Dorset Holiday-Day 1: Caravan Site

So begins our holiday to Dorset. Really this was not where we had intentionally wanted to be, but as me and my brother finished school early due to exams we booked the holiday rather late, only to find everywhere booked up. 

The warm weather meant everyone was going our way as we made our way down, so it was a slow journey. However, on the way I did manage to get Common Buzzard and Swallow

Our campsite was in the middle of some woods which was very nice, and no sooner did we arrive than I spotted a Common Blue Damselfly from the car window 

Once we had set up, my dad and I went up to have a look at the tourist information. No sooner had we arrived than did I spot a brown dragonfly landing on a nearby budlia. It turned out to be a female Broad Bodied Chaser, Which got the Dragonfly side of the holiday off to a great start

-Female Broad Bodied Chaser

It was a little skittish, so my photos were not that great. Back at the caravan we found that the blue damselflies could also be found here, and I was able to confirm that they were common blue damselflies 

-Common Blue Damselflies

The afternoon was void of wildlife due to Andy Murray becoming Wimbledon champion, congrats to him. We did have a juvenile Robin that kept us company and stuck with us for the remainder of the time that we were there.

That evening we went to Weymouth beach and there we were able to watch Common Terns flying in from Lodmoor RSPB across the road

So the holiday got off to a slow start, though given the number of species that had come up in my research, I would doubt if it stayed that way

Lakeland-A day out at Derwentwater

Since it was my parents 24 wedding anniversary we decided to go for a trip up to the lake district. The day started badly when I dragged myself out of bed at 6.30, only to realise half way through breakfast that it was 5.30. However, once we got to Derwentwater the day picked up considerably. First we went for a walk around the side of Derwentwater to get the day started. We did not go far, only as far as the first field. On the walk through the woods we encountered only a nuthatch, though a woodpecker was calling somewhere around us. 

At the field we stopped to have a rest and a look around. I explored the small marsh next to the reeds to see what there was about. There were a lot of common blue damselflies, including some in tandem. 

-Common Blue Damselfly

As I sat down after the exploration of the marsh the woodpecker was heard calling in the tree directly behind us. It then flew over us and into the wet woodland for about 5 minuets before flying back and landing again in the tree behind us. There we saw that it had a chick, which it called to, before flying back to the flooded woodland, where the chick followed it.

-Greater Spotted Woodpecker

It was lunchtime by the time we returned, so we set up in the park and then me, brother and dad went into town to pick up lunch. When I got back my mum pointed out a juvenile blackbird feeding on berries in the tree above our picnic site. 

-Juvenile Blackbird

After a bit, when I had wandered off to get my drink from the car and returned, my dad pointed out a male blackbird sunbathing on the opposite side of the lawn. Since it was so open, I decided to commando crawl towards it to get quite close. I managed to get quite close before it was scared off by some people asking me about it. Either way, its the most spectacular sunbathe I have seen from a blackbird. 

-Blackbird

Through lunch the juvenile blackbird we met earlier also started sunbathing at the bottom of the same tree it had been feeding in. It was much more flighty and difficult to approach, but its sunbathe was just as spectacular.

-Juvenile blackbird

The other birds during lunch were sparrows, chaffinches, a willow warbler, song thrush and a few baby blue tits. 

After lunch we decided to wander into Keswick (the local town) to see what was about. Through the park getting there I spotted a small bush crawling with bees, most of which appeared to be what I know as tree bumblebees, because I have kept an eye open for them since my dad mentioned that he would like to see one. Apparently, tree bees are the fastest spreading bee in the UK, and are one of the "Big 5" (one of the 5 species of bee not in decline), so it was nice for my dad to see one, since the only other time I have seen one was in our garden when he was at work.

-Tree Bumblebee 

Needless to say, town was pretty void of wildlife. I did however manage to find a book I was looking for in a charity shop, which was a bonus (the Silmarillion) 

After town we decided to get on the boat and go for a row around the lake, as we usually do. The first bird I saw was a Red breasted merganser female, which was nice. It also reminded me that I couldn't remember if they were mergansers or goosanders that lived on the lake, but if you read on you will see how I was reminded. 

Next we rowed to the reeds to see what was about. There was not much, only a family of graylag geese whit 3 chicks, as well as a couple of oystercatchers. On the jetty of one of the houses around the lake there was also a pied wagtail.

-Pied wagtail 

The island opposite the marsh is where we found ample barnacle geese last time, but this time we only found one pair and they were on an island further over, which is sadly more accessible than the one previously. One the island we found a pair of barnacle geese, with the female seemingly sitting, or one of the birds sitting under a tree seemingly on a nest. The other bird was watching from the beach. 

-Barnacle Geese

Just next to the geese was an oystercatcher. There was another oystercatcher round the far side going bezerk at a gull perched nearby. At first it was unclear why, but as we watched we noticed that the none calling bird had 2 well grown chicks, which we hadn't noticed before.

