Norfolk Dragon/Damselflies reports/news (2 Viewers)

[Bittern2010]

Cow Tower Pond, Norwich

Around 4 Willow Emeralds were showing at Cow Tower Pond yesterday.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Swindon Addick]

Has anyone been to look for the Southern Emeralds at Winterton this year? I'm due for a few days in Norfolk in a couple of weeks and wondered if it would be worth having a look for one of my bogey species...

Ansering my own question, I found a twitter account whose owner posts frequent updates on interesting birds and dragons from Winterton Dunes. He doesn't seem to have mentioned southern emeralds at all this year. That doesn't look promising.

I did go for a look myself yesterday, but the wind was too strong to see anything much so the fact I didn't see any doesn't really count as evidence.
A very good display of migrant hawkers along the edge of the woodland just before the wind picked up, with one brown hawker. Once the wind was blowing, a couple of emperors, a common darter and several ruddy darters at various ponds, plus one (common) emerald damsel and one blue-tail, both of which were clinging to reeds for dear life.

The big story of the day was a mating pair of broad-bodied chasers, with the female then ovipositing despite harassment from an emperor. I was rather surprised, given how late in the season it is for them.

 

[Swindon Addick]

Called in at Strumpshaw Fen in the late afternoon yesterday. Too windy to see much at the ditch in the meadow, which was teeming with common emerald damsels but empty of anything bigger, but reasonable activity at the more sheltered pools. A couple of brown hawkers, one ovipositing, some azure damsels including an ovipositing pair, several ruddy darters, a couple of common darters and a frustratingly brief view of (probably) a southern hawker.

 

[JCL]

Around 4 Willow Emeralds were showing at Cow Tower Pond yesterday.

Cheers

Steve

Couldn't find these yesterday at midday, and even took a while to locate one at Eaton. Pic attached. Hickling Broad (path to Rush Hills from Potter Heigham) was humming with hawkers (migrant & brown), darters (common) and skimmers (black-tailed).

 

[Bittern2010]

Couldn't find these yesterday at midday, and even took a while to locate one at Eaton. Pic attached. Hickling Broad (path to Rush Hills from Potter Heigham) was humming with hawkers (migrant & brown), darters (common) and skimmers (black-tailed).

Hi JCL,

The Willows were showing around the ash tree next to the pond. They would often be perched on the bare branches of the ash tree as well as nearby reeds. They were best viewed from the side or back of the pond near the ash tree.

Cheers

Steve

 

[john miller]

Red-veined Darters can still be seen at Kelling water meadow. Best viewing time seems to be mid morning on hot sunny days. They seem to like the cross track just north of the water meadow, where they land on the track or central grass.
Pic below is of a rather tatty individual that for the last 2 days has been on the track about 30 yds before you get to the cross track.
Plus a couple of pics of a decent looking one taken previously.

John

www.kellingnature.zenfolio.com

 

[JCL]

Vagrant Emperor at Winterton N Dunes, 22 Aug, per BugAlert

 

[Swindon Addick]

Report on the BDS Twitter feed of RVD emerging at Felbrigg yesterday.

 

[HarassedDad]

I had a willow emerald briefly on Thursday in my garden in Lakenham. A rather tatty female perched by the garden pond before she presumably noticed the complete absence of willow and buggered off. We're only about 200m from the river so not exceptional but a nice garden tick.

 

[Nick Robinson]

Thinking this is following the trend but would like thoughts... it's an Lestes emerald... in my garden in West Norwich on Saturday, 12th September, 2015

 

[HarassedDad]

Looks good for Willow Emerald to me. It's a male, no prunescence, light pterostigma outlined in black. The anal claspers ought to be pale, which they don't seem to be in the first photo - but I think that's a trick of the light, as they do look pale in the second.

 

[Nick Robinson]

The light was great for photography until this turned up and it got pretty cloudy pretty quickly. I'm not experienced in Odonata but am I right in thinking the spots on the wings are important as these were almost certainly pale brown with a black border...

Thanks for your help on this one...

 

[HarassedDad]

Yes, the pterostigma (spots on the wings) are indicative - but immature common emerald start out pale and darken with age, so in theory (though I've never seen it) they could appear similar as they transition. So strictly speaking they're not diagnostic. However in this case it's extremely unlikely we'd have an immature common emerald running around in September - could be a problem earlier in the year I guess.

 

[JCL]

RVD Felbrigg

At least three Red-veined Darters still at Felbrigg today. One with very filmy wings (recently emerged). Thanks @Poppylandnature for gen.

 

[HarassedDad]

Three teneral Large Red today at Marston Marsh in Norwich

 

[Tideliner]

Saw my first four spot chaser of the year at Swanton Novers today . Quite a few large red damselflies about in good colour so they have been on the wing for some time.

 

[HarassedDad]

Common Blue's were emerging from Lynford lake yesterday, and apparently Hairy and Variable have been seen.

 

[HarassedDad]

4 Broad-bodied chasers at Buxton Heath today

 

[stevecbrum]

Four Spot, Hairy Dragonfly and Common Blue damselfly at Sparham Pools this morning

 

[stevecbrum]

Blue-tailed and Large Red Damselflies at Queen's Hills storm pond this morning