13 Sep 24 - A Resident Migrant

The St Aldhelms patch doesn't have a lot of obvious water and so it has a limited number of resident Dragonfly species. Over the recent few years of watching the patch, I've only seen six species of Dragonflies that I believe breed : Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker, Emperor Dragonfly, Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Broad-bodied Chaser (only suspected breeder) & Common Darter. I've only see Large Red Damselfly, but Phil Saunders has also seen Azure Damselfly. I suspect that I would find additional records Damselfly records, if I could search some of the garden ponds in Worth Matravers or if I visited the Pier Bottom pools in the Spring. However, the latter idea is isn't particularly safe, given the soft clay cliffs are still wet in the Spring and more prone to mudslips.

Migrant Hawker: Female. In this case, this Hawker along the final section of track towards the Chapel proved to be a female Migrant Hawker. Maybe my next Dragonfly sighting will be a migrant species

Given the limited number of resident species Dragonflies, it is always worth checking any Dragonflies seen on the patch as it can also pick up migrant species. In recent years, I've seen Vagrant Emperor (found by fellow patch Birder Phil Saunders) & Red-veined Darter. Phil has also found a Norfolk Hawker, Four-spotted Chaser (a presumed migrant) and Small Red-eyed Damselfly. None of these migrant sightings have lingered for more than a few photos for either of us.

Migrant Hawker: Female. Despite their name, they are a resident species which breeds on the Pier Bottom pools, as well as, in water tanks at Trev's quarry. There are a few scattered water tanks for cattle at St Aldhelms and perhaps they also breed in them. Worth Matravers and Winspit would be worth searching for other breeding sites, if access was possible

Migrant Hawker: Female. Dragonflies have such fantastic eyes

I've often wondered how Dragonflies see the world with these superb eyes. This BBC Senses clip on youtube provides a fascinating explanation of how much better their eyes are at processing motion than our eyes.

15 Sep 23 - A Male Migrant Hawker

Migrant Hawkers are one of the commonest Dragonflies that I see at St Aldhelms. They breed in water tanks at Trev's Quarry and I normally see them patrolling in that area. However, I found this male patrolling along the Barn Hedge. This is half way between Trev's Quarry and the nearest cottages by Weston Farm & it's possible that there could be a pond or two in those cottages.

Migrant Hawker: Male

They are smaller than the other autumnal Hawker species and the males have pale blue spots on a dark abdomen. They also have a yellow golf-tee shaped marking on segment two of the abdomen and short pale yellow ante-humeral stripes on the sides of the thorax.

16 Sep 22 - Migrant Hawker

This male Migrant Hawker posed nicely by the track by Trev's Quarry at St Aldhelms. A few years ago, I was struggling to understand why I was regularly seeing Migrant Hawkers at Trev's Quarry, given there appeared to be no water source nearby to the quarry. Then a conversation with one of the quarrymen who works there confirmed they breed in a couple of small water tanks in the quarry: mystery solved.

Migrant Hawker: Male

15 Sep 19 - Migrant Hawker

Light Northerly winds, high pressure & clear skies meant the conditions were sunny & pleasant to be out Birding at St Aldhelms Head. There were large numbers of Hirundines moving slowly over the Head, but on a broad front & generally feeding. The movement was only visible by the periods of low Hirundine numbers. There were fifteen Wheatears & a small scattering of Warblers & other typical migrants. Perhaps the most interesting was this Migrant Hawker which was patrolling the trees by Trev's quarry (AKA the Two-barred Greenish Warbler site). It got me thinking. Most of my sightings of this species have been like this, with Migrant Hawkers patrolling or perching on downland, with no nearby water sources. The nearest water is a small pool of water trapped by a slippage on the undercliff: it is over a half mile away. The Winspit sewerage pond and garden ponds in Worth Matravers are over a mile away. Apparently, this is typical behaviour for the species. Migrant Hawkers are happy to feed well away from water before they are sexually mature & may only appear at water when they are ready to breed.

