The morning started off very misty but the forecast was warm sunny skies so I headed off to Bev's and hoped it wouldn't take long to lift. It was very damp and with the bird life still very quiet I decided to opt for some insect recording, predominately Grasshoppers. There were still large groups of tufted duck young around, they didn't seem to of grown since the last visit, I saw one, now larger, great crested grebe young but did not see any of the others! A possible one other later but I hope they were more independent and away from the parents rather than taken.
Roesel's Bush-Cricket
With the glimpse of the sun breaking through, the grasshoppers and crickets were very noisy and coming from everywhere, I set about photographing as many different ones as possible. The noisiest of all were the Roesel's Bush Crickets, they seemed to be wherever you turned. I had seen Roesel's before but these were more predominantly coloured in green, as opposed to yellow, around the edge of the pronotum(plate behind the eye).
Lesser Marsh Grasshopper
Roesel's Bush-Cricket
The grasses were full of younger ones but I concentrated on the larger adults to photograph and identify. I will make some more visits in the hope of as many species, but the Roesel's must be close to Lesser Marsh in numbers. They would jump as soon as I approached and it was funny to see them scurry down the grass stems backwards to hide, its easier at their level although I got stung a few times on thistles as I laid down searching.
Lesser Marsh Grasshopper
Meadow Grasshopper
This Meadow grasshopper above was a real beauty with such fresh bright colours.
Common Blue
The morning was going well and really warming up, the shirt would of been off if I hadn't of been laying prone so much, there were quite a few butterflies around and a Common Blue settled for a record shot, but the most numerous apart from Large White were the Meadow Brown and Gatekeepers,seen below. But the new and best one was a butterfly which unbeknown to me was settled in front until disturbed by a Gatekeeper hence I didn't get a shot....it was a Marbled White, new for the site list and hopefully one I will grab a shot of.
Gatekeeper
Common Darters mating
I then focused on the dragonflies and with so many around and being so warm now, they were constantly flying about. Frustratingly another new site list species flew by only to be chased off by the territorial Emperor and so no photograph again, this time a Brown Hawker. But I persevered and got a few flight shots of the Emperor Dragonfly as it patrolled along its patch, chasing off anything that entered its airspace. Hopefully the weather will be warm and still next time out for some new images and additions.
Emperor Dragonfly
