I went hoping to catch sight of dragonflies at Tringford reservoir, but what caught my eye almost as soon as I had parked my car, were tiny orange beetles flying amongst the long grass and wheat. This gave me a further chance to use the image-stabilised 90mm Tamron Macro.
I am aware one should not apply human attributes to other species’ behaviour, but I did notice that on more than one occasion a lone beetle would observe a copulating couple quietly going about their procreation activities, and he would move in closer and investigate said couple by moving his antennae and gently touch the male on its carapace, then move around and investigate from a different angle. I felt this was either voyeurism or educational interest. In one instance the lone beetle flew around to different viewpoints rather than stroll.
As I was observing this activity I also spotted other stirrings and flitterings; a tiny moth, several damselflies, mainly male, and of far greater interest a cricket, which I spotted initially only from the movement of grass blades six or so inches apart. Only when I moved in much closer was I able to spot the reason for the movement – a beautifully still cricket, who so long as I moved smoothly and slowly simply ambled along the stem.
I then spotted a mating pair of damselflies; out of range of the macro lens, but just close enough for the 70-200mm Canon lens to be of use. The remainder of my time was spent on the far bank of Tringford before moving to Marsworth, where the Tern were diving often successfully for small fish, and I was lucky to catch one. I also heard a squawking Mallard behind me and so swung around and panned and somehow the light had dropped way down and so I found that I had taken a few shots at a mere 1/40th of a second, but my panning must have been spot on, because surprisingly I even managed one shot with it obviously mid-squawk!
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