Dragonflies 2018 (1 Viewer)

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

Well we've reached that time of the season when I've seen all or at least most of the species that occur in the county this year. The Willow Emeralds have yet to show at their only known site and I've yet to manage to find any more at other sites despite lots of checking.

A cold and rather damp Spring seemed to delay the emergence of the early species while the very hot spell later in the Summer appeared to affect the numbers of the larger species in particular. My personal favourite moment of 2018 was finding a small colony of Variable Damselflies at Weldon which to my knowledge is the only one in the modern county of Northamptonshire although there is a colony in the Soke at Maxey. A second high point was catching up with Downy Emeralds at their only known site at Yardley.

One little disappointment was dipping out on a Lesser Emperor that was seen and photographed at Stanwick lakes though it was a very good record whether I saw it or not.

Hopefully I'll catch up with those Willow Emeralds but in the mean time here's the first dates and list of species in order of appearance.

1/ Large Red Damselfly. 22nd of April. Priors Hall

2/ Banded Demoiselle. 9th of May. Weldon.

3/ Azure Damselfly. 9th of May. Weldon.

4/ Variable Damselfly. 9th of May. Weldon.

5/ Red-eyed Damselfly. 11th of May. Weldon.

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

Continuing with the list.

6/ Blue-tailed Damselfly. 11th of May. Weldon.

7/ Four-spotted Chaser. 13th of May. Priors Hall.

8/ Hairy Dragonfly. 13th of May. Priors Hall.

9/ Common Blue Damselfly. 17th of May. Weldon.

10/ Scarce Chaser. 19th of May. Oundle.

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

A third instalment.

11/ Broad-bodied Chaser. 20th of May. Priors Hall.

12/ White-legged Damselfly. 1st of June. Weldon.

13/ Emperor. 1st of June. Weldon.

14/ Black-tailed Skimmer. 6th of June. Oundle.

15/ Common Darter. 10th of June. Priors Hall.

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

We're slowly getting there.

16/ Downy Emerald. 16th of June. Yardley.

17/ Southern Hawker. 16th of June. Yardley.

18/ Beautiful Demoiselle. 16th of June. Hanging Houghton.

19/ Small Red-eyed Damselfly. 25th of June. Weldon.

20/ Brown Hawker. 25th of June. Weldon.

coaltit · Aug 17, 2018

Nice Selection there string boozel do you see any of the hawkers?

You just beat me to it, I had a brown hawker come in my conservatory in the heat of july on video and photo not one I,m a custom to.

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

Last lot.

21/ Ruddy Darter. 1st of July. Priors Hall.

22/ Emerald Damselfly. 22nd of July. Priors Hall.

23/ Migrant Hawker. 5th of August. Stanwick Lakes.

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

Now having hung around this long I think that you're entitled to a bit of a bonus. 2018 saw me going further afield in my search for dragons and damsels and I was lucky enough to catch up with some great species. Five of the highlights are pictured here. They are Southern Emerald, White-faced Darter, Club-tailed Dragonfly, Small Red Damselfly and Scarce Emerald.

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

Hi Coal Tit I did manage to catch up with our local hawkers but it seems as if numbers are down a little bit this year.

James.

coaltit · Aug 17, 2018

I see you love your dragonflies string boozel.

coaltit · Aug 17, 2018

I always think of them as coloured jewels if the light catches them right.. you,ve spent many hours getting those pictures it is time absorbing but if you,ve got the time nature can be a wonderful hobby.

string boozel · Aug 17, 2018

They really are appealing creatures to watch but I also like birds ( of course) and butterflies but then I was always told that I went around with my head in the clouds!

James.

string boozel · Sep 16, 2018

Well after three visits I finally managed to catch up with a Willow Emerald at Finedon where they've been showing since August. To make it a winning double I saw another at the new site of Priors Hall where it had been discovered today by a local nature spotter. This doubles the number of sites where Willow Emeralds have been seen in the county.

24/ Willow Emerald. 16th of September, Finedon.

string boozel · Oct 9, 2018

Things are moving on with regards to Willow Emeralds with two more sites being discovered. Our county recorder, Mark Tyrrell found one at Fermyn CP recently and also some scars left over from breeding activity, another observer saw it or another individual at the pond nearest to the visitor's centre. Yesterday (8th) I found a male at Barnwell CP which was seen from the open fronted hide which is fairly close to the Kingfisher Hide, this area does look promising. So a total of four sites but all except Finedon having tiny populations, next year will hopefully see an increase in n umbers. Duff record shot of the Barnwell example included here.

James.

string boozel · Dec 11, 2018

A final word on the 2018 season which has continued on until the 9th of December when I found a male Common Darter at Priors Hall. This is apparently the first December record for this species in Northants.

James.

Dragonflies 2018 (1 Viewer)

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