Thompson Common

Having spent the week working in Suffolk, followed by two days doing first aid in London, I found myself at a loose end for the weekend. Fortunately, the lovely Sarah Harris was free for the weekend so I was able to spend Saturday night with her, in Watton, right in the middle of the Norfolk Brecklands.

We did not do so much birding, but did spend the best part of Saturday afternoon exploring her patch of Thompson Common. The birding was good for such a warm afternoon, with Cuckoo and a flyover Hobby being the highlights, but with a nice compliment of common species as well.

The real highlight however were the Odonata on offer. At Thompson Water, the main lake on the site, we found ample Red-eyed Damselflies, as well as a single Norfolk Hawker. But then at the other end of the site we found one of my remaining outstanding British Odonata species; Scarce Emerald Damselfly.

I was completely oblivious to their presence here, until a helpful noticeboard pointed them out. With this prompt, we started searching the small ponds on the site and soon for three female and a single male emerald damselfly species. Obviously though, this species pair is tricky, so good photos needed to be taken, and when we got back we were able to confirm that the individuals we had seen were indeed the rarer species, a new species for me. 

-Scarce Emerald Damselfly

-Red-eyed Damselfly

Species List:
Thompson Common: Mute Swan, Gadwall, Mallard, Common Pheasant, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Cuckoo, Common Swift, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Grey Heron, Red Kite, Common Buzzard, Tawny Owl, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Hobby, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Skylark, Common Reed Warbler, Barn Swallow, Common Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, Eurasian Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Goldcrest, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Wren, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Pied Wagtail, Common Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Common Reed Bunting, 

Dorset Holiday-Day 13: Stowe NT

The weather had been pretty incredible all week, but now we had to go home in it, which was less than ideal. We picked our destination prior to our departure this time so we would not end up just doing the job lot in one go. Our destination was Stowe NT, which we had been to before, no we hadn't, Yes we had kind of place. We had been before-Described on this website as 'A random national trust place in the middle of nowhere after the most boring journey in history'. 

Our journey to Stowe was pretty uneventful except that traffic was horrendous and progress was slow, but we made it there for lunch. On the road we saw Common Buzzard, to be expected and also Red Kite, a new bird for the holiday.

The weather was still incredible when we got to Stowe but that meant plenty of insects. My mum and dad got a lift down on the golf cart minibus service, but I said I would walk down to make space on the bus for others. The way down went through some woods, where I saw Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper, 3 very familiar species over the holiday. On the bird front I spotted a Whitethroat singing in the bushes next to the field.

I made my way into the site. Apparently I should have been seen by the gate wardens who check your tickets, but I had no ticket and could not get in without my parents, who had already gone in. But nobody stopped me so I guess that all went well

I first went to the pond directly in front of me. A long lawn led down to it, and I was eager to see what I could find. No sooner did I arrived than did I find Black Tailed Skimmers, Azure Damselflies but also Red Eyed Damselflies, which made up for me missing them yesterday. I immediately took photos of them even though they were not in the best position due to my lack of photos from my previous encounters with them.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

There was one Broad Bodied Chaser among the Black Tailed Skimmers and it kept giving the latter a hard time flushing them from the perches on the waters edge. It only stopped a few times and then it chose perches which were not ideal for my camera.

-Broad Bodied Chaser

My attention was drawn back to the Red Eyed Damselflies, mainly because their eyes made them more striking that most damselflies. They kept perching but not where I really wanted them. One did perch on one of the emergent branches but it was still a little too far away for me to really get to grips with it.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

I mentioned the Black Tailed Skimmers, but they tended to perch on rocks and then not stay there very long, mainly due to the attentions of others of their species and the Broad Bodied Chaser. I did however find one or two who perched with the intention to stay perched so I could get a few photos.

-Black Tailed Skimmer

I left this section of the main lake and headed towards the smaller secondary lake than this main lake flowed into. The secondary lake was more wooded and there was less aquatic vegetation, especially water lilies. Where there was a break in the waterside trees there were a few Azure, Common Blue and more Red Eyed Damselfly, including a few in tandem.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

-Red Eyed Damselfly

I continued my walk and at the far end of the lake I saw a Great Crested Grebe which was quite close and started fishing. But when I looked at the photos afterwards I saw that it had not caught a fish but a crayfish, and quite a big one at that. 

