Thursday 5th.August 2010

After two days volunteering up on the Greensand Ridge , with little wildlife seen apart from another Roe Buck , sauntering across the road in front of our vehicle . Back at the yard , the Warden said that it was almost the same spot where he had to have a female put down , after being hit by a car at the weekend .
With a list of things to do today , I only managed a short visit to the Farm lake in between some of those jobs . On arrival , only one adult and one juvenile Little Grebe were found , and I thought the worst . After yesterday's heavy showers , Odonata were very few , but the Black Tailed Skimmers were getting on with the important things in life .
The Blue-tailed Damselflies have been out for ages now , but some very fresh looking specimens were found . Just a single Common Darter was recorded , it would appear that they are not having a good year on this site . Most interesting specimen found , was a Common Blue Damselfly , trying to be an Emerald Damselfly , from the way it was holding it's wings at rest . Another single was a male Emperor Dragonfly , that flew in to shelter from another cloudy spell . From the condition of his wings , he hasn't seen much conflict .
The second brood Common Blue butterflies seem to be doing well here , even outnumbering the Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns . This one nectaring on Purple Loosestrife . A small fly caught my attention on Wild Carrot . A closer look showed a very long ovipositor on a female Ichneumon Fly sp.
Just about to leave the site , a call from the reeds , and out came another adult and juvenile Little Grebe . So they have lost one juvenile , but much better than my first findings .
And finally , having now processed all the Roe Deer shots from Monday , I had to smile at this one . The male definitely has the touch , going by the Doe's eyes .