The one I did see I am sure is a couple inches bigger than this one? Anyhoo this was the second Terrapin seen that day and spotted between some bushes while on my bike on the way home! I was of course looking out for these ones, there were two originally, so not a big deal spotting it really.
Wednesday 25 June 2014
THE ORIGINAL RED EAR RETURNS
I am sure this is the smaller of two Terrapins I know quite locally that last year I did not spot?
The one I did see I am sure is a couple inches bigger than this one? Anyhoo this was the second Terrapin seen that day and spotted between some bushes while on my bike on the way home! I was of course looking out for these ones, there were two originally, so not a big deal spotting it really.
The one I did see I am sure is a couple inches bigger than this one? Anyhoo this was the second Terrapin seen that day and spotted between some bushes while on my bike on the way home! I was of course looking out for these ones, there were two originally, so not a big deal spotting it really.
THE RETURN OF THE DANCING DEMOISELLES
Ahh my old favourites return!
Graceful on the wind like that of a pirouetting ballet dancer when the reality is that other flying insects live in mortal fear of. A hunting and expertly winged predatory eagle eyed death on the wing Damselfly.
Graceful on the wind like that of a pirouetting ballet dancer when the reality is that other flying insects live in mortal fear of. A hunting and expertly winged predatory eagle eyed death on the wing Damselfly.
A SPIKY CATERPILLAR
From my young days with a younger brother and if memory serves me well this distant, from me, caterpillar may well be a Peacock. I am sure spikes and nettles rings bells of Peacocks? Probably Small Tortoiseshells?! LOL!
A GOLDEN COLOURED DRAGONFLY
A very peculiar coloured Dragonfly, not Damselfly because it holds it wings out and that is one difference between the two.
Probably a female Darter of some sort and there are Common Darters in the area. This is at Cottonmill Stream which is a welll known Dragonfly sanctuary. Not as many as the authorites would have you believe, not even close but I have so far seen three or four large Dragonflies of the Hawker group (Brown, err Migrants last year and the other looking like that one, Emperor), Banded Demoiselles are always in large and impressive numbers too. Also seen Red Eyed Damselflies and pictured them but rubbish. Hopefully this year some good and sharp shots.
Hairy Legged Damsels ... errrr ... or was it White Legged Damselflies?! Lol!
Probably a female Darter of some sort and there are Common Darters in the area. This is at Cottonmill Stream which is a welll known Dragonfly sanctuary. Not as many as the authorites would have you believe, not even close but I have so far seen three or four large Dragonflies of the Hawker group (Brown, err Migrants last year and the other looking like that one, Emperor), Banded Demoiselles are always in large and impressive numbers too. Also seen Red Eyed Damselflies and pictured them but rubbish. Hopefully this year some good and sharp shots.
Hairy Legged Damsels ... errrr ... or was it White Legged Damselflies?! Lol!
BEE ORCHIDS 2014
Now there did not seem to be many of these about, but I have to go back and double check a few things!
Last year the surrounding plants were a great deal lower than they are this year and I cannot emphasize this enough! So I do not know if I just cannot see the others, which might be why I have not found them previously, or much more likely that the excessive and constant Winter, Spring and early Summer rain has allowed the normal plants to block out the light from the Orchids?
There was one Bee Orchid, shown in one of the videos, which was much taller than the others and all of them were much taller than the ones I saw last year.
Bee Orchids Patch One
A nice example of a Bee Orchid in Patch One
Bee Orchids Patch Two
Last year the surrounding plants were a great deal lower than they are this year and I cannot emphasize this enough! So I do not know if I just cannot see the others, which might be why I have not found them previously, or much more likely that the excessive and constant Winter, Spring and early Summer rain has allowed the normal plants to block out the light from the Orchids?
There was one Bee Orchid, shown in one of the videos, which was much taller than the others and all of them were much taller than the ones I saw last year.
Bee Orchids Patch One
A nice example of a Bee Orchid in Patch One
Bee Orchids Patch Two
THE RED EARED ALIEN
Well there is an alien in the vicinity down at the cotton mill!
Not spotted by me previously a Red Eared Terrapin of the North American Clemmys ... errrr or is that Macroclemmys genus. Sometimes going under the silly name of Red Eared Sliders no doubt called by children in America because they look like they are sliding down ramps into water?
