Pool, Pond, and Bog.

Conder Pool.

Conder Pool never fails on the interest front, and didn't fail me again on Friday. I'm never involved in survey work and todays counts are estimates, though never too far from accurate. 

At least 2,100 Redshank was by far the best count ever for Conder Pool. Other waders here today, a Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 2 Ruff, 12 Dunlin and 8 Black-tailed Godwit, and after six attempts, I arrived at a count of 10 Little Grebe.

The terns were busy and all over the place, but eventually my count was of 31 Common Tern, seen as 24 adult, and 7 young including one near fledging. Also a new one for the pool, was a colour marked Common Tern, with a dark bill and white forehead, it was a juvenile moulting to 1st winter plumage.

Butterflies seen, a Gatekeeper and Painted Lady. 

Saltcote Pond.

Common Darter. Pete Woodruff.

A great little pond but a bit quiet today, an Emperor Dragonfly persistently attacked 2 Brown Hawker every time they came close, also 3 Common Darter, 5 Common Blue Damselfly, and a Blue-tailed Damselfly. Quite busy with butterflies, 6 Painted Lady, 5 Common Blue, and a Meadow Brown.

Birk Bank.

Birk Bank Bog. Pete Woodruff.

When I arrived at the bog, the sight of it slowly drying out was a bit concerning.

Birk Bank Bog. Pete Woodruff.

Though the ditch were the old boardwalk was, and the haunt favoured by the Golden Ringed Dragonfly, is still looking good.

Keeled Skimmer. Pete Woodruff.

My visit here today was an all male day with two exceptions, and it was good to find 5 Keeled Skimmer, they were seeing off anything that came close.

Keeled Skimmer Female. Pete Woodruff. 

With the two exceptions, one of which was an old female Keeled Skimmer which was obliging and basking in the sun on the boardwalk.

Common Darter Female. Pete Woodruff.

The other exception was an old female Common Darter, which was also basking on the boardwalk.

An Emperor Dragonfly was patrolling the edges of the bog during all my time here, while a Common Hawker was behaving in the same manner, flying low over the water and investigating the edges of the acidic bog, but without showing the aggression of the Emperor.

Common/Black Darter. Pete Woodruff.

Also seen, 5 Common Darter and 3 Black Darter were all male. I saw just three butterfly, 2 Speckled Wood and a Painted Lady.

Waders And Wagtails.

But first some news about the Conder Pool Common Terns, including some behaviour by an adult Common Tern towards a chick, and some other behavioral traits I've never observed before.

In the video below, the adult tern perched at the far left hand of the raft, suddenly pounces on the chick and appears to stab at it with its bill before it escapes and runs off. 

 

 

I made the following trimmed video at half speed where the aggression by the adult is more obvious.

This attack by the adult tern isn't the only odd behavior surrounding these birds. I met Ian Hartley who gave me some news about young chicks gone missing and some dead which he had removed from the raft earlier. This prompts the suspected cause to be starvation, or in the case of those missing from the raft, a Barn Owl which daily hunts Conder Pool, and has done for some time now.

There has been a lot of mayhem in the colony recently, with chicks fighting each other and various adults over fish. In one incident, the 'wrong' chick grabbed a fish and the adult snatched it back and flew off before the chick could spit it out. There's been some chick mortality recently, perhaps because of all the competition over food coming in. Some good news to follow all this, is that 16 Common Tern chicks were still alive as at Friday, so we can hopefully expect they can all make it from here on.

For providing me with the news about the state of play and the update regarding the Common Terns, I'm very grateful to Ian Hartley. 

Conder Pool.

  

I'm recording 34 Common Tern on Conder Pool Wednesday 29 July, seen as 24 adult and 16 chicks/young. Also here, in excess of 1,000 Redshank, 21 Greenshank, 14 Common Sandpiper, 7 Avocet, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Little Egret, and I made a count of 12 Little Grebe, this seems to be an early build up in winter numbers so early at the end of July. 

Bank End.

I had messaged Andrew (Wagtail) Cornell earlier to ask if he was at Bank End, and arranged to meet up with him around 1.00pm. It was a pleasant meeting with Andrew, and resulted in my seeing 6 Yellow Wagtail off Bank End Farm.

And Finally....

Some lovely bees, butterflies, moths and hovers in the garden recently, and an uninvited and unwanted gate crasher....All images Pete Woodruff.

Common Carder Bee

Comma

Silver Y

Volucella zonaria

The Volucella zonaria is a Hornet Mimic Hoverfly, migratory from the Mediterranean, and is the largest hoverfly to be found in the UK. 

NOT TODAY THANK YOU!