First day of the Autumn

There are different ways to tell that the Autumn has started. According to the calendar, the start was yesterday. The sun will progress further south towards the the Tropic of Capricorn. and some trees already have brown and yellow coloured leaves. The weather is changing slightly.

Widgeons (Anas Penelope) have returned to London Wetland Centre and mushrooms flourish in abundance.

But today was still a warm day with all the activities that could have been seen throughout the Summer.

Here are some more pictures of today’s walk in London’s WLC.

 

 

A Water Vole (Arvicola Amphibius) is foraging, undisturbed by me, when I took it’s picture. The 45^o angle of the bite marks (see photo on the right) are a typical sign that they are around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only have the Wigeons returned, but a few Common Teals (Anas Crecca) can be seen as well at London’s WLC.

But the Migrant Hawkers (Aeshna Mixta) are still flying and mating as if it is full Summer. And with the forecast of high temperatures this week, it will take some more time, before the Autumn finally and truly begins.

Just a common duck

If you don’t know anything about birds, or ducks for that matter, you still would recognize a Mallard Duck (Anas Platyrhynchos). Maybe not by the name but this is what we all know as “a duck”. There are so many to be seen. Every pond or local little lake in every village, town or city has them as their inhabitants.

But in this blog I will show you that although they may be very common, they are actually quite beautiful.

Their ducklings are very cute and they are looked after by the mother; the father doesn’t bother too much.

He will however loose his bright colours after the breeding season and adopt the “ladies colours”. This is where a drake becomes a drag queen.

 

Normally they are very tame and you can approach them quite easily. They simply wait for you to feed them. A nice activity with children. There is not much more I can add, other than to show some more pictures of this very common but beautiful duck. More information can be found on the WiKi-page.

Darters, Damsels and Dragons

Recently I have been taking quite some pictures of dragonflies and darters. I did already had a few pictures of one particular damselfly in my archive. They all belong to the family of the Coenagrionidae and are carnivorous. They are actually known to be fierce predators.

Where the dragonflies and darters will rest with their wings abreast, the damselflies will fold theirs parallel to their abdomen. But all of them have beautiful colours.

It is however not easy to take pictures, because they are splendid flyers and hover only for a short moment. Luckily I have been able to catch some with my camera; one perticular even in flight! I am therefore proud to present the results.

This Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum Sanguineum) happened to sit still for a longer period when I was visiting the Slimbridge Wetland Centre. The Dutch name is Bloedrode Heidelibel.

 

 

The picture below is of a Common Darter (Sympetrum Striolatum) of which the Dutch name is: Bruinrode Heidelibel. It could be easily mistaken for the Ruddy Darter, unless you look closely at the difference in colours.

 

The Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) is indeed not rare and a lot can be seen in high grass on a warm day. The colours of the male are very bright and blue, whereas the female has a more grey-ish pattern.

The Dutch name is: Watersnuffel.

When they mate, the male curls it’s tail and insert it’s sperm in the top of the female’s abdomen

This can be seen in the picture below of two similar damselflies: the Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura Elegans) which is called Laantaarntje in Dutch.

To end this blog, I will show some of the bigger dragonflies. They are: a female Broad-bodied Chaser or Darter (Libellula Depressa, Platbuik), a Brown Hawker (Aeshna Grandis, Bruine Glazenmaker), an Emperor Dragonfly (Anax Imperator, Grote Keizerlibel) and a Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum Cancellatum,  Gewone Overlibel).

	These insects are indeed remarkable and beautiful. I should go out and about to find some more different varieties. Because this is only a start…

A Different View on Nature

Most of the pictures used in articles, blogs and books about nature look like portraits. The most colourful or detailed from the writer’s archive are used and all animals look as if they were posing for the occasion. Feathers and fur nicely groomed and everything ready for the shot.

But it can be so different. In this blog I would like to show you alternative animal pictures.

“Hey, what are you looking at!”

This Otter (Lutra Lutra)  on the left seems to be disturbed by my camera, while he is waiting for his food.

