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Monday 22 August 2016

A VISIT TO EGLETON AND BARNACK HILLS AND HOLES RESERVE.



I decided on Monday the 15th of August to have an extra visit to Rutland Water and have an afternoon looking for Damselflies and Dragonflies, I managed to get away from home by about 12.30 hrs and headed straight for the Egleton Centre with a slight diversion to the vets to collect some medication for one of our dogs. I arrived at about 13.45 hrs and after booking in I went straight round to the dipping pond, which has in previous years been very productive, but this year not very good and afraid to say it let me down again. I then got on my way towards the Woodland Walk and the hides associated with it, and after a short walk through the Bird Fair marquees and all the workmen putting everything together for the weekend, I started on my way down through the Woodland. I soon was seeing plenty of Dragonflies but as usual not many were landing, I was seeing Hawkers and Darters all over the place and after a short time and visiting the hides, I made my way towards Lagoon 3 and Shoveler Hide, just outside to the side of the ramp something caught my eye, not very big and not a shape I was able to recognise, was a fly. After trying to find out myself as to what I had found, I in the end contacted Sarah Proud at the Volunteer Centre, who is our on site expert who e-mailed back saying it was a fly from the Ichneumon family, impossible to say as to which but at least this was a start and she also gave me a link onto hopefully the real experts, so I forwarded a copy of the image to them, so watch this space. 

Then Richard and myself had our normal Thursday afternoon trip out, it was my turn to drive and Richard arrived at 12.45 hrs and we got on our way, Richard had seen that Chalkhill Blue Butterflies had been seen  at the Hills and Holes Reserve at Barnack near to Stamford so we set our course to go straight through and Little Owl on our return journey. Richard was on duty at Bird Fair on the Friday morning so we didn't want to be late back, he would have to get up by 05.00 hrs to be on site in time. 

On arriving at Barnack the Reserve was easy to find and we were soon walking round but initially hardly anything Butterfly like was seen, however after leaving the outside path to the reserve and following some paths across the centre, I eventually found what we were looking for and called Richard over as he was walking an adjacent path running parallel with mine. These are most certainly a very pretty Butterfly even thought we were a little late in the season and the wings were getting a little torn and tattered. We spent a couple of hours on site with the Butterflies and Dragonflies. This is most certainly a very productive area for the future, with signs showing areas of Wild Orchids and many other wild flowers so next year we will be visiting again and earlier in the season.

We then had a quick visit to Bloody Oaks Quarry, a site near Empingham Village, a site Richard had visited with Sarah some weeks previously so on our way by we had a quick walk around, its only a very small site and would be very easy to drive by on the road. From here we had a quick stop at Little Owl Site No.11 and then onto Site No. 9 for a well earned tea and saw a Juvenile sitting in the nest hole but no signs of the adults. After this we carried on through our normal sites but no more birds were seen and we were home by a reasonable time so Richard could get home and be up early the following morning.   

As an update on the Manton Bay Ospreys, T6 got on her way migrating on Monday last, the  15 th of August, she has not been seen since, we wish her good luck on this perilous journey.  Also T7 has also got on his way on the 18th, so we have 33, Maya and T8 still in Manton Bay. Must have a quick visit before they have all migrated. 




RUTLAND WATER,
Egleton Reserve.
Woodland Walk.
15 th August.






Speckled Wood Butterfly. Female.

Many of these flying about but this one has the least damage to the wings. 



Common Darter, Immature Female.

On the walk I ws seeing these flying all over the place, some were even up high in the trees. 



Southern Migrant Hawker, Female.

Saw considerably more Brown Hawkers but managed no decent images of them.  



Ruddy Darter, Male.

Ruddy Darters were again all over the Reserve area in large numbers, great to see that after such a slow start in seeing Dragonflies, they seem to be making up for lost time.  



Common Darter, Female.



Fly from the Ichneumon Family, waiting to find out which it is.
Anybody any ideas???.

This is the fly I mentioned above. Total length is probably only 16 mm to the end of what appears to be its sting. This is flying along the handrail alongside the ramp up to Shoveler Hide .
  
 
 



Peacock Butterfly, on Flowers outside the Egleton Centre.

Couldn't resist an image, first time I have noticed how colorful the underside of the wings are.



HILLS AND HOLES RESERVE.
Barnack.
18 th August.



Another Wild Flower I 'm not Sure as to What It Is.

Such a beautiful flower, you helped me last time Margaret, hopefully you can look in your book again and come up with an answer.



Six Spotted Burnet, landed on some more of the same flowers. 







Common Blue Butterfly, Male. 




To me this is a stunning butterfly.



Chalkhill Blue Butterfly, Male.

As you can see the wings are not perfect but what a stunning Butterfly, so pleased we visited the site and found them.













