OUT ON MY OWN AGAIN.

Richard and myself talked on Wednesday and decided we would have a visit to the Egleton Reserve on Thursday to look for some Hawker Dragonflies. Wednesday Evening my wife and I sat having our tea when she said oh, what's that and then declared she had broke a tooth, not down to my cooking might I add as she was having a sandwich she had prepared herself. This however meant and early call to the dentist who bless him, fitted her into his list on Thursday afternoon but thereby ending our trip out. 

Richard carried on with the visit and had an afternoon at Egleton which after talking with him turned out to have been successful with Dragonflies and Great White Egrets. So this made my mind up to follow his example and visit Rutland and the Egleton Reserve myself on the Friday afternoon.

After getting the dogs sorted out and my wifes lunch, I managed to get on my way by 12.30 hrs and again drove straight through to Egleton, my idea to Little Owl on my return. So arriving at Egleton at about 13.30 hrs and got on my way through to Lagoon 4 hoping to see some Dragonflies on my way and the again try to see the resident Peregrine Falcon, this had apparently been using the Osprey nest site so I headed for Dunlin Hide. On arriving near the hide I had Hawker Dragonflies every where, but would they land!!, when one eventually landed it was immediately disturbed by another Hawker and this carried on whilst I watched for about 20 minutes. So I made my way up the ramp to the hide with Dragonflies even landing on me but not where I could get any images. When getting into the hide, I met up with a couple who had come down from Manchester and were spending some time staying at a relations house nearby. They had been on the Lagoon for about half an hour and had not seen the Peregrine, so after a while I headed for Plover Hide and then to Bittern Hide. Still chasing Dragonflies but still to no avail with the Hawkers, so I again headed for Shoveler Hide where I again met up with the couple form Manchester. After I had left Dunlin Hide they had eventually found the Peregrine but a long distance away and kept moving on the side of one of the Islands, most of the time hiding away.

After being in Shoveler Hide for a short time, Tim Appleton arrived with a hello John, so I introduced him to the couple, Richard had told me that Tim had been out on a mower the previous day so I couldn't resist saying have you been disturbing everything mowing again, to which he answered, "yes but I have just driven the mower into a ditch and got it stuck", I hope you haven't come here for a push I said, made my excuses and left the hide and headed towards Crake and Lapwing Hides. I then returned to Shoveler Hide and spent some more time again with the couple and then headed for the hedge that Richard had seen the Hawkers by, but no luck for me as it was reasonably windy and they were flying about  approaching the hedge and then flying over it. I even tried the other side of the hedge but still no luck.

After this I headed for the car park and headed towards our Little Owl Sites and also another visit for the Barn Owl and my tea. I eventually saw a Little Owl at Site 9, a single bird sat in the nest hole, so after this I travelled through  the rest of our sites on the way to the new Barn Owl site but no more birds were seen. I arrived for the Barn Owls a little on the late side at 18.35 hrs and quickly ate my tea only to be then joined by the farmers with a tractor and trailer who then commenced moving bales away on the trailer, so I decided as it was starting to get dark to make the best of it and head for home. I called past our other Little Owl Sites but no more birds were seen, mind it was virtually dark.        

EGLETON RESERVE.
23 rd September.

Common Darter, Female,  Near Redshank Hide.

Numerous sat on this section of fence but no Hawkers.

Common Darter Near Crake Hide on a new section of fence replaced over Winter. 

Damselfly.{ Not Sure as to the Specie.}


This sat on another section of the replaced fence, it has a grey body with a line of blue on its back.

Ruddy Darter, Male, again on the new section of fence. 

Common Darter. 

Comma Butterfly.

This and several Butterflies were in this section of hedge where Richard had seen and photographed the Hawkers. 

Pintail Duck,  Male in Eclipse, Shoveler Hide.

Many of these were on Lagoon 4 but a considerably farther distance away from the hide. This one pointed out to me by Tim.

Grey Heron, Crake Hide.

As I opened the shutter, the bird was immediately alert and started to fly away as the images below show. 

A quick shake and the water droplets. 

Great White Egrets, Shoveler Hide.

On my second visit to the hide, these two birds arrived after about five minutes, not the best of images as they caught me talking and not watching, so no negative EV put in.

Once below the tree line better images, this bird coming in to land with the feathers ruffled on its neck. 

The second bird coming in to land. 

And down. 

By this time a third bird had landed on the far side of the Lagoon, some 600 metres away. The other two spent most of the time flying about. 

These images were taken over about an hour and they hardly ever landed, that is until below. 

This bird attempted to land at the end of one of the islands, as you can see we have full air brakes on as getting very close to a disaster. 

And lands with a splash, frightens the Coot and way out of its depth. After this it managed to get onto the side of the island. 

This was just as the Egrets and myself left the Lagoon, you can just make out its tongue.

At least this week I managed to get the flight shots. 

Little Owl Site No. 9.

This the only owl I saw on my rip out, I will have to spend some more time concentrating on the Little Owls, Richard had seen two on the Thursday.

OUR GARDEN.
22 nd September.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly.

Sitting on an Hydrangea. this flower starts as white and slowly turns pink.  

A bit closer to the head and flower.




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