In my post, last week, I featured the dragonflies and damselflies I saw on Thursday 22nd September. At the end of that post, I said that my next post would feature the non-dragon aspects of that visit. Well, here we go!
Along the hedgerow on which I saw several Migrant Hawker dragonflies, there were also several Comma butterflies - all in quite good condition.
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| Comma (Polygonia c-album) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
Further on, by the start of the track that leads to Shoveler Hide, there were four Red Admirals on the gate, and a couple more on nearby fence posts.
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| Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
I then went into Shoveler Hide, where there was a Green Sandpiper in the water at the end of the bar that runs in front of the hide.
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| Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
Of greater interest to me, however, was the Great White Egret which was somewhat further away.
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| Great White Egret (Ardea alba) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
This bird was busy fishing, and with some considerable success too!
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| Great White Egret (Ardea alba) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
I noticed that, after catching a fish, it tended to do a bit of a shake of the neck as if it was trying to help its dinner down the hatch! On one occasion, it did this to the extreme!
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| Great White Egret (Ardea alba) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
I think that last one was a burp!!
I took a few more shots of the GWE before it disappeared round the corner. It's amazing how long that neck can look sometimes! I was cussing at the box being in the way for that last one.
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| Great White Egret (Ardea alba) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
I went to the next hide (Buzzard Hide) to see if the GWE had arrived in sight there, but it hadn't, so I returned to Shoveler Hide to find the GWE was back, and a Little Egret had also appeared. I spent half an hour or more, hoping that the two egrets would end up close to each other for the 'comparison shot', but it didn't happen. This is the closest, and the light was difficult, to say the least!
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| Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and Great White Egret (Ardea alba) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
It was now time to start heading back as I had a potential Barn Owl site to stake out from a distant hillside, whilst consuming a late picnic tea.
Heading back to the car, I took some more shots of dragonflies, and a Comma butterfly in the low late-afternoon sun.
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| Comma (Polygonia c-album) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
It's just occurred to me that it's not often one can write a report which starts and ends with a Comma, as well as a Capital and Full-Stop!!!
So that's two posts on the subject of 22nd September. I believe this date will also feature in my next post, which I hope will be about recent owl sightings!
Thank you for dropping by.
