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Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Image Taken on 04 Jun 2010 at 12:32    Image of day on 13 Jul 2010

Azure damselflies are mating and laying in all the warm ponds. Here a pair 'in wheel' on an Flag iris frond - the dominant marginal plant in the main pond.


Ref: 20100713_df1_20100604_1232_010 azure damselflies mating on flag iris frond (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 01 May 2011 at 14:34    Image of day on 01 Jun 2011

The first damselflies of the year have made their appearance


Ref: 20110601_da1_20110501_1434_037+1459_103_ft1 azure damselfly female in flight with hop sedge (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 12 Jun 2010 at 16:00    Image of day on 20 Jul 2010

This banded Demoiselle male sometimes returned to the same spot providing an opportunity for a photo alighting on a the Hop Sedge.


Ref: 20100720_df1_20100612_1600_291 banded demoiselle damselfly male alighting on hop sedge (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 25 May 2011 at 14:09    Image of day on 24 Jun 2011

Yellow Flag Iris is designed to use bees for pollination. The sexual organs are beneath the upper petal which presses down on the bee as it enters leaving or picking up pollen on its back that you can see as yellow specks on the last image. Bees always go in the 'front' pushing up the upper petal, but exit out of the side.


Ref: 20110624_db1_20110525_1409_042+047+051 bee entering yellow flag iris flower and exiting through side 03+08+12 of 13 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 24 May 2009 at 13:39    Image of day on 14 Jun 2009

This Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly obliged with just this one flight across the camera field


Ref: 20090614_d01_20090524_1339_038+1403_128 ft1 broad bodied chaser dragonfly male in flight with flag iris leaf (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 04 Jun 2010 at 12:33    Image of day on 12 Jul 2010

This beautiful Broad-Bodied Chaser Dragonfly was using the withering flag iris as a vantage point - it has no interest in pollen or nectar. Shortly afterward an orange female flew by and he flew off after her.
The blue back (on the males only) is powdery and bright in Ultraviolet. If you are interested see Dragonflies in Ultraviolet from part way down & the top item on the page that follows. They are NOT dead - just cold, and like all the others flew off fine after warming in the sunshine.


Ref: 20100712_df1_20100604_1233_015 broad-bodied chaser dragonfly male on withering flag iris flower (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image of day on 03 Apr 2005

3 days after the twig being brought to the nest (see 2 April 2005) the automatic camera photographed a Carrion crow (presumably the same pair) collecting Reed mace to line the nest.


Ref: 20050403_d3e_13585 fb1 carrion crow collecting nesting material (reed mace) 2005mar31_17-19-02(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 01 Sep 2011 at 12:24    Image of day on 18 Oct 2011

A bit of sunshine brings out a few dragonflies. This one is perched on the pond island on fallen sedge - the colours of the insect match that of the foliage rendering them very hard to see until they move or you see them land.


Ref: 20111018_df1_20110901_1224_082 common darter dragonfly female on fallen hop sedge (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 16 Aug 2010 at 13:58    Image of day on 01 Oct 2010

A common darter dragonfly in flight. Darters dragonflies are intermediate in size between Damselflies and Hawker Dragonflies and you may spot them perching on overhanging pond side foliage, taking off and returning to the same spot.


Ref: 20101001_da1_20100816_1358_053+1544_157_ft1 common darter dragonfly male in flight with flag iris leaf (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 15 Aug 2010 at 14:10    Image of day on 02 Oct 2010

In 26 Sep 2010 we showed you a male Emerald damselfly brought to us for some technical photos (see previous description). To complete the study we photographed some more males and this female.


Ref: 20101002_da1_20100815_1410_011+1521_149_ft1 emerald damselfly female in flight with ornamental rush (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 08 Aug 2010 at 14:43    Image of day on 26 Sep 2010

And taking a final fly before going back to the waterside


Ref: 20100926_da1_20100808_1443_037+1436_016_ft1 emerald damselfly male in flight with hop sedge (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 08 Aug 2010 at 14:39    Image of day on 26 Sep 2010

A male Emerald Damselfly brought to us for some technical photos of the blue 'pruinescence' (a powdery substance that rubs off) & went on to provide some delightful images before release. The Hop sedge looks a bit strange but that is how it goes - there were hundreds like this with very similar strips sticking up and down.


Ref: 20100926_da1_20100808_1439_028_ft1 emerald damselfly male on hop sedge (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image of day on 09 Jun 2005

The main pond edge is awash with yellow flag iris flowers. Small pictures of masses of flower never seem to capture the impact, so here is a detail.


Ref: 20050609_p20_1010834 flag iris 2005may29_15-17-38(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 22 Aug 2010 at 18:03    Image of day on 05 Oct 2010

A larger grass snake basking in the sunshine at the end of the day in the sedge at the back of 'Duck pond'. It stayed for several minutes apparently completely still while we watched and captured a few images. The insert was 3 minutes after the main image and you can see it has barely moved relative to the plant stems. This is the first time we have noticed a grass snake basking in this manner.


Ref: 20101005_p02_20100822_1803_375+1805_393 grass snake sunbathing in hop sedge at duck pond (montage of head detail)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 04 Apr 2011 at 14:19    Image of day on 03 May 2011

At a very different scale the Reedmace continues to be a big hit - here a greenfinch getting into a complete mess stuffing as much as it could into her beak.


Ref: 20110503_df1_20110404_1419_077 greenfinch female collecting reed make seed for nesting 4 of 4 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 11 Jul 2008 at 13:15    Image of day on 25 Jul 2008

Ref: 20080725_d01_20080711_1315_072 heron clambering out of duck pond with great crested newt & pond weed in beak(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 25 May 2009 at 15:17    Image of day on 23 Jun 2009

Honey bees are in short supply this year, so after we caught this on flag iris and brought it in for some photos, it went straight back out where it came from. Note the (yellow) pollen sack on the leg.


Ref: 20090623_d01_20090525_1517_011+1524_029 ft1 honey bee in flight with yellow flag iris flower (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 01 May 2011 at 14:38    Image of day on 01 Jun 2011

Ref: 20110601_da1_20110501_1438_056+1451_108_ft1 large red damselfly male in flight with hop sedge (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 10 Jul 2010 at 15:19    Image of day on 24 Aug 2010

A Large Red Damselfly but as yet without the typically red eyes. Many odonata vary hugely in colour as they age.


Ref: 20100824_da1_20100710_1519_048+1635_190_ft1 large red damselfly male in flight with hop sedge (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 01 Aug 2010 at 13:53    Image of day on 11 Sep 2010

These Long-winged Conehead Cricket are quite hard to spot on the Hop Sedge. The antenna on the left is about 20% out of crop, whilst the apparently short vertical one is full length but foreshortened by pointing at the camera. Don't be conned by the short wings - this is an immature insect and the wings are not yet fully developed - the telling detail is at the tail end.


Ref: 20100911_df1_20100801_1353_025 long-winged conehead cricket (straight cerci with wings undeveloped) on hop sedge (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

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