get at that time so was keen to make my first visit.  Hatfield is part of the Humberhead  Peatland complex of reserves and represents the largest area of raised peat bog in lowland Britain.  The reserve is in two parts: an area of woodland (largely birch) and lakes and a larger area of peat bog on the edge of which the adders can be found.  It was the lakes and associated wooded area that interested us today, though, as this was where the newly emerged large red damselflies were to be found.  We had an excellent day of steadily improving weather, although there was always a chill to the air.  We found several large reds and also several butterflies were on the wing: green veined white, speckled wood and brimstone.  We also managed to find and photograph green and birch sheildbug as well as a couple of yellow-tailed moth caterpillars.

To view large, click on an image.
Common Storksbill
Crane fly
Birch Shield bug
Dandelion
Dandelion
Froghopper
Common Green Shield Bug
Birch Shield bug
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Speckled Wood
Speckled Wood
Green-Veined White
Green-Veined White
Yellow-Tailed Moth
Yellow-Tailed Moth