Oh wait or have I got this correct?
I filmed two of these four miles apart and one of them I know and have posted films and photos of it previously. One I have not, lol.
Not spotted by me previously a Red Eared Terrapin of the North American Clemmys ... errrr or is that Macroclemmys genus. Sometimes going under the silly name of Red Eared Sliders no doubt called by children in America because they look like they are sliding down ramps into water?
Oh wait or have I got this correct?
I filmed two of these four miles apart and one of them I know and have posted films and photos of it previously. One I have not, lol.
A PAIR OF PYRAMIDAL ORCHIDS
Now whereas the numbers of Bee Orchids are vastly reduced, POSSIBLY, compared to last year the numbers of Anacamptis are only slightly reduced.
So doing a running year by year study of the local British Orchids here is the site of the Pyramidal Orchids, which is site 1 of course as its the only one! Well only one I have found thus far!
So doing a running year by year study of the local British Orchids here is the site of the Pyramidal Orchids, which is site 1 of course as its the only one! Well only one I have found thus far!
A DEAD GRASS SNAKE
This one was at Cottonmill Stream and as soon as I looked down and despite it being upside down and torn apart at both ends and missing a head that this was a young Grass Snake, Natrix ummm natrix helveticus? Cannot be bothered to look it up and the memory not working as it should lol, damn this Fibrofog malarkey!
Have to keep an eye out for these and I think an early morning raid, well camp out in reality, is in order to get more on these?
Have to keep an eye out for these and I think an early morning raid, well camp out in reality, is in order to get more on these?
SHOW US YOUR WINGS, SKIPPER!
A Skipper Butterfly and I was sure there was another butterfly of similar colour but a little bigger?
For those Butterfly enthusiasts into the finer details of said things this other Butterfly had the typical ... bounce in its flight that I did not think Skippers performed? Think of a White or a Brown in flight and it was like that. This was quite close to some Bee Orchids and some Pyramidal Orchids I was filming.
For those Butterfly enthusiasts into the finer details of said things this other Butterfly had the typical ... bounce in its flight that I did not think Skippers performed? Think of a White or a Brown in flight and it was like that. This was quite close to some Bee Orchids and some Pyramidal Orchids I was filming.
COMMA BUTTERFLY in 2014
A new year and a new set of British Wildlife films!
Let us hope I see a few things quite out of the ordinary this year?
So first up is a not out of the ordinary, well not of recent times that is for certain, a Comma Butterfly.
Let us hope I see a few things quite out of the ordinary this year?
So first up is a not out of the ordinary, well not of recent times that is for certain, a Comma Butterfly.
Tuesday 10 June 2014
THE RETURN OF THE DEMOISELLES
My new favourites, no not 'old' favourites, the Banded Demoiselles!
So very cool and very reassuring to know that these are back and I am back there filming them because I was begiunning to wonder where in the hell the summer had gone?! Especially as we were supposed to be eight weeks into a roasting and in reality its been two days and a couple of days 6 weeks back.
Unfortunately this sudden rise in temperature combined with my sudden need to cycle for miles resulted in the most gargantuan of headaches that I get eevery year at this time. How much the temperature has risen will dictate just how bad the headaches are, especially the early ones.
I have long suspected this is down to dehydration and refer to them as my Dehydration Headaches and that the awareness of my condition of Fibromyalgia and the fact that this condition does indeed affect your ability to deal with extremes of heat and extreme changes in temperature I think that the body must also dehydrate very easily and quickly when it gets too hot too quickly?!
I normally takes a few weeks or more to acclimatise to the changes, bah humbug!
Now lets hope the waether stays good, though a little cooler would be nice, because there are a few things happening on other blogs over the next few weeks. So getting a start on this one along with some tropical Orchid stuff happening on another one and my technology blog getting some much needed content its exciting times indeed!
So very cool and very reassuring to know that these are back and I am back there filming them because I was begiunning to wonder where in the hell the summer had gone?! Especially as we were supposed to be eight weeks into a roasting and in reality its been two days and a couple of days 6 weeks back.
Unfortunately this sudden rise in temperature combined with my sudden need to cycle for miles resulted in the most gargantuan of headaches that I get eevery year at this time. How much the temperature has risen will dictate just how bad the headaches are, especially the early ones.
