UK dragonflies and damselflies, 2013 (1 Viewer)

[Gareth Stamp]

Scotland Trip

Just returned from a trip to Scotland. Conditions very warm around Aviemore but cooler in the west. Sightings as follows:

Northern damselfly - abundant around Loch Garten pool.
White faced darter - 10 or more on two separate pools around Loch Garten / Tullich area.

At Glen Affric:

Brilliant emerald - one at Coire Loch
Downy emerald - one at Coire Loch and 4 at River Affric
Azure hawker - one at River Affric area.

Golden ringed dragonfly, common darter and common hawker seen at most sites.

At Bridge of Grudie, Loch Maree:

Difficult in cool conditions but eventually an afternoon of sunny spells brought out the dragons.

4 northern emerald - two on each side of road
1 azure hawker (poss 2)
1 white faced darter (fem)
Common hawker - 12 or more
Common darter
Golden ringed dragonfly - 3 or more

Common blue, emerald and large red damselflies present at most sites.

Challenging, especially with the horse flies!

 

[tittletattler]

And now Norfolk Hawkers in Kent, this per UK Dragonflies website http://www.ukdragonflies.com/index.php?topic=2985.0

2+ between 5-6pm this afternoon. Showing very well by the 3rd bridge 20 metres before the T-junction with the river. Loads of Heath Frits nearby too.

Digiscoped.

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[Gareth Stamp]

Kenfig NNR, South Wales

A good 20+ red veined darters along the east pool shore and Kenfig this morning. Also 30+ black tailed skimmer, 6 emperor dragonfly, common darters of note.

 

[Farnboro John]

Some recent pix:

Norfolk Hawker Strumpshaw Fen
Red-veined Darter Southampton Common
Scarce Blue-tail Latchmore Brook

John

 

[JCL]

Some recent pix:

Norfolk Hawker Strumpshaw Fen
Red-veined Darter Southampton Common
Scarce Blue-tail Latchmore Brook

John

Cracking pix, John. Love the in-flight Norfolk Hawker. Andy Swash tells me there's a 3rd edition of the WILDGuides dragonflies book in prep. They might be after such sharp flight shots with decent bokeh.

 

[Swindon Addick]

Birdtrack has a report of scarce emerald damsel from the Swale estuary on 3 July and a couple of reports from Thompson Common on the 8th and 13th. From memory, I think that means all the regular breeding species except migrant hawker have now been seen on the wing this year.

 

[Gashead]

Emperor dragonfly getting mobbed by common blue damselfly.

http://gonepishing.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/emperor-dragonfly.html

 

[Swindon Addick]

The BDS reports page has a report of migrant hawker in Romford on Sunday. That's all the regular UK breeders up & running.

 

[pdwinter]

Southampton Common 22/7

At least 9 Small Red-eyed Damselflies out on the rapidly increasing vegetation on the Boating Lake. Two RVDs were showing well on dried grass stems around the edge as I walked by camera-less.

 

[lewis20126]

The first sunny weekend in Scotland for 25 years had me driving up overnight to be at Bridge of Grudie at dawn on Saturday. The first dragons appeared just prior to 8am. Spent three hours here then spent time at another small site further east. Highlights:

2 male Azure Hawkers - fabulous views of them perched, although skittish when they warmed up
1 female Northern Emerald at BoG (perched) then 2+ males at the second site (but no perched views)
10+ male Common Hawkers - typically flushed from low vegetation but many perched views
lots of Four-spotted Chasers

After a whale watching trip on Sunday am, drove down to Loch Garten:

20+ Scottish Damsels, including some in sunlit grass by the roadside

then onto Uath Lochan late pm:

No Northern Emeralds (I was hoping to find a male perched..), but 1 male Common Hawker and lots of Fous-spotted Chasers.

Monday morning was a trip high in Glen Coe for Mountain Bladder Fern, then back to Hampshire for 11pm.

cheers, alan

 

[Farnboro John]

The first sunny weekend in Scotland for 25 years had me driving up overnight to be at Bridge of Grudie at dawn on Saturday. The first dragons appeared just prior to 8am. Spent three hours here then spent time at another small site further east. Highlights:

2 male Azure Hawkers - fabulous views of them perched, although skittish when they warmed up
1 female Northern Emerald at BoG (perched) then 2+ males at the second site (but no perched views)
10+ male Common Hawkers - typically flushed from low vegetation but many perched views
lots of Four-spotted Chasers

After a whale watching trip on Sunday am, drove down to Loch Garten:

20+ Scottish Damsels, including some in sunlit grass by the roadside

then onto Uath Lochan late pm:

No Northern Emeralds (I was hoping to find a male perched..), but 1 male Common Hawker and lots of Fous-spotted Chasers.

Monday morning was a trip high in Glen Coe for Mountain Bladder Fern, then back to Hampshire for 11pm.

cheers, alan

Thanks Alan,

Any luck on the whale front?

John

 

[JCL]

KENT. Scarce Emerald Damsels out in force at RSPB Cliffe today (prob 80 copulating pairs), but couldn't find any Southern Emerald Damsels. Small Red-eyes out at Shorne Woods country park nearby.

 

[lewis20126]

Thanks Alan,

Any luck on the whale front?

John

c10 Minkes & Harbour Porpoises easy on a mirror like sea; the Minkes had been breaching on Saturday - but not on Sunday

cheers, alan

 

[Heathy]

Any directions please for the Scarce Emeralds at Cliffe please, another species I am yet to see.

Many thanks

 

[Pheeel]

I had a single female Southern emerald damselfly in long grass alongside the track running immediately north from the viewing ramp at Cliffe Marshes this morning (at approx. TQ 721 778). Also 30+ Scarce emeralds in the ditch system to the north of the ramp.

I also had good numbers of both small red-eyed and red-eyed damselflies on the lake at Bluewater, allowing a nice side by side comparison.

Phil

 

[joespy]

Mating Damselflies

Can anyone tell me please...? The 2 pair of mating Damselflies.. are they the same species..?
It's just that the pair at the rear has a browner female than the front pair. Or is there some reason that a male may "grab" another male, because the front pair look almost like 2 males....? I can see the back is darker on the front insect but it's bluer underneath than the rear one....:h?:
Cheers Joe....:t:

 

[SteveClifton]

All look like Common Blues. The lower female is the blue form, and the upper one is the green form. Note the similar black upper abdominal markings.

 

[joespy]

All look like Common Blues. The lower female is the blue form, and the upper one is the green form. Note the similar black upper abdominal markings.

Thanks for that Steve....
Joe :t:

 

[lewis20126]

A couple of photos from the weekend, already uploaded to S*rfbirds.

I was surprised by how extensive the brown upperside to the eyes was on the Northern Emerald female but this does seem variable in the photos I have looked at.

The fern is Mountain Bladder Fern in Glen Coe - a much wanted plant and my last native British Fern.

cheers, alan

 

[pdwinter]

I was surprised by how extensive the brown upperside to the eyes was on the Northern Emerald female but this does seem variable in the photos I have looked at.

Hi Alan

I expect she's a young adult. Both Downy (a teneral female)and Orange-spotted start with brown eyes which mature to green.

The last four pics on http://www.dragonflypix.com/speciespages/somatochlora_arctica.html are of an immature female Northern with brown eyes.

HTH, Paul