UnidentifiedFish

More fish from the River Lea at Stanborough Park, Welwyn. I'm not great at identifying fish (you seldom see them clearly anyway unless you're an angler) but I reckon these are Dace. Quite slim and sleek, with a large eye compared to the Barbel in my previous post from the same spot, though not quite as big. here's another shot with one of each (I think) Barbel above, Dace below – each perhaps 25cm long. Or maybe I've got three species here in total?

Update: having found a good book on dish with photos, they could easily be Chub instead of Dace.

 

BarbelAndDace

 

BarbelInRiverLea

At Stanborough Park in Welwyn Garden City the River Lea runs fast, shallow and clear over a gravel base – and it looks absolutely gorgeous at the moment. You can stand on a bridge in the park and look at shoals of fish below you through the glassy waters. Pictured above is one of the larger specimens – about a foot long – which I think is a Barbel, as evidenced by the overall shape and colouring but particularly the barbels by the mouth. The clue's in the name!

DragonflyNymph

It's hard to tell, but I think what you see above is a Dragonfly nymph, fresh from a marshy backwater. It's covered in a fuzz of algae, presumably because it spends most of its time just sat there waiting for prey to happen by. It probably works as good camouflage.

Fish

I assume that these are the ubiquitous Three-spined stickleback. I was just pleased to get a sharp photo of them in the water, as this usually proves to be exceptionally difficult for some reason.

Dragonfly

A nice angle on a dragonfly resting – but what kind of dragonfly? With reference to a couple of internet sources, my best attempts is a fresh female Black-tailed skimmer or possibly a female Scarce chaser (but they're not known in Hertfordshire it seems, so that's very unlikely). Are there any dragonfly experts out there that would care to help in identifying this example? I appreciate that this angle makes it a bit tough as it doesn't give a good look at the markings of the back or the wings.

BandedDemoiselleFemale

I'm familiar with the classic Banded demoiselle damselfly, that does exactly what it says on the tin – i.e. it's banded, with massive dark blotches on the wings and electric blue body. It really catches the eye. The one above is a female however (I believe) and looks rather different. It's quite striking in its own way however and dare I say I was surprised when I looked it up to find that there is such a thing as an Emerald damselfly but that this isn't it. How much more emerald can you get?

There were the more obvious males around too, which I think helps confirm my identification. Unfortunately they wouldn't pose as nicely for me, but I think this is quite an arty and unusual shot and you can still just about see the dark patches on the wings…

BandedDemoiselleMale

Damselfly

I spotted this damselfly resting on a tulip stalk today, perhaps associated with the neighbour's pond. Not being familiar with the varieties on offer, it took a little while to identify, but I think that it is a female Common blue damselfly, based on this description, the most important excerpt being: "the female is blue, brown or olive-green with extensive black markings including a Christmas tree or double arrowhead on the eighth segment." I'd say this is olive-green/brown with a Christmas tree marking matching the diagram on that reference page. They're also common as muck and about at this time of year, which makes it pretty likely.

The BBC has an article and video report on how the reintroduced Beavers in Scotland have been getting on. The answer seems to be basically fine – they're building dams to create small lakes and then lodges in the lakes as you'd expect a beaver to do. They're eating a lot of vegetation and cutting down trees, but it's hoped that this will find a natural balance and be just a form of forest management.

DrinkingDuck

CompositeDuck

What's going on here exactly?