Dragonflies 2018

As the imaginative title may have suggested it's time for my annual look back on a year's worth of dragonfly spotting and I'll begin with a summary of my Northants highlights.

Variable Damselfly, Downy Emerald and Willow Emerald.

Despite a series of very cold snaps in March the season began only three days later than last year on the 22nd of April with several Large Red Damsels active at Priors Hall. Early May saw perhaps the biggest highlight of my year when I discovered a couple of male Variable Damselflies along the stream at Weldon. Subsequent visits over the month by multiple observers revealed a small population including several females and hopefully will lead to an established population. While there is a colony in the Soke of Peterborough at Maxey it appears that this may be the first one in the modern county of Northamptonshire.

December Common Darter and late October Brown Hawker.

My next high point was a visit to a private site in Yardley Chase with Phil Rogers for a guided walk by the county recorder in order to view Downy Emeralds at their only Northants site. Luckily several showed and they included one that posed very nicely as it sat on the recorder's hand! On the way home from here a stop at Hanging Houghton produced sightings of Beautiful Demoiselle which was one of only two times that I caught up with them this year.

Common Club-tail and White-faced Darter.

My final highlight came towards the end of the season in September when I saw a Willow Emerald at what had been their only county site at Finedon Pocket Park. While it took three visits to produce the goods it was worth it even though this turned out only the start of things. On the same day Alan Shorrock found one at a new site, Priors Hall, and I was lucky enough to see it too. Alan also saw one a week or so later at yet another new site, Fermyn Woods CP where our county recorder had seen one too. During October I found another one at Barnwell CP which was the fourth spot in the county for this colonising species. There appears to be a lot of potential habitat for them in Northants so 2019 will hopefully see them consolidate these first tentative steps and expand to other areas. Given that there was evidence of breeding at three of these sites it's looking encouraging.

Southern Emerald.

Away from these red letter sightings I was very happy to get my first December record of Common Darter with a sighting of a male at the ever dependable Priors Hall on the ninth. This meant that I'd seen this species in seven of the nine months that the season lasted for. Banded Demoiselles did not quite repeat their endurance feats from last year though they were still active until the very end of September and another species that hung around for longer than usual was Brown Hawker with several showing until late October.

Scarce Emerald and Southern Damselfly.

Away from the county several excursions brought a host of good records and these included several new ones as well as a few species that I haven't seen often. An outing to Worcs with Phil Rogers brought some excellent views of Club-tailed Dragonflies, a lifer. On the same day I got another new species at Whixhall Moss when I caught up with White-faced Darters, a real beauty. Phil also got me another tick in Bucks when we managed to see a Southern Emerald at what must be their most northerly site. A stop in Oxfordshire on the same day resulted in some more quality spotting with sightings of Southern Damselfly, Keeled Skimmer and Small Red Damselfly. My brother David took me to Thomson Common where I caught up with Scarce Emeralds and lots of mosquitoes. Ialso saw this species in Essex with Phil and Alan where we also saw a few Southern Migrant Hawkers. Alan and I took a trip over to Paxton Pits where we saw rather a lot of Norfolk Hawkers though these sadly turned out to be rather camera shy.

Small Red Damsel and Keeled Skimmer.

Thankfully there were not too many low points during the year, a dip on Lesser Emperor at Stanwick Lakes was unfortunate and I once again dipped on the Black Darters at their heathland sites in north Norfolk but that was it really. Next year I'd like to catch these elusive darters and also perhaps to catch up with Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies. On a more local footing it will be nice to monitor the Variable Damselfly and Willow Emerald situation while I'd like to check out the Welland for both Beautiful Demoiselles and Scarce Chasers. Perhaps I'll get a nice surprise, those Cambs Norfolk Hawkers are not too far away as the dragonfly flies......

Targets, Beautiful Demoiselle and Scarce Chaser.

Nice Day For It

Another Monday, another sunny morning and another walk along the Nene at Oundle with the usual finish at Barnwell CP. I should add that it was also another day when the common and garden species ruled the roost but when the weather is this good who cares?

Kingfishers.

