This damselfly is a Banded Demoiselle female, what an absolutely fabulous exotic name to match a beautiful and exotic creature. I do love them and always think that they they are so lovely. There habitat is by slow moving water in tall grasses and bankside vegetation. Eggs are laid into the water and after a couple of weeks hatch in to larvae, emerging two years later as Banded Demoiselle. They may look gorgeous but in reality they are fearsome predators of insects and in the photo below you can see this female has a small fly in her jaws.

If you are wondering what is going on in this picture, then the female is being grabbed behind the head by a male who wants to mate with her…… and while she is eating too!

There were too many Demoiselles to count on the Alphin Brook today as well as Large Red Damsels and Common Blues. We are in the middle of lovely summer and it was what you would expect but I am glad that, after the harsh winter, there has been such a good hatch of Damselflies. Obviously mother nature has a way of coping. Also on and around the Brook, at the far end, was the Buzzard that spent the winter here and the resident Grey Heron. I expect that the Buzzard may at last have  developed a taste for Rabbit and I am going to try and tempt him down with some carrion. He may accept this now that worms must be hard for him to find.

I have been a little under the weather this last few days, not only with a stomach bug but also yesterday I slipped down a bank. I was already weak from my vomiting enforced 36 hour fast!  I trapped my already dodgy leg under my body causing pain, swelling and discomfort. Because of this, it has been hard work to get out and about but I did try yesterday and got a better photo of the Meadow Pipit clutch and nest. When I arrived I counted the paces down the track and then found my little marker, then I turned right to the next mark and eventually, after a few minutes of searching, found the nest again. The pipit was sitting tight, that's her strategy to hide the nest, sit tight and wait for danger to pass. I could see her from only a few feet though, peering out at me. Eventually she left the nest and I checked for a possibly cuckoo….. sorry not this time. I took a quick photo with a lens better suited to the job. If you look carefully you can just see two eyes amongst the grass. This gives you a good idea of how well hidden she and her nest are.

I also managed a good look at the Spotted Flycatcher as well, they are an interesting little bird and one that I am glad to have caught up with again after so long… not the best photo though but worth posting as a record.

…………… oh and there are more little ducklings on the brook as well.