As well as these elegant and colourful insects, there were Red Admirals and Meadow Browns flying today, but overall very few butterflies.
Handsome Bugs! June in Wraysbury
Category Archives: Natural History
Strawberry Moon over Chiswick
Beech in leaf and fruit, Gunnersbury Park
Onlooker
This pair of Azure Damselflies formed the “wheel” or “heart”, part of the complex mating behaviour of the Odonata, on a reed in the Gunnersbury Triangle nature reserve pond. As you can see, the colourful male (with the bright blue “tail”) uses his claspers to grasp the female behind the head so he obviously can’t use his tail end to fertilise her at the same time. He therefore transfers the packet of sperm, the spermatophore, to the underside of his abdomen. She uses her tail to pick up the sperm packet from there. So now you know.
Meanwhile, another male of the same species has noticed the female, and is hovering close in the vain hope of getting a chance to mate with her. Of course he looks as if he’s a voyeur, there to enjoy the spectacle; but from an evolutionary point of view, his “selfish genes” can’t be anything but “disappointed” at the fact that another male has got there first.
Bluetail damselfly in Chiswick Business Park
Large Red Damselflies in Gunnersbury triangle
Suddenly, after a freezing but dry April and a warmer but moist (April Showers) May, it’s June and Summer. The hazels have rushed into full leaf; the brambles are pushing across the paths at astonishing speed; Azure Damselflies have all hatched at once and are sunning themselves near the pond; and pairs of Large Red Damselflies are urgently flying about, all 8 wings in harmony, in their complex mating system, to lay eggs rapidly on pond plants before it all dries up. Like their much larger cousins, the Dragonflies, Damselflies are predators, and fiercely competitive for their territory; males chase off not only other males but other insects.
Sumer is icumen in … Cuckoo, Swifts, Butterflies at wraysbury lakes
Cuckoo Flowers … and a singing Cuckoo! A real pleasure after months of lockdown. And a flight of 3 Swifts over the lake:
“Sumer is Icumen In,
Lhude sing Cuccu!”
sang the Middle English poet, centuries ago.
Not pictured are the many Warblers that were singing today – Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Garden Warblers, Cetti’s Warblers, and Whitethroats. There weren’t any Sedge Warblers, though, something there always used to be here.
Apart from the attractive butterflies, there were the year’s first Banded Demoiselles, the males with their long transparent wings marked with a large dark blue patch; and near the water, Alder flies with their clear wings with dark veins.
Isn’t that a fine sight for London? Sheep peacefully grazing the steep grassy banks of the reservoir. The water company saves a lot of trouble, noise, fuel, money, and frankly danger trying to mow the slopes: the sheep do the job better. Now if only everything was so well thought out…
A View Rather Wider Than Lockdown: Cherhill Down
Balm to the urban soul … Cherhill Down and monument, taken from the edge of the Iron Age Hill Fort (the White Horse just out of shot, to the right). A view that must stretch for 50 miles. Silence. Space. Sky.
High Tide on Chiswick Mall
The goose is swimming in the road; the camera position is the pavement which stretches away on the right, though the road junction in the middle distance is flooded. The opposite side of the road is marked by the fence which runs from image centre to upper right. This happens at high spring tides, at least when the Thames Barrier is not operated to prevent damaging flooding.
At last! Sallow Catkins at Wraysbury
