Dragons are coming

Popped down to the Farm late this afternoon and saw 9 species of Odonata - Red Veined Darter, Broad Bodied Chaser, Black Tailed Skimmer, Emperor, 4 Spotted Chaser, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue Tailed Damselfly and Beautiful Damsel. Also found a new adder - 1st year baby boy I think!

Not sure if the RVD emerged from the Farm as it was an adult male. Any comments are welcome.

RVD

Teneral Black Tailed Skimmer

Common Blue Damselfy



Common Blue Damselfly

1 Year old Adder

The Adder above is definitely a first year snake - not certain of the sex but the tapering of the tail makes me think male?

Anyway my 15th individual at the reserve this year.

Week ending 20 May 2018

What a cracking week weather wise! It is still fairly quiet on The Lizard rarities front - that said a visiting birder had a Black Kite on Saturday afternoon. As it happens I was sat, having a picnic with my wife, at Soapy Cove (in sight of the Windmill) at the time! FFS lol.

A friend of mine (Al Taylor) took a lovely shot of one of the resident Roe Deer this weekend:

I was on hand at the Farm on Saturday morning to watch the Peregrine below take a Wood Pigeon over Ruan Pool. I was sat in the hide and the Peregrine took the Wood Pigeon and flew over the hide into the field behind me; I heard Magpies making a commotion - indicating the Peregrine had landed with its prey. I went and had a look and the Peregrine was in the field right outside the hide. The Peregrine was not happy and took off scolding me all the way - I got a few shots. The leg ring is yellow and had YD on it - indicating that it is a Cornish bird ringed in North Cornwall.

 

 

 



Cuckoo

Another week has gone by with no rarities crossing my patch (whilst I am there!). I managed to get a few decent shots of a Cuckoo (there were 3 males calling on Sunday).

This chap was being harassed by a Meadow Pipit. One of the regular visitors to the Farm (Al Taylor and his partner Sheila) saw a SE Owl being harassed by a Red Kite - see the shot below (thanks Al). It is good to see the SE Owl still around! I managed to miss all the Red Kites over the last ten days. I did bag my first Swift yesterday though.

The Dragons and Damsels are emerging in good numbers - to date I have seen Broad Bodied Chaser, 4 Spotted Chaser, Black Tailed Skimmer, Beautiful Damsel, Azure Damselfly, Blue Tailed Damsel and Large Red Damselfly. Windmill Farm is a superb location for dragonflies.

Broad Bodied Chaser (Female)


There are also still a few snakes out and about. Here is one of the young girls from the carpark.

Latest stuff

Well what a cracking Bank Holiday Weekend - I managed to evade all the Red Kites but hey ho...I will get some next weekend. I have been away (birding in Cyprus) hence no post last week; I shall do a Cyprus blog post soon.

Anyway here what's been going on at Gates. A couple of weekends ago I met up with my new lil mate - Charlie Francis-Trevail - and had a walk around the reserve looking for Adders and birds. Charlie found these beauties:

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birdwise Charlie and I found Grasshopper Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Cuckoo and Redd Bunting. I managed to get record shots of some of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





I think Charlie had a good time - looking forward to his next visit.

 

This weekend was glorious - the weather was amazing and I spent many hours at the farm. There are a few Dragonflies on the wing - Broad Bodied Chaser, 4 Spotted Chaser, Black tailed Skimmer and Large Red Damselfly. I also had a lovely view of a Stoat and Green Winged Orchids are blooming.