Weldon Variables, Another Look

In my last post regarding the newly discovered colony of Variable Damselflies at Weldon I showed a photo of a male attempting to mate with an unidentified female. At the time I suspected that this was possibly a female Azure which would explain why the male did not press on with his clear intention to breed. Unable to see either the bar linking the eye spots or the pronotum I couldn't say with absolute certainty which species this was. Fast forward a day and our county recorder on the always informative Northants dragonfly facebook page pointed out that this particular female had a rather gruesome reminder of a previous mating attempt visible in the photograph.

Male Variable Damselfly attempting to mate with female.

As can be clearly seen (and I don't know how I missed it!) there is a small section of a male's abdomen still clasped firmly to the spot behind her head. Clearly he had been predated, probably by a dragonfly, while in the act of mating and she had managed to make good her escape. On many occasions both partners are consumed so she really did enjoy some good fortune. Unfortunately although this means that the female is in all likelihood a Variable it also means she will not be able to add to the small colony here. Nature really can be a ruthless business but also a very interesting one and that I suppose is why we all keep watching.

Close up of female showing the remains of a male still clasped behind her head and also a very feint bar linking her eyes.

Frits and Blues Headline the News.

A friend and I travelled down to Hampshire today on a bit of a butterfly watching safari hoping to catch up with some of the species that we don't see in Northants. Our first stop was Bentley Wood where a collection of Fritillaries were the target.

A Pearl-bordered Frit that took a liking to my jeans and a Small Pearl-bordered.

The frits proved to be rather obliging and we saw our first Pearl-bordered Frit within minutes of arrival. They've been on the wing for a while now and most were looking a little worn but I still enjoyed seeing them for the first time. A few Marsh Frits were also encountered and I have to say that they are a stunning butterfly. At this point a cry went up from some of the butterfly watchers that alerted us to a newly emerged Small Pearl-bordered Frit which was another new species. This was a very obliging individual that at various times perched on somebody's shoulder, a hand as well as on the more normal vegetation. Amongst the other species seen here were Grizzled and Dingy Skippers.

Marsh Frit and Dingy Skipper.
 

We left the butterflies and their many admirers to do their thing as we had another destination to check out, Martin Down. A national nature reserve this is an extensive area of chalk grassland and scrub that attracts several interesting butterflies typical of this habitat. Corn Bunting song seemed to fill the air and there seemed to be a healthy population here, the only other bird of note was a Raven.

Adonis and Small Blue.

My main target was Adonis Blue and it didn't take too long before we found our first and it was soon followed by many more. The males are a glorious bright blue and really do seem to gleam. They were joined by many Common Blues which provided some nice comparisons. Brown Argus butterflies showed well too and these bolshy little characters seemed to want to fight anything that passed. A few Small Blues were seen but they were very flighty and it took a long time before I managed to get a photo. Plenty of Small Heaths and a few Grizzled and Dingy Skippers were found while there was also an impressive number of Brimstones. Perhaps the most attractive of all the species were more Marsh Frits, we had a double figure count of them. A last little highlight before we left was my first Small Copper of the year, hopefully the first of many!

Grizzled Skipper and Corn Bunting.

Having achieved all of our targets and conscious that there was quite a drive home ahead of us we left at about four more than satisfied by our day's watching.

Pearl-bordered, Small Pearl-bordered and Marsh Fritillaries - nice!

Norfolk Hawkers in err.. Cambridgeshire.

A friend and I headed off to the Paxton Pits nature reserve in Cambridgeshire where our main target was the colony of Norfolk Hawkers that have recently become established at this excellent spot. Using information kindly supplied by a member of the UK dragonflies Facebook group we were hopeful of achieving our goal.

A view of Paxton and a dodgy shot of Norfolk Hawker.

Our first highlight on arrival was a Scarce Chaser seen near the visitor centre, a likely Emperor had to go unconfirmed. As we walked along we realised that many of the small blue damsels flitting around were Variables, a great sight given how rare they are in Northants. Rather a lot of Common Blues and Azures were also present while many of the lilies hosted Red-eyed Damsels. Four-spotted Chasers while not abundant were common enough and we saw a few Hairy Dragonflies.

Scarce Chaser and mating Variable Damsels.

Having reached the place that our information suggested might be good for the hawkers we were delighted to see at least ten hunting. Although several did perch briefly there were always people passing by that flushed them before we could take a shot. While good views were obtained I really wanted a pic so we headed to another area where Water Soldier was common. Blue-tailed Damsel made its way on to the site list and I also managed a fairly rough shot of a Norfolk, oh well any picture is better than none. Among the many newly emerged individuals weakly flying towards cover was my first (unphotographed) Black-tailed Skimmer of the year.

Red-eyed and Common Blue Damsels.

Among the other wildlife seen was one or two Holly Blues, male and female Cuckoo and also at least five Smooth Newts.

Smooth Newt and Blue-tailed Damselfly.

With a little bit of time to spare we stopped at Waddenhoe back in the sainted lands of Northants. As well as many Banded Demoiselles we came across two Scarce Chasers as well as both Red-eyed and Blue-tailed Damsels. It was a good way of bringing what was yet another good day's wildlife watching to an end.

Waddenhoe and a male Scarce Chaser.

