Examining the detail

Thank you to Margot for her sightings update and photos:

"There is a fascination with looking at nature in sufficient detail to accurately identify the species & the behaviour taking place. A highlight for me over the last week of Indian Summer was a couple of mating Field Grasshoppers on a path on the heath. It was not until I returned to the Visitor Centre to examine the photo of a single Field Grasshopper that I realised he was not sitting on a twig as I had thought, but mating with a female.

 The ivy in the car park  has been alive with bees, wasps & hornets. Some visitors have been lucky enough to see a hornet actually eating a wasp or bee, but despite spending several lunchtimes with a camera to hand, this is the best photo I have been able to take of a hornet.

Several hobbies have been spotted over the last few weeks, meaning that there are still dragonflies & damselflies around. There is sometimes confusion between the two, but the photo of a ruddy darter from the front shows the characteristic wing position of a dragonfly.

On the other hand, the blue-tailed damselfly has the typical damselfly position of the wings, parallel to the body.

 Increasing numbers of people are taking photos on their mobile phones through a scope. This seems to work especially well with birds, when the magnification of a scope is so much better than that of many people’s cameras. Gary took the kestrel below through an RSPB 82 HD scope using his mobile phone.

 This weekend we are delighted to be having an Optics Weekend from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 10^th & Sunday 11^th October. We have an increased range of binoculars, including both the new & existing Swarovski EL Range. Our expert from Viking will be there to demonstrate binoculars and scopes, so please pay us a visit.”