An Odonata Update

Been meaning to post this one for a while, although seems a bit late now that we have lost the stunning sunshine of April and May.  Just what has happened to the weather!?

Once lockdown was eased I was able to spend more time looking around the patch for dragonflies and damselflies. Really enjoyed seeing plenty of the usual species, including an impressive mass emergence of Scarce Chasers in late May. Hope you enjoy these pics...

Scarce Chaser

Same insect different angle

Broad-bodied Chaser male

Broad-bodied Chaser female

Black-tailed Skimmer immature male

Beautiful Demoiselle

Banded Demoiselle

Emperor

Teneral White-legged Damselflies

Really pleased with some of these shots, a credit to the P900.

I fancied an off-patch Odonata foray too, looking for the rare Southern Damselfly. About 15 years ago I found my own site for this extremely rare damselfly on the East Devon Commons, but haven't been back since. I had no idea if they were still there but on 29th May was very happy to confirm they indeed were.  What a delicate little insect and so beautifully marked, fantastic to see again...

Southern Damselfly

Another Southern Damselfly

Isn't nature beautiful.

On The Mend

...slowly!

Most the aches and pains have gone now, it's just the cough that's relentless - and that has lead to an incredibly sore throat. Oh well. At least I managed to get out a bit today.

I had a lovely wander about Lower Bruckland Pond mid afternoon, lots of newly emerged Damselflies were nice to see (only saw two species though; Large Red and Common Blue), and Butterflies included singles of Dingy and Grizzled Skipper. The latter my first here. No birds worthy of mention though.

Later on, after a text from Phil, I headed over to Axmouth where he had seen an Osprey perched up. I got there about an hour after the event, and the Osprey had moved from its original position. After a short drive though, we ended up getting superb views of it...

A late one! Taken with the trusty Lumix