Garden & New Hythe 6th October

After surviving yesterday's encounter with Percy, I was pleased to see one of his mates down the garden this morning. She looked quite young to me and seemed in good condition apart from some damage to the end of her tail. Two Magpies escorted her around for the whole time she was there for some reason, and a couple of times she saw them off with a half hearted lunge in their direction which they treated with complete contempt. The pics were taken from some distance and through the rain streaked patio doors so aren't too sharp.

Later in the morning the sun came out and so did I. It was a quick dash to the lakes where the sunshine had persuaded some of Summer's stragglers to come out and bask in the rays of Autumn's still pleasantly warm sun.

Once more the tide was very high on the river which meant that there wasn't much to be seen there. So having checked out Brooklands and Abbey Mead lakes and established that nothing had changed since my visit yesterday, I turned my attention to other winged creatures like the one pictured below. The nearest I can get to it is the hover fly Ferdinandea cuprea but as usual i'm clutching at straws.




The only butterflies seen were a single White species and two or three Small Coppers which were obviously on a very important mission and had no time to stop their seemingly erratic flight.

Dragons were much more plentiful though and included Common Darters pictured below. I know we've all seen plenty of them and plenty of pictures of them, but they are one of the last small links to a short Summer that passed much too quickly.

And that's why I've featured yet another Migrant Hawker which were plentiful today, especially around the lake margins.

It was around the south west margins of Abbey Mead that I stood, Heron like, in a small reed bed trying to get in-flight shots of one of these fantastic flying machines. The results of which are shown below.

While in Heron mode my attention was drawn to the thick bushes behind me where I was sure I'd heard another Goldcrest singing. I searched the area for some time and my patience was rewarded with not one but two Goldcrests! There could even have been a third but I only saw two at any one time so I can't be sure. This is only thirty feet or so from yesterday's sighting so I can still only be sure of two. Let's hope they stay.

I made my way across the East Scrub where I was assaulted by two dogs, grrrrrrr, that's me not them. Foxes never assault me...........Anyway, again nothing much to write home about so I went over to see if I could find a late Slow worm, which I couldn't. But I did find the little critter below who didn't seem to mind a quick photo. I think he's a Yellow necked Mouse??