Variables at Wicksteed.

I wanted to give somewhere else a go today and so headed over to Wicksteed Park in Kettering. Although I visit fairly frequently in winter or when I'm looking for Willow Emeralds (not found any yet!) Spring visits are rare.

Goose families

My main target was to see what sort of dragons or damsels were around and so I headed directly to the lake. Both of the common geese appear to be having a good breeding season so far and I was hissed at by several Greylag parents. Ignoring their angry protests I wandered around the edge of the main lake and soon saw Common Blues and a few Red-eyeds. The Commons were welcome as I'd only seen one up until now this year. While no further dragons were seen the lake still held a few Tufties and a Pochard while a Common Tern patrolled overhead.

Common Blue and Red-eyed Damselflies.

Moving on to the fishing lake I combed the nettles and long grass finding a few Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies as well as a female Banded Demoiselle. Taking a detour down to look at the River Ise revealed more of the latter with most looking as if they were newly emerged. Returning to the lake I stood on one of the fishing platforms to get a better view of a family of swans. My dudery turned out to be a good idea as I noticed rather a lot of Azure Damselflies flitting around the reeds. A pair in cop looked like candidates for a photo but when I checked the results I realised that some of the "Azures" were in fact Variables. Closer inspection revealed at least three pairs in cop and also single males while a review of an earlier photograph showed another pair taken a few minutes before. As this species is rare in the county I took rather a lot of photographs before texting the news out to a few friends.

Variable Damselflies.

It was of course something of an anti climax after this chance discovery but I did add a sixth species to my day list when I found a Large Red Damselfly near to the water slide. While there appeared to be few butterflies today I did see Orange-tips, a Holly Blue and two Speckled Woods.

Large Red Damselfly and female Orange-tip.