16 May 23 - A Spring Red-veined Darter

The weather looked promising for some late Spring migrants at my St Aldhelms patch, but in the end there was little around. A single Spotted Flycatcher at the top of Pier Bottom and small numbers of all three common Hirundines arriving were the highlights as I left Trev's Quarry & headed towards the head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw was a flash of a red Dragonfly, but that was all I saw before it disappeared off the main track. It was too brief to even decide whether it was a Dragonfly or Damselfly. The only red species flying at the moment is likely to be a Large Red Damselfly, but that is a species I've not seen at St Aldhelms. It was too brief a view to do anything with it, other than to feel frustrated by the poor sighting. I carried on a bit further, before deciding I might as well knock the Birding on the head. Fortunately, the Dragonfly had returned to the main track & I saw it fly again, but it quickly drop back onto the track. It was clearly a Darter. As I raised the camera, my mind was considering the options: it was a couple of months before either the first Common Darters or Ruddy Darters would be on the wing. Common Darters occur at St Aldhelms, whereas it would also be the wrong habitat for a Ruddy Darter. That left a migrant Red-veined Darter as the most likely candidate. I needed to get some photos.

Red-veined Darter: This my first Red-veined Darter that I've seen within 10 miles of the house: a list I'm particularly keen on as it highlights my local wildlife sightings

Red-veined Darter: A close up of the head & wings

After grabbing a few photos, it was time to check them to confirm the ID features. One of the bonuses of carrying a camera is it is often easier to zoom in to check the ID features on the photos, than it is to get close enough to see these features in the field. I could see the dark bordered pale pterostigma near the wing tips and the black marks on the abdomen. I could just about make out the facial pattern showing the blue-grey lower face & the white edges to the frons, as well as, the red veins. All these features confirms it was a Red-veined Darter: a nice migrant for St Aldhelms. I tried to get a couple of feet closer, but it saw the movement & disappeared back into the field & out of sight.

Red-veined Darter at Longham: Here is a better photo of a Red-veined Darter at Longham for comparison (30 Jun 19)

30 Jun 19 - Sunburnt Darters

It was getting to the end of June & as usual, the Dorset Birding was very quiet. Many species have bred & are either moulting or attempting to raise a second brood. The first few Waders have started to appear, but that has just been a trickle so far. My thoughts were turning to Dragonflies and the expectation of trying to get some reasonable photos of Red-veined Darters. They have been seen in low numbers at Longham Lakes in recent years, but I've not been successful in seeing them there in the past. There had been a mid week post on twitter from local Birder, Ian Ballam, that he had seen & photographed some. The weekend looked promising, albeit exceptionally hot & sunny on the Saturday. I contacted Peter Moore on the Thursday evening to see if he was up for a visit, but he was thinking of travelling further afield for Brilliant Emerald on the Saturday. Fortunately, I've managed to photograph Brilliant Emeralds in the past. I made a flippant remark about I would still head there at the weekend & probably find something good. As well as Red-veined Darters, Lesser Emperors have also become established there in recent years. The next day I had a text from Peter saying "Scarlet Darter at Longham Lakes". Clearly, there was something good there, but it had already been found. This is only the second Dorset record, with the first being seen at Longham Lakes on 8 & 9 Jul 17.

Scarlet Darter: I was one of around 15 people who connected with the original individual before it disappeared (9 Jul 17)

In the end I decided to give the Saturday a miss. There is limited on road parking at Longham, unless you fancy a longer walk from the garden centre & I figured that it would be very popular given few people have seen a Scarlet Darter in the UK. The previous Longham Lakes record appears to have been one of the most twitchable individuals & it didn't linger long enough for more than a few locals to connect: as it was only seen on & off for a couple of hours mid morning. I was still keen to visit & the Sunday looked perhaps more promising. It had been in the low 30s the day before, but an overcast morning & more of a breeze was going to keep the site cooler. I grabbed the camera & left. After an afternoon of negative news on the Scarlet Darter, I had no problem in finding somewhere to park the car. After a ten minute walk, I reached the small pond where the Scarlet Darter had been seen the previous day. There had been no sightings, but it is a great looking site & I hung around to have a look. After all, if it was still around, but only liked to show in the mornings, then perhaps it was worth a wait. After about fifteen minutes, a guy I've not seen before said he had a bright red Darter flying over the pool. He said it had red eyes & he was 99.9% certain it was the Scarlet Darter. Being cynical, I didn't think it could be the Scarlet Darter, solely based upon the 99.9% certain statement. But I was also knew that two Red-veined Darters that had been seen on the pond during the previous day. I couldn't see it from where I was looking, so walked across to join him. It reappeared & perched up a few meters into the pond. Time to use the camera.

