Thursday 21 June 2012

Hickling Broad additional sightings


I must post the additional sightings found during our wander around Hickling Broad Nature Reserve, including these two female and juvenile Bearded Reedling (well done Andrea for spotting these, I'd wandered off to look for the Swallowtail butterflies at this point and missed them completely). We've only ever seen them once before at Blacktoft Sands RSPB and then only momentarily at a distance.

 

These male and female Black Tailed Skimmer dragonflies darted around the boardwalk and perched oblingingly on the deck in front of us.




Three Azure Damselflies perched on a reed.


A male Large Red Damselfly, identifying features, black legs, black pterostigma, the lower yellow antehumeral stripes just visible.


I'm pretty certain that this is a female Red-eyed Damselfly, eyes brownish red, short antehumeral stripes, "all black abdomen (except for narrow blue rings between the rear segments) seperates females of this species from other damselflies"
Brooks, Steve and Richard Lewington.  Field Guide to the Dragonlfies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland, BWP, 2004


Always nice to see a Marsh Harrier, one of four spotted over the reserve.


A view of Hickling Broad Nature Reserve overlooking the reed beds.

10 comments:

  1. Another cracking illustration of your latest trip, Linda.

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  2. Linda,

    WOW, what a stunning set of pictures.

    John

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  3. Oh Linda, these are amazing! I'm now in Suffolk, but I grew up in Norfolk, with its wonderful wildlife ... though there were quite a lot of coypu around us then.

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  4. Wonderful photos again Linda. Envious also over the Bearded Reedlings - another species I've never seen!! Hopefully, I'll visit Norfolk eventually! It looks and sounds a brilliant destination for a holiday.

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  5. Great stuff from Hickling Broad Linda. Seeing the Swallowtails was a real thrill for me last year. I especially love your flight shot of one ...very evocative! :-)

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  6. Great pictures of the Bearded Reedlings Linda, I've not seen these birds, hopefully on a future visit to Blacktoft Sands,
    I might get lucky!

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  7. Lovely images of the Bearded Tits Linda (I never realised they were actually called Reedlings) more to the point, I have never been able to photograph any unfortunately.
    I have never seen a Red-eyed Damsel either. (Great shots - thanks for posting)

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  8. Beautiful shots!
    I was shooting a single damselfly last evening... Couldn't really get it to do much to liven up the shot though...
    How are you getting these bird shots?
    Sit still and shoot whatever gets close enough? I have so many birds in my garden, and get so few pictures of them....

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  9. Thanks CB, it was a lovely trip, Andrea did well to get some nice pics of the Bearded Reedlings .

    Hello John, thanks very much, we had a great trip out to Hickling & enjoyed some wonderful sightings

    Hello Caroline, thank you, it is indeed a lovely part of the country,so much to enjoy in terms of landscape, fauna and flora, the quality of light is a great attraction too.

    Hello Caroline 2, oh yes the Bearded Reedling were a treat, although I didn't have much of a sighting at Hickling, I did see them at Cley Marshes, so didn't miss out too much.

    Hello Karen, thanks for stopping by and for your comments, Ive enjoyed your recent fritillary sightings & love your new header photo.

    Hiya Danny, thanks, fingers crossed for a sighting of the Bearded Reedlings, Ive never seen them so close before & felt lucky to have caught sight at Cley Marshes. Blacktoft is a reserve I always enjoy visiting, hope it comesup trumps for you.

    Hello Roy, thanks, we've encountered some fine sightings on our trips to Norfolk. Its always interesting to experience different habitats & species and be able to return in subsequent years with some existing knowledge of those places and build on that.

    Hello Gardens in the Sand, thanksfor stopping by. I have a SLR with a 70-300mm lens, & try to knock back the background with a big aperture & set to as high a shutter speed as possible. There's quite a lot of patience involved I suppose, but its great fun to practice. Your photos of the spice bush swallowtails are wonderful,keep up the good work!

    Thanks for visiting, Linda

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  10. Brilliant photos of the Dragonflies Linda. We have found this is a poor year for us at Cromwell Bottom L.N.R. Last year our Dragonfly ponds dried up and this year - well enough said!

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