Mammals Take Centre Stage

The promise of some decent weather this afternoon made me think that a half day holiday might be in order and so it was that I found myself at Gretton weir looking for White-legged Damsels. Sadly damsel and dragon numbers seemed rather low today and they did not include any of my target species amongst their number.

Large Red Damsel and Brown Argus.

One species that was present in good numbers was Large Red Damsel, many were present around the Welland and their numbers were almost matched by those of Banded Demoiselles. Dragons were in short supply though a male and female Hairy Dragonfly were my first for this site. The only other dragon that I caught up with was a single Four-spotted Chaser. Butterflies provided one of the day's highlight with a Brown Argus being my first of the year. Other species included Orange-tips and a shabby looking Small Tortoiseshell. On the bird side of things a pair of Lapwings were nice and there were many kites about.

One of several Silver-Y moths and female Orange-tip.

Leaving the weir I made my way along the road towards Rockingham before taking a public footpath up towards Brookfield Plantation. A growing selection of butterflies included a Red Admiral, this and five Silver-Y moths makes me think that some immigration is underway. Two Green-veined Whites made me stop and watch as they fought continuously for at least five minutes. So intent were they on their spat that they would fall to the ground and still continue the fight. In the end they disappeared over a crop of wheat still fighting, I've never seen such determination before in butterflies.

Fleeing Fallow Deer and adult Peregrine.

Once I'd made my weary way up to the top of the ridge (there's no east way to walk out of the Welland Valley) I began to stroll towards Brookfield Plantation. Two buck Fallow Deer totally failed to see me at first and I got some good snaps before the penny finally dropped and they sped off. Any thoughts that these may be top mammal of the day were soon to be dispelled. I reached the large sheep field that sits between the road and the plantation and gave it my usual sweep with the bins. To my surprise I saw the unlikely shape of a Badger seemingly feeding close to the woods at the strange time of quarter to four in the afternoon! Having taken a distant record shot I decided to press my luck and get as close as I could before it legged it. Gradually I edged my way towards this unlikely diurnal Badger until I got to within about fifty feet of it and it still fed seemingly unconcerned. I'm not sure what prompted this strange behaviour but the animal looked healthy enough and I left it feeding after about half an hour.

Diurnal Badger stealing the show.

Brookfield should have been pure anti-climax after this but it wasn't totally rubbish as I managed to find a few butterflies with two each of Grizzled and Dingy Skippers, a tired looking Peacock and a female Common Blue. This latter species posed long enough for me to get my first pictures of 2018 though I managed to grab a few more a little later into the walk. Indeed Willowbrook Industrial Estate had about ten male Common Blues which had three Small Heaths and another Dingy Skipper for company.

Male Common Blue and Small Heath.

So a very decent day when all is considered and a sighting of a Peregrine during  my walk ensured that birds were not forgotten on this most interesting of wanders.

Another Grizzled Skipper but I like the photo.

Weldon Variables Once Again.

Another after work trip down to Weldon where my main aim was to have a check on the Variable Damselflies. On my way down I saw a Holly Blue near the steelworks which was my second since Monday, I had another around my garden on the 22nd.

Variable views.

Plenty of Azures active next to the stream and there was also an increase in the number of Blue-tailed with three different colour forms seen. Banded Demoiselles are continuing their emergence with several red eyed newbies hanging around the nettle beds. My first view of Variables was of a male mating with an unidentified female which I believe may have been an Azure. Two further males were also noted and my first confirmed female, I haven't seen female Variables anywhere before. At least four Large Reds were also sitting out the afternoon on the nettles.

Blue-tailed variations.

At the pond many Azures and Large Reds ovipositing while numbers of Red-eyeds continue to increase. My first dragon of the year at this site, a Four-spotted Chaser showed well and hopefully will be joined by others soon.

Red-eyed Damsel and Banded Demoiselle.

Not many other butterflies noted today with only a few Orange-tips and a Large White seen while birds were represented by a singing Lesser Whitethroat.

Four-spotted Chaser.

Double Vision

What could possibly be better than one gorgeous summer plumaged White-winged Black Tern? Well I would say two White-winged Black Terns and reports of another bird joining yesterday's Eyebrook individual were enough to have me (and many others for that matter) heading back to the res this morning.

The stars of the show.

Both showed fairly well from close to Stoke Dry car park as they fed energetically in the company of three Black Terns. As well as being more attractive than the Blacks, no mean feat incidentally given how nice Blacks are, they were noticeably smaller too. A group of us stayed and watched them for quite some time and were eventually rewarded when both landed on the same buoy. Photos were of the strictly duff record shot order due to a combination of the distance involved and some heat haze but I've included a few here.

Further dodgy record shots.

It was a good day for raptors with the number of Ospreys, three, being matched by a similar trio of Hobbies. An immature Peregrine came through and there were the usual Red Kites and Buzzards.

A view from the bridge.

Before leaving there was time to pop down to the bridge to look for the reported Hairy Dragonflies, these are a very new arrival at the res having only been seen for the first time this weekend. Happily I was able to catch views of one and also got to hear a Cuckoo calling. On the butterfly side of things I saw my first Red Admiral since the January individual, perhaps the various Beasts from the East put paid to any hibernating ones? A nice morning and a good way of finishing what's been a good few days watching.

A final shot.