-Great Crested Grebe

At this end of the lake the woods dissapeared and there were more damselflies, including red eyed in a position where I really get photos with all aspects. I took loads of photos but the light has restricted the impact of the eyes in the photos below.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

I continued round the far side of the lake where there was more woodland and here there were a few more birds, like Robin, Blackbird and a female Blackcap which flew across the path and into the trees between the path and the lake. There was also a Brown Hawker hunting this section of the grounds.

-Female Blackbird

Back out on the lake and it appeared that the grebe had followed me. I watched it as it seemed to be striking a threat pose, with its head close to the water, but after that it just sat up and then dived, so I don't really know why it had struck such a position.

-Great Crested Grebe

I found my parents at the top corner of the first main lake and there we watched some more Red Eyed Damselflies, including a pair in tandem.

-Red Eyed Damselfly

We were just setting off to leave and me and my dad spotted at the same time a Grass Snake swimming across the lake. It was a fair old size too but it was the yellow marks behind the head that really gave it away. It was only the 2nd of this species I have ever seen, so I was very excited. It was also the fifth reptile species of the holiday, when really I would have considered myself lucky to get one.

It swum off onto an island in the middle of the lake, swimming between the lily pads which looked rather striking.

-Grass Snake

I then followed my family as they made their way up through some of the smaller pools. Here there were still good numbers of Azure, Common Blue and Red Eyed Damselfly. I also spotted a Banded Demoiselle but it did not choose to land and so it did not take long for me to loose.

On the Dragonfly front there were a couple of female Ruddy Darters, due to the extensive black on the underside and black legs.

-Female Ruddy Darter

I then decided to go and finish my circuit round the main lake. The section I had not been to had good vegetation along the banks but no trees. This made it difficult to get to the waterside, but meant that there were good numbers of dragon and damselflies.

On the dragonfly front there were Four Spot Chaser, and Emperor Dragonfly, one of which took a Large White Butterfly from the air. There was also another of the small hawkers that I was sure were very late hairy dragonflies, but I needed one to land to take a photo so that I could confirm or dis confirm this theory.

It did not land and as such I had to try and take some sort of photo in the air. Below is my best effort, rubbish I know but the dragonfly would dissapear for a good 5 mins at a time and then re-appear at some random spot. I would say though that even though the photo is rubbish it seems to support the idea that it was a Hairy Dragonfly, so I will go with it.

-Hairy Dragonfly

I continued my circuit over the bridge, where there was a Black Tailed Skimmer on one of the posts. It was on the dark side of the post though so no great photos. On the far bank I spotted a Green Woodpecker and some crabby Canada Geese.

I made my way back to where I had started and there found my family again and also thought I saw a grass snake dissapear under the bank, but I could not re-locate it. On the bank the broad bodied chaser seemed to have left so the Black Tailed Skimmers had been left in peace so I took some photos of them perched on their rocks.

-Black Tailed Skimmer

After that my dad and I went for a wander along the bank of the lake and my dad spotted a Pike in the water. We headed off towards where the Canada geese had been but the only thing we saw this time was a juvenile Green Woodpecker chasing the adult bird around, not that we saw much of the adult bird but the juvenile seemed keen to give quite good views of itself.

