Tuesday 22 June 2010

The Wife Tries Her Hand at Insect Photography

Saturday afternoon managed to drive through the Teesdale/Weardale area after visiting relatives in Darlington with the beloved saying how come it takes 45mins to get to Darlington and 3hrs 20mins to get back.  Anyway she was quite happy as the first birds we got some great views of was Red Grouse.  Of course she was more interested in the little fluffy bundles that were running round near the road with Mammy and Daddy observing from a discreet distance.
There were also several Curlews, Lapwings and Oystercatchers around although the Curlews tend to keep their distance
We then stopped off at Low Barns for a quick walk round where a couple of Nuthatches kept us entertained for 5 mins in the Feeding Station along with the usual occupants.
And this gorgeous (well soon to be) young tit
Also came across this Moth (I think it is anyway) which was on the outside window of one of the hides but couldnt get a good pic as the beloveds macro camera had decided it needed more power from Mr Duracell and they were in the car
Finally on the way out there was a mole trying to climb the kerb but it kept falling off so gave it a helping hand into the wood.
Although I said "Finally" my beloved just reminded me that she had taken a few pics before the Duracells Died so here are a couple of her David Baileys which whilst I am pretty crap at Bird IDs my insectty thingie IDs stands at GCSE Grade U
I think this is a Speckled Wood
Common Blue Damselfly
No idea on this one
Some sort of Hoverfly
Initially thought this was a 4 Spotted Chaser but the colours dont look right then changed my mind completely and came up with Emerald Damselfly then realised it isnt Emerald(ish) so god knows

4 comments:

kirstallcreatures said...

Nice set of pics from your day out. If it helps, I recognise a couple of your sightings. The moth is a Small Magpie moth. The Speckled Wood is spot on and the final Damselfly, my guess is a female Common Blue Damselfly, have a look on http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/encya.html.

Johnnykinson said...

I think the juvenile Blue Tits look brill at this time of year. Next time you see some Common Blue Damselflies John watch out for the wheel. You can obviously pick a female for I.D.ing.
Nice to see someone giving a Mole a helping hand.......other than on barbed wire.
John

HowdonBlogger said...

Linda,

thanks for the IDs.

John,

we have a new family of Blue Tits in the garden next door but they never come close enough for good pics but are absolutely great to watch. Also just spotted a couple of young chaffinches wandering round the garden this morning. Its like a creche out there atm

John

Johnnykinson said...

Our House Sparrows are doing well as are the Starlings so have juveniles of both visiting our garden. It's lush watching them.
John