I have long suspected this is down to dehydration and refer to them as my Dehydration Headaches and that the awareness of my condition of Fibromyalgia and the fact that this condition does indeed affect your ability to deal with extremes of heat and extreme changes in temperature I think that the body must also dehydrate very easily and quickly when it gets too hot too quickly?!
I normally takes a few weeks or more to acclimatise to the changes, bah humbug!
Now lets hope the waether stays good, though a little cooler would be nice, because there are a few things happening on other blogs over the next few weeks. So getting a start on this one along with some tropical Orchid stuff happening on another one and my technology blog getting some much needed content its exciting times indeed!
THE CANADIANS AND THE SWAN FAMILY
Odd here because I spot Canadian Pond Weed, no not the Elodea densa you buy for your Goldfish but the smaller, less bushy and more intricate Elodea canadensis.
I am sure I never spotted this before at this site?!
Also a family of Swans with young cygnets, numberig five, at Cornmill Stream that I will now keep an eye on when I can as Gwen would never forgive me otherwise! Lol!
I am sure I never spotted this before at this site?!
Also a family of Swans with young cygnets, numberig five, at Cornmill Stream that I will now keep an eye on when I can as Gwen would never forgive me otherwise! Lol!
FIRST SPOTTING OF BEE ORCHIDS SITE ONE
Well here I am at Site 1 and sure enough I have now gone two years in a row at seeing Bee Orchids there and yet for 5 years beforehand not a single bloody one?!
Queue Twilight Zone JINGLE!! Lol!
These are my first ones this year and my first PROPER venture out this year two, that I was not both extremely ill and suffering from heartbirn and then throwing up, lol.
Queue Twilight Zone JINGLE!! Lol!
These are my first ones this year and my first PROPER venture out this year two, that I was not both extremely ill and suffering from heartbirn and then throwing up, lol.
COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID NEW SITE CONFIRMATION
Shocking myself by walking up to the same point I saw these Orchids last year or the year before by some miracle I filmed and can now confirm the existence of Common Spotted Orchids are Site 1 of my various sites.
Now I state that I walked to the same spot but while looking the same there were just two Orchids where last time I thought there were three of two different yes, I remembered them being closer together, but might have just been that one has not appeared alongside another just yet.
Also you have to remember that after spotting the Bee Orchids and Common Spotted Orchids last year I then SCOURED the area looking for other Common Spotted Orchids to no avail. I of course did this again after finding these but only found several Bee Orchids. Some of the buds of the latter were not open so I will go back up in a few days time and ... scour once again.
Also bear in mind that I have been visiting thhis site dozens of times each year for at least 6 maybe 7 years now and yet only in the last 12 months have I seen both Common Spotted Orchids at this site, not documented as far as I know, and Bee Orchids, which are documented as being here for sure.
So the most boring site of all the Orchid sites has now become the most ... intriguing!
Now I state that I walked to the same spot but while looking the same there were just two Orchids where last time I thought there were three of two different yes, I remembered them being closer together, but might have just been that one has not appeared alongside another just yet.
Also you have to remember that after spotting the Bee Orchids and Common Spotted Orchids last year I then SCOURED the area looking for other Common Spotted Orchids to no avail. I of course did this again after finding these but only found several Bee Orchids. Some of the buds of the latter were not open so I will go back up in a few days time and ... scour once again.
Also bear in mind that I have been visiting thhis site dozens of times each year for at least 6 maybe 7 years now and yet only in the last 12 months have I seen both Common Spotted Orchids at this site, not documented as far as I know, and Bee Orchids, which are documented as being here for sure.
So the most boring site of all the Orchid sites has now become the most ... intriguing!
PYRAMIDAL ORCHIDS JUNE 2014
First venture out, proper that is, this year and just in time to!
Now this is site number one using my definitions and the Pyrmidal Orchids were out in force, where when I was there last 6 weeks back and very ill there was no sign of them at all!
I do a pan shot video and get a few photos and videos of exceptionally coloured specimens.
