…..For one of natures gems to come along, and then 3 come in the space of an hour!

First there was the broad bodied chaser dragonfly.  This is a jumbo of a dragonfly that sits around a lot and then shoots off in a straight line to defend its territory –

Then there was my first sighting of an orchid this year on the Moors.  Never quite sure what they all are as they inter-breed quite a bit but I think there is a lot of Marsh Orchid in this one.  These are near similar ones that are cut down every year on Fox Lane!

The treat of the day was seeing this little creature for the first time this year –

The Moors have a good water vole population which is spread across the area.  Their success is mainly due to the fact that mink have not penetrated this far as they decimate communities in more accessible areas.  Mink are of course not native to the UK and have bred rapidly where they have escaped from mink farms.

One of the tell tale signs that water voles are about is the ‘lawn’ where they have grazed on short grasses. They are completely vegetarian and do no harm whatsoever to man or wildlife.