There’s another world out there!
Photos from a slightly different morning walk on the Stafford Barton Estate in Devon before it got too hot for us with temperatures reaching 30C in the afternoon.
Tag: damselflies
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12th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Dolton, Devon
The peacock joined us for our breakfast coffee Goldfinches waiting for their opportunity Speckled wood butterfly in the woods Scandinavian style log cabin under construction on the estate with its lovely sedum roof Emperor dragonfly Mid-air collision averted just in time Emperor dragonfly heading straight for me Must be great seeing the seasons change here Emperor dragonfly Don’t know much about these – water boatmen I presume Damselflies Fortunately plenty of shade on the way home Common buzzard showing us the way -
20th May 2025 – RSPB Ham Wall, Avalon Marshes, Somerset
If you have followed my blog through the winter I generally have something to complain about on my visits here: too cold, too wet, poor light, wrong lens, wrong settings, my incompetence etc. Not today: it was just a joy to be here. I’ll let you judge for yourself …
Scarce chaser 
Four spotted chaser 
Speckled wood 
Blackcap 
Four spotted chaser 
Great diving beetle Grey heron 
Great crested grebes 
Great white egret 
Great white egret 
Great white egret 
Great white egret 
Great white egret 
Great crested grebe 
Azure damselfly 
Red admiral 
Four spotted chaser 
Robin 
Marsh harrier 
Marsh harriers 
Marsh harrier 
Marsh harrier 
Little egret 
Scarce chaser 
Common brimstone -
15th May 2025 – Stoke Park, Bristol
We are very lucky that we have two parks very close to where we live in the middle of the city of Bristol: Eastville Park, a Victorian city park with children’s playgrounds, green spaces and a lake and a river where we regularly see common kingfishers and dippers; and Stoke Park Estate which is a local Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) covering over 100 hectares. Stoke Park Estate is also designated as a Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Site (RIGS): an important place for geology and geomorphology. The site has species-rich grasslands, woodland, scrub, and ponds. It is home to wildlife like great crested newts, dragonflies and glow worms.
I spent the afternoon wandering around the fishing lake which is also known as Duchess Pond.
This is the annexe to the main fishing lake (Duchess Pond) with a view of the yellow Dower House, built in 1563 as a private stately home, but now converted to private flats. 
The main fishing lake (Duchess Pond) 3 swifts passed over briefly but sadly didn’t reappear. However I was pleased to get some shots with the one chance I had.
Common swift 
Common swift Common swift 
Common swift A kestrel appeared briefly but stayed in line with the sun (I’m sure to stop me photographing it).
I caught a glimpse of a chiffchaff and was pleased to get some shots as they are quite elusive at this time.
Chiffchaff 
Chiffchaff 
Chiffchaff There were plenty of carrion crows too (not so elusive!).
Carrion crow 
Starling – don’t they look splendid with the sun on their plumage? There were lots of(Canada Goose) goslings, ducklings and coot and moorhen chicks.
Coot and chick 
Ducklings 
Canada geese and gosling 
Moorhen 
Coot – look at the size of their feet 
Coot chick 
Black-headed gull (probably looking for ducklings or chicks) All around the lake there were dragonflies and damselflies which always prove a great challenge to photograph. I am not very knowledgeable with these and am only hazarding a guess at what was what.
Scarce chaser 
Scarce chaser in flight 
Scarce chaser looking straight at me. 
Azure damselfly 
Large red damselfly 
Blue-tailed damselfly 
A common carder bee for good measure 
Stoke Park Estate and the Dower House -
15th August 2024 – Blakeney, Norfolk
Almost a non-birding day; except that on our walk this morning to Wiveton Hall we did see our first marsh harrier of the week across the marshes.
A few years ago, on our first visit to Wiveton Hall, we had met the eccentric owner, Desmond, whose popular BBC programme “Normal for Norfolk” documented his adventures and the daily delights of life around the Hall, on the farm and in the café. No such luck today. However, the coffee was very good and was worth the walk.
From here we carried on to visit St Nicholas Church, Blakeney. I hope you agree that the inclusion of the visit is warranted here in that there was a wildlife aspect to our visit.
