WHAT AWFUL WEATHER.

After several wasted trips out, I eventually managed an afternoon out yesterday the 27th of June where the sun was actually shining and we had no rain or misty conditions.

My first trip out was to a small lake I was put on to last year just outside Heather, this was where I saw some Emperor Dragonflies last year but as the weather has been not so good I think I was a bit early for them and only saw Damselflies.

My second trip out was to Rutland Water and the Manton Bay Ospreys, this trip also coincided with a talk we were having in the evening by Alan Poole, an American expert on Ospreys, It was his book that everybody relied on when the Ospreys were first translocated from Scotland to Rutland. We had a wonderful evening with him, he looks after the Ospreys at Martha's Vineyard, an island not far from Long Island and even though he complemented us on our seven nests this year, he somewhat spoilt this by telling us they have over twenty thousand nests, what a brilliant achievement by them as they had a very poor time after the war with the use of DDT and the numbers had depleted badly but with work they are up to the present day numbers. Tim has decided that we have to get fifty nest in Manton Bay to stand any chance of competing with our American cousins.

The weather that afternoon was awful with a mixture of mist and rain and even though I took in excess of  two hundred images I finished with only a handful that were of any use.

I then had a late visit out after tea on Saturday the 25th to Eyebrook Reservoir, on arrival I drove alongside the reservoir towards the dam to turn round and saw an Osprey towards the dam. Having turned round I drove back up to my normal parking spot and pulled onto the grass verge and sat to wait for the bird to follow me up. It was cloudy in the distance but the sun was shining and it was a wonderful evening to be out when my phone rang. It was my wife to tell me it was pouring with rain at home and the drive to the rear of our property was flooding as was the front. After talking to her for about five minutes, the Osprey flew straight over the car about ten metres in the air with a nice trout, would have been a shot of a lifetime but never mind. After that the clouds increased from the North but it never rained and the next Osprey didn't arrive until 20.10 hrs and flew along the far side of the reservoir, so I waited for it to return hopefully on my side but this was wishful thinking on my part as I never saw the bird again before I got on my way home at about 20.40 hrs.

So my best chance of some dragonfly and damselfly images was yesterday afternoon, plenty of damsels but still very few dragonflies, saw some large browns and some hawkers.


LAKE NEAR HEATHER.
21st June.

Azure Damselflies, Male and Female.

I have never seen so many Damselflies anywhere as I did this afternoon, unfortunately I only saw Azures. 

I found several  areas of damselflies like this, this was a shot to the centre but they carried on like this for several feet farther out. 

RUTLAND WATER.

23rd June.

Male Osprey on the Camera Post with the Female flying from the nest to join him, Shallow Water Hide.

 Female flying round with the young watching her.

Pair of Juvenile Pied Wagtails. Shallow Water Hide.

This pair had a bit of a happening by the fence. 

Male Osprey, Eyebrook Reservoir.

This a very long distance image, about 450 metres.

RUTLAND WATER.
EGLETON CENTRE.
25th June.

Azure Damselfly, Woodland Walk.

Very common but very colorful.

Common Darter, female, Woodland Walk.

These were around in reasonable numbers but only saw the odd Hawker and Brown. 

Black and Yellow Longhorn.
Rutpala maculate.

Having done a little more investigation I found this on UK Safari.
Can see why its called longhorn.

Saw this on the walk, very colorful and about 12mm long.

Emerald Damselfly, Woodland Walk.

What a stunning creature, not that many about but when found they were invariably hidden behind something. 

Comma Butterfly, Woodland Walk.

First seen this year, hardly been the weather. 

Speckled Wood Butterfly, Woodland Walk.

BARN OWL BOX.

OUR GARDEN.

27th June.

Kestrel Feeding Young In Box.

At the moment the adults are feeding the young just inside the doorway, we have to date seen two young but only briefly. The Barn Owls are still about as we are still finding the odd pellet by the boxes. 

Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed the images as much as I did in getting them, even if we have had some awful weather