28 Jul 24 - Silverlake Dragons

I covered the group of Male Scarlet Daters at Silverlake in the last Blog Post. This Blog Post covers some of the other Dragonflies at this superb Dragonfly site. The common large species were Emperor Dragonflies. There was also at least one Lesser Emperor which flew past me in the early afternoon, but it carried on flying. I heard that one had landing in the trees at the other end of the lake which allowed the opportunity for photos, but I didn't hear that news until well after the event.

Emperor Dragonfly: Male. There were a few whizzing around the lake, but this one landed for long enough for a photo

Other Dragonflies & Damselflies I saw included Common Darters, Black-tailed Skimmers, Keeled Skimmers, Beautiful Demoiselle and Small Red-eyed Damselflies. There were also plenty of Blue Damselflies, but none of them were seen close enough to identify them: they would have been Azure Damselflies or Common Blue Damselflies.

Common Darter: Male

There were plenty of Water Striders around the water's edge: they are one of the two large UK Pond Skaters species.

Water Strider: The other large Pond Skater species is River Strider, but this species prefers moving water

Water Strider: Mating whilst feeding on a dead Damselfly

Around the water's edge, there were good numbers of Backswimmers or Great Water Boatmen as they used to be called. This is a generic name for four species in the Notonecta family.

Backswimmer sp.: This appears to be one of Notonecta family of Backswimmers. There are four UK species, but without catching it & seeing the upperside of the body, it isn't possible to identify down to a species. The brown legs could indicate it is Common Backswimmer (Notonecta glauca)

This might be a large Caddis Fly sp.: It was still struggling, but it was unlikely to reach somewhere where it could pull itself out of the water. Therefore, it is likely to end up as food for something else, perhaps the Water Striders

28 Jul 24 - Enter The (Scarlet) Dragon

On 21 Jul 24, news broke of a Scarlet Darter at Silverlake in Dorset, with the suspicion that there was a second male present. This is a relatively new reserve of flooded sand pits that are still maturing. When people looked the next day, there were two confirmed males at the site and that rose to three males a few days later. This is quite incredible given the one I photographed at Longham on 9 Jul 17 was only the eighth UK record. Since then another had been seen at Longham in Jun 19 & one was seen at Minsmere in Jul 22. All of these records have been short stay individuals & I was lucky to see the final sighting of the first Longham individual. To get several male Scarlet Darters hanging around at the same location, is good evidence that they had already bred at the lake.

Scarlet Darter: Male. It's always good when I see the key species within minutes of arriving

Having seen one before, I left it for a few days before I visited Silverlake, in the hope that there would be females found by the time I tried. I arrived just before midday & saw Pete Moore who had arrived about thirty minutes before I did. Pete confirmed that there was one male hanging around about a metre from the water's edge and returning to an area with minimal vegetation. He had only just told me where to look, when he said, there's one. It posed for some initial photos, but was gone after a couple of minutes.

Scarlet Darter: Male

This male reappeared on an number of occasions over the next hour and posed for a couple of minutes at a time. The main identification features for male Scarlet Darter are: the flat, broad bright scarlet abdomen, pale pterostigma, orange colouration at base of hind wing, red wing veins and blue on the bottom of the eyes. Ruddy Darters are a potential confusion species, but their darker red colouration, black line on the top of the abdomen at the end and their pinched waist will quickly confirm their identification.

Scarlet Darter: Male

Scarlet Darter: Male

After an hour or so, a shout went up at the far side of the lake to say there was a pair of Scarlet Darters over there. A few of the peeps ran found to the far side of the lake in the hope of connecting, but they had disappeared before they got there. I wandered around at a more leisurely speed. I did see another male over there which showed every now & then. After about fifteen minutes, there was another shout & subsequent stampede for a pair of Scarlet Darters close where I saw the first individual. Some of the peeps that ran back around the lake, managed to get to see them. I decided to stay where I was. I saw the second male briefly tangled with a third male, before they each returned to area they were patrolling, but that was all I saw of the third male.

Scarlet Darter: Male

Eventually, I returned to the original location where I saw the first male again, but I failed to see any of the females. In total, there were four males present and at least one female.

Scarlet Darter: Male

This lake was larger than the Longham lake. It was oval shaped with a diameter of about one hundred and seventy metres. Like the smaller Longham lake it was a shallow lake with relatively light vegetation along some parts of the lake shore. There were no obvious signs of Fish in these lakes.

Scarlet Darter: Male

It had been a very hot & sunny day. I saw the last sighting about 14:15 and stayed for another thirty minutes without any further sightings. I suspect after several hours of patrolling in the heat, they headed off to the surrounding trees for a rest. It had been an excellent few hours at this superb site and there was a good selection of other species present. I will cover them in the next Blog Post.

