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Hi everyone, Here's a lovely story from yesterday courtesy of one of Saltholme's volunteers, Brian... A family of a grandmother, mother and two year old little boy were in the wildlife garden whilst I have was having my lunch. It was interesting to watch the boy dash around looking at the...

Third week spent at Mersehead after a week each in May and October last year. First week in September a lot quieter bird wise - particularly in comparison with October but still had a lovely week - it is such a peaceful and beautiful place. Weather was extremely variable - from warm and sunny to very...

After reaching 800 species Ray aims higher, with a new challenge to complete... Well folks, I have a new target of 1000 species to be seen before the end of the year. The 850 already noted have been put in alphabetical order and the 24 latest additions will be added in a new section. Two birds...

Hi everyone, It's a hot, sunny day at Saltholme today. Perfect for family fun of all kinds ... but it's also perfect for dragonflies to come out to play. We blog about the wildlife garden a lot because it's such a hive of activity. This week has been no different. Brian, who volunteers...

A view of an Emperor dragonfly laying eggs in one of the pools on the dragonfly walk at Saltholme

Just spent the day at the above site, really hot and breazy - so not much going on.Started with a good siteing ... After this , it was pretty quiet on the bird front. From Marshland viewpoint, we could see several waders and a Heron. There was House Martins flying around in the fields and a real abundance...

I visited Dungeness nature reserve yesterday 1st August 2011 for the first time and only had 2 hours to spare there. I had a wonderful time and have got some lovely photos. I will definately be back. Lady in the centre very helpful and two kind gentlemen gave me a lift back to Lydd saving me a long hot...

A day off on Saturday, so an opportunity to get off Sheppey & I decided to head off & try to see some new species of odonata. Or dragonflies & damselflies to you & I. Heading south from Elmley, the lifting bridge was up over the Swale, so rather than sit in a queue of stationary traffic...

As Ray nears his target of 800 species, he proves that no stone should be left unturned when on the hunt for wildlife at Titchwell Marsh. To get the best out of the reserve, there are plenty of events and lots of different areas to explore which can open your eyes to all sorts of wildlife. This...

Hi all, The reserve has indeed been a busy place over the past week, with lots of young birds now leaving their nests into the big wide world, including our own great tit family that visitors have enjoyed watching on the webcam . We've had lots of warblers about including sedge, garden, blackcap...

Taken on 14th June 2011 at the pond on Coombe Heath.

Look out for these around the edges of lagoons in summer.

Male broad-bodied chaser dragonfly. 27/04/11.

Plenty of stuff around for the good numbers of visitors that visited Elmley over the weekend. Where to start? The 3 spoonbills remained faithful to the Flood most of the time, although they can sometimes be difficult to see when they choose to feed in the deeper channels. Still at least 3 garganey...

During an event at Radipole yesterday we had a hawker type dragonfly reported to us from the North Hide. There aren’t many hawker species that can be seen this time of year except for the Hairy Dragonfly which has yet to be confirmed as a Radipole species. There was one individual seen last year...

A beautiful summer morning and an early start allowed me to witness a mass emergence of these fantastic insects. This one has just emerged from the exuvia and is drying out in the sun.

Keeta You're right, there's lot to be seen and photo'd in October - even dragonflies, like this Migrant Hawker seen at Minsmere on 10/10/10 (there's an auspicious date!) And November should be good too - not many insects - but not many leaves either - I might actually be able...

Hi Blackbird I'm pretty sure your blue dragonflies are migrant hawkers. The other local confusion species is southern hawker, which is bigger and tends not to perch so much (we can reasonably safely rule out common hawker in Bedfordshire). As Woodpecker mentioned, the thing to look for is the...

Common and ruddy darters should still be active in good numbers well into October. Emperors will still be active for the next month but the hawkers will be the most visible especially over heaths, reedbeds and woodland rides for the late summer autumn period. Some of the species to look out for are common...

Staff and volunteers from Top Lodge have spent the last week at Burghley House , who kindly allowed us to set up in their gardens (as designed by Capability Brown). We had our marquee overlooking the ornamental lake, on which we saw ducks, swans, coots and grebes. A kingfisher waited until the sunday...

A rather nice pic of a mating wheel.

First time visit, hoping for three things .. The walk across the meadow soon provided the first success - a swallowtail hurried across our path, but it didn't tarry and I couldn't get any photos. Sadly there were no others showing later - perhaps a little too cloudy and close after the previous...

Hi all Just a quick update on what is going on at the Lodge at the moment. Firstly if you can pay a visit to the Lodge on the weekend of the 17-18 July you may be in for a big surprise. This weekend is the Time Explorers weekend where you can experience life in an Iron age camp and try your hand at...

A couple of weeks ago I went on a dawn chorus walk at Langford Lakes. We gathered at 5am on a lovely morning when it was still and a mist hung over the lakes. We heard 32 species including reed, sedge and garden warblers, blackcaps and whitethroats. After the walk we went back to the education centre...

In July 2008 I was privileged to watch the emergence of a Common Hawker Dragonfly from its nymph. After 3 hrs of waiting I was so excited to see its wings become transparent ready for flight. The miracle of life repeated.

Dragonflies are such masters of the air but when they settle and you see the details of their bodies and wings it makes you full of wonder and admiration.

It was a beautiful day and the dragonflies were being particularly skittish...hovering in front of us and darting away playfully.Suddenly one lit upon a stalk of grass to bathe in the late afternoon sun...pure magic !