THE NORTHERN LAPWING - VANELLUS VANELLUS

This was a bit of a surprise as this spot at Hook Marsh Scrapes does not have too much there in the summer months whereas the winter can have some real great birds. Today was very different though as you will see from both this post and the next one.

GOOD PHOTO THAT DAY OF GATEKEEPER

Took this shot of a resting Gatekeeper and when I checked all the photos I was disappointed that the Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly pictures and video did not come out as good as this one, lol

Now this was in a meadow on the edge of Whitewebbs Golf Course and yet this was about the fourth time I had been there and yet the first time I had seen a Gatekeeper there?! Not only did I see this one but there were hundreds of Gatekeepers it seemed?!

LMAO!

I think they must appear now and I just so happened to have been there before they appeared, or emerged from their chysalis', and started seeing them elsewhere during their emergence before returning to Whitewebbs to see they were everywhere there too?!

Also I saw something I have just remembered I need to look for, to things in fact!!

The first was large, a fraction bigger than a Red Admiral, and was dark but with the reddish of a Gatekeeper but darker and brighter on all four wings. Kind of marbled pattern possibly and I only spotted TWO of these butterflies. They were among a huge mass of bramble which was adjacent to a line of trees. When I disturbed them they flew across me edging into the meadow circled around my back and fluttered over the top of the mass of Bramble again before disappearing. So I need to go back for the Broad Bodied Chaswer and these guys and hopefully more of them will appear and I only caught them at the beginning. Hmm I will look at a Butterfly site and see what looks like what I saw and put it here below.

The other thing was a Moth looking insect that was not only light coppery red all over even in flight but flew like an absolute BULLET. IN shape in flight it was wide looking, like that of the Yellow Shell Moth post.

MALE BROAD BODIED CHASER - LIBELLULA COMPRESSA

Have to admit to these being quite stunning.

The trouble with me and Dragonflies is that there larvae are the mortal enemy of amphibian larvae and small fish, lol.

I have a video of these and was disappointed with these shots to be frank, yes Harry?! Disappointed with the videos too and not quite sure what went wrong! WOuld not mind but I took over a dozen and these were the best ones!

So I am going to return, as this is a new spot anyway, and do some more with these guys and there was an even bigger Dragonfly there and a female as I videoed her laying eggs on algae and put her up on my YouTube account.

I also have pictures on here and a short video of a female of one of these and if your unfamiliar with this Dragonfly let me tell you that the females are colourful too, being gold on colour. There broad bodies make them stand out even more so than other Dragonflies.

HEN GREEN WOODPECKER - PICUS VIRIDIS

The Green Woodpecker from the video in a previous post.

I think she was leading me away from a nest as we both moved along the path three times before she then flew to a field on the left and then ended up 100 metres behind me, lol.

A SMALL BRONZE COLOURED MOTH

LMAO!

I did say I was crap with insects and proved by my brother who tells me I have named a butterfly in a video as a species that has been extinct for some years?!

LOL!

SWALLOW TAILED MOTH - OURAPTERYX SAMBUCARIA

EDIT: Apologies as I misidentified this as a shell moth, will I did say I was rubbish at this?! Lol. Anyway I hate things up that sure strongly named do I've changed it. I'm also not and I mean NOT USING THE INTERNET any more to identify further types I now possess a book asks s number of great but probably crap pictures and videos of butterflies I've not had before! When I got to my friends Pet Store he had a surprise for me as he knows I have been working on this blog for British Wildlife. Sitting on the wall of the shop behind his plant stands was this rather large and rather lemon moth. It was larger than those I normally see and the wingspan was a little over double that of a pound coin, which I have used in one of the photos! I then did a quick search and first thought it was a Brimstone Moth and then realised it was in fact a Yellow Shell Moth, though this ones SHELL is a little broken. Once I got enough photos I then moved him to the safety of a rather large bush and took a couple more pictures before he disappeared into the thickets. I then walked back into the shop and then realised I did not get a damned video of him. I went back to have a look but I could not find him. I must say I have never seen one of these before and despite my brother informing me they are fairly common I was mightily impressed with him and his absolutely SPLENDID, as Steve would say, colour!!

VIDEOS of MALE BROAD BODIED CHASER - LIBELLULA DEPRESSA