20 Jul 24 - Preparing For The Island Games

The Island Games began in 1985 as the Inter-Island Games, involving the islands surrounding the United Kingdom, but also encouraged the countries of Iceland and Malta, the territories of Faroe Islands, Greenland, Saint Helena, the Channel Islands and others to participate in various sports. The Island Games are still going with additional small islands also included. To date, Brownsea Island is not involved, but it looks like this Red Squirrel is practicing to get involved in a future games.

Red Squirrel: I spotted this Red Squirrel at a distance up the main track. I knew they like to use the track as a pathway when quiet, so I moved into the side of the track, got the camera ready & waited

Red Squirrel: Bounding down the track

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel: Time for a breather. Has it clocked me?

Red Squirrel: It pauses long enough for me to improve the camera settings

Red Squirrel: He is off again

Red Squirrel: Coming to a stop again. Unfortunately, the intervening action shots weren't sharp

Red Squirrel: Checking out an interesting-looking stone which looks like a peanut in its shell

Red Squirrel: After confirmation it was just a stone, it's time to get moving again

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel: Practicing to get onto the winners podium

There are many reasons why I enjoy volunteering on the DWT Brownsea reserve with the weekly Birding being one of the many reasons. However, it is probably the regular encounters with these endearing Red Squirrels, & not the Birds, that is the main reason.

19 Jul 24 - A Purbeck Great Green Bush Cricket

I bumped into this Great Green Bush Cricket whilst out walking near Creech Barrow in the Historic Isle of Purbeck. They are a relatively common Bush Cricket locally, but I don't see them that often due to lack of searching for them.

Great Green Bush Cricket

Great Green Bush Cricket

17 Jul 24 - A Brownsea Ruddy Darter

This Male Ruddy Darter posed very well by the DWT Brownsea bomb pond. The small size, bright blood-red abdomen with its pinched waist and black line on the final segments, red-brown thorax without any shoulder stripes, red pterostigma, small yellow-orange coloured base to the wings and black legs makes this an easy species to identify.

Ruddy Darter: Male

17 Jul 24 - Red Squirrel Behaving Badly

There appears to be a breakdown in etiquette training at meal times with the Red Squirrels on the DWT Brownsea reserve at the moment. I doing my normal volunteering on Weds and helping one of the wardens Nicki as she went through the Moth trap. Nicki pointed out that there was a Red Squirrel on the peanut feeder & I walked over to take some photos. While the Red Squirrel was very obliging, it was also showing poor manners of sitting on top of its food. Some Red Squirrel etiquette training classes are clearly needed.

Red Squirrel: Enjoying a mid-morning peanut

Red Squirrel: There is no excuse for straddling your food whilst eating

Red Squirrel: It's time the DWT wardens Nicki & Jonny ran an meal time training course for the Red Squirrels

17 Jul 24 - A Brownsea Redshank

The DWT Brownsea Avocet hide can sometimes be a great place for Wader photography with nice light, still water & close Waders. It's well worth taking the opportunity when everything comes together and I've remembered to take the camera.

Redshank: The bright red-base to the bill, the heavy black streaking onto the underparts and the bright orange-red legs indicates this adult Redshank is still in its Summer plumage

16 Jul 24 - Returning To Plymouth From Santander With ORCA

It was another 05:00 alarm call on the final morning of the Plymouth to Santander ORCA Survey. This allowed time for a quick breakfast, a cuppa of tea and time to pack the bags. We could leave the bags in the cabin, but we would have to vacate the cabin as soon as we came off the survey as we would be close to Plymouth Sound. We were on the bridge in the half light and started the survey at 05:55 and we had seven hours of surveying before we reached the Plymouth Breakwater.

Approaching the Phare-de-la-Vieille Lighthouse

It's an interesting final morning as the Pont-Aven sails close to the Brittany coast and inside of the islands off the coast. When we are sailing inside of the islands, the ORCA team keep to their positions and do not do our regular thirty minute rotation of roles, while there are more crew on the bridge.

The Phare-de-la-Vieille Lighthouse: The Pont-Aven turns as we pass the lighthouse and the lighting became very tricky on the starboard side. This change in glare is noted as it impacts the chance to see and identify Cetaceans when looking in that direction

I was lucky to be on my rest when we passed by a super-pod of three hundred and eighty Short-beaked Common Dolphins. This allowed me to enjoy and photograph some approaching Dolphins: which went on to enjoy bow-waving for several minutes.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin: This pod couldn't wait to reach the ship

Short-beaked Common Dolphin: More from the same pod

Short-beaked Common Dolphin

Short-beaked Common Dolphin: If Dolphins were allowed to compete in the Olympics, they would win all the synchronous diving medals

In total, we recorded just over five hundred and fifty Short-beaked Common Dolphins. Other species included a Minke Whale, three Harbour Porpoises and a Shark sp. I also saw nine Cory's Shearwaters, a Sooty Shearwater & a few Manx Shearwaters in French waters. There were a few more Manx Shearwaters as we approached the Cornish coast.

