October often springs a Swan surprise at VP and today saw five pristine Whooper Swans dropping in early afternoon! I never tire of them and always take too many images, even in the unhelpful light!!
They flew out heading north at sixish (while I was eating my tea!)
Short-winged Coneheads (Conocephalus dorsalis) have only recently arrived in the Shropshire (first record in 2020) and I was fortunate to team up with our County Recorder for Orthoptera to see how they were doing at Huntington Lane, Telford. The restored habitat here has gone back to nature after formerly being an open cast mine site. The fields are fenced off with no access but fortunately some of the verges next to the track were productive! We saw at least four individuals, both male and female!
One particular male stayed in view for quite some time and gave better views. Just look at the length of those antennae...
A county first for me and the females were a county first for images. Nice one David, thank you for expertly guiding me to them! Oh and there also several Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers seen here too! These have been recorded since 2013 but are still very localised. Another separate post beckons...
With the Short-winged Coneheads under my belt, a nearby spot for Lesser Marsh Grasshopper (Chorthippus albomarginatum) was explored. This species is also relatively new in Shropshire after an initial discovery in 2013. They were there but hard work to photograph and most were hunkered down in the long grass.
See what I mean! The dorsal view isn't the most aesthetic angle but allows a good assessment of the pronotum shape which as seen here very slightly incurved, only Meadow Grasshopper comes close to this!
What an excellent Orthoptera result on a largely cloudy afternoon!!
My timing was impeccable, sensing that something of interest would materialise at VP, I plugged for an early afternoon visit... And after bumping into John Martin who was driving out, turned out he was sure there was an adult Yellow-legged Gull present from partial views of one 'resolutely sat down'!
It was still there as I got to the hide, except it was now on the water and showing well...
Most of the big flock of Lesser BBs were off too and it was not to be seen again...
A second opportunity for Great White Egret pics at VP unfolded today and thanks to Dave for getting the news out! Probably very reminiscent of the May bird, constantly being disturbed by the local Herons!
Whilst I was pleased to get a good number of decent flight shots of this juv Little Gull, I was always tuned into the 'quick as a flash' manoeuvre that signified a fly had been spotted!
Even at 10fps, the camera would miss a near 'catch' whilst the gull was a couple of feet away from its quarry!
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