-Green Woodpecker

And so that was that, the last wildlife act of our holiday down south. Its been a good holiday, but on the way home nothing happened, so here ends my narrative about it...

day 5-last day in norfolk and pensthorpe

Last Day of possibly the best holiday ever. The day was a scorcher and so we decided to go to pensthorpe, having said that, we had already decided to go pensthorpe. We wrapped up early so that we could get there before the crowds. Despite getting lost we did eventually manage to arrive. It was clear to see that the proprietors had not lost their sense of humour since last time as the "ruff road, slow down" sign was still there.

it was already quite busy and we did have to queue. As soon as we were in I went straight through to the reserve forgetting the pet zoo. It would be nice to end the holiday with a new dragonfly species and the weather was just right. It wasn't dragonflys that were showing however as there were hundreds of damselflys everywhere. It soon became apparent that the damselflys, however were all common blue. However by the river I spotted a dragonfly sp. but the darn thing wouldn't stay still which is generally a must have factor when watching dragonflys.

around half way through the reserve It became apparent that the damselflys were probably the only thing here worth watching besides lots of pet barnacle geese and mallards. Then I was about to exit the wildflower meadow when I spotted this thing in the sky. The fact that its neck is straight ahead tells enough and that this was a crane. I'm not sure If this counts, but I have already seen wild cranes at hickling broad last time but this seals it with a record shot.

I was pretty tired from standing so I sat down on the edge of the pool at the end of the wild flower meadow to have a rest. the damselflys were still plenty and so I decided to try and take some pictures. Some came out pretty well but then I spotted something fly off in the distance- something I failed at a shot of yesterday, a banded demoiselle. I followed it into a small in-let dyke to the main pool where it rested and, although it involved some leaving the path, manged to get some great record shots

I then returned to the bench I had been sat at and recorded all the damselflys I could find. Below is a concise list of every damselyfly species seen today although one of them was not taken at the site I described above.

common blue damselfly

red eyed damselfly

blue tailed damselfly-form rufescens-obsoleta

blue tailed damselfly

azure damselfly

The blue tailed Damselfly was not seen at the site above. The azure was just lucky really. There were so many blue damselflys that there simply had to be an azure amongst them. I therefore took hundreds of pictures in case one turned out to be an azure. as it so happens, one did.

I went to springwatches legendary scrape but to be frank there was nothing there. I managed to spot 1 avocet and 2 brown smudges which I assumed were little ringed plovers but I was a little too far away to be sure. A little egret flew in and offered some entertainment by fishing.

as I walked round the reserve in search of my illusive new dragonfly I had a brief view of a jay but that was all in the way of birdlife. I did see a dragonfly in the air but like so many before it failed to land in a suitable position (top of very tall tree)

As I walked around the reserve on one of the less obvious paths I found another family of barnacle geese with two chicks. I wanted to get a photo of the adults hissing face-on with the camera, I know that it would be a cheat of a photo because these are not strictly wild birds.

However what actually happened was a real shock. The first bird was not in the mood for a photo and wandered away towards its mate. Its mate was much more obliging but as I was setting the camera The adult goose Ran at me, wings flailing and crashed into my leg. I was so shocked, that I left them too it, still without a shot. It just goes to show the amount of devotion put in to their chicks

I had carelessly left my phone in the car and so I knew nothing of when my parents had any intention of leaving and so I decided to take up a bench near the exit and wait for them. There was a family of barnacle geese heading towards me so I headed down towards the waters edge for safety's sake.

As I did this I spotted a dragonfly flying in an area clear of reedbed right in front of me. I looked at it and it appeared to be a chaser of unknown affinity. I tried to take a photo of it but it didn't land and it kept moving when I managed To get the camera in focus. Eventually it flew of without giving its identity away.

I waited a little longer on the bench overlooking the water and saw a great crested grebe and 2 dabchicks but the water was a little empty. I looked up for no apparent reason and then I saw the dragonfly again heading towards some low shrubs. I did a runner to try and keep up with it but It soon landed where I expected. I crept up and found it where I took these photos

Later analysis showed that it was infact a young male black-tailed skimmer which is a first for me and well worth the wait and chase. The shrubbery made the photos quite difficult but you can easily tell what it is.

Then my family found me and we went into the avairy where they keep the british waders. this is my favourite bird enclosure in the whole world. British birds in a walk in enclosure. What made it even more special were the male ruffs that were constantly displaying. I have never seen a ruff in full summer plumage like these but they were really beautiful. A couple of the below pictures are of a male displaying but I'm not sure they have come out well.

The birds are really special here and the skimmer only added to this great place. This is the last stop on our norfolk holiday and so of we set home!!