Demoiselles

I have always wanted to see banded demoiselles close up and after only brief encounters in the past I finally caught up with some yesterday.

Having been tipped off with a location along the banks of the river derwent I headed there yesterday.

I arrived at around mid-day and was surprised that the first bird of the day was a barn owl! Also bullfinch, kingfisher and whitethroat all in the immediate vicinity.

As soon as I started looking I found a banded demoiselle a male that posed nicely before doing a disappearing act and over the next 3 hours there were at least 10 probably more all within 20m of the car.

It seemed as though the beautiful demoiselles were more confined to the banks of the river, that was almost impossible to get near.

Quite pleased with the macro lens.

Tophill Kingfishers Again

I've been all over Yorkshire this week but the place I have kept returning to is the North Marsh hide at Tophill Low for the kingfishers.

yesterday they didn't disappoint , this was the first time this year that I have seen 2 at the same time.

They were really feeding well and must have caught at least 6 fish between them in the time I was there.

There was also the welcome distraction of a marsh harrier, cuckoo, water vole, roe deer and fawn and the resident reed warblers.

The sharp flight shot remains elusive but not for the want of trying.

Tophill Kingfishers

I heard that the viewing area at Tophill had been improved so had a look last night.I waited about half an hour before the first action-a roe deer on the far bank, then a heron came in but disappeared in the reeds straight away.

Eventually one of the kingfishers arrived, albeit by that time the sun had gone below the tree line.

It stayed for a good half hour and eventually caught a rather smart male stickleback.As the light began to fade the reed warblers became more visible as did the water voles.A small mouse was foraging directly below the hide.

On the way back the last of the suns rays lit up the woodland creating a magical effect.

To cap the night a hedgehog was feeding along the path on the way back to the car.

Can see me spending a few more evenings at Tophill this summer.