Christine's walking & birds blog

With a couple of dragonflies glimpsed on this bright sunny day - one large, one medium-sized - I feel that summer has at last arrived in the far north. The dragonflies zoomed away drunkenly never to be seen again, so I've no idea what they were - but a pair of large red damselflies proved more obliging. The female is on the left, the male on the right (info from british-dragonflies.org.uk).


My other target creature was sawflies; and I got lucky with one of the largest species in Britain - the birch sawfly (I think).





A strong wind swayed the tops of the birches and made photographing them difficult (they were also at a distance and high up) but getting them in flight was almost impossible. I think I saw one pair mate in mid-air - but I didn't manage to catch that. They're pests, but fascinating pests.

As I walked away I spotted yet another one, slightly closer. I stopped to try for a shot but it flew off - and I was about to walk away when I heard the stuttering trill of a wood warbler from deep within the trees. I used the video mode on my camera to record the trill - although the bird only did the "dyu-dyu" prelude when it was turned off! I caught one or two glimpses through trunks and branches as the bird moved about, but no really good view. Nice to hear, though - and so close! A silent cuckoo was the only other bird of note.