Saturday 23 June 2018

Some pictures from Friday's visit to Rainham Marshes.

A Marsh Harrier, carrying prey which looks like a Moorhen, was harried by a Lapwing.


A group of Little Egrets.


A Little Grebe.


A Goldfinch.


A Reed Bunting.


A Sedge Warbler.


A Tufted Duck with ducklings. There were four, but they were wandering around and I could only get two into the frame.


So not a great day for birds. But it was better for insects.

The star of the show was a Common Emerald Damselfly.


There was also a female Blue-Tailed Damselfly, in subdued colours and without the blue tail of the male.


A Four-Spotted Chaser dragonfly.


Two Ruddy Darters, a female ...


... and a male.


He moved his head around, constantly on the watch for passing insects.


A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.


A large hoverfly, Helophilus pendulus. This is sometimes called a Sun Fly, from a misreading of Helophilus, 'marsh lover', as Heliophilus, 'sun lover'. It basks in the sun, but no more than other insects do.


A colourful Drinker moth caterpillar ...


... and the black caterpillar of a Peacock butterfly.


The larva of a Bryony Ladybird.


Finally, back to vertebrates. A Marsh Frog ...


... and a Common Lizard.

5 comments:

  1. I find that I am getting more and more interested in small lizards. Serpents I dislike (sorry, herpetophiles everywhere), but I love their cousins. There is something endearing about small lizards.

    Great picture of the Marsh Harrier being harried by a Lapwing. I didn't know they had it in them! I always pictured Lapwings as shy timid birds.

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  2. Replies
    1. Very glad to have my good lens back, which makes insect pictures possible again. I may be going overboard with insects at the moment.

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  3. I think we all love and enjoy your insect pictures. If anything is going overboard is our enjoyment of them.

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  4. Great pics Ralph; love the feathers too Tinúviel!

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