As we arrived at "the common" in sunshine we visited one of the pools that are surrounded by Juncus and Heather. Sure enough Dragonflies were on the wing - Four Spot Chaser definitely and probably Broad Bodied Chasers.
Over in the distance a bird going through a familiar routine - singing from the top of a tree and then flying straight up and "parachuting" back down to its favoured perch - Tree Pipit. In our attempts to get closer to the obliging bird we flushed a Woodlark - of course it didn't pause for a photo. Having got closer to the Pipit by using all our fieldcraft skills, I was distracted by the dayflying heather moths which are almost impossible to capture. Never mind, at least I got a record shot of a year tick but sadly, dipped the moth.
Next we chased a rather nice example of a Beautiful Demoiselle that was willing to perch but always deep inside the dense gorse patches. At his point a large yellow object caught my eye - a Hornet and a big one at that, alighting on a bramble leaf in front of us. We had just been discussing which lens to have on for the next part of the walk, the demoiselle had convinced me to be using a 100mm macro. So when the hornet presented itself I was ideally equipped whereas Martin still had his 500mm mounted. Whilst this is fairly comical the roles were to be reversed shortly after.
Carrying on with a circular perambulation we spotted a Woodlark up in a tree at a fair distance, as we closed to get a shot I was again distracted, a sheet of corrugated iron lying in the heather just had to be lifted. Sure enough, underneath, a Slow Worm, unfortunately not living up to its name as it made a bolt for a hole in the ground and before I knew it had half disappeared. I am old enough and wise enough to know that if you grab a Slow Worm by the tail you end up holding just that - the tail, whilst the main body is long gone. So that's my excuse for not capturing the Woodlark.
After this we were buzzed by a large dragonfly hawking around some gorse bushes, a green specimen which I believe was a female Emperor. We observed it catching the heather moths, eating them in flight and discarding the wings. At this stage I had my first "heart attack" of the day. We saw the dragonfly going into the gorse and believed that it had landed so I peered carefully through some branches and came face to face with old whiskers. Just a few feet away a superbly camouflaged Nightjar. Tying to convey the information to Martin, whilst realising that I had the 100mm macro on and that I was probably going to spook the bird anytime soon, meant that I achieved only a few shots. But who cares - a stunning bird and another unexpected year tick.
On the way back to the car park I had my second "heart attack" - I had my lens carrier on my back, in my right hand the camera and in the left my monopod. Unfortunately I turned my ankle in a rut and took a real purler. Conscious that my camera should be protected I held it aloft and fell with some force on to the monopod. Martin turned round to find me groaning and clutching my chest. Sorry to frighten you Martin and I can assure you that there is no real damage save the imprint "Gitzo" just under my left nipple.
On then to Houghton via Bury where I recorded my first Bee Orchid of the year. Now in butterfly mode we found our first Large Skipper. The ride off Madehurst Lane was particularly quiet, just a few Speckled Woods and a very faded Brimstone where I expected to see plenty of skippers.
 |
| Very fresh |
So on home where I immediately tweeted the hornet to see if I could get it on Springwatch Unsprung's "Bug of the day" - beats a Bittern any time.
No comments:
Post a Comment