Martyn Pitt

A couple of Southern Hawkers The more colourful male The less brightly coloured female

A female Banded Demoiselle from this morning Nearly the perfect flight shot

I put everything down to old age now Dave ... simpler and less complicated

His instructions on how to set up Nikon off camera flash are the only ones I have ever read that A - make sense, and B - actually work Irrelevant footnote ... his daughter was born on my 50th birthday

I thought I had found a new species of butterfly, until I realised it was just an extremely faded and beat up Ringlet

Been a while since I did a niter .... a few years now .... anyway I can't remember them after I have had a nap

Russell a useful source of info on Nikon cameras is Ken Rockwell LINK He can be a bit fickle, and is not universally liked, however his guides to setting up the various Nikon cameras are written in plain English and tend to be easier to follow than the Nikon manuals. Just ignore his love of the 'Vivid' picture settings, especially for wildlife stuff.

There are only around 40 species that breed in the UK, and a few of those are only found in a few isolated areas, so it is not too difficult to remember them.

It looks like a female Broad Bodied Chaser ... lovely pose for you

I have a right game getting any images of Brown Hawkers at Belvide, when they are not flying around they are bloody good at hiding. I saw this one disappear into a patch of Willow Herb, he was deep in the vegetation but I found him and managed to get a couple of shots through a gap in the stems and leaves. Well chuffed ... even if he was trying to kid me he was a Scorpion

If it was smaller than the Moon it could have been Venus

A 4 Spotted Chaser, a Blue Damselfly in flight and an Emperor Dragonfly in flight (never seen one perched ) Right off to pack, away on holiday for a week

I think Dragonflies are great, not sure I would have wished to encounter their prehistoric ancestors with their 3 foot wingspan

Nice one Mike

These are only a few days old, there are ten of them following mum around at the reserve, they have no fear of humans and are seriously cute. They are Red Legged Partridge The wind got a bit chilly so they all got under mum's wing to keep warm, once they were all under I could only see a couple of tiny legs showing.

Sad news indeed, a great loss to his nearest and dearest, and to his many friends on this forum. Condolences to his family ... R.I.P Bob

Managed to catch a glimpse of a Reed Warbler sitting on eggs. What always amazes me is the nest, they weave them around 3 reed stems just using their beaks.

Hi Pete, these as most of my images were taken at Belvide Reservoir, (just north of Wolverhampton), West Midland Bird Club control access.

A swimming Zebra or a baby Great Crested Grebe, we have a few of these youngsters on the reserve,

Their whole body trembles when they sing, great bird to find

Steve Lesser Spotted are the size of a Sparrow

It is common to see the adults and youngsters roosting during the day. Glad you like the pics

Yes we have tickets

Cheaper than going out to get abused ... you at Prestwich Saturday ?

Remember that Tawny Owl chick from the other week, here is another shot of it from Sunday, poor thing got a bit wet in the rain Also caught this Tern having a go at a Hobby