Dipping and dripping!

Saturday

Dipping: birders' word for failing to find a reported bird. Dripping: word that summarises the current weather conditions. Nosterfield had reported bee-eater and osprey. We saw neither. Just stair-rods of rain. Imagine what it's like to sit on your nest in weather like this.

Great Crested Grebe And it got worse.

Great Crested Grebe I don't suppose the redshank was too impressed either...

Redshank

Sunday

More dipping, I'm afraid. Spurn boldly claimed a roseate tern at Beacon Ponds, a bee-eater near Kilnsea and a rosefinch at the Warren. In spite of my best efforts and plenty of trudging I saw none. Brief view of yet another cuckoo. Decided to linger in the hide at Beacon Ponds. Friendly chap from Manchester to natter with. Little terns with sand eels, dunlin in their summer best and ringed plover with chicks.

Little Tern

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Once you have worked out where the chick is you realise how well camouflaged it is!

Ringed Plover

A number of common blue butterflies were on the wing - along with the usual uncatchable meadow browns and orange tips. I caught up with a common blue on Beacon Lane.

Common Blue Walking back along the beach the sea wasn't especially rough but  large waves were breaking on the shore and the sea was brown with the stirred up sand. It looked quite impressive.

A dunnock was singing down the lane, backlit producing a nice image.

Dunnock I moved Tiggy from the Blue Bell car park to the canal scrape. Coffee in hand I settled into the hide with camera, bins and biscuits. A coot was teaching its youngster how to feed itself. Since I usually find coots madly agressive, this was a scene of domestic tranquility...

Coot The pair of swans who usually inhabit the scrape had 5 cygnets - another tranquil scene:

Mute Swan I noticed that dragonflies were quite close to the hide and as I have often tried to photograph them in flight, I decided to try again. Not perfect but pretty pleasing, I think.

Dragonfly sp

Dragonfly sp

Dragonfly sp This female is ovipositing - egg laying, dipping her abdomen into the water every few seconds.

Dragonfly sp A swallow alighted just outside the hide. I took many pictures but all were blurred. I think the bird was a fraction closer than my minimum focus distance. But as it flew off everything went just right. One of my favourite pictures this year [so far!]

Swallow Spurn was too quiet and the day had been just slightly disappointing. Never disheartened I resolved to set off homeward but call at North Cave, put the macro lens on and see what might be about... I didn't regret it as my day ended on a high with some stunning photographs of damselflies and other things.

Photo of the new big hide at the end of Dryham Lane. The views from it are going to be spectacular when the reserve is completed.

I'll start with the other things. A white campion [silene latifolia] and an unknown insect [wasp?] on an umbellifer.

White Campion Wasp sp? I had seen no damselflies on my walk until I turned back towards Tiggy: then they were everywhere and I wondered how I had missed them.

Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly                                                                Common blue damselfly [enallagma cyathigerum]

Damselfly Damselfly I then spotted a blue-tailed damselfly [ischnura elegans]

Blue-tailed Damselfly Finally I found something I  had never seen before - a red-eyed damselfly.

Red-eyed Damselfly Absolutely finally, I often mention my travelling companion who goes with me to most places [unless my friend Barry is driving] so I thought Tiggy deserved a picture. Do come over and say hello if you see us on our travels!

That's all folks!

Still 111 Yorkshire [Nelson]; 234 UK.