Approaching the Plymouth Breakwater: Fort Picklecombe can just be seen on the left of this photo

Fort Picklecombe: The Fort was constructed between 1864 & 1871. It was armed with forty-two 9-inch and 10-inch muzzle loading guns, which were mounted in a semi-circular arc of two-storey casemates. It has now been turned into a set of well design private flats

Royal Norwegian Navy Tanker HNoMS Maud (A530): The ship was carrying out exercises well to the East of the Plymouth Breakwater

All too soon, another excellent & very enjoyable ORCA Survey was ending. It had been a lot of fun surveying with Becci, Charlotte and Riccardo and we had recorded just under one thousand Cetaceans, five Bluefin Tuna and a Shark sp.

Artwork on the side of the upmarket Salumi Restaurant near the port

The artwork was superb

15 Jul 24 - Another Spanish Ice Cream With ORCA

It was a five AM alarm call on the second day of the ORCA survey from Plymouth to Santander. There was time for a quick breakfast & cuppa of tea, before heading to the bridge. Our timing was perfect and it was half-light by the time we were set up for the day's surveying. The surveying started at 05:55 and we managed eight hours, before we ended the survey just outside of Santander. Unfortunately, we had already passed over the continental shelf in the dark and we were over the deep abyssal plain of central Biscay. Had we passed over the continental shelf in the light, we would have encountered a lot more Dolphins and maybe a few more Whales sightings. It's always a lot quieter over the abyssal plain.

Fin Whale surfacing: A photo showing the blow hole when the Fin Whales were in front of the ferry

My Cetacean sightings for this watch included two Fin Whales, another unidentified large Whale that was most likely a Fin Whale (but the views were too brief to rule out the much less likely option of a Sei Whale), another distant & far too brief large Whale that was a Humpback or Sperm Whale, fourteen Short-beaked Common Dolphins and a couple of unidentified Dolphin pods. The first highlight were the two Fin Whales that I picked up in front of the ferry and which passed down the starboard side.

Fin Whale: The same individual later in the surfacing showing the long back and the start of the dorsal fin. Unfortunately, it still isn't possible to rule out a Sei Whale on this view, but the longer back suggests a Fin Whale

I could tell both individuals were the same size and bulk. They were either Fin Whales or possibly the much scarcer Sei Whales. But I still wasn't able to be sure of the identify of these individuals at this stage. Especially, as I wasn't looking at the photos as I was surveying. I carried on tracking these two individuals as they passed down the starboard side, whilst still looking out for Dolphins popping up on my side of the ferry.

Fin Whale: The same individual coming up again. It rolled under again, before it revealing its dorsal fin

Separating Fin Whales from Sei Whales is tricky. Fin Whales are longer, but this size difference is always subjective for all but the most experienced of observers. Good views of the dorsal fin is essential. Sei Whales have a taller, thinner & more upright dorsal fin. More importantly, Sei Whales have a distinctive kink in the middle of their leading edge, whereas, Fin Whales have a smooth curved shape.

Fin Whale: The second individual which came up just behind the first one

Finally, they resurfaced just behind the bridge wing & I took some more photos while they we side on.

Fin Whale: The first individual: I don't use the camera much on surveys, but it is always useful to have it when it can assist with identification

Fin Whale: A close up of the dorsal fin of the first individual showing the smooth curve of the dorsal fin which confirms it is a Fin Whale

Fin Whale: The second individual with the more ragged edge to the back of the dorsal fin and the smooth dorsal fin shape. Both were now confirmed as Fin Whales

My clear highlight of the day was a pale Cuvier's Beaked Whale that passed down the starboard side of the ship and only twenty five metres from the side of the ship. I waited with the camera in the hope of some photos, but it remained two or three metres underwater & never surfaced. However, it's size, bulk & colouration allowed it to be safely identified.

The ORCA team as we pulled into Santander: Steve, Charlotte, Becci & Riccardo

The rest of the survey team added another probable Cuvier's Beaked Whale, a few more brief & distant large Whales or Whale blows, a pod of six Striped Dolphins and a large and distant pod of one hundred and thirty-four unidentified Dolphins. It had been a successful survey, albeit the sea state had been high all day & this adversely impacted the number of sightings that were identified.

Charlotte & I were distracted with a photo before finally getting the chance to try the ice cream: Visits to the ice cream shop is an ORCA tradition

We had an hour & a half ashore before heading back for return sailing from Santander. We departed on time and we returned to the bridge once the Pont-Aven had left the outer bay, to resume surveying for the last three hours of light. Unfortunately, the high sea state made surveying a challenge, but we managed to see a pod of seventy Short-beaked Common Dolphins, as well as, a few unidentified distant Whales. Overall, it had been a good full day of surveying on the Plymouth to Santander ferry and I would like to thank to Brittany Ferries for inviting an ORCA team onboard. We were looking forward to the final day of surveying. I will cover this day of the ORCA survey in the final Blog Post.