Migrant Hawker: Male. Perching high up in a tree

Migrant Hawker: Male. It briefly perched low down as I walked back to the car

The larger Dragonflies generally seem to be very territorial on breeding territories. However, Migrant Hawkers seem to be happy in groups before they move to their breeding territories as the next photo shows.

Migrant Hawker: Again a non-breeding location (11 Aug 14)

28 Aug 18 - Migrant Hawkers At Littlesea, Studland

The third & final Post from Littlesea, Studland when I was unsuccessfully looking for the Purple Heron. There were plenty of other wildlife to distract me including a showy Moorhen & an Ashy Mining Bee. I also saw good numbers of male Migrant Hawkers. They spent a lot of time patrolling along the edge of Littlesea, but would hover every now & then for photos.

Migrant Hawker: Male

Migrant Hawker: Male. They weren't perching very often. The brownish eyes & virtually non-existent anti-humeral yellow stripes (the very small yellow stripe on the 'shoulder' on the body) are key features to separate them from Common Hawkers. Common Hawkers have much stronger yellow anti-humeral stripes & blue eyes

Migrant Hawker: Male. Another individual taken three days later (31 Aug 18)

9 Aug 18 - Soaring In Devon

It's been a tough week recently, following, the desperately sad news that my good Birding mate, Brian Field died recently following an unexpected heart attack while out Birding in West Cornwall. I have known Brian since the early 1980s & we have spent about five months travelled abroad over seven Birding trips. I will come back to write a longer Post & tribute to Brian later this Autumn when I've got a bit more used to this sudden news. My last Birding trip with Brian was earlier this year when we both had a great trip to Northern Colombia in Feb/Mar 18.

Brian Field: Enjoying a late breakfast stop in the Santa Marta Mountains, Colombia (6 Mar 18)

Brian's funeral was in his home town of Truro on 8 Aug 18 & it was a tough & emotional day for everybody. It was good to catch up with a lot of old mates associated with the South West during the day. I stayed down West with another good mate, Pete Aley & his wife Ali in Plymouth that evening. It was Pete who first introduced me to Brian after they both arrived at Plymouth Poly together in 1980 & immediately they started putting the Poly on the map for young Birders to enjoying a lively Birding & twitching scene & come away with a degree as a bonus. The following day, Pete & I headed out to check out a couple of local Birding sites. The main stop was Soar to the East of Plymouth. There were a few migrant Willow Warblers & Whitethroats around, but low numbers of migrants overall.

Yellowhammer: I'm always happy to see Yellowhammers

However, it proved to be a better day for insects.

Migrant Hawker: Female

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary: Pleased to see these second brood individuals which have really declined in recent years in Dorset. Hope they are doing better in Devon

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary: The same individual

Wall: I saw several, but this tatty individual was the only one that posed briefly for a photo

After nearly completing a circuit of Soar we reached the cafe Pete had said we would be able to get a drink. This proved to be a lot better than I had expected. It was a large open barn next to a few tents for hire & a few friendly farm animals. It certainly was a popular place for the local mums to natter, while their kids played & made some animal friends. Some excellent coffee & freshly made cake. A good day out given the circumstances.

Toy Snake at the cafe: This would catch a few of the local visitors out if placed on the Arne reserve

