4th September …. Well the last few days has seen some really nice weather so it was great to be out today looking for some Dragonflies, with 2 particular species in mind …. Golden Ringed and Black Darter two typical species found in and around the North York Moors. The weather was perfect so I set off with high expectations. Really I should have known better ….. fast forward 2 hours of intense searching and I had not seen one dragonfly !!! After decades of being interested in the natural world – I should know better and realise how fickle Nature can be. However, the sun was shining and it was great being out!! So new tactics and a change of scenery and immediately dragonflies !!! However, not the two species I’d been looking for but a real bonus some Southern Hawkers ….. now photographing them was another mission altogether !! So another hour passed by … despite the frustrations I managed to get some images in the end. Recipe for shooting dragon flies: A bit of luck and loads of patience!!
5th September… Saw me and the Mrs at Scarborough, the sea today was like a millpond. I had read that there were some Minke Whales seen locally over recent days but after a good search along Marine Drive, sadly no whales!! We then had a walk down to Scarborough Harbour and it was great to see a good number of both juvenile Razorbill and Guillemots.The light was excellent this afternoon and had a great time photographing the juvenile auks.
8th September… Another beautiful day and this afternoon I went down to Lendal Bridge just south of Pickering. This lovely little spot has been excellent for butterflies this spring and summer and this visit did not disappoint as there were some gorgeous late Red Admirals feeding on some of the last Buddleia cones. It was a great sight to see these iconic British butterflies enjoying some welcome Autumn sunshine.
9th September….This afternoon I had a trip to Filey Dams; The reserve is always a great place for early Autumn waders but on this trip it was very quiet with no waders on site!! However there were some Migrant Hawkers buzzing around one of the ponds just past the central hide. As usual with dragonflies it was a long wait before one came near for a decent photograph – and I was very lucky when one landed on a reed stem not far away … camera ready, focus and shoot…. Gentle breeze and a reed stem obscures shot … refocus and …. The dragonfly by this time was in Bridlington!!! Another long wait and several more ‘reed’ shots … until … Brilliant, mid stem no leaves obscuring the shot…patience is a virtue when ‘shooting’ these speed machines!! However, it turned out to be a great visit and the weather was kind too!
10th September…Today, the Mrs and I went over to Scampston Hall Gardens just east of Malton for their Autumn Plant Sale had a great morning and bought some brilliant new plants for the garden including echinaceas, rubbekia and salvias. After visiting the plant sale we had a walk around the lakes and there were literally hundreds of Common Darters buzzing around the water margins and some early Autumn Crocuses were out too.
11th September…. had a brilliant trip over to Harlow Carr the RHS gardens at Harrogate: bird life was pretty quiet but the flowers on display were stunning and had a great afternoon photographing them in some great autumn light.
13th September; toured the local patch to day pretty quiet no movement yet of any autumn thrushes…however whilst at Eden Camp had a great Sparrowhawk fly past and a very obliging Common Buzzard flew over head.There were also some gorgeous late Commas feeding on the brambles which gave a nice splash of Autumn colour.
The month drew to an end with a trip to R.S.P.B reserve at Bempton cliffs on the 23rd September. A number of Short-eared Owls had been reported from the reserve, these birds most probably had come in from the near continent on their autumn migration to the U.K or their UK breeding grounds. I had a fantastic afternoon photographing the owls .. they were coming in so close it was brilliant to see them in such good light. Hopefully they will stay at Bempton over the winter – before returning to their Summer residences next March.
