18th May - 22nd May Week Nine - A Traveller On The Wind

As we move deeper into the month of May, things start to quieten, birds are busy with their breeding, the tree canopy has closed over bring darkness and and decline to the flowers on the wood floor.  My walks this week were greatly reduced despite the continuing glorious weather, there was though still items of interest to be found if you looked in the right places.  Walking along Brislands I noticed a male Bullfinch on the verge once again attacking the Dandelion seed heads.

By approaching closely I was able to get a better view.

These birds are normally very secretive, the only way you know of their presence is the soft piping contact calls they make between male and female deep in the bushes.  This male though was taken by the seeds available and appeared quite unconcerned by us and moved from the verge to the edge of the verge, in the open.

It is not often you get this chance to watch this beautiful bird out in the open.

Walking along Brislands, the rhododendrons are now in full bloom.

 

As I wrote in the introduction Old Down Wood is now very dark aside from the main ride through the wood.  Here a few Brimstones were about, but aside from singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap little else of interest.

Leaving by the Gradwell entrance young rabbits were out feeding in the paddocks.

Back home the Blackbird was taking the opportunity of a break to take a bath.  The condition of his feathers gets worse by the day, and the baths have become a regular part of his behaviour.

From the bath to dry out on his favourite branch.  Every year he looks like this!

The young have been close to fledging.  There have been a few incidents with Magpies (we believe they took the first brood earlier in the spring), both birds calling loudly and continually with the Magpies about and then later in the evening we could see one of the baby Blackbirds motionless in the tree in my garden, it was even feeding in silence.  I am glad to say that there were in fact two fledglings and that as I write they are still calling loudly for their parents to feed them despite the fact that they now appear to be almost full grown aside from remnants of the yellow gape.

On Wednesday I took the opportunity for a lunchtime visit to the pond.  I was hoping that the warm weather would have brought out the dragonflies and Damselflies and I wasn't disappointed.

Azure Damselflies were everywhere with  many males and females coupled and other males looking for any opportunity.  They would fly around and settle regularly on a suitable leaf.

In amongst the Azure were Large Red Damselflies.

The damselflies were to be seen low over the lily pads, and were an attraction to a Chiffchaff that was attempting to pick them off the surface of the water.  However this was not without its risks.  In one attempt to take a damselfly a large Carp broke the water almost taking or catching the Chiffchaff.  I am sure the Carp was going for the damselfly and not the bird but it was very close.  The Chiffchaff flew to the shore and settled itself in amongst the yellow flags.

All around the shore of the pond it was black with Tadpoles, and groups could be seen feeding on vegetation in the water.

Just after I took this photograph a dog jumped in and dispersed the whole group!

It was back to the Damselflies and the chance to get some different angles on them.  A close Azure Damselfly.

A couple of lovely close ups of a Large Red Damselfly

There was also a single Broad-bodied Dragonfly cruising the pond, a male with the blue grey abdomen.

I walked from the west side over to the east part of the pond, more iris beds produced more Azure and Large Red Damselflies.  Here a paired couple of Azure Damselflies

A male Azure resting

Another front on view of a Large Red Damselfly

Another settled on a leaf showing the red and green detail on the end of the abdomen.

And a front on view of an Azure male.

And finally another Azure Damselfly from above.

Friday it was a late afternoon walk into Old Down.  I wasn't supposed to be here today, I should have been on my way to the Isle of Mull for the coming week, at this time I should have been at our hotel in Dunfermline but as we all know the plans of mice and men this year are all forsaken.

It was yet another sunny day but with an increasing strong wind, this wind was supposed to increase through Saturday and if there was any solace the weather was to be much worse in Scotland.  Walking through the wood I noticed an orange butterfly and followed it as it flew around before settling on the flower of a Red Campion.  A Large Skipper my first of the year.

From there to a Bramble leaf.

In another sunny spot a Large White.

I walked towards the west end hopeful of maybe some more butterflies, this wasn't to be, but I did notice that in a week the Bracken has suddenly grown very tall.

The Bramble is just beginning to go into flower, with many buds slightly open.  This was a major attraction for the Bees, in particular this Red-tailed Bumble Bee.

And this Buff-tailed Bumble Bee

Over the coming weeks these bramble flowers will provide nectar for many insects both big and small and in about a month hopefully both White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary.

Leaving the wood a large Oak tree had fallen foul of the strong winds we have had on several days through the month.  One large bough completely broken off, and one hanging quite dangerously across the path.

I stopped at the pond, the sunshine was now off a lot of the area and many of the Azure Damselflies were starting to roost in amongst the Iris beds.  At first it didn't look as if there was anything there, but on close inspection little strips of blue could be seen.

Some though were still soaking up what little patches of sunshine there was.

The Chiffchaff was still about, I picked it up on the far bank and watched as it moved through the Iris bed by the road picking off the roosting damselflies and then taking a large beak full into the bank close to the picnic area.  I had to assume that there was anest there as it did this several times.  I am not sure I would want to be the young Chiffchaff having to have those damselflies thrust into my mouth!

On my previous visit there had been a lot more males and the only females that were seen were those coupled with a male.  This evening several females were about on their own, this one finding a patch of sunshine.

As I turned to leave I noticed that the Iris bed I had first seen the damselflies in was no in full sunlight.

Walking along Gradwell I noticed a male Pheasant in the field, just its head and neck sticking out of the long grass.  Every so often I look closely at a male pheasant and remember what a stunning bird they are.

Back home I was greeted by the Blackbird.  Every cloud has a silver lining, if we had been away he would have had access to the meal worms!