21 Jul 18 - Mediterranean Migrants

Having spent a few hours sorting a backlog of recent UK photos for the Blog, I checked Twitter to see if there had been any interesting wildlife sightings while I had been sorting my photos. A post from local Birder Ian Ballam about a Dragonfly he had photographed at Lytchett Bay (at the other end of Poole Harbour) caught my attention. Ian is out locally most days & this year has been doing a Dragonfly photographic Year List. The photo was clearly not up to Ian's normal standard, was quite some distance away & blurry. Ian asked whether this side-on shot was a Southern Migrant Hawker. Looking at it there were large blue eyes (which looked good), a green thorax & a blue & black abdomen. Potentially yes was my immediate thought. I checked a few photos on the UK Dragonflies website to double check how to rule out the other Hawkers & Emperor Dragonfly. Each were quickly eliminated & I thought I could see thin black vertical lines on the green thorax, but that was just a bit too tricky given the poor quality of the photo. However, it was good enough to think I would need to visit Lyttle-shit Bay (you may gather it's not my favourite part of Poole Harbour). A couple of phone calls with Ian confirmed that Nick Hull, who is another LB patch watcher, had joined Ian. They had now got decent photographs & confirmed the id. My suspicions have now been confirmed that this is a county first. However, they have been breeding in Kent & Essex for at just over a decade since initial sightings in 2006, following a single 20th Century sighting. There have been sightings in the last couple of weeks in Hants & Somerset, which may also be county firsts. Therefore, it's a species that was on the cards for being found this year in Dorset given the warm weather. I had no choice but to grab the camera & head off in the heat (the car thermostat was recording it was the upper twenties outside).

Southern Migrant Hawker: Male. They are superficially similar to male Migrant Hawkers, but have vivid blue eyes & blue colouration on segment two

Southern Migrant Hawker: Male. Segment two

Southern Migrant Hawker: Male. This individual only landed twice in the hour I was there. It frequently got into territorial aerial fights with another male that was also flying around the same nearly dried up pond. There was also one (& occasionally two) individuals on a second dried up pond nearby. No females were seen while I was there, but a probable female was briefly seen the following day

Southern Migrant Hawker: Male

Southern Migrant Hawker: Male. Another feature is the blue-green sides of the thorax with thin vertical black lines

Migrant Hawker: Male for comparison. Note, the full greyish eyes & overall darker blue colouration

Migrant Hawker: Male. Close up of segment two

Migrant Hawker: Male. Note, the broad pale stripes on the side of the thorax

This was my 35th species of Dragonfly in Dorset.

A happy Ian Ballam: Enjoying having a bonus Dragonfly for his Year List as Ian doesn't tend to travel far from Dorset

27 Nov 14 - Insect Photospot3 - Dorset Dragonflies

Following on from the Butterfly Photospots, then now is a good time to look back on my other big Insect passion this Summer: the Dragonflies. I've really enjoyed looking at the Dragonflies & Damselflies. I have been looking at Dragonflies for the last few years now, after initially dabbling with the first Dragonflies back in my university days for a few years. However, it is only really this year that I think I've really got a good grasp on their identification features & I have been generally able to recall the features from memory, without having to dig out the field guides. I have still got a long way to go to get more knowledgeable, but it has been fun improving my knowledge significantly this year. So here is a Photospot on the Dorset Dragonflies. I will cover Dorset Damselflies & Demoiselles in another Photospot. Both Photospots are designed to give the readers an appreciation of the variety of species that can be seen, rather than focusing on the identification. There are plenty more photos of these species as well as useful identification features in earlier Posts: just click on the Label links on the right hand side of the Blog.

Emperor Dragonfly: Female egg-laying. This is one of the larger Dragonfly species & can be commonly found in Dorset over Summer

Living in Dorset is a real privilege as it is one of the best counties for seeing  Dragonflies on your doorstep. We have such a good selection of heaths, clean rivers & freshwater lakes that allows a great variety of species to be seen. They are not always straight-forward to identify, but that's part of the fun. Having a camera is one of the best ways to help identify them as it is a good idea to get some photos & then compare them against the book. The photos taken before Oct 13 were taken with an inexpensive Lumix camera, whereas the photos taken after that date were with the Canon 7D and usually a 15-85 Macro lens, although some of the more distant shots were taken with the 400mm f5.6 lens.

Banded Demoiselle: Male. The Demoiselles will be covered in the next post. An out of county photo from Goring-on-Thames (13 June 14)

There are a couple & inexpensive of excellent field guides to get you started:-
The Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Steve Brooks and Richard Lewington
Watching British Dragonflies by Steve Dudley, Caroline Dudley and Andrew Mackay
Both of these field guides provides excellent identification sections for each species as well as some cracking illustrations. A few of the vagrant species are not covered in the latter guide, but it has a lot of good site directions and species to help you find all of the regular UK species.

