Dragons, Tigers and a Face Plant at WWT Slimbridge

 

A Migrant Hawker darts across the pond.

There are some visits to WWT Slimbridge when the birds inevitably take centre stage. On Saturday, however, despite some excellent birds being on show, it was the insects that really captured my attention.

I was visiting with my good friend Paul Joy and, with summer in full swing, the reserve seemed alive with insects. Migrant Hawker dragonflies patrolled the pools and pathways, Willow Emerald and Blue-tailed Damselflies added flashes of colour amongst the vegetation, while the Buddleias were proving irresistible to butterflies and moths.

Painted Lady Butterfly

Jersey Hawk Moth

Painted Ladies, Commas and Red Admirals were all taking advantage of the flowers, but amongst them were two particularly spectacular moths, Jersey Tigers and Hummingbird Hawkmoths.

Hummingbird Hawkmoths really are amazing insects.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Watching one hovering in front of a flower, its wings little more than a blur as that extraordinarily long proboscis reaches into the flower for nectar, it is easy to understand how they acquired their name. They are also one of those subjects that can quickly turn a photographer into somebody completely oblivious to everything else happening around them.

But it was a Migrant Hawker that provided my photographic highlight of the day.

The Hovering Hawker

At the Robbie Garnett Hide, a Migrant Hawker began hovering in front of us.

For a wildlife photographer, this is simultaneously a wonderful opportunity and a considerable challenge.

Dragonflies are extraordinarily accomplished aerial hunters. They accelerate, stop, change direction and hover with a precision that makes keeping an autofocus point on them extremely difficult. Just as you think you have locked focus, the dragonfly shoots sideways and you are left photographing a beautifully sharp patch of empty air.

This particular Migrant Hawker gave me several opportunities.

I managed a few photographs that I was very pleased with, but one image stood out, the dragonfly hovering almost directly head-on in front of me.

Migrant Hawker hovering in front of me.

For a brief moment everything came together.

The focus locked, the dragonfly remained in position and I pressed the shutter.

Those are the little moments that make wildlife photography so addictive.

There was another reason why photographing dragonflies in flight felt particularly special.

It took me back more than 35 years.

Back to My Biology Degree

My Biology degree thesis focused on the mechanical design of insect wings.

As part of that work I used slow-motion video to study and record the movement of insect wings during flight. This was long before the extraordinary high-speed video and digital camera technology we take for granted today.

Migrant Hawker fly-past.

Standing at Slimbridge more than three decades later, camera in hand and trying to photograph a Migrant Hawker suspended in the air in front of me, suddenly brought those memories flooding back.

There is something remarkable about insect flight.

A dragonfly has four wings that can be controlled with a considerable degree of independence. The result is an aerial machine capable of manoeuvres that would make most aircraft designers envious.

Hovering, rapid acceleration, abrupt changes of direction and even backwards flight are all part of their repertoire.

Thirty-five years ago I was studying the mechanics behind those wings.

Super close up. This is not a crop.

On Saturday I was simply trying to photograph them!

Perhaps that explains why I enjoyed the insect photography so much. It was a complete change of scale from much of my normal wildlife photography, but it also reconnected me with a subject that fascinated me many years ago.

And the colours were incredible.

A Spotted Redshank was in with the wader flock.

There Were Birds Too…

Of course, this was Slimbridge, so it wasn't entirely about insects.

From the Rushy Hide we watched a pair of Garganey, Britain's only regular summer-visiting duck. They are always a special bird to see and were accompanied by an excellent selection of waders.

One of the two Garganeys that were present.

A Spotted Redshank was amongst Ruff and Redshank, providing another highlight.

Common Tern.

Two Common Terns also caught my attention and later in the visit I was fortunate enough to get some pleasing photographs of them in flight. After attempting to track dragonflies through the camera, a Common Tern suddenly seemed positively enormous!

Over on the South Lake there was a Cattle Egret, another species that would once have generated considerable excitement in Britain but is becoming an increasingly familiar sight.

The Robbie Garnett Hide also produced excellent views of several Green Sandpipers, while flashes of yellow revealed Yellow Wagtails moving around the reserve.

Green Sandpiper

It was turning into another very productive Slimbridge visit.

There was, however, one species proving particularly difficult to locate.

Paul Joy.

The Disappearing Paul Joy

Paul went missing.

Again.

Anyone who has followed some of our previous adventures will probably not be surprised by this development.

At various points during the visit Paul appeared to perfect the art of disappearing completely. Eventually, when I decided to walk deeper into the reserve, he abandoned me altogether.

This was shortly before events took an unfortunate turn.

I popped into the aviary enclosure and became rather distracted by a pair of Spoonbills.

Giving me a sideways look as lay face down in the sand.

Now, Spoonbills are impressive birds and clearly deserving of one's full attention.

Unfortunately, the small border rope immediately in front of me was also deserving of some attention.

I didn't give it any.

I tripped.

What followed was probably considerably less elegant than the flight of the Migrant Hawker I had been photographing earlier.

I went down and face-planted into the sandy artificial shoreline.

Camera and photographer arrived more or less simultaneously.

Somewhere during the descent I managed to hit my head against the back of the camera, and when I eventually gathered myself together I discovered a bruised thigh and a bump on my head.

I looked around hopefully for assistance.

Nobody came running.

After extracting myself from the sand, recovering what remained of my dignity and checking that the camera had survived, I continued the visit.

I suspect the Spoonbills were unimpressed.

A Change of Scale

Despite my unexpected encounter with the Slimbridge shoreline, it had been another superb visit.

What I particularly enjoyed was spending so much time photographing insects.

Wildlife photography often encourages us to look towards the obvious subjects — birds, mammals and the larger creatures that immediately attract our attention. But change the scale and an entirely different world appears.

Dragonflies hovering over water.

Damselflies delicately resting amongst vegetation.

Willow Emerald Damselfly

Painted Ladies, Commas and Red Admirals feeding on Buddleia.

The extraordinary colours of a Jersey Tiger.

And a Hummingbird Hawkmoth hanging almost impossibly in the air as it feeds.

These smaller creatures are every bit as fascinating and often every bit as challenging to photograph.

Perhaps more so.

My photograph of the Migrant Hawker hovering head-on will certainly be one of the images I remember from the visit. Not simply because it was difficult to capture, but because for a fraction of a second, looking through the viewfinder at those beating wings, I was transported back more than three decades to a Biology student studying the mechanical design of insect flight.

Thirty-five years later, the fascination is still there.

Only the camera technology has changed.

Well, that and apparently my ability to step over a piece of rope.

Another super day at WWT Slimbridge, dragons, tigers, hawkmoths, some excellent birds, a disappearing Paul Joy and one slightly battered photographer.