Dragonflies Can Wave!

Did you know that dragonflies can wave?

During our visit to Dinton Pastures in Hurst some weeks ago, I took this video of a dragonfly sat in the sun.

Look closely, you can see it waving!

Autumn Daytrips from Windsor

I haven’t updated my blog for quite a while now – almost a month in fact! It’s not that Yayoi and I haven’t been taking daytrips away from Windsor and doing lots of stuff, but just that I have had no time to write it all up - work has also been quite busy…

So, what have we been up to?

We’ve been to Dinton Pastures in Hurst, near Reading. Dinton Pastures is a country park / wildlife reserve with a number of lakes and walking routes to enjoy the scenery. It was very relaxing walking by the side of the lakes and through the woods, even though you do hear the buzz of the M4 the whole time. I even managed to get a good photo of a dragonfly in the sunshine, which I think is a Common Hawker.

We’ve taken quite a number of walks around Windsor Great Park at weekends and evenings. One time we actually saw a woodpecker. The photo below is of the woodpecker – if only I had a better camera…

Two weeks ago, we went up to the Cotswolds. We climbed Cleeve Hill, near Tewkesbury. Cleeve Hill is the highest point in the Cotswolds at 330 metres high, giving views of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and even across into Wales. What Yayoi and I didn’t realise is that there is a golf course right through the middle of Cleeve Hill!

We then headed over to Broadway, which is a very quiet little village with some very beautiful houses – including a Xmas Shop, which was very colourful.

On the way to Broadway, we stopped off at Hailes Abbey. Hailes Abbey was built in 1246 and is managed by English Heritage. The lady at the entrance to the Abbey was extremely rude and quite curt as we wandered up and started to look around while contemplating going in. As a result, we did not go in, she lost out on our custom, and English Heritage lost out on a no-doubt valuable £7. We went into the fields next door, down the public footpath at the side, and took some photos over the fence.

We popped in on Stow-on-the-Wold on the way home, which is a quaint little market town. It even has some old stocks left in the middle of the square! We just wandered around the shops and the town before heading back to Windsor.

Yayoi and I both like the Cotswolds and we hope to take a week’s holiday in a cottage there at some point in the future – that being said, we’ve seen quite a lot of it already on our daytrips from Windsor!

London 2012 Olympics Rowing

A little trip out last Sunday saw Yayoi and I walking round Dorney Lake, just down the road from Windsor, next door to Eton.

Dorney Lake will be the location for all the rowing events and sprint canoeing during the 2012 London Olympics and is owned by Eton College.

I’ve never been to Dorney Lake before, and there is not much to see apart from the rowing lake and an arboretum, but it’s a nice place for a little walk and a good place for jogging and cycling. There is also a nature sanctuary, and you can walk down the Thames Path next to the River Thames to either Boveney Lock or Maidenhead. Dorney Lake is on the opposite side of the river to Bray Marina, which is where we used to moor our boat!

There were a lot of dragonflies and damselfiles around on Sunday. I managed to grab this photo of a dragonfly hovering by the reeds right near the rowing lake. It’s not particularly good, as my camera is only a little Nikon, but it’s good enough!

Late Summer Walk in Burnham Beeches

Yayoi and I went for a walk in Burnham Beeches, a short drive from Windsor, on Sunday.

It was a lovely day to walk through the woods, breathe in the fresh air, and enjoy the wildlife. There were still a few butterflies around, and we managed to get a photo of a Comma eating a blackberry.

Burnham Beeches includes some ponds and quite a bit of marshland, so there were also a number of dragonflies flitting around. There were a few Ruddy Darter dragonflies - one actually landed on Yayoi’s shoe, which was quite amusing! 

I also got a photo of another dragonfly which I have been unable to identify – if anyone can help, please shout!

We’re planning to go back to Burnham Beeches in the depth of Autumn to see the different colours of the trees, and also in Winter if it snows!

Picnic in Wraysbury, near Windsor

Yayoi and I spent a lovely day on Saturday walking around Sunnymeads and Wraysbury, just down the road from Windsor, checking out what nature has to offer.

After a short walk around Sunnymeads, we had a lovely picnic lunch on the banks of a lake in Wraysbury. There was a huge amount of bright blue damselflies everywhere. Back at home we checked out the British Dragonfly Society website to see what kind of damselfly we had been watching – as far as we can gather, it was the Common Blue Damselfly.

It was a great day for wildlife spotting. I also managed to get a photo of a butterfly that I had not seen before – a Speckled Wood. Apparently, it’s now the main flying season for the Speckled Wood.

I also got this photo of a cricket, which we think is a Dark Bush Cricket.