Banded Demoiselles

 The first couple of weeks in July are a good time to search for the Banded Demoiselle . A common enough damselfly in England but down here in the south west the river Tamar is about as far west as thy can be found, so a nice local one for me. A delightful large Damsel with a butterfly like flight, I first visited the site on a mid morning and the next day went very early hoping to get them still resting and maybe with a covering of dew,  they were not quite as dewy as I'd hoped but still very nice and good to be out at this time of day.

Female.

Male in flight

Male in flight

River Tamar

River Tamar

Young Peregrine Falcons.

 A warm sunny July day on the North Cornwall coast, where could you possibly spend a day that's nicer than this. Joyce and I often come over to the Boscastle/Tintagel area and roam around the cliffs and just sit and look out to sea. Today we had two juvenile Peregrines for company and they put on a fantastic show for us, one sitting on the rocks preening and his sibling flying around us as if he were showing off his aerial prowess, sometimes only just above head height at great speed. Thrilling.

Cocoons

 Found these cocoons on a Dock leaf at Ladock in Cornwall, never come across them before, but apparently of a Weevil species, possibly Hypera rumicis. Like small golden nets., you can see the pupa inside. Its always exciting finding new wonders of nature.

Weevil cocoons

Weevil Cocoons

Reed Beetle

 I found a few of these Reed Beetles (Donacia vulgaris -I think) on the rush stems beside the pond, when seen up close they are like little coppery metallic jewels. Macro lens is in full swing now, love crawling around in the undergrowth.

Reed Beetle

Reed Beetle

River Warbler at Ham Wall.

 A couple of weeks back we visited Ham Wall on the Somerset levels hoping to see the River Warbler which had been showing well for over a week, where it had been faithful to the same area , luckily close to a footpath , it really wasn't difficult locating the bird as a few birders /photographers had gathered and it was in full voice, and showing itself off to all onlookers. I didn't expect it to be this close so managed some nice photos A good thing we went when we did though, as two days later it had disappeared and not seen since! A lifer for me. Also saw most of the resident bird species and lots of Four Spotted Chaser Dragonflies.

Four Spot Cahser

Four Spot Cahser

Four Spot Chaser

Marsh Harrier

Great Crested Grebe

Great Egret

Great Egret

Great Egret

River Warbler

River Warbler

River Warbler

River Warbler

River Warbler

River Warbler

Fritillaries

I spent a couple of afternoons looking for two of our scarcer Butterflies, the Heath Fritillary at the only site I know in Cornwall and the Marsh Fritillary at Dunsdon DWT reserve in West Devon, a declining species which was once widespread in Britain but now is threatened throughout Europe. I did'nt see another soul on both days and enjoyed observing and photographing these beautiful Butterflies. Also two other interesting insects /Spiders that at found at the same sites.

Mayfly



Tibellus oblongus ..Grass Spider  ,also called Slender Crab Spider

Grass Spider

Marsh Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary

Heath Fritillary on Cow wheat , its foodplant

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary