Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

Tag: Dragonflies

  • 29th September 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    29th September 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    What an amazing summer! It seems to go on and on. Statistically I have seen it has been the best ever in the UK; better than even the summer of 1976 which, as I was in my late 20s and enjoying a great summer of sport, was for me the best before this one.

    What a treat too to be able to go off birding on a Monday morning following a great weekend of sport (now sadly only as a spectator) with success for England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final, a trip to see Bristol Bears gain a good win over Leicester Tigers in the first match of a new season, Arsenal sneaking a win in the dying moments of their game and the success of the European team in the Ryder Cup golf. This morning was just as good though.

    We saw so much and in such wonderful light (so no complaining from me except that I still failed to capture two common cranes flying right in front of me – ineptitude on my part). The best was clearly seeing the very secretive great bittern but it was all quite a joy and we enjoyed our trip to Slimbridge so much that we stayed much longer than usual and had a very late lunch there too.

    Great bittern

    Great bittern

    Apologies to all who were hard at work on a Monday morning: in my defence I did 47 years of those.

    Some of my photos:

    Ruff

    Common redshank

    Little egret

    Northern lapwing

    Eurasian teal

    Green sandpiper

    Green sandpiper with greylag goose (for size comparison)

    Green sandpiper with mallard

    Lots of geese and a handful of common crane on the Severn Estuary

    Eurasian wigeon

    Eurasian wigeon close up

    Common snipe

    Common snipe

    Common snipe

    Common snipe and green sandpiper

    Black-tailed godwit

    Black-tailed godwit

    Great bittern

    Great bittern

    Grey heron

    Common darter (for Mike in the USA) still around

    Some of the other activities at WWT Slimbridge:

    The visitors centre at WWT Slimbridge

    Trees of life in the remembrance garden

    Never forgotten

    Duck decoy

    I don’t suppose Sir Pater Scott would have minded.

  • 25th September 2025 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol

    25th September 2025 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol

    Encouraged by my visit earlier in the week (and the blue skies) I decided to give Stoke Park another go this morning.

    Just a short distance from my home, as I pass beneath the motorway to reach the park, I am reminded by the graffiti (and the noise from the motorway) that this is still a very urban area.

    The graffiti and the noise of the motorway remind you how close we are to the city centre

    However, it’s well worth putting up with the inconveniences.


    On the sky line there were 3 ravens and a common buzzed.

    Common buzzard

    The jay was still around but much further away.
    Grey heron again at Duchess Pond

    … and again on the annex pond

    Common chiffchaff shows itself briefly

    A meadow pipit in the same tree
    Meadow pipit in flight

    Long=tailed tit (I counted 14 in this social group)

    Long-tailed tit in flight

    By the time I was about to go it was getting warmer and dragonflies began to appear.

    Common darter

  • 8th September 2025 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol

    8th September 2025 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol

    Just time this morning for a stroll over to one of our local parks before the rain came.

    Duchess Pond in Stoke Park Estate

    There are still plenty of dragonflies around but I didn’t see much in the way of bird life except for a grey heron (and coots and moorhens) although redstarts have been reported recently.

    Common darter

    Migrant hawker

    Grey heron

    Grey heron

    Grey heron

    It’s a lovely spot but not as wonderful as it looks because it’s next to the motorway and very noisy.

    The grey heron didn’t seem to be affected by the noise

    Common darters

    The lily pads look wonderful at the moment

    The Dower House (now apartments) on the edge of the park

  • 22nd August 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    22nd August 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    In praise of WWT Slimbridge

    When I was young my mum and dad, bless them, took me to Slimbridge a couple of times: I can’t say I was very impressed; I was more into team games and I would rather get muddy by diving around on the sports field than sloshing about in wellies. My parents obviously thought it a worthy thing to do but clearly I don’t think it was really in their DNA either and so, as it was fairly expensive, we didn’t go too often.

    I can’t believe how much we love going there now. I know we dodge the hordes of children (and their parents/grandparents) by heading for the hides (rather than the pens with lots of exotic birds) but I do recognise that Slimbridge is a fabulous place and does amazing work to get youngsters interested in wildlife.

    Sadly we see lots of bad parenting there but today we met a young boy (and his dad) as we were heading out to the Severn Estuary who stopped us and told us that if we continued on this pathway we could follow a walkway which took us down to the estuary where we might see, if we looked carefully, curlew and ringed plovers. We were both impressed that his dad didn’t interrupt him but allowed him to be our advisor. This young boy was thoroughly enjoying his day and clearly his dad had encouraged him enough to reach this point. It was a very refreshing encounter.

    Down on the estuary we clearly didn’t look carefully enough as we only heard a curlew and the ringed plovers were too far away for our “old” eyes.

    On the estuary we saw lots of egrets and grey herons.

    However, we did see loads whilst we were at Slimbridge. I hope you enjoy some of my photos from today.

    Probably my photo of the day, a Cetti’s warbler, if I am correct

    Reed warbler

    Reed warbler

    Sand Martin chasing fly (top right)

    Sand Martin about to gorge its prey

    Swallow

    Swallow

    Grey heron

    Honey bee

    Wasp

    Migrant hawker

    Common snipe

    Rock doves

    Common snipe

    Tufted duckling practising its diving

    The beauty of the Severn Estuary

  • 12th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Dolton, Devon

    12th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Dolton, Devon

    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.

    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

  • 11th August 2025 – Dolton, Devon

    11th August 2025 – Dolton, Devon

    For 47 years of my working life as a teacher I had to take my holidays with the majority of the population in July and August. So now, in my retirement, we rarely go away at this time of the year. However, it’s such an exceptionally wonderful summer that we could’t resist another trip when we saw a cottage advertised on a private estate in north Devon. It’s a beautiful part of the country and only just over a 100 miles from home. The fact that there is a major RHS garden just down the road was an added attraction. So far we haven’t visited RHS Garden Rosemoor as we are so enjoying the peace and quiet of the gardens, the heaths and the woodland of the estate and visiting a couple of local nature reserves. 

    Stafford Barton in north Devon

    Stafford Barton’s peacock

    Our accommodation – the Old Stables

    A very warm Devon welcome with cream sponge and a selection of local ciders

    Very comfortable and cosy inside

    The estate took on a different tone on our second full day here when the owners opened the gardens to the local villages and we were treated to live music, local ales and ciders and cream teas on the lawns. What is there not to like about all this?

    Getting ready for the garden party

    The gardens were looking spectacular for the garden party
    The mad hatter’s tea party before the garden party started

    English country life at its very best

    This is such a special place that I wanted to keep a memory of the estate and so have prepared a separate page which you can share by following this link to Stafford Barton Estate August 2025

    Stafford Barton between Dolton and Iddesleigh (where we had lunch in the Duke of York pub on our first day and where I last stayed 55 years ago- now immortalised in Michael Morpurgo’s “War Horse”)

    As for the nature opportunities: so far I have been able to practice my camera skills on the house martins and swallows but have had some difficulty capturing the large flocks (a charm indeed!) of goldfinches which swoop down to gorge on the seed heads in the lovely meadows which are left for the wildlife. There has been plenty of wildlife to photograph and keep me busy on our walks too.

    House martin

    House martin

    Swallow

    Swallow

    House martin

    House martin

    Swallow

    Goldfinch gorging on seed heads

    Goldfinch beating a hasty retreat

    A very small section of a charm of goldfinches

    Buzzard on our walk through the estate

    Buzzard calling loudly

    Holly blue butterfly on our visit to Halsdon Nature Reserve

    Painted lady butterfly at Stafford Barton

    Common darter dragonfly at Stafford Barton

    Speckled wood butterfly at Stafford Barton

    Gate keeper butterfly at Stafford Barton

    No deer to be seen yet but plenty of signs of wildlife on our walk at Stafford Barton

    A bucolic scene at Stafford Barton

    Clear paths through the woodlands

    … and across the heath

    Underwing of painted lady butterfly at Stafford Barton

    Scarlet pimpernel at Stafford Barton

    So many insects attracted by the wild flowers on the Stafford Barton estate

    The view from our porch

    Our walk on the third day

    A section of the quarry at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Small white Butterly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Common blue damselfly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Speckled wood butterfly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Beautiful heather in full colour everywhere at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Little grebe at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Great crested grebe with chicks on its back at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Time for a swim

    Canada geese at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Cormorants at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Centaury at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Devil’s bit scabious at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Beautiful demoiselle at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    That’s three day’s done with three more to go. I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to do a blog during the holiday as the only fault I could find with our accommodation was that the broad band was slow and yet three days in and the owner has got BT Open Reach to upgrade it! What service!

    More photos of Stafford Barton Estate

  • 23rd May 2025 – Eastville Park, Bristol

    23rd May 2025 – Eastville Park, Bristol

    A walk around the park this morning brought a few surprises: the 14 goslings we had seen earlier in the week had all gone, presumably predated, and a grey heron, which we have not seen for a while, was back (presumably from the heronry to which they disappear at this time of the year).