Red-veined Darter: It wasn't close

Red-veined Darter: A closer crop. I could see the dark edged pale pterostigma which I knew was a feature of Red-veined Darter. Also, it didn't look bright enough on the abdomen. I was trying to remember the other features for Scarlet Darter, but despite looking at the book over breakfast, I could only remember the overall brightness of the abdomen for Scarlet Darter

Having looked at the back of the camera photos, I checked my photo of the original Scarlet Darter & I could see that the pterostigma were dark. It had to be one of the Red-veined Darters. It probably wasn't what the handful of other peeps there wanted to hear, but that's life. It had flown, but returned to the same perch a couple of minutes later.

Red-veined Darter: This time it was side on. I thought that Red-veined Darters have a blue lower eye, but it is hard to see on this individual because of the wings. There is a hint that the lower eye could turn blue, but perhaps that happens over time. I was confused about the white band on the side of the frons. I couldn't remember reading about that it the past, but it was a few years since I looked at Red-veined Darter identification

The dark marks on the side of the abdomen was something that the previous Scarlet Darter hadn't shown. Checking the books, it is something that Red-veined Darters show. It was now happy to sit around & allowed views through the guy's telescope. Somebody had looked up the other features on their phone & confirmed it should have had a broad flat bright red abdomen with no black & no black on the red legs. In the end, we all agreed that it was a Red-veined Darter. It showed a couple of times, before disappearing for most of the next two hours. I hung around and chatted with various friends who were steadily arriving. Eventually, it was time to accept defeat that the Scarlet Darter wasn't round & head off with Olly Frampton & Peter Moore for the North Lake: which had been the stronghold for the Red-veined Darters during the week. Soon after arriving at the North Lake, we had found the second Red-veined Darter. I saw another two on the way back to the car. There had been about thirty seen during the week, but presumably the breeze wasn't helping.

Red-veined Darter: Note, the black marks on the abdomen & the dark bordered pale pterostigma

Red-veined Darter

Red-veined Darter: The dark legs & the facial pattern showing the blue-grey lower face & the white edges to the frons

Red-veined Darter

Red-veined Darter

Red-veined Darter 

Red-veined Darter: A close of the wing showing the red veins & the distinctive pterostigma

Clearly, it wasn't just me that was looking sunburnt that day.

21 July 14 - Caught Out By A Conman (Darter) Or The Pitfalls Of Darter Identification

If you're going to write a blog or publish stuff in another format, then there is always the risk that you will misidentify something. I've seen this on other blogs, where people have made errors & it's interesting looking at the different reactions. Some put their hands up & admit to the error, others probably change things very quietly hoping nobody spots they have made a mistake & on a few occasions, I've seen people carry on with the error regardless of the facts. Another reaction I've seen from a well known figure & prolific tweeter has been to suddenly go quiet for a few hours after being told he has made a mistake. I'm looking forward to his next mistake to see if this was pure coincidence or another interesting approach. My approach is to put my hand up to the error & try to learn from the mistake, so I don't make it again. 

Over the weekend, I was finally looking at some old photos from a couple of years ago & labelling them. I found this Darter photo from Dorset's newest birding site, Longham Lakes. This has been well watched over the last four years since the gravel extraction phase at this site ended. I didn't look at this photo really closely, but labelled it as a Red-veined Darter.

Darter: Longham Lakes (18 Aug 12)

This went out as an email on the local email group as I don't remember any records of Red-veined Darters for this site. It prompted a swift & private response from my sharp eyed mate, Steve Morrison, asking whether I had attached the right photo as this was a Common Darter. A quick look in this case, revealed he was right, as I couldn't even see any red veins on it. I had been going on the red pterostigma (the red cell at the end of each wing) & hadn't really checked the photo more carefully. Oh dear. Should have looked at the photo and the books a bit more closely. At this point, I forwarded a photo of the Red-veined Darter taken at Arne recently to ensure that I hadn't screwed that one up as well. That one had red veins, but having re-read the Dragonfly guide, the pterostigma should be yellow-brown with a dark line above & below and alarm bells starting ringing about this one. But on balance, I still thought this would be OK. 