 

Lately I was able to see Shoveler Ducks (Anas Clypeata) in a different way. Normally they glide gracefully through the water, but when the drakes loose their beautiful white colours, things change dramatically.

When it comes to grooming, there are more birds that bend in difficult poses to come clean. I did write a blog about this earlier, but I found some other pictures in my archive. Pictures of a Bewick Swan (Cygnus Columbianus) , two Ringed Teals (Callonetta Leucophrys), a Grey-crowned Crane (Balearica Regulorum) and a Common Teal (Anas Crecca).

Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) in zoos are a great source for pictures out of the ordinary. They just do whatever they like without being bothered by the spectators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will end this blog with some serious violence. Two Mallard Ducks (Anas Platyrhynchos) are fighting, most likely for a lady. I did not stay to see who won, but the fight was indeed fearsome.

Butterflies by family (5 of 5): Hesperiidae and Zygaenidae

large

In this last blog, I will tell a story of lookalikes and mistaken identity. It took me quite a while, before I could distinguish between the Large Skipper (Ochlodes Sylvanus) and the Small Skipper (Thymelicus Sylvestris), both of the family of the Hesperiidae. Because they are quite small and almost equal in size. Their colours are just the same and you even find them together in the same habitat. The Large Skipper is called Groot Dikkopje in Dutch; the Small Skipper is called Geelsprietdikkopje.

The most obvious difference is the pattern of the light brown markings on their orange wings. The Large Skipper has a more chequered pattern whereas the Small Skipper has thin, prolonged  lines.

These pictures should show what I mean. As I said, it took me quite some time to actually see the difference.

 

A much more obvious difference, because you just count the spots, is the one between the Five-spot Burnet (Zygaena Trifolii) and the Six-spot Burnet (Zygaena Filipendulae), both of the family of the Zygaenidae. They are actually moths, but they can be seen at daytime.

They both visit a range of flowers and can sometimes be seen together on one flower. The pictures below show the countable spots. In Dutch, the five-spot one is called Vijf-vlek St-Jansvlinder, and the other one just St-Jansvlinder.

This ends my series of five blogs, showing (off) my butterfly picture archive, organised by family. I hope you enjoyed it; I certainly enjoyed putting it together.

It was a hard call to choose the picture I would like to end this series with. Therefore I decided to end with the very first picture I took of a butterfly. It was taken in Butterfly World near St. Albans and it is a picture of two Monarch butterflies (Danaus Plexippus).

Butterflies by family (4 of 5): Lycaenidae

The family of the Lycaenidae consists of hairstreaks, coppers and blues. When they fold their wings, they look very much alike. But once they open them it becomes a whole different story.

The typical “backwing pattern” can be seen on this female Common Blue (Polyommatus Icarus) on the left.

The Common Blue, in Dutch known as Icarusblauwtje, is normally “raised” by ants in their nest. The larvae produce a honeydew-like substance that ants do like very much upon which they will take it to their nest…and care for it.

The young butterfly might even, as a caterpillar, eat some well needed proteins (ants as it were) and once the chrysalis turns into a butterfly, it just flies away without even thanking the ants.

A beautiful and very bright blue butterfly, that deserves to be shown.

 

The picture at the top of this blog is a Small Copper (Lycaena Phlaeus). As I said earlier in this blog, the coppers are also part of this family. It is a very bright coloured butterfly, of which the Dutch name is: Kleine Vuurvlinder (small fire butterfly).  You will normally see them on flowers and at medium height. I have only one other candidate to show. and since there is not much more to be said, let’s just show it.

The last family member of the Lycaedinae to show in this blog is the Holly Blue (Celastrina Argiolus). Although they have the same appearance as the other family members, their closed wing pattern is more blue than the others.

In Dutch this butterfly is called: Boomblauwtje. The dark blue edges on the light blue wings are truly exquisite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last blog of the series, I will show you two cases of lookalikes in two different families: the Hisperiidae and the Zyganidae (Skippers and Burnets).

To finish off, just another picture of the Common Blue that I took this month.