Martyn Pitt

They are plagued with them down south, whilst something rather colourful to photograph I would imagine they could have a detrimental effect on the native birds once they colonise an area.

Three Swallows flew south over Belvide yesterday morning, here is a photo of one of them We also had a couple of Curlew Sandpipers drop in, shame they would not come closer for a better shot

The first one looks like a Southern Hawker, and the second one a Common Darter (which was what I thought from your description before)

I would have just started Part 2 Russell Anyway here is a blue and orange exorcet from Sunday, a bit far out across the reservoir even with the big lens, but at the speed they travel always a bonus to get it in focus and in the frame. I saw 5 of them on Sunday, including a pair zooming across the reservoir. We had joked that they were heading for the ringing groups nets, when we got around by them it appeared one had. I should point out that these guys are licensed to carry the ringing and recording.To see how small these birds are in the hand is always an eye opener. The ringer took this Kingfisher and laid it on it's back in his open palm, it just lay there for a minute then flew off.

I do not consider it unwieldy Russell ... just a case of clicking on the last page. Why not open another thread for general photography, to run in tandem with it

For the larger one it could be a Southern Hawker, the red / orange one probably a Common Darter. Look these up on line and see which looks the closest to what you saw, just be aware that immature ones can vary slightly in colouring.

A few Lapwings from this morning, the sun really brings out the full range of colours of their feathers.

If it's got a lot of blue on it I would guess a Migrant Hawker at this time of the year. There is a great Dragonfly ID book - Britains Dragonflies by Dave Smallshire & Andy Swash, Dave & Andy are experts on them, the book is well worth the money.

A juvenile Ringed Plover from this morning

Cheers Stu

Curtis Lee

Lenny Welch - 100 Pounds of pain ?????

"Your Autumn of Tomorrow .... sorry never heard of it"

I just shoot them with my camera Peter, much more fun Adult and juvenile Pied Wagtail

They have let some water out of the reservoir at long last, so we now have shoreline on our side, means we get the waders in closer. A Common Sandpiper

For those bird in flight shots Steve you need to be pushing your exposure (EV) by +1 to +2, or the other way is to meter off the ground. It is worth finding a Red Kite feeding station near you, fantastic sight to see them all coming in for their lunch. The one we visited was up in Dumfries & Galloway when we were on holiday, even Carol enjoyed seeing them.

Bit cool for the dragons today, so resort to plan B A Greenshank in flight

I thought you said it was fast .... with clues like that what chance did we have

How about Astral Trip - Mystic Moods

Boogie with your baby - Willie J

A male Southern Hawker from the weekend

We get the occasional Dragonfly around our back garden, they must be coming from garden ponds in the area, they do not need masses of water to survive.

Back to the ladies, a female Brown Hawker showing how well they blend into their surroundings, these can be seriously difficult to spot, until they start flying around. Their golden / amber coloured wings are always a give away when you see them in flight

Dave the Ruddy Darter has a clubbed tail, it looks like it has been pinched half way down. What you have there is a a Red Veined Darter, a scarce migrant to our shores, but fairly common in southern Europe. The 2nd one does look like a Keeled Skimmer in that image

An immature male Ruddy Darter at Belvide this morning