Dragonflies

Friday 31 August

Well here we are at the last day of August and white a nice start to the day.

And true to form my allergy has kicked in again, usually around three times a year so out has come the prevalin nasal spray, the way it feels at the moment it may be a few days before I get out again, may have to go pounding the streets to keep away from the foliage for a while, hopefully it won't last long.

My usual walk today, up to Captains which is very quiet at the moment so off across the Grey Lady's Cloisters, nice large white in nice condition was my first sighting, a couple of common blues around and also a few small coppers.

Walked up past the Dead Man's pool where I saw the biggest hornet that I have ever seen, it was enormous, and to Stone Pool, quite a few common darters around and couple migrant hawkers, got a few pics of a migrant hawker on way back near to Captain's Pool.

Migrant Hawker

Migrant Hawker

Migrant Hawker

Large White

Small Copper

And finally a bee.

Migrant Hawker

Saturday 25th August

Well it was a beautiful start to the day, so after breakfast I promptly made my way out for my usual walkabout, to be honest I'm not expecting to see a lot now, but the walk does me good, weather dropped off a bit after a short while, quite chilly again, walked as far as Stone Pool then a slow return checking if anything was lurking in the hedgerows.
Results of my travels today are below.

Saw a Cormorant in Captain's on my return but apart from that Captain's was very quiet as usual.
Tomorrow looks like a wet day so may not get out much.

Friday 24th August 2018

Dry start so off I went for my usual stroll, got as far as the Dead Man's pool and then the heavens opened, sheltered under the large oak for a while until it eased off and after assessing the sky I decided to make my way back home.
I did manage a couple of shots.
Tiger Crane fly

Red legged shieldbug.

Tried again after lunch and although the weather had improved didn't see much at all, I met up with Jason hoping we would see the small brown butterflies, but no luck, quick nose around Stone Pool and called it a day.
Change in the weather, I had my body warmer on!

This was the sky on the way back home.

Thursday 23rd August.

Hit and miss weather today, kept looking like rain but thankfully it's didn't rain, mind you we had a fair bit overnight.
A walkabout over my favourite part of Spennells revealed the images below, plus I saw one common blue, one holly blue, a lot more birds around including some very noisy jays, watched a Heron glide into the Dead Man's Pool.
Also saw two small brown butterflies but just cannot get close to them, they are on the wing all the time.

Sunfly

Migrant Hawker

Icheumon Wasp

Hoverfly

Lunchtime

St Mary's Abberley

Sunday 19th August

Very quiet of late, sprained ankle hasn't helped so been spending a little time painting up some new rocks to leave around somewhere.

Managed a walk this evening albeit very slowly, went along the Grey Lady's Cloisters and down by the Dead Man's Pool, have now heard a tawny owl a couple of times over the past week and living in hope of a photo but for now will just settle for a sighting, watch this space.

Friday 17th August

Weather not brilliant but the wife and I had a drive over to Abberley, we didn't do much of a walk though, did spend a little time looking round the graveyard in the hope of spotting a grave with some of my ancestors names, but that was fruitless, I do a lot of family history research and come to a stop at the moment on my Mother's grand father, but will keep trying, lots more visits planned this winter to the Hive in Worcester and of course more prowling around graveyards.

St Mary's Abberley

back online

Just had almost a week without the internet, swapping internet providers was not as easy as I had hoped, few hiccups along the way but all sorted now.

Not done a lot of photography this past week, but here are a few that I have managed while being offline.

Took this one down by the three pools and was used by the BBC weather.

One of the cornfield at Sunset, again used by the BBC weather.

I got the front cover shot last year for the Stourport Calendar, so thought I would try again this year, this is a sunset shot of St Bartholomews, not the best place to try for a sunset, but quite pleased with this one, will be interesting to see if it gets picked.

Late last week saw the emergence of the Migrant Hawker dragonfly and although I have now seen a few around Spennells I have yet to take a photo of one.

Here's Captain's Pool this morning.

I note all the setaside along Captain's has been cut down today, a shame as it was a haven for many insects, but I daresay there was a reason for it.
And wasps, well there are millions of them over the field.

Had a pleasant walk over the fields tonight, not much about but the sky looked nice.

yet another warm walkabout

Monday 6th August

Only had time for just over an hour this morning, started off cool and soon  got quite hot.

A nose around Captains and a walk along the Cloisters, but only went as far as Dead Man's Pool this morning.

Have been watching one small area as I have now spotted a couple of small brown butterflies, similar colour to large skipper, but something tells me they are not skippers, yet to get a photo though, probably nothing special but you never know.

Plenty of common blues around, but haven't seen a purple hairstreak for a couple of weeks now.

Yellow shell moth

Male common blue

Heron on a freshly broken branch, Captains Pool

Tuesday 7th July

Another warm one, did my usual walk up to Stone Pool, but didn't see a great deal, lots of white butterflies, few common blues and skippers, lots of young long tail tits around, saw a buzzard fly low over the field by Stone Pool.
Did see a few birds by the Dead Man's Pool which I think might have been Chiff chaffs.
Some nice looking carp cruising by the island in Stone Pool, keeps making me think of starting fishing again.

Black tailed Skimmer

Up the Clee Hill

Saturday August 4th

Another really hot day, so we decided to spend the morning up on Clee Hill, we took picnic and fresh cream cakes from Cleobury, most enjoyable.

Had a wander round with camera, saw lots of common blues, couple small coppers, gamekeepers and lots of whites, 4 buzzards circling together and a couple of visits from kestrel, shame he was too far away for a decent image.

Supposed to be even hotter tomorrow so don't know if I will be out or not!

Wall Brown

Kestrel

Amazing how fast some people drive on the hill, we watched a motorbike that must have been doing in excess of 100mph overtake a car, considering sheep are crossing the road all the time, to say the chap was an idiot would be an understatement.

Had a lovely email from Jo in America, she found one of my rocks which I hid at Carew Castle in Wales and now she will be hiding it over there, so pleased to see my rocks going global :-)
Starting to get more rocks ready now for our next trip down to Pembrokeshire.