22 Sep 22 - Head & Shoulders

This Southern Hawker posed nicely by the track by Trev's Quarry at St Aldhelms. It makes a change from seeing a Southern Hawker constantly flying around with no intention of stopping.

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker: Dragonflies look so good when seen this close & I always wonder what the world looks like through these amazing eyes

10 Aug 22 - A Brownsea Southern Hawker

One of the highlights of my regular volunteering Wednesday on Brownsea was this Southern Hawker which perched briefly over the main reserve track. There was just enough time for a few photos before it was off hunting again.

Southern Hawker

30 Jun 18 - An Island Dragon

I'm sure there are plenty of early maps with Dragons on remote islands & the plan for the weekend to go Dragon hunting on an island. The sun was shining & it was baking hot. I left early to ensure I didn't get held up with traffic & arrived just after 9:15 for the 10:00 pelagic. I was due to meet mate Gav MacLean just before the start of the pelagic, but I had a last minute text that South West trains had chosen not to do joined up thinking & hold his Brockenhurst connection for a minute to allow him to join me. Better to leave 30 passengers on the platform than wait a minute for them. After handing over a small fortune I was off Dragon hunting on my own. But first there was a pelagic.

The start of the Hampshire pelagic goes past a Tern & Gull colony: Unfortunately, no golden-billed Royal Terns with them today

Hurst Castle: Given it's Hampshire it is not up to the standard of Florida's Dry Tortugas for Birding. I'm surprised that the Brexit camp haven't started refortifying it again keep the Frenchies out

The Needles: The other Western gateway to the Solent

Fort Albert: Having been completed in 1856 to help protect the Solent from attack by Napoleon III, it was obsolete soon after. However, the military didn't finally leave until 1957. It has now been converted to private flats

The pelagic was over after just 40 minutes as the ferry pulled into Yarmouth: One Gannet on the IoW side was the highlight

Yarmouth Castle cannon

It was a 2 mile walk to Bouldnor Forest, the Dragon site: Fortunately, I avoided the guarding Red Squirrels

After about 45 minutes, I arrived at a clearing in Bouldnor Forest & started looking for the Dragonfly pools. There were a number of medium to large interesting looking pools surrounded by knee high vegetation. I spent an hour looking around them. However, they were far too open to be the pools I was interested in. My target for the day was the recently arrived Southern Emerald Damselfly. They were first found in Norfolk in 2002 & have been recorded at a few sites on the East coast of East Anglia & Kent. I was discussing with my mate Edge about looking for them this year in Kent & Edge said they had recently been discovered at a site on the Western end of the Isle of Wight. He was planning to go over with Gav this summer. Unfortunately, Edge wasn't available this particular weekend. Gav was still up for going & with two of us heading over, our chances of seeing them would be increased by having more eyes looking. Pity South West Trains had other ideas. We didn't have a lot to go on other than local Dragonfly photographer Peter Hunt's excellent Blog http://isleofwightdragons.blogspot.com. This is a great blog with lots of good photos of the Island's Dragonflies & other wildlife. The blog showed photos of the two heavily overgrown breeding pools that Peter had seen the Southern Emerald Damselflies around. It was Peter's photographs of the Southern Emerald Damselflies that allowed a sharp-eyed Dragonfly records officer at the British Dragonfly Society to identify them as a new species for the Isle of Wight in 2017. Subsequent checks through Peter's photographs confirmed that they had been present since 2015. Unlike the Kent & Norfolk populations of Southern Emerald Damseflies which are best looked for during the school holidays, the IoW ones are on the wing in June. So it was getting towards the end of their season, especially given how hot & dry the last few weeks have been.

Emperor Dragonfly: Female egg laying

Broad-bodied Chaser: Male

Blue-tailed Damselfly: Female. Thanks to Peter Hunt for correcting me on the identification of this as a female Blue-tailed Damselfly & probably the rufescens form (which I misidentified as a teneral Emerald Damselfly)

Water Strider: This is the largest UK Pond Skater & favours still water

Water Strider: Their large size & the presence of two upturned spurs at the end of the abdomen makes this easier to identify than most of the other Pond Skaters. Only the left hand spur is visible in this photo

Interesting as the pools were with many Dragonflies, I knew I still had to keep looking to find the right pools.

The smaller of the two pools: Virtually dried up so I assume that Southern Emerald Damselflies are able to lay eggs which can survive for a number of months without water

Finally, I stumbled on the smaller of the two pools, just as Gav was arriving after catching the ferry an hour after my ferry. Gav headed off to check the other pools. I carried on looking & soon after found the other pool with somebody else there. Not surprisingly it was Peter Hunt who had arrived between Gav & myself, but he had gone straight to the breeding pools. I called Gav over as Peter had seen one individual, but when we looked it had moved on.

The larger of the two pools: Even more dried up. I guess being able to survive until the next rains fill the pools up helps to cut down the competition for food & being eaten by other Dragonfly larva

Southern Emerald Damselfly: My initial view

Southern Emerald Damselfly: Getting better. The two-tone pterostigma are one of the features for Southern Emerald Damselflies

Southern Emerald Damselfly: The wings are typically held at 45 degrees to the body. Note, the reddish colouration in the wings is purely the way the light is catching the wings

Southern Emerald Damselfly: Close up showing the pale sides to the thorax & the pale patch at the back of the head which are also important features

Southern Emerald Damselfly: Close up of the two-tone pterostigma (Emerald Damselflies have uniform dark pterostigma)

Southern Emerald Damselfly: The second individual

Southern Emerald Damselfly: Close up of the head & thorax

Southern Emerald Damselfly: The second individual

Southern Emerald Damselfly: All Dragonflies & Damselflies are amazing close up. You wouldn't want to meet them if you were a small Insect

Southern Emerald Damselfly: At last a better photo

Southern Emerald Damselfly: Close up of the head & shoulders markings

Southern Emerald Damselfly: Close up of the two-tone pterostigma

It had been a good day trip seeing my last regularly breeding English Dragonfly. I have just got to see Dainty Damselfly if they get pinned down again, all the the Scottish Dragonflies & a few more vagrants.

Southern Hawker: Male perched up along the track back to the road

I had expected the pelagic back was going to be pretty quiet, so the lure of a coffee & cake got the better of me after several hours in the strong sun. However, as the final photo showed it threw up a surprise find.

I didn't expect to see a Jackass type Penguin as we left Yarmouth

8 Sep 15 - Southern Hawker

Spotted this obliging Southern Hawker on one of the reed leaves in the garden pond. Obviously, couldn't resist some photos.

Southern Hawker: This is a regular breeding species in the pond & the number of larva is probably probably responsible for the decline in Azure & Large Red Damselflies numbers in the pond

Southern Hawker: Great to get this close

Southern Hawker

Great Tit: While I was checking the Southern Hawker photos this Great Tit dropped in for a drink. Quite unconcerned I was sitting about a metre from where it was drinking

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.