Darter: Arne (11 July 14)

The email back from Steve confirmed that this too was a Common Darter. I quickly contacted Brett Spencer as Brett probably knows more about Dragonflies than anybody else I know who now lives in Dorset. Steve lives in France these days so I don't have to try comparing their knowledge (phew hopefully that will avoid a legal action!!!). A quick response from Brett confirmed the Arne Darter was a young male Common Darter. So that's now two misidentifications & the Arne Darter was already published on the blog. I only had time last night to quickly add a brief update to that post, but have now changed it. But rather than adopt the approach of constantly rewriting history like the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's classic book 1984, I thought I would try to get the features sorted properly this time. I've often tried to make the blog a bit more interesting than a diary of what I saw when I went out. So I've tried to add a bit more to the blog, e.g. subspecies & ranges or the features which make this species what it is. My worry now was have I mislead anybody else due to my errors.

Common Darter: Arne (11 July 14). Common Darters have 2 obvious yellow stripes on the sides of the thorax

 Common Darter: Arne (11 July 14) They also have yellow stripes on the black legs (would be all black in Ruddy Darters). The facial pattern has the black above the frons [nose area] extending as a line, but not going down the sides of the frons (which it would do in Red-veined Darters). The eyes are reddish-brown with yellow or green below & get redder with age, but never getting as deep red as on a Ruddy Darter

Common Darter: Arne (11 July 14). Males have an orangey-red abdomen. Clearly, from my photos the pterostigma colour can vary from greyish in the first individual to red with a touch of yellow in this individual. Note, the lack of yellow bases to the hind wings

Here are the comments from Steve on the above individual: The Arne photo gives the impression of something good based on the colouration of the veins, but not enough to be Red-veined and they really are red or orange-red in Red-veined. Common Darters have the most parallel sides of the Sympetrums. There is variation in Common Darters, as with many Dragonflies and some do show coloured veins. The Arne one being closer to the extreme than most. The pterostigma on Common invariably appear reddish and usually dark, but sometimes pale, but invariably reddish. Brett added that a Red-veined Darter would only ever have this extent of red on the pterostigma on an old male.

I did send Steve my final photo of a Red-veined Darter from West Bexington last year. I was confident about this one as the local birders, Mike Morse & Alan Barratt, took Peter Moore & myself to this site & others including Brett had also seen them earlier in their flying period. But there was always the possibility I had photographed a wrong individual, but this time I thought I was right. This got a thumbs up from Steve, so it can stay on my Life & Dorset list.

Red-veined Darter: Note, the brick-red abdomen, yellow-brown pterostigma with dark borders & yellow basal patches to the hind wings (although Common Darters can show this, but not as extensively). The red veins are mainly on the basal part of the leading edge of each wing. Unfortunately, I've not got a picture of the facial pattern to see the black ending down the sides of the frons. Other features to look for are the brown thorax lacking pale stripes, the eyes of males are reddish-brown above and blue below (but all are hidden on the photo by the wings) & the black legs have a yellow stripe on them

Steve has added the following comments against this individual. The veins in this individual are actually relatively indistinct for a Red-veined Darter and close to the Arne Common Darter, but they are always more extensive than Common Darters. Also note the more subtly pinched-in look at the Red-veined Darter abdomen (not applicable in females). Also the pair of red tips on the ante-alar ridge [part of the edge of the thorax in front of the front wing bases], just in front of the red tegulae [the bit where the wing joins the thorax] are more diagnostic of Red-veined Darter, than Common Darter. On a Common Darter, this area usually looks pale contrasting with the red tegulae, as seen on the Arne Common Darter. Wow got a couple of new bits of anatomy into the post, which I had to look up on the internet. I've added my layman's explanation in square brackets.

Overall, it has been a good learning experience for me. Many thanks to Steve & Brett for their comments on the Arne individual. Also thanks to Steve for having a proof read of this post to make sure it was OK before publishing it. Can't wait to get back out now to have another closer at Common Darters and hope that some more Red-veined Darters appear in Dorset this year, to get a better view & photos of them.