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Archive images - May 2020


Rook with Southern Hawker Dragonfly
  Dragonflies are very vulnerable when they have just emerged and don't fly very well. This one lasted just ten seconds on its maiden flight from our garden pond, Alwins Field, 29 May 2020. (Rook with Southern Hawker in its beak.)





House Martins
  House Martins collecting mud for their nests on the shore of Astral Lake, 29 May 2020. House Martins make mud nests on the outside of buildings, usually under the eaves.





Sand Martin
  Sand Martin over Astral Lake, catching insects, 29 May 2020. Sand Martins nest in holes that they make in sand cliffs, the nearest ones being at Grovebury Quarry.





Shelduck
  Shelduck at Astral Lake, 29 May 2020. The Shelduck is a large bird and is rarely seen around Leighton Buzzard.





Banded Demoiselle
  A female Banded Demoiselle in the Ouzel Valley, 27 May 2020.





Figwort Sawfly
  A Figwort Sawfly in the Ouzel Valley, 27 May 2020.





Cinnabar Moth
  A Cinnabar Moth at Sandhouse Lane Nature Reserve, 25 May 2020.





Young Starling
  A young Starling taking a drink in our garden, Alwins Field, 25 May 2020.





Young Rook
  A young Rook in our garden, Alwins Field, 25 May 2020.





Orange-tip larva
  A small caterpillar (larva) of the Orange-tip Butterfly. It was in All Saints churchyard, Leighton Buzzard on 23 May 2020.





Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle Agapanthia
                  villosoviridescens
  As you might guess from the antennae, this beetle is called a "Longhorn Beetle", specifically the Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens). It was in Linslade Woods on  22 May 2020.





Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis
  The swollen hind femora on this beetle give it the name "Swollen-thighed Beetle" or "Thick-legged Flower Beetle", even though it's only the males that have the big thighs. Linslade Woods, 22 May 2020.
Its scientific name is Oedemera nobilis.





Broad-bodied Chaser - female
  This female Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly has been visiting our garden pond for the last couple of days and today was laying her eggs in the water. Alwins Field, 21 May 2020.





Broad-bodied Chaser male
  Male Broad-bodied Chasers start off with yellow-brown colours similar to the female but develop blue on the abdomen as they mature. This one, seen in our Alwins Field garden on 21 May 2020, has a little way to go.





Carrion Crow
  This Carrion Crow had just taken water from a trough on the Alwins Field allotments. It seemed to swallow the water, then flew up on to a shed roof and regurgitated a globule into its beak, as shown here. Then it flew off to its nest. Alwins Field, 18 May 2020.
(Its eye looks strange as the nictitating membrane is pulled halfway across the eye in this photo.)





Dagger Moth (Dark or Grey)
  There are two very similar night-flying moths, the Grey Dagger and the Dark Dagger. This is one of them. Alwins Field, 18 May 2020.





Red Mason Bee - Osmia bicornis
  Female Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis) in our garden, Alwins Field, 17 May 2020.





Mallard ducklings
  Mallard ducklings on the canal towpath near the Globe Inn, Linslade, 15 May 2020.





Reed Bunting
  Male Reed Bunting singing out to defend his territory in the Ouzel Valley, 15 May 2020.





Egg of Orange-tip butterfly
  Egg of Orange-tip butterfly on Jack-by-the-hedge at Leighton Buzzard railway station, 8 May 2020.





Orange-tip butterfly egg-laying
  Female Orange-tip butterfly egg-laying on Jack-by-the-hedge in Mentmore Road, 6 May 2020. Female Orange-tips do not have an orange tip to their forewings.





Germander Speedwell
  Germander Speedwell, Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.





Downy Emerald dragonfly
  Downy Emerald dragonfly, Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.





Orange-tip butterfly
  A male Orange-tip butterfly on Lady's Smock at Tiddenfoot WP,
 4 May 2020.





Mining bee
  One of several mining bees digging nest holes in a beach at Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.





Whitethroat singing
  A Common Whitethroat singing from his favourite perch in the Peace Meadow at Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.





Cream-spot Ladybird
  A Cream-spot Ladybird in our garden, Alwins Field, 2 May 2020.





Sulphur Tuft Moth
  A micro-moth called the Sulphur Tuft Moth (Esperia sulphurella), Alwins Field, 2 May 2020.





Balloon Fly - Hilara maura
  A male Balloon Fly (Hilara maura), Alwins Field, 1 May 2020.
Only the males of this species have the "balloons" on the front legs, from which they spin silk to give to the female of their choice as a nuptial gift. This fly is small (about 7mm) but a predator.





Jackdaw
  Jackdaw with a bulging gular pouch (loads of food in its throat) in our garden, Alwins Field, 1 May 2020.





Rook
  Rook tucking in at the bird table in our garden, Alwins Field, 1 May 2020.




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