Common Blue Damselfly: The Damselflies will also be covered in the next post

One thing I have learnt this year, is it a good idea to get photos from as many different angles as possible. So while a top down view will provide a good in focus photo, it might not provide all the features. Often a side view of the thorax & abdomen is important to get & sometimes a face on view is also needed. The other good thing about photos taken with a good digital camera, is it allows some of the key features to be quickly zoomed up on the back of the camera to see those fine details, that might not be as easy to see in the field. Most of the Dragonflies & Damselflies are approachable with care, although some of the Hawkers can be really challenging to get a perched photo. The other good thing is like the Butterflies, you can often get some good photos with a relatively cheap digital camera, providing it can cope with close focus. Then you just need to learn how to get close without flushing your subject.

Southern Hawker: Adult with the larval case. Swanage (11 July 14). I was surprised to find this species egg-laying in moss next to my garden pond. I had assumed most species would lay their eggs in the water, but it seems this species lays eggs near to ponds & the eggs don't hatch until the following Spring. I guess the larva quickly move to the water at this point

Common Hawker: Despite its name this is not a common species in Dorset. I have seen it on the heaths around Studland, but failed to find any this year to photograph. It's always good to have a target for next year

Brown Hawker: Longham Lake (18 Aug 12)

Migrant Hawker: Male. This was one of the commoner Hawkers I saw this Autumn in Dorset and despite its name it breeds in Southern England (7 Aug 14)

Migrant Hawker: Female. South Haven, Studland (25 Aug 14)

Emperor Dragonfly: Bestwall (19 June 14)

Golden-ringed Dragonfly: East Holme Water Meadows (6 July 14)

Vagrant Emperor: I was lucky to hear this vagrant had gone to roost on a fence panel of one of the Weymouth Birders. Well worth twitching as I've not heard of any since in Dorset. Weymouth (11 May 11)

Hairy Dragonfly: This is easy to identify as it is the first of the Hawkers to fly. Soldiers Road, Hartland Heath (18 May 14)

Hairy Dragonfly: Mating pair. East Holme Water Meadows (12 July 14)

Downy Emerald: Morden Bog (26 May 13)

Downy Emerald: Studland (14 May 14)

Black-tailed Skimmer: Male. Brownsea (21 June 14)

Keeled Skimmer: Male. Greenlands Farm, Studland (3 Aug 14)

Keeled Skimmer: Female. Godlingston Heath (1 June 14)

Broad-bodied Chaser: Male. Higher Hyde (10 June 14)

Broad-bodied Chaser: Female. East Holme Water Meadows (6 July 14)

Four-spotted Chaser: Brownsea (21 June 14)

Scarce Chaser: Male. East Holme Water Meadows (12 June 14)

Scarce Chaser: Female. East Holme Water Meadows (12 June 14)

Black Darter: Rempstone Forest (3 Aug 14)

Ruddy Darter: Higher Hyde (11 July 14)

Ruddy Darter: South Haven, Studland (10 Sep 14)

Red-veined Darter: The only one I have seen was this individual at West Bexington (13 July 13)

Common Darter: As the name suggests this is a Common species which flies in the second half of the Summer & will typically carry on until the end of October or sometimes even later for the occasional individual. Arne (11 July 14)

Common Darter: I have covered the identification pitfalls between Common Darters & Red-veined Darters in this post. Rempstone Forest (3 Aug 14)

Additionally, Lesser Emperor & Yellow-winged Darter have occurred as vagrant Dragonflies in Dorset. I have been lucky enough to see Lesser Emperor at Longham Lakes in Aug 12 & Yellow-winged Darter at Holt Heath in 1994. I wasn't really into seeing Dragonflies for the latter species, but I'm glad I was persuaded to go & look for them, given how rare they are.