Welland White-legs

Don't worry there will be no pictures of me wearing shorts, you can't wander through nettles etc if you got them on. No I'm referring to White-legged Damselflies and my hunt for them along the Welland at Gretton Weir. I'd received a text yesterday from Alan Shorrock telling me that he had seen one at Deenethorpe so as I had a day off I though that I'd try and find some of my own.

Dingy Skipper and Large Red Damselfly.

My day began at Willowbrook Industrial Estate where a violacea form Blue-tailed Damselfly was noted. Butterflies seen in the area were Small Heath, Common Blue, Dingy Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Small and Green-veined White. From here I passed through Brookfield Plantation scaring a small herd of Fallow Deer as I passed. A Common Blue Damselfly had joined the Large Reds while a chaser sp sped off before I could I.D it. Grizzled Skipper, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Brown Argus were added to the butterfly list here.

Chaser habitat and Banded Demoiselle.

Pausing at Gretton Pocket Park I watched the Smooth Newts and tadpoles for a while observing a few Azure Damselflies as I did. Reaching the weir I bumped into none other than the aforementioned Mr Shorrock wandering along the riverside footpath. Happily there was plenty to see with very large numbers of Banded Demoiselles in the waterside vegetation. At least one Red-eyed Damselfly was noted taking up station on water lily leaves. Though it took a little while to find them an eventual total of three White-legged Damselflies were observed looking very much as if they had just emerged. Despite being my first for the year they were overshadowed by another discovery. Several chasers were watched emerging from rushes and at least two turned out to be Scarce Chasers, a site first. I was aware that they had been seen a little further down the river in Rutland at Tixover but don't know if they've been seen before on the Northamptonshire stretch of the Welland. The other dragonfly on site was Hairy Dragonfly, perhaps as many as five were noted.

Scarce Chaser and White-legged Damselfly.

Walking home I had yet one other highlight and that was a Black-tailed Skimmer seen near Brookfield Plantation. Sadly I couldn't get a photo as it just wouldn't land in a spot where the view was unobscured, I'm sure other opportunities will follow. This spot clearly had something to offer dragonflies as a Broad Bodied Chaser was frequenting the same stretch.

Common Blue and Speckled Wood.

Not too many interesting birds were found, a Tawny Owl was hooting in Brookfield Plantation and a Sedge Warbler was singing in the Welland Valley near Gretton.