Stanwick Lakes April 10th

 Jane had to collect some photographic equipment from Northampton so we took the opportunity to visit Stanwick Lakes expecting lots of birds to photograph and therefore equipped with long lenses rather than macro gear. Birds very sparse but lots of Orange Tip Butterflies, a male Geen-veined White and also several species of Hoverfly. The Orange Tips were displaying and clearly ready for mating. Lots of  Beeflies so experimented with shutterspeeds to freeze the wings (1/2000 and then 1/8000th). Finally the only two birds close enough to photograph Dunnock and Great Crested Grebe.

Summer Leys Northampton

Common blue Damselflies were abundant on Monday, many of them making short work of reducing the rest of the insect population at Summer Leys, such as this Green Leafhopper - one of my favourite faces in the insect world. The plant bugs proved the most photographed group in terms of species, followed by the flies and then the bees. I photographed a distant raptor thinking it was a Hobby but turned out to be a Peregrine!

Insects in Parched Vegetation

We were surprised at the number and variety of insects we found at Summer Leys where the vegetation is showing signs of the drought but not as much as many other drier reserves. Here a selection whose colours so well blend in with the surroundings. The first one of the Picture-winged flies with amazing fluorescent eyes. There were numerous Crane flies, Brown Argus butterflies, Beetles,  small Bees and Plant Bugs

Summer Leys Rescue and Flight Challenges

We spent a very enjoyable day at Summer Leys Nature Reserve, Northampton, mainly doing macro photography of the insects etc but we also visited the bird feeding station and the round pond where were delighted to be able to rescue this Red-eyed Damselfly from a spider's web. There were lots of juvenile birds while the adults were looking very tatty and many were in moult. They were  lit by the sunlight against the dark woodland as they visited the feeders and made challenging flight subjects.

Stanwick Lakes Away from the Water

Stanwick Lakes offered some excellent opportunities for close encounters with the wildlife, perhaps because the park is very popular with walkers, cyclists and families and the birds etc have become accustomed to people. Blackbirds, Magpies and Muntjac foraged happily in good range and even the Buzzard was not as wary as usual.