Swift Half update - 30th April 2011

• Because of all the swift activity at Swift Half, I've not posted on other shenanigans round 'ere for a while - so this might make up for that.

• All the marsh marigold flowers in the pond have dropped off now (apart from one!) Far from being a riot of yellow a week ago, its now just a riot of green leaves.
• None of my pupae have "eclosed" yet - none of the moffs at all.
• None of the BBC larvae have left the pond and transformed into beautiful adults yet.
• Stiff northeast wind continues, but still NO rain - warm sunshine instead!
• The palmate newts in the pond are still incredibly high in number - lots of males, quite a few much larger females and young of all sizes. I wouldn't be surprised if we have fifty palmate newts in the pond - possible more.
• My favourite wasp of all (the "ruby (or jewel) -tailed wasp" posed beautifully for me on the kitchen wall yesterday - and I got a shot or two (please click photo above twice to enlarge). I rarely see these stunning, tiny insects at all -  and when I do, they invariably are always on the move, so incredibly difficult to take a photo of - so I'm very happy indeed that one stopped long enough for a wee photo session!
• EDIT at 1820hrs - Our Broad bodied chaser dragonfly nymph (that I've been feeding very special food to for the last week....) has today become an adult! Photos on my images site, here!