More Willow Emeralds

It looks as if the local Willow Emeralds are emerging in force, apart from my Priors Hall sighting yesterday there have also been additional sightings over the last couple of days from Finedon and Deene Lake. The latter sightings came courtesy of Alan Shorrock who not only saw an adult there on the 24th and 25th but also saw evidence of breeding.

Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell.

For this reason I set out for Deene in the company of Alan today though we popped into Spanhoe Quarry first. A lot of Painted Ladies and Red Admiral were feeding on a buddleia bush where a few Small Torties and Meadow Browns were also seen. Common Blues and Small Heaths were also noted in reasonable numbers though Small White was the commonest species. Dragons were represented by five species with the two daters joining Southern and Brown Hawkers as well as Emperor on the list. Pick of the damsels here were Emeralds, over ten of this attractive species were seen. Other species on site were Common Blue and Blue-tailed. A single Common Lizard was the only other wildlife of interest.

Emerald Damsel and Spanhoe traffic.

We then made our way to Deene where we were lucky enough to find a couple of Willow Emeralds, this is the first time that I've seen more than one at any one time in the county. Two different lots of breeding scars were also noted in the spots where Alan had found them on previous visits. Other species seen in the area included Red and at least one Small Red-eyed Damselfly as well as further Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies. Few dragons apart from the two darters though a Migrant hawker was noted. Best of the non insect wildlife was a Grass Snake that Alan found swimming in the lake, it was my first this year. Few birds of interest though a Black Swan was present on the main lake and four Green Sandpipers and many Lapwing were found at the inflow.

Willow Emerald and egg laying scars left on rose branch.

Nearby Deenethorpe had at least ten White-legged Damselflies including a pair in cop and also a male Banded Demoiselle. Eight species of damsel in a day at this late stage of the season is pretty good as most species are disappearing at quite a rate. Not much else to report though a Comma was seen near the village.

White-legged Damselfly.