This video from Britain is called Damselflies gathering after mating.
Today, the three juveniles in the white stork nest. Their parents are standing below the nest, on the meadow. One of them takes off for a half circle flight around the nest, finally landing there.
A song thrush behind a house opposite the nature reserve.
From treetop nests, sounds of young grey herons.
At the small pond, a male black-tailed skimmer dragonfly.
In ancient Egypt, various animals played a role in people’s lives, including in religion.
Just after leaving for the museum, I see a non mummified, still very much alive animal: a holly blue butterfly.
The museum has not only the animal mummy special exhibition, but also animals depicted in paint, sculpture, amulets, etc. in its permanent collection. I decide to look at these today and to come back for the mummy exhibition on some later day.
The first room in the permanent Egyptian exhibition is about prehistoric and early dynastic times.
One of the objects there is a Neolithic pot, with ostriches painted on it. That is special, according to the museum, as ostriches disappeared from Egypt about 5,000 years ago.
Also from Old Kingdom times, a coiled snake, as a board for the mehen game.
After the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, the Asian Hyksos invaders ruled Egypt. From their epoch, fish-shaped and goose-shaped vases.
The Hyksos brought horses to Egypt for the first time. These were depicted in the tomb for General Horemheb. The Egyptian sculptors still were not really used to depicting these new animals then.
From the times of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, animal pictures from the tomb of Paatenemheb.
June 2008. A rare dragonfly has moved into the turning ponds at the Caen Hill locks on the Kennet and Avon canal in Devizes. It is the first time that the scarce chaser dragonfly (Libellula fulva) a British Red Data Book species, has been recorded at this spot.
According to Steve Covey, the County Recorder for dragonflies and damselflies, it is likely that climate change is behind its appearance, because as temperatures warm up dragonflies are using habitats they previously considered to be unsuitable.
“A well-used canal like the Kennet and Avon makes good hunting but poor breeding grounds for dragonflies because there is so much turbulence. But at Caen Hill I found young newly emerged scarce chasers, which indicates they are actually breeding there. The ponds provide a suitable habitat for them as they receive flowing water but are much quieter than the main stretch.” …
The Cotswold Water Park (CWP) in the north of the county is also creating its own Atlas and results from both will feed into a five-year programme run by the British Dragonfly Society to map dragonfly distribution around the UK. …
In 2006 both he and Steve recorded a new species for the CWP and for Wiltshire, the lesser emperor, which comes from the Continent, and in 2007 were able to confirm that it was actually breeding on one of the lakes. “We are finding that some species are responding to climate change by becoming less fussy about where they live,” says Gareth.
Today, to the white stork nest near the nature reserve. On the nest, one adult and one black-billed juvenile standing; two juveniles sitting. On the meadow below, a grey heron.
At the small pond in the reserve, I meet a dragonfly photographer. A female black-tailed skimmer and a Norfolk hawker fly past.
We talk about green woodpeckers, said to have two nesting couples in this reserve this year. A bit further along the path, a robin; then, a song thrush.
In the castle pond, most damselflies may look like blue-tailed damselflies; however, not all of them are. The ones with red eyes which like to sit on water lily leaves, are red-eyed damselflies. The blue-eyed ones which prefer to sit on bank plants are blue-tailed damselflies.
Norfolk hawkers fly around; sometimes quarreling about territory; offering many photo opportunities.
From a branch hanging over the water, a spotted flycatcher hunts for insects. I had not seen this species here for years.
Two adult coots with still very young chicks.
On pebbles near a bench, a male black-tailed skimmer sits down. In the meadow, a northern lapwing and a black-tailed godwit. Later, an Egyptian goose flying. Still later, a black-tailed godwit, standing on a pole.
Those of you who took high school biology may remember the lancelet, also known as the amphioxus. Its simplified body plan is notable for containing a number of features that it shares in common with us vertebrates, such as a dorsal neural tube, presence of a notochord, segmented body muscles, and tail. That combination of simplicity and shared features has suggested to many that the amphioxus might shed light on the origin of the chordates. That suggestion has been dramatically confirmed by the completion of the genome of the Florida lancelet, Branchiostoma floridae, published today in Nature, with three accompanying publications that will appear later in Genome Research.
This is a video of two black-necked grebes in the Netherlands.
Within Meijendel nature reserve, there is a specially protected area called Kikkervalleien. It is open the public only for one day a year, usually in June. This year, that one day was today.
Before arriving there: two adult black swans with young, near the Valkenburgse meer.
Immediately after the Kikkervalleien entrance: two black-necked grebes swimming.
On ragwort plants, black and yellow striped caterpillars. They are caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth.
A lady working for the nature reserve shows us a very young natterjack toad, which was a tadpole not long ago. Also many still very small common frogs. Later, also an adult common toad there. There are also invertebrates in the water here, including great pond snails.
On the water’s edge of a small shallow dune lake, many very small common frogs. Swimming in the water: their brothers and sisters, still in the tadpole phase.
June 2008 - Philippines. A fresh batch of 40 True Giant Clams (Tridacna gigas) have just completed the journey from rearing laboratories in Bolinao to their new homes on Santelmo Reef.
Santelmo Reef is the Hamilo Coast’s prized snorkelling site. An area once blasted by dynamite fishers, it has, with help from WWF -been regenerating for several years. Here new corals sprout alongside giant Porites boulders encrusted with legions of Christmas tree worms.
This video from Germany is called White Stork family: 03-06-2007, nest Bornheim 1.
On my way to the nature reserve today, a singing reed warbler.
At the white stork nest, three juveniles: one standing, two sitting. The parents are below the nest, looking for food on the meadow. Also an oystercatcher is there.
At the castle pond, blue tailed damselflies on water lily leaves.
At the eastern meadow: barn swallows and a grey heron flying. On the ground, oystercatchers and a wood pigeon.
Along the path to the west of the castle pond, it is a good year for orange hawkweed. Over a hundred of them are flowering. A male black-tailed skimmer dragonfly sitting down on the path.
Right now, there is an open air exhibition of work by Zimbabwean sculptor 