    A grey wagtail leaping from one stone to another on the River Frome

    A wren, one of the noisiest birds but often the most difficult to see, beneath the tree canopy.

    The grey heron pretending to sleep

    The five cygnets were safe

    A cormorant gorging on the fish stocks in the park lake

    Lesser black-backed gull, surely no 1 suspect for the disappearance of the goslings

    Lesser black-backed gull

    Mute swan keeping a keen eye on its cygnets

    The grey heron perching on a fallen tree in the middle of the lake. There was an earlier attempt to remove the tree but coots had already started nesting there.

    Close up of the grey heron

    Red horse chestnut, popular in large gardens and parks in Britain

    The lake in the park

    Yellow flags on the park lake

    A beautiful hornbeam between the park lake and the River Frome

    We sat opposite the kingfishers nest on the River Frome for a while but there was no action this morning

    Beautiful demoiselle

    Female beautiful demoiselle

    Beautiful demoiselle in flight
  • 20th May 2025 – RSPB Ham Wall, Avalon Marshes, Somerset

    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

    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

  • 6th May 2025 – RSPB Ham Wall, Avalon Marshes, Somerset

    6th May 2025 – RSPB Ham Wall, Avalon Marshes, Somerset

    Another great day at Ham Wall. Plenty of sunshine but a cold wind.

    Lots of opportunities for great photos but I failed miserably as I was having camera problems which I haven’t got to the bottom of yet!

    Editing has saved the day a little but far too many great opportunities missed.

    The best of the birds? Glossy ibis, a red kite and a pair of common cranes.

    A scare chaser

    Great white egret

    Great white egret

    Glossy ibis amongst the reeds

    Glossy ibis in flight

    Red kite

    Red kite

    Red kite

    Common crane

    Reed warbler

    Red admiral

    Red admiral

  • 29th April 2025 – RSPB Ham Wall, Avalon Marshes, Somerset

    29th April 2025 – RSPB Ham Wall, Avalon Marshes, Somerset

    Another trip to Ham Wall on a beautifully sunny and incredibly warm day for late April.

    So much wonderful bird song. Clearly the birds were loving it too.

    There were lots of people there and so I avoided the hide where the glossy ibis could be seen.

    Again there were plenty of views of marsh harriers but a little more distant than last week. I just missed a pair of cranes; by the time I arrived they were hunkered down with their brood.

    For me the treat was several very melodious reed warblers and so I will give them prominence on my blog.

    Reed warbler

    Reed warbler

    Reed warbler

    Reed warbler

    Yellow brimstone butterfly

    Hairy dragonfly

    Great crested grebe

    Hobby

    Hobby about to take a dragonfly

  • 12th August 2024 – Kelling Quag, Norfolk

    12th August 2024 – Kelling Quag, Norfolk

    A hot weather plume was forecast for today and so we planned only to do a short walk in the morning.

    We drove along the coast to Kelling, a small village just east of Cley Next The Sea.

    We stopped first for a coffee at The Old Reading Room Gallery and Tea Room in Kelling. This excellent café and quant second hand bookshop and antiques shop is run by very friendly staff. They not only kindly allowed us to park in their car park whilst we did our walk but also showed us where it would be best to park for the shade.

    That was most valuable advice because it was very hot, even by lunch time, and our car was still relatively cool for the return journey (only after we had had some lunch there too!)

    Kelling Quag is a patch of water in an area also known as Kelling Water Meadows. It’s just a short walk north towards the sea along a lane from opposite the Old Reading Room.

    There were plenty of butterflies and dragonflies to keep me busy.

    Speckled Wood
    Small white
    Small skipper
    Wall butterfly

    It was difficult to see the Quag from the lane as the bushes are very high but through the first gap we had reasonable views of 2 great white egrets.

    Great white egret
    The great egrets were very busy fishing and seemed to be very successful

    We walked on a little and had better views round the corner and plenty of birds overhead too.

    Collared dove
    Linnet

    Swallow

    Starlings

    A (rather out of focus) migrant hawker

    From around the corner, as well as the great white egrets, we could make out little egrets, a grey heron, a greenshank and a green sandpiper (if my ID skills are up to it, but I could well be wrong). I also had difficulty in deciding if it was a curlew or a whimbrel which flew over, but so too did the Merlin app. I would go for a whimbrel as the bill seemed rather short for a curlew. Second thoughts – juvenile curlew.

    Whimbrel / curlew?

    Common darter

    This gatekeeper was looking as bedraggled as I felt in the heat

    There was another scrape of water beyond the Quag but it was, by now, too hot for us.

    In the afternoon temperatures were over 30 and so I was happy to sit and edit my photos.