Monday 18 August 2008

Sunday Afternoon


Golden Ringed Dragonfly








Nuthatch









After a horrible Sunday morning we set off out with the weather forcast promising a good afternoon. It was still raining hard, teasing easing up and lashing down again. The forecasters had got it very right though and around mid day it was brightening up. Driving in the Langdale Forest area we stopped for a sandwhich and the sun came out and it was warm.

Over the rough grassed area by the cay Green Veined White butterflies were flying and I saw one Small Copper.

A Nuthatch was spotted in an Oak tree by the stream, photography was difficult in the shadows but occassionallyit moved into a brighter area. A little distant, not the greatest Nutchatch pictures you will see but I like the shots of it hanging upside down and with its beak under the bark.

We then drove to one of the footpaths leading into the forest and within maybe 600yards saw lots of butterflies, crickets, froglets a Roe deer, a Wren and good numbers of ChiffChaffs and best of all a Golden Ringed Dragonfly.

Having photographed Golden Ringed last year on 26 August in Harwood Dale it was great to see another one so close too. Are they different to other species of Dragonfly they seem to land and stay put for a good while!

Butterflies included Peacock, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Large White, Small Skipper, Comma.

Crickets or Grasshoppers were everywhere and I probably manged to photograph up to three species. I will make a seperate posting with a request for help with ID's. For once I did not carry my tripod, photographing the crickets with a heavy telephoto lens was not easy.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike
The Dragonfly is excellent and some really good shots of the Nuthatch under challenging conditions.

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Thanks very much Roy

darrell j prest said...

stunning golden ringed dragonfly! one i have yet to see

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Thanks Darrell, I have been lucky for the last too years.
Yorkshire Dragonfly Society give details of sightings or if you are coming this way this time of year in the future sends us an email and we can give it a go, pot luck of course.
Mike

animtreebird said...

Very beautiful bird. Nice photo. I take photo of birds in South India.