-Juvenile oystercatcher

We then decided to go the rocks in the middle of the reser to get a look at the gulls and cormorants settled there. On the way there another female merganser appeared in front of us.

-Red Breasted Merganser

The rocks were full with gulls, herring, lesser black backed and greater black backed, more than I can ever remember before. There were also 3 cormorants on the rocks.

-Cormorant 

We slowly made our way across the lake, made slower because I tried rowing. We made it to another of the rock piles in the lake. On the largest we thought we heard a common sandpiper, but it turned out to actually be a pair of red breasted mergansers, and there was a male here which reminded me what species they were. We were able to get quite close before they moved off, so I was able to get some reasonable photos

-Red Breasted Merganser

We then made our way to the marsh on the far side of the island to see what was going on there. From a distance we noticed that there was a flock of graylag geese and a grey heron there. We managed to get quite close to the heron before it moved off, did a loop-de-loop and came back. There was also another male merganser there too...

-Red Breasted Merganser and Grey Heron 

-Grey Heron 

We then finished our rowing trip and made our way back. After our rowing exploits we went for a coffee in the cafe opposite. While we were there I spotted that another of the same plants from the park were in the cafe, and that they were crawling with tree bees here too. So while my family settled down for a civilized cup of coffee, I sat down and photographed the bees. I have to say that I don't remember bee photography ever being as difficult as these bees seemed to want to make it. For that reason my photos were not very good.

-Tree Bumblebees

After our coffee we went for a short walk the other way around the lake. It was early evening so there was not much wildlife around, but the flowers were still out and there were lovely groups of ragged robin along the lake shore. On the bird front there was also a sand martin among the swallows in the sheep field.

-Ragged Robin

And so after that walk we started to head off home. It was a lovely day, and not just because of the splendid weather but all the lovely weather as well. 

Oats Royd

This time going to Oats Royd I went along the bottom via the fields, which was much quicker and allowed me to walk alongside the river. When I entered the reserve the first thing I saw was a scorpion fly, an insect that has long eluded my camera, and has also been tricky to track down 

-Scorpion Fly

The reserve was full of insects again, the first bird I saw being a wren singing from the top of a conifer tree

-Wren

At the first pond I also found a large flock of willow warblers, possibly a family group as some of the birds looked quite young 

-Willow warbler

The other ponds were full of damselflies of common blue, large red and common blue tailed. I also found the exuvia of a dragonfly, but there was no dragonfly to go with it and since there has been no rain to knock them off it could well have been there for a good month

-Large red damselfly 

-Common Blue damselfly 

-Blue tailed damselfly 

At the first pond I also spotted a newt resting on a crisp packet. There were also loads more on the bottom of the pond but I couldn't get a better photo to identify them with, but I think they are Palmate newts judging by the lack of spots

-Palmate newt

At the far point nearest to the industrial estate there were loads of damselflies, a greater concentration than anywhere else on the reserve. It is probably the most damselflies I have ever seen in one place

-Common Blue Damselflies

On the heath next to the last pool I flushed a small heath butterfly, which was really nice though it was reluctant to sit with its wings open for a photo, so this modest effort is the best I could do

-Small Heath Butterfly 

And on the way back I also spotted a lovely male orange tip feeding, which will add to my limited photo library of this species

-Orange tip

And keeping with the butterfly theme there was also a lovely small copper resting on the path 

-Small copper

And last but by no means least I spotted this lovely greenish weevil of some description on the fens near the central pool which added to the long list of species seen today

-Greenish weevil of some description 

Oats Royd

I dont go to this site as often as I should, considering how close we live to it, however for that reason it gave me the perfect site to go to as a mid revision break. I did not clearly know how to get to it, so went over the top road, which was badly overgrown. At the top before the descent into the actual reserve there were some shaded overgrown ponds in which there were a few frogs resting from the heat

-Common Frog

On the descent I flushed my first damselfly of the year, large red, and also got to watch a lovely willow warbler singing on top of a birch tree

-Willow warbler

The actual reserve was teeming with insect life and there were a few birds about too. On the ponds there two families of canada geese and a family ducks. There was also a moorhen and a pair of domestic geese. On the insect front there were quite a few damselflies, but they were difficult to track down to photograph

-Common blue damselfly

But there were also a large number butterflies, including orange tip and peacock, with an excess of large whites, small whites and green viened whites...

-Male orange tip

-Peacock

Burnsal Bridge

You know how this goes now. A walk up the river at Burnsal Bridge in the Yorkshire dales, with wildlife included for good measure
  As soon as the walk opened out, I spotted my first ever damselfly here; a common blue












-Common Blue Damselfly
Further up, we found 3 goosanders, one of which was asleep for the most part, though it did wake up while we were there.

-Goosanders
almost back and my brother spotted a lovely female mandarin (though maybe a male in eclipse), which was lovely to see

-Female Mandarin