Shades On – Part Deux
Following
on from my previous moan regarding Dragonflies total lack of consideration, for
the rank novice odonatologist
(apologies if this is not the pukkah word), the little blighters have been testing me again this
last week, but, thanks, to the aforementioned Guide, a tad of luck and a smidgeon of advice from the pros, this
time I think I have them covered.
First up
my mate the Ruddy Darter - he of the sexual gymnastics (not yet an Olympic sport).
This chap posed superbly and I like to think this is one of my better dragon
pics so far.
Having
captured a good snap of the little red fellow, for reasons best known to myself,
I decided to take some more pictures of another Ruddy Darter sitting on a fence
rail. But – on checking the picture out, I noticed the yellow patches on the
thorax and yellow leg stripes that indicated this is in fact a Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum). Tick.
Now at
this stage please forgive my slightly less than scientific approach, but I can’t
help thinking that the head on view of many dragonflies look remarkably like a
rather jolly US helicopter pilot, peering out of his bubble canopy. It’s not
just me, is it?
I even
managed to correctly identify with almost no outside help (thanks Tony F and
Graeme) the very similar Southern Hawker and Migrant Hawker.
Southern Hawker
Migrant Hawker
In order
to keep a sense of perspective I have once again included a picture of one of
the real pros when it comes to insect spotting. Long-tailed Tits have the
saddest, pleading eyes, don’t you think?
Last week
the FoHESC put on a very successful Bat and Moth evening, which was well
attended, a lot of fun and very informative, however, with over 8000 European
species of Moth, I may just put my adoption of Moths as an additional identification
challenge, on hold for a bit. The caterpillar of the Cinnabar Moth is just about
within my ID skills though, thanks to its distinctive eye catching colour
scheme (hope you Dragonflies are taking note).
Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar
This
particular individual was found munching away on its chosen food plant –
Ragwort – even though the plant was an odd straggler, that escaped the recent
cutting of the meadows and was in a pretty exposed position, leaving the
caterpillar in full view of anything that fancied a colourful meal. Even more
surprising, it was in exactly the same exposed position several days later,
which I can only assume means that, this is one very fortunate individual or
the warning colour scheme really works.
Or do they just taste bad?
