Huncote Damsels

Not much time for blogging just lately, but here's a quick one. I nipped over to Huncote Embankment on Saturday morning whilst Alex was at his karate session in Enderby. I went there specifically to spend an hour at the pool which can be good for dragonflies and damselflies, and as it was warm with good strong sunny spells I thought it should be a good chance to catch up with a common damsel that I've never knowingly bothered to identify (I've never been much of an odonata watcher!).

Turned out well, as I immediately scored with my target ......

Red-eyed Damselfly

Lots of activity whilst I was there, with at least two Emperor Dragonflies patrolling, several Four-spotted Chasers, loads of Common Blue Damsleflies, a few Banded Demoiselle and a Large Red Damselfly plus ....

Good numbers of Azure Damselfly, another one I only recently bothered to identify

and a couple of Blue-tailed Damselfly

A Grass Snake took me by surprise as it lazily swam underneath the viewing platform and across the pool, but sadly by the time I had camera back out and ready it was too distant for a good shot ....

Snake, Charming

With another glorious sunny day forecast, I resolved to get up early and make the now annual pilgrimage to Ketton Quarry in search of snakes. I managed to persuade both the boys and Nichola to come along without too much force - we all like a good walk around KQ. Only Isabelle passed - far too busy being a surly teenager and cyber-socialising for going out in the morning sunshine. We arrived just about on time - I intended to be there for 9am as from previous experience any earlier is pointless, but we had to top up with fuel on the way.

Superb close views of a male shortly after arriving - not a snake, but the Drunk-snaker (with Leigh and Matthew) actually out in the field rather than spouting bollocks on facebook ....

After the salutations and mutual disbelief at being out, we eventually got superb views of a male Adder, and then eventually two males and a female. I then headed over to the other paddocks where we found another female out in the open in the area where the Knapweed Broomrape will be later in the year. Nothing under or around the tin-sheets in the donkey paddock, and by the time we got back to the main area John had gone. Sadly, as I then had by far the most prolonged and superb views I've ever had of Adders, with three males and a female on show. Whilst watching them and grabbing a bit of vid, I became aware of another noise and just about managed to grab a couple of shots of a Grass Snake as it slid in and shot out of view. Along with a few brief and skittish Common Lizards, it was a superb morning. Here's a few shots and a vid clip - I urge you to see my Flickr pages via the link on the right to see some more.

The Drunk Snaker surveying the most reliable reptile amphitheatre in VC55

Loads of these poking through - Field Horse-tail

The other notable thing at Ketton was Common Heath moths on the wing - even earlier than last year.

After some obligatory minor DIY for Nichola's elderly aunt on the way home, we dropped into Watermead CP South following grapevine news earlier in the day. Seems everyone else was in the same area which was cram packed with bread-weilding morons, ice-cream toting toddlers, spliff-puffing youfs, picknic-ing Poles and dog-walking arseholes who think letting the dogs chase everything is funny. All interspersed with the odd birder, like Beast and Chris Lythall (odd as in not many, not odd as in fecking mental, clearly). The prize was just about evident on the far side of the island - four pairs of Garganey that all turned up overnight. Superb views through optics after walking around a bit, but always either too distant or too backlit for anything resembling a photo. A pair of Red-crested Pochards were much easier to see than yesterday.

I got home in time to win some money on the National (a modest EW bet on Ballabriggs earning me £19.50). I headed out to the garden and checked on the rearing boxes. Excellent, four female Emperors have emerged today. The timing couldn't be better with the current sunny weather, out for some assembling tomorrow.

Cor!

Update 1 of 3 - Huncote Embankment 15/05/2010

A warm sunny day, so we headed over to Huncote Embankment for a family walk and a bit of pond dipping. I purposely left the bins and scope in the car, opting instead for my net and a few pots.

Plenty of singing birds around though, most easily viewable without optics though always too high / hidden / mobile to get a shot. At least two, probably three each Lesser Whitethroats and Common Whitethroats rattling and scratching away. Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in full flow, a couple of Blackcaps and a smart Reed Bunting. A Buzzard headed into the quarry, but no sign in the air of either Peregrine or Raven. The only bird that stopped in range for a shot was this smart Pied Wagtail.

Pied Wagtail - marvellously monochromatic

Swishing about with the net was nowhere near as productive as I had hoped. In fact I only had two species - Incurvaria masculella and loads of Cydia ulicetana around gorse.

Cydia ulicetana (used to be C. succedana)

After we'd walked along the embankment, we headed down to the pond where there is a great platform overhanging the water. As we approached the water, we could see several large black 'clouds' near the edge. A closer look confirmed the suspicions - thousands of tadpoles massed up in the shallow margins.

Teeming Tadpoles

We got the tray set up and the boys spent an hour or so poking about with the net in the water and weeds. I managed to stop them from taking the easy option with the tadpoles, but there were still plenty swimming about to go for. They also found a few beetles, snails and damselfly or mayfly larvae (no idea which/what really).

The walk back was enlivened when Josh found a superb female Grass Snake. By the time I'd been alerted the snake had bolted into a hole, but I managed to get a shot of it peering out to taste if the coast was clear.

All in all a very relaxing few hours with the family in relative peace.

Ketton Quarry - 04/05/2008

Before heading off to Rutland Water for the annual moth recorders meeting, I paid a visit to this excellent reserve primarily in the hope of seeing adders. As it turned out, the weather shifted into a dull phase with spots of rain cutting short the visit.

The tin sheets in the 'donkey paddock' compartment were lifted to reveal a single grass snake - still very nice but not what I was hoping for. I have seen adders here a few times before but never with a camera to hand .....


Grass Snake


Him speak with forked tongue.

There was a couple of Common Heath moths flying about (actually not at all common in VC55), but the only butterflies noted were Orange-tip, Holly Blue, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell. Certainly no Green Hairstreaks, Dingy or Grizzled Skippers though they should be about in better conditions - maybe later this week if a chance comes up. Also made a very quick search of the comfrey at this site, but no Scaret Tiger larvae in this visit.