Recent rain means that the floods near Barnwell Lock continue to rise and duck numbers are beginning to build up with the Wigeon flock growing to around eighty birds and being joined by fifty or so Teal and a pair of Shoveller.. Large numbers of Fieldfares were also feeding on the flooded field and there were smaller groups of Meadow Pipits and Pied Wags around too.

Moorhen and Grey Heron.

Still a lot of Redwings feeding on the Haws while there also seemed to be quite a lot of Goldfinches today but there was little else along the river. Proceedings at Barnwell were dominated by a pair of Kingfishers seen from their namesake hide. Although the autofocus on my camera did not seem to want to cooperate for much of the time I did get a couple of half decent pictures. Both were actively fishing and allowed sustained views as they fed around the lake.

Redwing and Robin.

Duck numbers were down from my last visit with only Mallards, Gadwalls and a Teal on site while two Dabchicks were present on the main lake. A male Kestrel appeared to cause a Carrion Crow some consternation but that apart from a few Siskins was that as they say.

Winter Walk

After yesterday's awful weather it was nice to see blue skies and sun this morning as I began my day at Blatherwycke Lake. As I arrived a huge flock of geese landed filling the air with their calls, most were Greylags though there were a few Canadas in among them too. Nothing out of the ordinary on the lake though the usual Mandarins were present and the regular Egyptian Geese were seen as well.

Blatherwycke.

A check of the churchyard did not produce any sightings of Hawfinches but there was a good collection of the commoner species including a good number of thrushes. Between here and Deene there was little of note but something to enjoy with a smattering of the usual species on view. Meadow Pipits and Skylarks were feeding in some of the fields while many Red-legged Partridges  appear to have so far escaped the guns.

Plenty of Red Kites around today.

Deene Lake was quiet too with only a Shelduck of interest though the lake did have a good number of ducks. From here it was on to Priors Hall where the sunshine persuaded me to have a look for late darters. Given the ice on the surface on a couple of the ponds it was perhaps no surprise that there were none, probably safe to say that the season really is over this time but I'll miss them until the spring. Nothing much on the quarry lake though the Teal and Tufties have been joined by a family party of four Mute Swans.

Deene Lake Shelduck.

From here I walked over to Weldon and the Shoulder of Mutton where several pints of Zeppelin Marauder raided my taste buds and very nice it was too. Not my greatest ever day but still enjoyable all the same.

Priors Hall.

No Dragons Today

My trip on the Vex 4 today took me over to Oundle (twenty minutes later than planned) where I took a walk along the river before heading into Barnwell CP. While it was nowhere near as sunny as it was yesterday it was still pretty mild.

Floods near Barnwell Lock.

Very little of interest along the Nene though the flood water near Lower Barnwell Lock is beginning to rise. While it had already attracted a decent sized flock of Wigeon I'm hoping that more interesting species will follow suit over the next couple of months. Barnwell was on the quiet side too, the feeders had not been filled so activity was confined to Dunnocks at Lowlands Hide. Reasonable numbers of Siskins were about and several posed for some pictures. Rather a few Fieldfares and Redwings were seen around the park but they're still very flighty at the moment.

Siskins and Redwing.

A Kingfisher was seen several times from its namesake hide but was never close enough to photograph while three Mandarins were similarly obscured. A few more ducks today included a small group of Gadwall and a first Tufted Duck for some time but that really was that as far as my day went.

Gadwall.

Having stopped at The Ship for a refreshment break I did my best business of the day at Oundle Bookshop when I popped in and bought the new county bird report for the princely and bargain price of £7.50 - a cracking deal.

Doughty December Darter Defies Doomy Declarations.

X4 time again today though in all fairness it was at least on time as I headed out towards Upper Benefield. Things began very slowly with little of note between the village and Burn Coppice, in fact for the first time that I can recall I never saw a Tree Sparrow. I suspect the mild weather has moved them elsewhere, there was a general shortage of finches or buntings of any sort along the lane.

Dawn at Upper Benefield.

