So I decided to try and get some photos from the side of top of the dyke rather than the side. This turned out to be one of my better ideas as the birds were not as alert as they were when I was slightly closer and managed to get some pictures of the birds looking relaxed!
The crows were also perching on top of an old stone barn that was next to the campsite. there was a style just in front of it and I decided to sit on the style to try and get some photos of the crows as they landed. They never did land but some of the hundreds of sparrows entertained me by getting quite close and drinking from the small stream that ran into the sea, running parallel to the campsite.
We decided that, seeing as though it was not sunny, that we would go to Brodick castle and not the beach today. Brodick castle is a national trust for Scotland house with a large garden on the foothills of Goatfell. There is a large conifer plantation behind the grounds which ultimately lead to the brutal peak itself. Last time we were here I spotted a raven and so naturally my spirits were high of getting a raven record shot. but, heh heh, did we even see a raven, no! so what else could I say. no raven, no photo! the chances remaining getting smaller all the time. Before I could say that there were no ravens we decided that we would go into the cafe. There was a bird-feeder outside the cafe and it was here that we managed to find most of the "normal" birds of the holiday-blue tit, great tit, chaffinch and robin plus wood pigeon. after that I scoured the whole garden looking for interesting wildlife. The only interesting bit of wildlife That I found was a lone golden-ringed dragonfly that was hunting over a pool which was on the edge of the site and not even within the grounds of the castle at all. The pool was on the edge of a cattle Field but the dragonfly was flighty and eventually it flew off. opposite the pool there was a path. I decided not to go up on it because it would take me away from the castle grounds, even though it went through a wildflower meadow and could produce some interesting wildlife. More walking and still no wildlife. Eventually I gave up and decided to go back to the wildflower meadow. I was walking through the meadow . I was about halfway up when I saw the gate. It was a wooden gate made out of tree-trunks. crude and part off a fence. I was just taking this in when suddenly a dragonfly of x-species flew off the path in front of me. I could tell immediately that it was a female darter of some kind, perhaps a black darter. but I immediately lost it. I decided the wait for it to come out of the grass so I could properly identify it. I then got the fate full text-"lunch at car now". Its always the most important bits that are interrupted like this. What could I say? well what I said was-"am going to be late". good answer! the darter never came out again. I was serious gutted! if I had only been looking where I was going then I would have seen it. I decided to go have a look over the gate and then go for lunch-or at least that was the plan, for as soon as I looked over the gate was I so blown over by what I found then I knew that I would not be going back to lunch for some length of time! It was a pool, surrounded by that horrible type or reed/sedge that's grows everywhere and has fluffy insides if you care to cut it open. the path was continuing around the edge of the pool, the path being made up of lawn grass. there was an open conifer plantation behind it and the wildflower meadow in front of it with spectacular views down to Brodick its self. On the pool were about 7 common hawkers (although I had no idea at the time because non of them cared to stay still) and blue damselflys buzzed around everywhere. As you can see, I was going to be very late for lunch. I managed to snap a photo of the large dragonflys buzzing around and I instantly knew that they were common hawkers, confirming my suspicions.
I was so taken in by all this that I completely forgot about the missing darter. A mayfly flickered past me and I thought to my-self they even have mayflys here. If I knew what it really was I think I would have probably followed it but as it happens I casually passed it off as a mayfly. I heard a buzzing in the reeds in front of me and I found a pair of common hawkers mating. It is quite possible that they may have fallen in the water but I did not fish them out just in case they were ovipositing or something else. This was, interestingly, the only common hawker female I saw during the whole holiday!
I wandered around the pool I saw a lizard walk across the path in front off me, in no rush and in no fear of me. I took my first common lizard photos and from this I could clearly see that those lizards on the isle of wight were really common wall lizards not common lizards.
I was just walking back to where I came in so that I could walk round the other side when the mayfly fluttered by in -front of me. Well I thought, A mayfly photo cant do any harm because I have not seen one for a long time, so I followed it into the bush. Its a good thing I did because It quickly landed and became immediately apparent that it was not a mayfly. It was a small dragonfly, A darter! Well there was only one Darter it could be, despite its lack of blackness. Common darters don't fly like mayflys and this was way smaller than A common darter and so I Had to put my finger on black darter, my personal first which I am very pleased to include a record photo with it.
If your wondering about the lack of black, this is a young male and only adult males are completely black but this still has lots of black on its underside. Anyway, it was whilst I was photographing this that I spotted my second tick of the day. A damselfly fluttered past and alighted nearby. It was clearly a common emerald damselfly, my first ever! And now that I noticed them I started seeing them everywhere! I found two very quickly and others were milling about.
eventually I had to leave because of lunch but I left a very happy guy! black darter, common emerald damselfly, common blue damselfly, a large red had also turned up but I decided not to take any photos of it, common hawker plus a common darter! I was very pleased.
My dad loves dragonflys but is not a enthusiast who chases round trying to find every single one but he just loves the thrill of seeing them. I suppose I do too but I would like to see them all anyway despite their spectacularity. I told my dad about what I had seen and they decided (with some persuasion from me) that they would go up there after lunch.
I took my dad and family up after lunch and they were in luck. Unlike the emerald greens I had only found one black darter and I was not sure whether it would stick around. I read in the book that the species is highly mobile and has a tendency to stray far away from water. However the young male was calmly perched on the fence next-to the gate looking completely relaxed, having a clean and wash etc, etc but just sitting there looking there. It allows for some spectacular views and similarly good photos but I only managed that with a few.
I also managed to find a female common emerald damsefly to show my dad.
but my brother found a four-spot chaser resting on one of the reeds adding another species to the list of flying beasts living on the pond. sadly this individual was way past it and looking sad and old and fragile. It is sad to see such a magnificent beast reduced to such a sorry state but I guess that we have to accept that all animals die eventually and that dragonflys are just the same. Spectacularity cant save an individual from death.
I mentioned that there were common blues around the pond and just as proof I decided to include a photo of one. A common species but non the less beautiful.
Even after about half an hour watching the beasts of the pond, the black darter was still there on the fence and I tried to get some more interesting photos but sadly the focus was slightly out on the one below.
I decided that I would take another photo of the emerald damselflys because the first ones I had taken were a bit dark and more photos would easily allow me for the best photos .
A quick photo reference quickly recognized that most of the black darter photos I had taken were slightly less than What I had wanted (although when I was at home Most of them managed to recovered from their faults) so I took a few more from a different angle which ultimately led to my best darter photos ever.
the only other damselfly I have not mentioned was the common blue tailed damselflys that were around. after that we finished and We decided to leave. on the way back we decided that we would take a look at the lochranza campsite as a ontential resting place for the rest of the holiday. When we arrived the presence of deer had not changed, so I took more photos.
No eagles this time but still an incredibly exciting and surprising day. For those who remember my four bullet points at the start of the holiday you will ahve realised that almost all of them were ticked except for possibly seeing a hen harrier (but this was not essential) but then again niether was seeing a ablck darter but I managed it. What a holiday this is turning into!!
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