To Hanningfield at last!

It's been a while since I last posted, a period when I've been insect watching more than bird watching now that the summer is setting in and the birds are becoming quieter and more reclusive. Yesterday however was a contradiction, a trip yielding many, yet very few birds!

A friend of mine from Flickr asked if I'd like to go out for a walk, suggesting that we could take her car to Hanningfield Reservoir if I liked. Since I'd been wanting to visit the reservoir for some time I eagerly agreed and yesterday afternoon we drove there and parked at the visitor centre of the nature reserve at the south-west of the reservoir. Driving along the road at the embankment near the visitor centre I'd noticed a lot of birds on the water and heading into the woods and off to the Lyster hide we found hundreds upon hundreds of ducks. Being a large body of water they were some way out so photography options were rather limited, even a Little Grebe closer to the shore was too far out for more than the most cursory record shot... but then those are small birds to photograph anyway!

Looking out through my binoculars I could see mostly Tufted Ducks and Pochard, a few juvenile gulls here and there and one lone Great Crested Grebe amongst the mass. Off in the distance were a number of what looked like rafts, each with numerous Cormorants sitting there or in the water nearby - the greatest number of these I've ever seen, only having found the odd one or two in one place before. Having had a look for anything unusual and deciding that was pretty much impossible to do with my binoculars anyway, we moved on through the woods and stopped at a pool to photograph Ruddy Darter dragonflies and Gatekeeper butterflies, then found Migrant Hawkers and Brown Hawkers patrolling over the water, a pair of Common Blue damselflies mating on a reed leaf near the water.

Moving on along the track we found more Gatekeepers, Speckled Woods and Large White butterflies and on a bramble a Migrant Hawker dragonfly hanging, perfectly posing for some photographs, which we took full advantage of! A little way on there was another, hanging from a branch this time, just as beautifully posed as the last. We moved on, following the track past what looked like a badger sett, across a meadow and into another wood where we stopped while my friend searched for a geocache, not finding it unfortunately... but finding a wood ant nest instead!

On through the woods and now heading westwards back towards the visitor centre along a footpath next to Hawkswood Road, past grassy meadows and stands of tall ragworts and daisies. Near the edge of the car park we found more Ruddy Darters and Speckled Woods at the shaded meadow edge and after watching those for a minute or so we headed into the visitor centre, looked around at the books and other things for sale and then went back to the car and drove back to Chelmsford.

Migrant Hawker on bramble