Dorset Darter Delights...Eventually!

Scarlet Darters are a very rare species of dragonfly in Britain so the arrival of one on these shores is always welcomed by the ode watching community. News that up to six had been present at Silverlake in Dorset set wheels a rolling on many a hopeful spotter's car as a growing band of admirers made the trip down south. I was a little late to the darter party but on Sunday I joined Phil, Cheryl and Shozzer on the three hour plus drive to Dorset where we hoped to get a look at this very attractive potential colonist.

Keeled Skimmers

We arrived to find quite cloudy conditions with the occasional sunny spell, not the best weather perhaps but hopefully good enough. Several other people were already at the lake but at that stage there was nothing positive to report. Several Keeled Skimmers were a welcome sighting as they're not a species that I get to see often. Keeping them company were their Black-tailed cousins and plenty of Common Darters. Emperors were present in good numbers but we didn't manage to see the reported Lesser. Something that did show well were several Wasp Spiders, I had only ever seen one before and thoroughly enjoyed looking at them.

Scarlet Darter

Sunny spells were be now becoming a little more frequent and also a little longer in duration. Phil and Cheryl had a brief glimpse of the Scarlet on the ground but it lived up to its name and darted off before I saw it. Other people had flight views of one over the lake but again I didn't see it. The pattern was repeated several times and I was beginning to get a little uneasy. Eventually the darter was discovered basking on exposed chalk next to the lake and things looked promising right up until it flew just before I got there. My internal swearing bout was ended however when the darter returned allowing all the folks on site to get really good views. Many a record shot was taken before it took flight again though it returned at least once more before we left. With spectre of a dipping disaster now exorcised the collective mood lightened and we returned to the car ready for the long drive home. That drive was broken by a brief stop at Martin Down where we had enough time to see my first Chalkhill Blues of the year.

Wasp Spider and Chalkhill Blue