Chasing The Dragons

 I took the bus over to Barnwell CP this morning in the hope of finding some odes to look at. The weather was pretty much a forecaster's dream with sunny spells and the odd chance of a shower. Mercifully the shower when it came was very light and very short and I was able to find a bit of interesting stuff to have a gawp at.

Hairy Dragonfly

After such a dreadful Spring it was great to see large numbers of damsels on the wing with hundreds of Banded Demoiselles in particular. Also present were many Red-eyed Damselflies with many taking up station on their favoured lily pads. Perhaps the most interesting damsel was a male Variable at North Lake, there may well have been more but I didn't spend too much time looking for them. Other species seen were Common Blue, Azure, Blue-tailed and Large Red.

Four-spotted and Scarce Chasers.

Plenty of dragons were emerging today with Four-spotted and Scarce Chasers appearing in increasing numbers. Many were shiny winged tenerals making hesitant first flights though others were mature individuals taking up territories. I finally managed to get some pictures of a Hairy Dragonfly as one of the about half a dozen present chose to land in a spot where I could see it. No other species around today though both Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer should be appearing soon.

Variable Damselfly and fresh female Banded Demoiselle

Best bird today was a male Cuckoo which was calling from the willows around North Lake. Of the butterflies noted a Small Heath was quite a scarce visitor to the park. Not too many other species on the wing but there were some fine looking male Brimstones.

violacea form Blue-tailed and Red-eyed Damsefly.