Beyond the coppice there was a little more activity with Fieldfares in particular showing well and a reasonably sized flock of Lapwings too. As is often the case on sunny days Red Kites showed very well with many individuals on the wing. Deene Lake inflow had rather high water levels and neither Snipe or Green Sandpiper were noted although there were over a hundred Teal. Surely they're going to be joined by a Green-winged at some point but that point was not today.

One of many Red Kites.

Not much on the main lake but numbers of wildfowl are slowly building. Perhaps the highlight was a couple of Shelduck though the regular pair of Black Swans were nice to see too. A first visit to the farm ponds for some time produced little with just a pair of Mute Swans on view.

Farm pond at Deene.

Priors Hall provided a few Siskins and a Redpoll for the day list and also a Snipe near the large pond. A flock of about a hundred Lapwings were present in the quarry where a decent amount of wildfowl were present on the largest lake. In all honesty though birds were overshadowed by a single insect in the rather unexpected form of a Common Darter. I'd already declared my dragonfly season over last month but this single male proved me wrong and I was very happy that it did! I caught sight of him as he flew up from a pile of logs and did plenty of swearing as I tried to catch up with him. Happily I did manage to find him again and get some photos. Although he spent most of the time basking on various logs he did make several sallies over a pond before settling down again. Sixteen days until Christmas and I'm still seeing dragonflies, it really has been my best ever year in the county for them.

Common Darter.

Sticking with the festive theme I popped into the George at Weldon and toasted this survivor's pluck with two pints of Rocking Rudolph and jolly nice it was too.

Mute Swans at Deene.

More Bus Fuss

Clearly I'm a bit of an idiot or rather perhaps I'm a complete idiot as once again I opted to go to Kettering on the X4. Now this service used to be fairly reliable but in recent months it has become something off a joke though not a very funny one. With a time table that must have a realistic chance of winning the Man Booker prize it's become something of a gamble as to whether your bus will turn up at all never mind late. 

Today's adventure began at five to eight when I got on a bus in the Old Village before getting off again at the town centre. A mere thirty minutes later a bus did eventually arrive and a hoard of annoyed passengers shuffled aboard. Some time later as we finally stopped in Kettering town centre the driver asked us to leave this particular bus and board another. So disembarking into the rain we had a nice little queue going on amongst ourselves before everyone managed to squeeze aboard. Just ninety minutes after I began my odyssey I finally arrived at my destination, in round about the same time it would have taken to get to Hunstanton in a car. There's very little point in Stagecoach trumpeting its massive investment on a new fleet of buses if the service is either hugely late or simply doesn't turn up. They might as well promise everyone their own personal unicorn to ride, on more than one recent occasion that has certainly seemed a more realistic prospect than Stagecoach running a competent and punctual bus service! I feel an official complaint coming on but looking on the bright side at least I'm not relying on it for work or school.

Barely worth the effort, Wicksteed Park.

Now that I've got that off my chest the question is whether my horrendous journey was worth all the trouble and the short answer is no. My walk around a rainy Wicksteed Park did not produce much of note with the Chiffchaff still feeding in the willows around the fishing lake and brief views of a Kingfisher. Few diving duck present with single figures of Tufted Duck and nothing else. Quite a few more dabblers with good numbers of Mallard, Gadwall and Shoveller and a few Teal too. A male Sparrowhawk alarmed some Blue Tits but that was it. As the forecast showers appeared to have merged into one sustained bout of rain I gave up and headed back into town for breakfast. Imagine my delight when the sun came out just as I was sitting down in the Earl of Dalkeith, perhaps I should start looking into taking up a new hobby. Anyone for brass rubbing?

Just Time for a Quick One.

Another weekend and another prior appointment so I only had an hour or two at my disposal. My choice today was the old patch where I spent an hour or two wandering around those bits that haven't been fenced off.

A view from the patch.

In truth not a great deal to report with the highlight being a Woodcock flushed from near the stream. Plenty of Redwings were drawn to the many haws still present on the bushes and there was at least one Fieldfare too. A Grey Wagtail was heard several times as it flew up and down the stream. Not much else on site though at least one tit flock was moving through.