On The Fly

 

Another recent trip to the Whisby nature reserve near Lincoln.  We had gone with the intention to explore part of the reserve that  had previously been inaccessible on previous visits due to the construction of a foot bridge over a railway line (we did get to explore it, and were rewarded with plenty of midge bites for the effort).

I can't remember seeing Damselflies before.  They are smaller than Dragonflies, and are capable of folding their wings long the length of their bodies but share the almost iridescent markings.  Whisby was teeming with them.  The air and  water's edge were filed with breeding pairs. We must have seen hundreds of them.

Water Bed

Last weekend, our friend Ian stayed for a few days.  Ian is a great amateur photographer and he was one of the voices that persuaded me to start this blog.  He lives in northern Spain with his partner and his blog, Tales from Toriello is a great read. 

We opted to pay a visit to Whisby Nature Reserve as Ian had never been there before.  I managed to snap these photos in a quiet corner of one of the lakes.  What surprised me was how the swans pretty much ignored us and settled down despite the racket from the various gulls close by.

Over the Border

 Living in the north of Nottinghamshire, geographically we sit on the edge of neighbouring counties.  Ten minutes drive and we're in South Yorkshire or Lincolnshire.  Lincoln is actually the closest city to us.

Our retired neighbour, Bill pointed us in the direction of Whisby Nature Reserve in Lincolnshire, so a few weeks ago we decided to hop over the border and pay a visit.

We were surprised by how large the reserve was, with several large lakes on the site.  A large part of the reserve was closed when we visited, as a bridge that was being built over a train line was not quite finished.  It is hoped that it will be open at the end of February.

There are numerous hides where you can watch what is going on out on the water and a rather impressive centre which includes a shop and large cafe.  I also took a few photos of the bird feeders that they had set up from a nearby viewing point.  I thought that our own garden feeders had a lot of Grey and Blue Tits using it.  At Whisby there seemed to be dozens of them.

We're looking forward to exploring more of this reserve in the coming weeks.  When we visited it was cold, dull and very overcast and I'm looking forward to seeing what else this great reserve has to offer.