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.

Lesser Emperor

Wow what a stunning few days we've had. Not so great for a three and a half week old baby, but great for dragonflies which is why I had a wander around Lower Bruckland Ponds this afternoon.

This proved a great move with a stunning surprise in the form of a male Lesser Emperor at 3pm over the top pond.  This is the third Lesser Emp I've found here (previous being 16th July 2006 and 10th August 2012) and turns out this afternoon several have appeared in the UK.  Sadly no pics as it didn't settle, and I last saw it being chased by an Emperor towards the next pond down. Fingers crossed it hangs around, all my previous have been multi-observed and I'd like to keep that record up!

Other notable Odonata on show this afternoon included my first Small Red-eyed Damselflies of the year, with at least five males on the smallest two ponds, am pretty sure these are fairly early too. Also still at least nine Scarce Chaser on the wing, seven lone males and an ovipositing pair. The more usual fare included 15+ Emperor, 20+ Black-tailed Skimmer, five Four-spotted Chaser, three Beautiful Demoiselle, two Banded Demoiselle, one Broad-bodied Chaser and the usual damselfly species.  And now for some pretty pictures...

Here's two different Small Red-eyed Damselflies...

Three different male Scarce Chasers...

A Four-spotted Chaser...

A Beautiful Demoiselle...

And VERY unusually for this blog - a flower! A rather long-stemmed Common Spotted (I think!?) Orchid...

And I just had to photograph this Coot chick on its completely exposed nest. Most Coot nests here are nicely tucked away...

I have also got a bit of birding news to catch up with.  I've already enjoyed three early morning wanders around the Axe Wetlands with Harry...

Each time I've heard singles of singing male Common and Lesser Whitethroats from the field to the south of the entrance track to Black Hole Marsh.  Interestingly the Axe Estuary Ringing Group recently trapped a breeding female Lesser White on Stafford Marsh as well, which is great news.  There certainly seems to be plenty of young passerines about this year too which is encouraging - it looks to have been a good breeding season for many species.

Sometime last week I has a Hobby from the back garden, not before time as they have been regular around here this summer. Red Kites are also clearly still around in some number, I had one over Colyton on Wednesday of last week and received emails informing me of low flying birds over Musbury (two) and Colyford on different days within the past week.

Apologies for the lack of posts lately guys, a mostly awake sometimes crying baby hasn't helped the cause. Although actually tonight he really did help...

 

Small Red-eyes and Colour-ringed Med Gull

I never did get round to posting these few dragonfly pics last week, so here you go...

It was great to see Small Red-eyed Damselflies out again at Lower Bruckland Ponds last week, I saw them on four of the ponds - basically where ever there's surface vegetation (whether it's lily pads or algae/weeds)...

Also this lovely Golden-ringed Dragonfly, one of my favourites...

As always Camille Duponcheel has replied in ultra quick time regarding the colour-ringed first-summer Med Gull pictured in my last post, Green RU15.  It was ringed as a pullus last June in a colony at Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE - which is here:

After fledging it spent autumn and the first half of winter in Cornwall, mostly on the Camel and Hayle Estuary, but it then flew back over the channel and was in Northern France by Feb of this year. It returned to the Hayle in late April and this was the last sighting before I saw it on Black Hole Marsh last week. Many thanks Camille.

Back In Business

I couldn't sleep last night, the heat didn't help, but there was another reason... I was too busy listening to birds!

It's weird, during the day I don't hear any water birds from the house, but after dark I can hear so much from Black Hole Marsh. Last night I added Greenshank to the house list thanks to a very vocal bird interrupting the almost constant calls of Redshank. The odd Curlew and Oystercather called, and lots of Black-headed Gulls - this surprised me as I just presumed that during the summer they roost on the sea like they do in the winter. I even heard the wing beats of a Mute Swan (or two) fly past!

After hearing all this bird life at Black Hole Marsh, at 8am this morning I headed down there for a look, and I was impressed with what I saw.  Sadly the 230 Black-headed Gulls didn't include any goodies, although it did include nine juveniles though - weird looking things that they are!  There was a nice mix of waders on the marsh with Common Sandpiper being the most numerous (eight), along with a single Green Sandpiper. There were two each of Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing, and a single Greenshank was in the corner by the Tower Hide.  Two Teal were my first of the 'autumn' - although I was cursing them for not being Garganey! I also saw my first juv Kingfisher of the year and a small number of Sand Martins overhead included some juvs. I'll be keeping my eye on this place from now, I really do fancy a nice Terek Sand!

I've been annoyed for much of today that I hadn't put my moth trap out last night, so I cheered myself up by looking at some other insects. Lower Bruckland Ponds is always the best place to go around here for some Odonata action!

It was really good to see lots and lots on the wing. Common Blue, Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies were everywhere (no Red-eyed of either variety though), with Emperors patrolling most parts of the lakes. Saw my first Beautiful Demoiselle of the year too.  Photography was hard as nothing was staying still for long, although I did have chance to snap this Four-spotted Chaser...

Saw about five of these

And here's one of the many male Black-tailed Skimmers...

I was hoping for a nice Red-veined Darter, a species which have bred here, or better still another Lesser Emperor! No such luck though, not today anyway.

There were a few more ducks here than of late, in fact probably the most I've seen here all year. And amongst the moulting Mallards I was surprised to see two Shoveler...

Both males, I think an adult and a juv but I could be wrong

It was also pleased to confirm Little Grebes have bred here again. although I could only see one juv.

Right that's enough for now, I am over heating here in my office. Hopefully I'll have a moth trap out tonight, that's if I've not passed out from sun stroke by then! It really is hot!

Sunshine At Last!

Just as the natural world thinks autumn is upon us, the sun comes out! Lovely it is though - finally the shorts are out!

Looking up the Estuary late last night

I've kept an eye on Black Hole Marsh over the last few days, eagerly waiting for a rare wader to drop in! No luck so far, but there is some wader passage going on.

On Saturday evening there were six Blackwits, three Dunlin, two Greenshank and this Ringed Plover on Black Hole Marsh...

A juv - it should have been a little ringed really!

And this morning, the same counts of Blackwits and Dunlin, one less Greenshank, but two Green Sands and this Whimbrel...

Dropped in all on its tod

Two of the three Dunlin

Before I start boring you with photos of dragonflies, I'll mention the colour-ringed first-winter Med Gull I saw at Black Hole Marsh last week. This one...

E325

It was ringed as a pullus near Terneuzen, Netherlands on 20/6/2011, then spent the winter in France, in the far north west of the county. It was last seen in France at Plonévez-Porzay on 25/1/2012 and there were no more sightings until mine the other day.

Ok, now for a few dragonfly pictures that I've taken today. I just had to take some photos because I have seen so few so far this year...

Southern Hawker

Four-spotted Chaser

Black-tailed Skimmer

And to end this post, a bit of 'natural art', taken this morning at Black Hole Marsh...