Swifts

Nice to see the swifts circling around the village a few evenings ago, but mighty difficult to get decent images of them. Not the best of shots, but a starting point to try and improve upon.

Dawn Chorus

Went out yesterday morning just before dawn on an unsuccesful astronomy imaging session. After watching a stunning sunrise I did a bit of birding before driving back for breakfast. Lots of dawn chorus activity with some good birds on show - my first Little Owls of the year and a range of open country birds. This Whitethroat put on a particularly good show.

Willington Wag's

The local Grey Wag's are fascinating to watch, constantly on the move catching insects for their growing brood. This made them tricky to get good images, exposures being a compromise between ISO setting and shutter speed to try and freeze their frantic movements. A heap of images were resigned to the recycle bin as a result, but I was quite pleased with these shots.

Zygoptera

A great name for the order of these attractive little insects - the Damselflies. Not as impressive, perhaps, as their larger cousins, the dragonflies, but a lovely sight to see along the River Great Ouse over the last few days. Emergence seems a bit early this year, probably brought on by the recent mini-heatwave we seem to be enjoying. The river bank is certainly a place where you can easily lose yourself, wandering lazily in the gorgeous sunshine enjoying the wildlife. A few kingfishers darting up and down stream completed the idyllic scene.
The Large Red Damselfly resting on the marsh marigold was our first garden damselfly of the season.



Banded Demoiselle (female)



Banded Demoiselle (male)



Common Blue Damselfly (male)



Large Red Damselfly (male)



Large Red visiting the garden pond



Red-eyed Damselfly (male)