St Nicholas , Blakeney famous for its two towers: one at the west and a curious, spindly beacon rising to the south-east of the chancel whose purpose is not really known. 
It seems that the church’s policy is having a good effect. 
Simon Jenkins in his book of England’s 1000 Best Churches says “the earliest and most interesting part of the interior is the chancel , dating from a Carmelite friary founded here in 1296”. 
“The rare stepped seven-lancet east window is unusual for this late date. The only other medieval seven-lighter extant is at Ockham in Surrey” 
The nave is Perpendicular 
The significance of Blakeney’s coastal position is well recorded here 
Most of the church is flint coated … 
… except the chancel is mainly covered in concrete. 
In the afternoon we visited NATURAL SURROUNDINGS, Norfolk’s Wildlife-Gardening & Wildflower Centre next to Bayfield Hall, just a stone’s throw from Blakeney.
Small red-eyed damselfly 
House fly 
Definitely the stars of the show 
Red Admiral A very informative and enjoyable visit. Did I forget to mention that there’s a very good café with much too generous portions of cakes?
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8th June 2024 – Chew Valley, North Somerset
This robin was very keen to join us for lunch I spent my teenage years in the Chew Valley and regret that, at that time , I had little interest in nature. I did enjoy the aesthetics of the pretty village cricket grounds and always enjoyed cycling the lanes. I do remember occasionally taking in the wonderful scenery of this beautiful part of the country; but I failed to show interest in the specifics and failed to learn any of the names of the flora or to spend time studying the birdlife. What a waste!
However, I hope I have made up for it in recent years.
This morning we crossed the city before most people were active to visit an amazing garden south of Bristol in the Chew Valley – the Yeo Valley Organic Garden near Blagdon.
The view from the garden café 
The gravel garden It was a bit early in the day (and still quite fresh) to see the great variety of butterflies that we usually see here at this time of the year. We had to make do with a scruffy Painted Lady and lots of damselflies.
Painted lady 
Common blue damselfly There were birds to be seen too; notably robins, blackbirds, goldfinches, chaffinches, chiffchaffs , pied wagtails, and swifts and house martins flying across Blagdon Lake.
Pied wagtail 
Lots of pollinators in the garden 
The view to Blagdon Lake 
Canada geese over the lake 
Swifts over the lake 
… and a little closer 
The goldfinches were much closer still 
Chaffinch singing its heart out 
Common chiffchaff 
The birch grove 
Big grass bed 
The veggie garden 
This bed of alliums was probably my favourite area today 
The red and lime beds 
The bronze garden 
The bronze garden 
Glasshouse Despite the sun not appearing very often the garden still looked stupendous. I hope some of my photos do justice to this lovely garden.
After a tasty lunch at the on site café we stopped off at the village of Ubley and had a quick visit to the local church.
The garden café 
Ubley Church north façade 
Ubley Church south façade Sadly, our return journey across the city was rather tortuous as we got caught up in the traffic of people going Saturday shopping. If they only knew, they would have been much better off driving out into the countryside!
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6th June 2024 – Eastville Park, Bristol
Back to real birds and other nature photos today.
Grey wagtail We had a stroll around our local park this afternoon. We had hoped to see a tawny owl and a pair of owlets of which we had seen reports but, although everyone we met in the park had seen them, we were out of luck.
Grey heron 
A very shy grey heron 
A young coot (whatever they are called) There were plenty of new arrivals such as ducklings, cygnets and goslings but they are all getting larger (or smaller in numbers where they have been predated!).
The last of a brood of ducklings 
2 swans and five cygnets 
Canada geese and goslings The best of the birds was a little egret which a few years ago would have been a real rarity.
Little egret 
Little egret Plenty of damselflies too and beautiful and banded demoiselles in abundance.
Beautiful demoiselle 
Female beautiful demoiselle 
Large red damselfly 
Beautiful demoiselle 
Azure damselfly 
Beautiful demoiselle 
A very handsome lesser black-backed gull 
Little egret 
Canada goose 
Greylag/pink footed goose (escapee?) 
Magpie (and why not?)
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 