Insects – Stephen's Wildlife

Dancing damselflies

The UK is enjoying a bit of a heatwave this week. The reed banks of the river Stour are full of Demoiselle damselflies.

This hornet provided an opportunity to practice some macro photography with my boys. He was a bit dozy and slow so quite a good sitter. The image is actually from late September when the season was changing from summer to autumn.

Tomorrow I’ll move on to images of the changing season as we move from autumn to winter. Most of the leaves have fallen from deciduous trees and what is left is brown and orange.

Due to lockdown many more people are taking an interest in the natural world. Last weekend I visited our local reservoir, Longham lakes. We were joined by walkers, photographers and fishermen. This fisherman was particularly proud of his afternoon catch and attracted the interest of quite a few people – all maintaining the appropriate social distance. After the photo op the carp was returned to the lake.

Common Darter Dragonfly

“When pairing, males hold females by the neck with claspers on the end of the abdomen. The female dips the tip of her abdomen into the water to lay eggs, or else inserts them into plant stems.”

^{RSPB Handbook of Garden Wildlife, Peter Holden and Geoffrey Abbott, page 111}

We have a pond fairly close to home. As we struggle with covid restrictions, lockdowns and R numbers, these two dragonflies are preparing for next spring.

Dragonflies are colourful insects. They are similar to damselflies, but their wings stick out to the side when at rest, whereas the damselfly wings rest above the body.

Garden visitors – July 2019

Temperatures have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius. Not since 1976 has Dorset been this hot. There have been great opportunities to photograph widely differing species, some like the dragon flies and butterflies quite exquisitely beautiful. The sparrow population in particular has increased significantly since spring.

Bugs and butterflies

The garden has well and truly come alive with all sorts of creepy crawlies: peacock butterfly, red admiral, greenbottle flies, hoverflies, dragonflies, bumble-bees, honey bees.

Dragonflies

Buzzards overhead

Record temperatures have encouraged buzzards to soar on thermals in search of prey. As they pass over the garden, smaller birds call out warnings to each other, as they scurry around seeking cover.