Venus Pool - Green Sandpipers galore!

The water level looks great now (shame about spring passage) and as if by magic, there were nine Green Sandpipers on the reserve! It took a while to validate the count as they were spread over the islands and only viewable if you visited both members hides!

Lots of record shots and here's the best of those which came close in bright sunshine...

Needing to cool down in the heat?

Strutting in front of the hide...

Hard to pick a favourite?

You have to go back to 1995 to find the only better count at VP which was made by Geoff Holmes on 28th August that year. Pride of place however, the county record came from ASF in 1993 - those were the days!

Venus Pool - Flying fish!

Apart from the influx of Green Sandpipers, not a lot going on at the moment but with a Heron catching small Carp with gay abandon, I killed some time chasing 'fish toss' shots?

Here goes another one?

There's no escape in the weed!

Which ever way you look at it, the prospects for these fish aren't good!

Nooooo, upside down!

And missed this one by a nano-second?

Need to do better than this fish and two veg too...

Venus Pool - Ruddy Darters

I was preoccupied with counting Green Sandpipers today with a creditable NINE present around the pool, however... Couldn't miss seeing at least eight Ruddy Darters, recently emerged, whilst walking between the hides - there were undoubtedly many more!

Here's a male and female...

... taken with the 700mm of lens hand held!

Variable Damselfly

Always a tricky insect in Shropshire, I managed to locate at least three near a private pool in the Shrewsbury area this afternoon. Proving the apt name and defying the norm - the antehumeral stripes are consistently 'unbroken' here!

Don't seem to get much timer for odonata nowadays but good to seek out the scarcer species in the County...

Maesbury - Lime Hawkmoth plus others

Anthony Johnson tipped me off that he had caught a Lime Hawkmoth overnight and did I want to see it? You bet, this was a new species for me! Dreadful light but the tree perched pose seemed to work best!

Elephant Hawkmoth too...

Plus a lively Eyed Hawkmoth! Just look at those eyes even though there's motion blur!

The more traditional shot...

A great night's mothing without a doubt!

Venus Pool - Egyptian Geese

Two Egyptian Geese have been popping in and out of Venus Pool lately. No idea where they go and this is the first time I've actually seen them!

Ooops, I meant Venus Reservoir! This was where a bit of mud was starting to appear? Soon be back to winter levels at this rate...

'Thinks' Let's find somewhere else?

And off they go...

Nice angle of view!?

Mind that Coot!

Then up, up and away...

Venus Pool - Great Crested Grebes display

Apart from the Egyptian Geese, there was nothing else of note present today but there was a bit of noteworthy activity...

What started off as an easy going mirror dance...

Went to the bearing weed stage...

And then exploded into action!

A shame I was at the wrong angle for the high performance stuff...

But even as things appeared to slow down, there was still a lot of energy going on down below as both Grebes were virtually motionless out of the water!

It's quiet for sure but always something going on, somewhere...