I had a stroll around the patch today, it had been raining hard and was very overcast early on, but now the sun had burned off a lot of the cloud and was very pleasant indeed. In particular I chose to walk along the river that borders one side of the patch, it is only a small river, in places no more that a few inches deep, in others parts it can reach three feet in depth. Some years ago the landowner and I created a few pools along its stretch and it was by one of these I sat and observed a while. It was so relaxing listening to the water trickle over the man made waterfall as it fell to the next level. As I gazed at the water I became aware of a number of Beautiful Demoiselle.

The Beautiful Demoiselle


It seems a strange name for a species that has to fight for the honour of the female most of the day, not a hard man name by any means.. As I watched three or four of them battling for territory I became aware of a female sitting on a reed, she was laying eggs just below the surface, now I know why this fight was going on. I could see the surface tension around her abdomen, suddenly she turned and walked down the stem of the reed and completely submerged herself, as I watched she continued to lay her eggs.

Egg Laying in progress


Down she goes.




As she emerged a male immediately attached itself to her head and they both flew to a nearby leaf, I watched as the mating process took place, on completion she flew back to the water surface and proceeded to lay more eggs.


The dirty deed in process


I decided to continue my walk along the bank as far as I could before the river passed under a road bridge, this is the far end of my patch. I saw a small bird It looked like a Chiff-Chaff in a large Oak tree, reaching for my binoculars I realised I had left the buggars where I was watching the Damsel's. Oh well never mind, I quite enjoyed backtracking as it were, it gave me time to notice one or two of the flowers that are starting to appear in and around the river. I have never been too clued up on plants but always recognise the water forgetmenot, a stunning little beauty.

WaterForgetmenot


I always look forward to seeing the Yellow Iris in its natural environment too, they put on a great show in the margins of the river.


This lovely blue flower caught my eye, but I have no idea what it is.



Enough of flowers for now, seems a little pansy'ish if you see what I mean. I decided to take a walk up to the Manor house, I have a feeling there is a Fox den under a large old wooden shed, so I got myself downwind of it and snuggled down in the hedgerow, my idea was to try and squeak the Fox and cubs out of their den, squeaking is a trick used to attract all sorts of predators, but in my case today it was Foxes. I sat for ten minutes or so listening to the noises around me, you can often tell a lot about the surroundings this way, it told me there was no bloody foxes about, but my fox caller could change all that. My first squeak was a loud one aimed at getting the attention of any Raynard's that may be in the area, it has been known to call them in from 500 meters. I waited a while with no results, I squeaked again this time I did get a reaction, from the Jack Russell terriers that reside inside the house, the next thing I knew there were three of them heading my way making one almighty row. That's the end of the foxes for today I thought. Joe Goddard the landowner appeared with gravy dripping off his chin, obviously in the process of enjoying his Sunday lunch, I apologised for disturbing him, he laughed as I bumped my head getting out of his hedgerow, then thanked me for sending him the images of the Kestrel chicks. All in all a nice couple of hours spent around my patch, a quick look at the Kestrel box on my way back to the car saw one chick stick its head our for a split second, I was surprised how much it had grown since Monday, I must get back soon to record their progress.