A Few Dragons

A few images of Dragonflies encountered recently on my walks.

Migrant Hawker (Male)

Emperor Dragonfly (Male) in flight over water.

Immature male Ruddy Darter

Small Copper - Second Brood

Although we are at the end of August, there are still plenty of butterflies around. 

A number of species produce a second brood. One such is the Small Copper.

 

Birds at Ferry Bridge - Little Egret

A bird that can be regularly found around the Ferrybridge waters.

From my observations of this species there, it is able to find plenty of food.

Its large yellow feet are visual in these images.

It is both a resident species and a Winter visitor.

In fact here in Dorset is the location where this species bred for the first time in 1996. There are now numerous locations in the South coast area where it is resident.

The view from Portland over Chesil Beach. Ferrybridge tidal water is located centrally at two thirds the way along the beach. 

In the photograph below, Ferrybridge tidal water is in the centre of the image.

A Big Bumble

I was walking along the edge of a woodland area the other day and observed this Bumble Bee on Spear thistle flowers. It has to be the biggest Bumble Bees I have seen for a long time, it was giant.

From an examination of the Bumble Bee chart, I would hazard a guess that it is a Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

 

Birds of Ferry Bridge - Ringed Plover

The Ringed Plover is quite a little character and very active. 

It frequents the tidal water at Ferrybridge running about searching for food. 

Suddenly it will fly low level a short distance and stop and search again.

While I shot these images they were constantly moving around the edge of the water.

The South coast is an area where this species will increase considerably in numbers over the Winter period and is not difficult to find.

 

Birds at Ferry Bridge - Dunlin

Ferrybridge is the area that joins Portland with Weymouth in Dorset and is a great place most of the year around to see various waders and geese. In Winter it can be very windy and extremely cold. In Summer it can still be windy, but on the occasion I visited to shoot these Dunlin images it was during the extreme hot weather, so the wind was more than welcome.