Chalkhill Blue Butterfly, Female.

Again a stunning butterfly, the wings on this female in far better condition. 







Under wing pattern on the female. 



Field Grass hopper. 



Small White Butterfly, Female.



Common Darter, Male.

We saw a reasonable number of Darters around the site, and were informed by a lady that some of these were female Ruddy Darters, I personally didn't see any. 







Small Skipper, Bloody Oaks Quarry.

We only had a very quick visit to this site as we wanted to get on our way home and visit the Little Owl Sites and also have our teas. After taking this image and walking back to the car we saw a Lizard sitting on a stump, unfortunately it also saw us and was away.



Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed the images as much as I did in getting them.



15 comments:

  1. A fantastic collection of all things, Dragons, butterflies etc.

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  2. Hi Bob, thanks for the interest, we had a wonderful afternoon getting the images.
    Regards John

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  3. You've got some super images from what was a most enjoyable day, John. I've still got to process mine, but I suspect you found Chalkhill specimens in better condition than I did!

    See you Thursday - all things being equal!

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    1. Hi Richard, we had a really wonderful afternoon at your suggested site at Barnack, the only Chalkhill that was in reasonable condition was the female, thanks for the Grasshopper. As you say see you Thursday, visited Rutland this afternoon and we are down to T8, 33 and Maya, so may not have any birds to Monitor??
      John

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  4. Stunning John, absolutely stunning!

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    1. Hi Denise, thank you for your visit, first post I have done without a bird in it.

      Regards John

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  5. WOW, what a post John!
    your dragons are fabulous and so are the Chalkhill Blues!
    Your first Common darter female is quite adult but the male on the berries is an immature!
    I have a surprise for you in my latest post.....
    Many thanks for your kind words while I was away :)
    I did come back with interesting stuff!!... a well worth trip but oh so tiring!
    Warm hugs and enjoy the end of the day :)

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  6. Hi Noushka, thank you for your comment, glad you liked the Chalkhill Blues, Richards idea to visit this reserve and was really well worth it, fabulous place we must visit a few times next year for the wild flowers and butterflies. Glad you had a good trip, you well deserve it. Have a good rest of the week and put your feet up a little, looking forward to looking at your latest post. Regards John

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    Replies
    1. Hi John,
      Thanks for your replies, I am a member of Richard's LO's club but, shame on me, I never think of posting on his site!!!
      I can't put my feet up too much, or my mind goes nuts!!
      Moving and taking pics prevents it, I still feel so very sore.
      I really hope one day I can make to England and come and visit Richard and meet you and enjoy outings together :) I would love to "shoot" puffins and all type of sea birds we don't have here.
      Keep well, enjoy the day!

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    2. Hi Noushka, glad you are a member, we are a select bunch, can understand not putting your feet up, it gives you too much time to think. I'm sure one of these days you will make it over to England.
      Regards John

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  7. Hello John, this is again some great blog. Those Blues are amazing and the Dragon Flies are most wonderful. You must have enjoyed that visit a lot with all those gems to make pictures of it.
    Regards,
    Roos

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  8. Hi Roos, thank you for your visit, The Blues are really beautiful Butterflies, the first I can remember having seen, we are finding we are not seeing as many Dragonflies as previous years, how about with you. I have to thank Richards for the visit to this site. Have a good rest of the week. Regards John

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  9. Hi John,
    First thanks for your answer here :)
    Second, to answer your question on my post about my bird pics, I go to Spain where it is easier to get close to birds than where I live. First of all because in the Catalonia brush it is a lot dryer and if you set your tent close to a water dam the birds will come to drink. Around the one I go to, the vegetation consist of short shrubs on which they perch. And according to the season, you get indigenous and/or migratory species.
    Warm regards and enjoy the new week :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Noushka, thanks for the reply, I still think they are absolutely stunning images, you also enjoy your week.
      Regards John

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  10. Hi and thank you for taking the time for the visit. All the best, John

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About Me;


Titus White:
Hi I am Richard Peglers friend Titus White, and those who follow Richards posts will understand the name and reason for it. I have been birding with Richard for 3 years and a volunteer at Rutland Water on the Osprey Project for 2 years. My early images were taken on a Nikon D80 with a 70 - 200mm lens. I updated the lens to a 70 - 300mm VR lens but still was not happy with the results. Eventually when Nikon announced the D7100 I decided to change so upgraded the camera and also invested in a Sigma 50 - 500mm lens.
I first met Richard through Arthur Costello as I was having the occasional visit from Little Owls on our land. We eventually found the Little Owls through another contact about 100 metres away. Photo's will follow on future posts.
I have recently upgraded my camera to full frame, this is a challenge I am at the moment enjoying trying to get the best out of the beast.
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