Minster Marshes

Early this morning, I took a very leisurely stroll around the marsh between Minster SF and the railway line following the footpath besides the River Stour. Certainly not the most prolific of outings, yet there was still plenty of interest as I meandered along the route. Birds, for the most part, were conspicuous by their absence but there was still a few bits to point the binos/camera at. A Little Owl was perched on the gate post of the pumping station, but flew off into the SF before I could raise the camera. Two Cattle Egrets were feeding amongst the cows over on the Ash Levels, where two Common Buzzards were perched on telegraph poles. It was a couple of Little Egrets, on my side of the river, that allowed me to play around with long lens with some rather pleasing results.

This combination wasn't quite so well suited when I started to get images of some of the invertebrates which I encountered on my wanderings. Very much a case of "horses for courses", so I am still happy enough to use them for blogging purposes. A dedicated macro set-up would obviously capture far superior images.

The first subject was a nice surprise, in the form of a Mother Shipton (moth) which I disturbed from the long grass beside the footpath. After this encounter I actually started to seek other insects and an assortment of damselflies provided the subjects for me to point the lens at.

(Not a) Common Blue Damselfly - female
Please see Marc Heath's comment for an explanation of the id errors.

Banded Demoiselle - male 

Banded Demoiselle - female 

Azure Damselfly - male

I think that my id's are correct but, will happily be corrected by those with better knowledge about such creatures. Half term next week, so I won't be casting a bait into Sandwich Coarse Fishery because of the number of other folk who will be on the bank. A trip down to the RMC might be possible, but I will have to wait and see.