28 Jul 24 - Silverlake Dragons

I covered the group of Male Scarlet Daters at Silverlake in the last Blog Post. This Blog Post covers some of the other Dragonflies at this superb Dragonfly site. The common large species were Emperor Dragonflies. There was also at least one Lesser Emperor which flew past me in the early afternoon, but it carried on flying. I heard that one had landing in the trees at the other end of the lake which allowed the opportunity for photos, but I didn't hear that news until well after the event.

Emperor Dragonfly: Male. There were a few whizzing around the lake, but this one landed for long enough for a photo

Other Dragonflies & Damselflies I saw included Common Darters, Black-tailed Skimmers, Keeled Skimmers, Beautiful Demoiselle and Small Red-eyed Damselflies. There were also plenty of Blue Damselflies, but none of them were seen close enough to identify them: they would have been Azure Damselflies or Common Blue Damselflies.

Common Darter: Male

There were plenty of Water Striders around the water's edge: they are one of the two large UK Pond Skaters species.

Water Strider: The other large Pond Skater species is River Strider, but this species prefers moving water

Water Strider: Mating whilst feeding on a dead Damselfly

Around the water's edge, there were good numbers of Backswimmers or Great Water Boatmen as they used to be called. This is a generic name for four species in the Notonecta family.

Backswimmer sp.: This appears to be one of Notonecta family of Backswimmers. There are four UK species, but without catching it & seeing the upperside of the body, it isn't possible to identify down to a species. The brown legs could indicate it is Common Backswimmer (Notonecta glauca)

This might be a large Caddis Fly sp.: It was still struggling, but it was unlikely to reach somewhere where it could pull itself out of the water. Therefore, it is likely to end up as food for something else, perhaps the Water Striders

1 Aug 18 - The Start Of The Autumn Migration

I doubt that you will get a clear date for the start of the Autumn migration from any group of South Coast UK Birders, as it will depend on their Birding preferences. Many will say the end of June or start of July when the first returning Waders appear. But that's subjective as the first heading South are likely to be failed breeding Birds. By the second half of June I was seeing good numbers of Curlews back in Poole Harbour. Around that date, I found a local Great White Egret which could have been a non-breeding individual or a post breeding individual wandering across from the continent or down from the Somerset Levels. Perhaps the date be based on returning Waders from further afield? Maybe, it should it be around the start of July when the Swifts start to depart & the first Sand Martins start gathering to head South. Alternatively, should it be when the Passerines start moving towards the end of July. Personally, I like to work on the start of Aug as that is when the Passerines start moving, although I do enjoy the arrivals of the early Waders. On the first of Aug I was Birding around Littlesea as I was still trying to find the Purple Heron. I had no joy with the Purple Heron, but I was happy to find both a Pied Flycatcher & a Spotted Flycatcher at Littlesea. Both were skulky & not easy to get views of them which is typical when they are on their breeding grounds. So, they were still behaving as if they were on their breeding grounds. Both species are migrants through the Studland area. Spotted Flycatchers are relatively regular and Pied Flycatchers are always scarce with just a small handful of records mainly in the Autumn. So, it was good to see that the Autumn Passerine migration had started.

Pied Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Robin: Juvenile. A locally breed individual close to where the two Flycatchers were feeding

Robin: Juvenile

Red-eyed Damselfly: Pair. Preparing for next year's generation (3 Aug 18)

Water Strider: The large size & upturned spurs at the end of the abdomen confirms the identification (3 Aug 18)

22 Jul 18 - Some Of The Resident Wildlife At Studland's Littlesea

In addition to the resident Birds photographed at Littlesea since I found the Purple Heron at Littlesea, I've managed to get some nice photos of some of the other commoner residents, while I've been looking for the Purple Heron during the daytime.

Sika Deer: They often appear around Littlesea & are quite comfortable in the water. This individual was feeding on the fern behind it (20 Jul 18)

Common Lizard: Enjoying the sun (18 Jul 18)

Large Skipper: Male (18 Jul 18)

Emerald Damselfly: Female. This is the only Emerald Damselfly type in Dorset, but I'm checking the ones I see as it can't be long before one of the other recently UK established species appear in Dorset (18 Jul 18)

Emerald Damselfly: Male (21 Jul 18)

Red-eyed Damselfly: Good to see this is relatively abundant at Littlesea after seeing it for the first time in there in 2017. Although I assume it has been there for the last few years (18 Jul 18)

Red-eyed Damselfly: (18 Jul 18)

Blue-tailed Damselfly: A common resident (18 Jul 18)

Water Strider: I saw a few so perhaps this is reasonable common along the edges (22 Jul 18)

White Water-lily: Hopefully I've got the id correct. Not quite Monet standard. The White Water-lilies are a popular haunt of the Red-eyed Damselflies and Small Red-eyed Damselflies (20 Jul 18)

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