Fishing lakes at Shorne !

Shorne Woods Country Park has always held many happy memories for me, when my children were young they were encouraged to participate in the Nature club and there summer " Action Dragonfly " events, all to no avail it seems, as they have little or no interest in nature now, but good fun at the time. the country park was still in its infancy then, twenty years later, their have been many changes, the park has grown in acreage, a massive car park with the now obligatory parking charges,
a state of the art cafeteria, albeit very ECO friendly, a trim trail,  a children's playground, Orienting trail, and some nice natural sculptures scattered around the park.

A lot more people using the open spaces.

I have seen many photographs of this sculpture, now I know where it resides.

The two fishing lakes remain much as they always were, surrounded by woodland relatively quiet and serene. Water Lilies have always been spectacular, and the dragonflies and damselflies always around in good numbers. with up to nineteen species being reported.

On a warm sunny afternoon, my new grandson was introduced to the world of nature like his mother before him.

He was more interested in the children's play area, but I have high hopes that an interest in wildlife and natural surroundings will develop.

I took the opportunity to reacquaint myself with a walk around the fishing lakes, I was not disappointed. managed to get some photographs, although all hand held shots.

There were several Emperors patrolling up and down the lakes, I particularly liked this shot of a female Emperor dragonfly ovipositing in a mat of weeds with a tiny Azure Damselfly looking on, and then cheekily landing on the female Emperor. shows off the size difference perfectly.

Female Emperor Dragonfly  & Azure Damselfly

 Many of the Lily pads near the edge of the lake had  Red-Eyed Damselflys and the chance to photograph another damselfly although not as scarce as the Small Red-Eyed Damselfly. nice to see in such high numbers.

Red - Eyed Damselfly

Red-Eyed Damselfly tandem

Azure Damselfly tandem.

Red-Eyed Damselfly

 I had noted the presence of a Few Common Spotted Orchids which I was going to photograph later when I came across the first of two Bee Orchids, been a long time since seeing my last Bee orchid.

Common Spotted Orchid.

Bee Orchid No1

Bee Orchid no 2

All around the lakes Black Tailed Skimmers were staking out the territories, they seem to like sitting on a sunny bank on the edge of the lake waiting for a female to appear, males easily outnumbering females or maybe they were just lying low.

Black-Tailed Skimmer

Another strange looking Common Spotted Orchid on the edge of the lake.

Another Damselfly which I do not see a lot of was this Large Red Damselfly, at least three  individuals seen here.

Large Red Damselfly

Plenty of waterside plants  to admire, including these lovely yellow flag Iris.

My final Dragonfly of the afternoon was this Four-Spotted Chaser, these were always on the move, just managed to get this record shot

Four-Spotted Chaser

All in all, a memorable stroll around the lakes, three species of Damselfly, three species of Dragonfly,

a couple of Orchids, I must go back for another look later in the month.

Finally another Orchid found just outside the country park during my dog walking duties, at least eleven spikes of the Pyramidal Orchid growing on waste ground, seems appropriate to display them here.

Pyramidal Orchid