Now I do not know how I did it but I walked directly the to the remarkably indistnguishable spot where either last year or maybe the year before I spotted three other Orchis species to the two I had read were on the site?! However it was a bit different because there were two and they were farther apart than I remember. Despite the flowers dried up and finished when I spotted them the first time I did think that of the three Orchids there were two types?! This time there were just two and they were both Common Spotted Orchids I will post up next.
Yes the Bee Orchids were also out but not like they were last year and in all honesty the grass and weeds have grown exceptionally high which may have hindered their growth due to bloking light. Even my garden and the edges of the local playing fields the grasses and weeds are three feet high and I have never seen them this high before, not even later in the year!
One part of the River Lea towpath even felt like I was being swamped in a section thats normally very open!
Now this is site number one using my definitions and the Pyrmidal Orchids were out in force, where when I was there last 6 weeks back and very ill there was no sign of them at all!
I do a pan shot video and get a few photos and videos of exceptionally coloured specimens.
Now I do not know how I did it but I walked directly the to the remarkably indistnguishable spot where either last year or maybe the year before I spotted three other Orchis species to the two I had read were on the site?! However it was a bit different because there were two and they were farther apart than I remember. Despite the flowers dried up and finished when I spotted them the first time I did think that of the three Orchids there were two types?! This time there were just two and they were both Common Spotted Orchids I will post up next.
Yes the Bee Orchids were also out but not like they were last year and in all honesty the grass and weeds have grown exceptionally high which may have hindered their growth due to bloking light. Even my garden and the edges of the local playing fields the grasses and weeds are three feet high and I have never seen them this high before, not even later in the year!
One part of the River Lea towpath even felt like I was being swamped in a section thats normally very open!
IN SEARCH OF THE WHITETHROAT FLYCATCHER!!
I was flummoxed today, no really I was!
I spotted an out of the ordinary bird that was dipping and peaking the tops of the weeds and nettles, which had grown high due to the abundant rainfall this Spring 2014.
Now as I state in the first video below these were sizeable birds and I would say larger than a House SParrow, which is listed at 14 or 15cm. I thought they, there was a second one it turned out, SPotted Flycathers? However I had never seen Flycatchers and turned out there size would have been too small to be these.
They were perching in upright and vertical stems of plants which is not done by many species of birds and outside of Warblers, which I think I stated in the film, and Bearded Reedlings, which these were clearly not, not a great many do that.
There was a hen Blackbird nearby and likely a youngster bu these guys looked biggert than that even. However when I got hom and finally looked at the second video, where I actually get one on film briefly, I discover that they are White Throated Warblers?!
This got even stranger when I noticed in my RSPB book that the size given for Whitethroat Warblers was too small for these birds! No white ring around the eye but it is a difficult distance admittedly. In fact outside of the Barred Warbler none of the sizes quoted look like they could come close to these?!
On the description in YouTube I do a rundown of all the Warblers and ruling them out for one reason or another and I am left not really knowing. Exceptionally large Lesser Whitethroat Warblers is the only way I can describe them.
I will have to get my brother Ryan to look at the second video at some point.
I spotted an out of the ordinary bird that was dipping and peaking the tops of the weeds and nettles, which had grown high due to the abundant rainfall this Spring 2014.
Now as I state in the first video below these were sizeable birds and I would say larger than a House SParrow, which is listed at 14 or 15cm. I thought they, there was a second one it turned out, SPotted Flycathers? However I had never seen Flycatchers and turned out there size would have been too small to be these.
They were perching in upright and vertical stems of plants which is not done by many species of birds and outside of Warblers, which I think I stated in the film, and Bearded Reedlings, which these were clearly not, not a great many do that.
There was a hen Blackbird nearby and likely a youngster bu these guys looked biggert than that even. However when I got hom and finally looked at the second video, where I actually get one on film briefly, I discover that they are White Throated Warblers?!
This got even stranger when I noticed in my RSPB book that the size given for Whitethroat Warblers was too small for these birds! No white ring around the eye but it is a difficult distance admittedly. In fact outside of the Barred Warbler none of the sizes quoted look like they could come close to these?!
On the description in YouTube I do a rundown of all the Warblers and ruling them out for one reason or another and I am left not really knowing. Exceptionally large Lesser Whitethroat Warblers is the only way I can describe them.
I will have to get my brother Ryan to look at the second video at some point.
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