Spot The Fly

With the summer waining away, I was hoping to find some Dragonflies on the river, and hopefully some a little different to photograph other than the thousands of Banded Demoiselle that frequent the reeds along the river bank. They are the only species of Damselfly I've seen all year on the Test, which I must admit surprised me a little bit as it seems to be teaming with a lot of other insect life.

On this particular evening I did manage a couple of new species, as I did spot a Red-Eyed Damselfly on a reed on the opposite side of the water, however not stopping long enough for a record shot. I did manage to catch up with a couple of Dragonflies although neither paused long enough for a picture or for me to get any idea of what species they might be.

I must admit I did get a little excited when processing my Demoiselle shots from the evenings venture that  I couldn't Identify one, hoping it was some kind of rarity, 3rd Picture down. I was soon disappointed after asking via my Facebook page, to discover it was just a weird colour variant of the Demoiselle type. Just my luck!

Male Banded Demoiselle

Male Banded Demoiselle?

Female Banded Demoiselle

The lack of smaller birds throughout the summer I'm sure has been noticeable through the lack of fresh blog posts, but I could hardly contain my delight when approaching one tree next to the river that was teeming with Bird life. Great Tits, Blue Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Nuthatch & Treecreeper all mingled in the upper branches of the Ash Tree. Along with 3 Spotted Flycatcher, a species I've seen a  few times since the spring but never had the conditions right to grab a photograph. Tonight was to be no exception every time I crept 10 yards closer to get them in camera range, they disappeared a further 10 yards down the bank. This is the best shot I managed, Spot the Spotted Flycatcher if you can.

Spotted Flycatcher

http://www.facebook.com/MartinClayPhotography Up to date pictures and sightings, prior to me getting around to writing these blog posts, Look out for a free give away soon as well.

I would be more than grateful for any 'Likes' or Comments on my FB Photography Page too so feel free to comment or criticise about anything.