No 82

Post no 82. Sorry about that but I was looking at my stats and saw this was post number 82 and felt it deserved some recognition. I have carried on and am still here sporadically at the moment but it is still going which is an achievement in itself for me.

What do I have to get you to look at today. Well spring is drawing on apace and I have seen my first ducklings and swifts in the last few weeks. I know summer is not that far away. The swifts have to be honest to fast and elusive to take any sort of pictures of. One day when I have time and the right place I will do the swift thing. I tried once a long time ago when I first got a camera and spent an hour or so at Chasewater one early June evening. I got lots of pictures of sky and small blurred shapes on the prints that came back a week or so later.

So back to ducklings, This is the first duckling (mallard) I saw earlier this month on the River Severn on my daily lunch time meander along the River Severn in Shrewsbury and has been followed by several more sightings in the general area of the English Bridge. This has included a continuation of the theme of the winter and early spring with the sighting of Goosander brood on their way downstream. this was probably the best picture of I got of any of them as they paddled furiously towards the far bank.

This year has been the first I have seen May fly in any great numbers , I suppose mainly because I have never really spent any sort of time by water at this time of year. Walking on the bank over the last few days has given me a chance to at least catch a sight of them alive rather than on a pin board where I have seen them before.

I saw this one late last week, I assume not long after it emerged. Species... well I am just not well up on my ephemenopteans these days. Never was really.

Today most of the mayfly were on the water again but this time they were struggling, trapped in the surface layer they could not escape. Rather their vibrations of their struggles sent out ripples. I managed to catch the patterns as this individual came to the end of its final day (s).

So that is me for moment. next week end we are going to Scotland and I might get to take some pictures of Stranraer and its surrounds as we explore S W Scotland.

Any way more later. Goodnight