Another Good Day! - on 21st September, 2019

With only 5 days notice, volunteers at Rutland Water were invited to attend an evening talk at the Volunteer Training Centre, given by celebrated naturalist and presenter, Nick Baker. Fortunately I was free and so decided, weather permitting, to tie it in with an afternoon visit to the east of the county.

When the day arrived, it was forecast to be a warm and sunny afternoon, but a bit windy. I felt that it was worth a return visit to Eyebrook Reservoir to see if I could get any closer to the Willow Emerald Damselflies that I'd enjoyed six day previously.

I arrived at around 14h45 to find just one other car there, and two people on the bridge, gazing over the parapet. When I asked if they'd been looking for the Willow Emeralds, I got a blank look. They'd no idea what a Willow Emerald was, so I explained. They quickly joined me in an attempt to find one, and decided to leave after just a few minutes with no luck. However, just as they were about to get into the car, I spotted one flying and called to let them know, whereupon  they quickly joined me once more.

Almost immediately, the emerald flew to the nearest point I'd ever seen one at at this location. However, it only stayed for a couple of seconds and was into the sun, and I completely fluffed the shots. Fortunately it flew to a place only about three times the distance away, and I did get a some shots, although none of them were good as the light was still in the wrong direction and the branch it was on was swinging about in the breeze like a mad thing! It did, however, keep flying out briefly over the water and returning to the same twig.

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcoletes viridis) (male) - Eyebrook Reservoir

After a while, I went to have a look over at the other side of the bridge, and was joined by my two companions. Nothing of interest was seen, however, and the two of them decided it was time to go. I returned to the south side of the bridge again, to find the emerald had gone. After a while I found what I have to assume was the same individual as it was behaving in the same fashion but its new favoured twig was now double the distance from me than that of the twig it had abandoned. I took a few shots and, in spite of the increased distance, got slightly better results, probably due to the twig being more sheltered from the wind and in a position where I could shoot with a better light direction.

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcoletes viridis) (male) - Eyebrook Reservoir

After being here for an hour and a half, and having had no sign of a Willow Emerald for nearly half an hour, I felt that it was time to try a different location with a different target species.

As the meeting I was attending was at Rutland Water, with an 18h00 for 18h30 start time, it seemed logical to head there, particularly as there was a location there that I'd previously found quite good for Migrant Hawkers.

I'd got some business that needed attending to at the Volunteer Training Centre first, so called in there, after which I was given permission to leave my car there and walk into the reserve from the VTC.

I was soon seeing Common Darter dragonflies, and some were reasonably obliging. In the third image, below, you can see two of the attributes that make these insects the efficient predators that they are - the amazing eyes, and the powerhouse that drives the wings.

Common Darter (Symptrum striolatum) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

There were still a few Common Blue Damselflies around, but I confess to not paying much attention to these.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

There were a few butterflies around too, the most notable of which were the occasional Comma.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

It was, however, the Migrant Hawkers that provided the spectacle of the day. Soon after entering the site, I had been seeing the occasional Migrant Hawker flying around, but never settling - and flight shots would have been a non-starter for me as they were against a close backdrop of trees and shrubs.

As I approached the path that leads down to Shoveler Hide, I noticed a lady standing in an open area who seemed to be gazing in wonderment at something. I soon found out what - there were around 20 Migrant Hawkers milling around in an area not more than 10 metres across! I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I stayed for a while, hoping that one would settle, but found it impossible to keep track of any individuals. I think I did get a glimpse of one female, but it was definitely a male gathering.

In the end, I gave up and took a stroll along the hedgerow that forms the edge of Sharples Meadow. Here I found that there were around 10 hawkers in a 100 metre stretch and that several were settling from time to time. 

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

The next image would normally have been consigned to 'the bin' but, before doing so, I saw the insect clinging to its abdomen, which I hadn't seen at the time of shooting. This insect was, I believe, Chironomus plumosus - the largest of the non-biting midges in UK.  

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Chironomus plumosus (male)  - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

I carried on with my exploration of the Sharples Meadow hedgerow for a while, but my time was running out, and I soon had to hurry back to the VTC. I did get a few more shots on my way back.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

On my way back, I found a second area with around 20 migrant hawkers milling around. These seemed to be showing signs of settling, probably because it was getting late in the day (17h45). I'd have loved to have hung around for longer, but I did manage a shot of two dragons together, albeit at a great distance.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

I got back in time to quickly devour my picnic tea, before going in to the meeting. 

I'd not done any research on Nick's talk before booking for it- going purely on the talk's title - 'Rewilding'. If I'd taken the time to research it, I'd have realised that it was not about rewilding projects for the land, but (as per the subject of Nick's book, which I was hitherto unaware of) improving of our own powers of observation of nature by the 'rewilding' of our full range of senses. If I'd have known this I would, perhaps, not have booked to attend, but I'm so glad that I did as it was extremely enjoyable, being both highly entertaining and very informative.

The meeting finished over an hour later than expected, so I made my way home by the most direct route - I'd originally intended to take a countrified route in the hope of seeing some owls. However, I did have the pleasure of seeing a fox cross the road in front of me at two locations on my way home. Thus ended a most enjoyable afternoon and evening.

In Praise of the Sigma 50-500 Lens

The Sigma 50-500 lens is an extremely versatile lens, and is my preferred lens on virtually every occasion. Every photo, above, was taken with this lens. It performs remarkably well for distant subjects with the lens at 500mm, and is a useful macro lens as well. I use a Nikon D7200 body with 24 megapixel sensor.

To give more detailed information, the last three Willow Emerald images were taken with the lens at 500mm, f10. They were very heavily cropped to approximately 1/40th of the original frame.

The macro shot of the Common Darter head and thorax was taken with the lens at 290mm, f10, and again was cropped to approximately 1/40th of the original frame.

If one winds the lens back to around 140mm, it is possible to focus on objects 3 inches (75mm) from the lens hood, giving a truly macro capability. 

The only occasions when I use a Sigma 150 macro lens in the field instead of the 50-500 are when I know that I won't want the long reach and want to reduce the weight I'm carrying. This is relatively rarely as I soon found that I tended  to regret the decision to leave the 50-500 at home. The 150 macro comes into its own when I'm shooting moths from the moth trap or insects in the garden.


Thank you for your visit. With the current weather forecast being not so good, and prospects for a photographic trip out looking a little slim, my next post will probably be a somewhat retrospective one.