Almost There.

The first adult male Broad-bodied Chaser appeared in my garden this afternoon.Rather than taking up position at the edge of my pond, he has spent all the time in a well favoured sunny spot in the flower border outside the back door.Hopefully he will stay around and make his way to the pond as there has been a female flying about since this morning.

Damselflies at Bouldnor Forest Ponds.

Yesterdays trip to the new ponds at Bouldnor also produced,not surprisingly perhaps,three of our commonest damselflies.At the largest of the ponds a teneral female Common Blue Damselfly.This species is found in a very wide range of waters but generally shuns small ponds,preferring larger ponds,lakes,and reservoirs

The second species was an immature male Blue-tailed Damselfly,identified by its  greenish thorax which will turn blue when adult.Thirdly a female Azure Damselfly,abundant here on the Isle of Wight and over most of the country.

   

Skimmers Galore.

The new ponds created in a cleared area of commercial forest at Bouldnor are now probably three years old and have provided an ideal habitat for a variety of dragonflies.Up to six scrape-like ponds are here and with their bare ground edges,they have attracted Black-tailed Skimmers.Today my visit to the ponds yielded several teneral skimmers,mainly found sulking in the surrounding tall grass and small gorse bushes.

A Slow Start.

It has been a slow start to the season at my garden pond but today several male Azure Damselflies finally appeared.

The Blue Beauties are Back.

The weather forecast today persuaded me to visit Shalfleet Stream for the first time this year to seek out the Beautiful Demoiselle. The promised sunshine did not  materialise and cloud persisted for the duration of my walk along the bank of the stream.Still,despite this I was pleased to find five immature male demoiselles mainly keeping low down in the undergrowth out of the chilly wind.

All these males seemed to be very recently emerged and with some warmth and sun numbers will no doubt increase rapidly.

It's a Boy!

With up to four female Broad-bodied Chasers in the garden over the last several days I observed another Broad-bodied Chaser flying around the garden today.Like the others it landed in what seems a favoured flower border that is in full sun.Close inspection of the chaser confirmed that this one was an immature male.Both female and immature males are very similar in colour. However the abdomen is broader in the female and of course the anal appendages differ.

   

More Chasers.

After persistent overnight rain and a blustery overcast morning the sun appeared this afternoon.Although the brisk wind continued, the sunny spells encouraged two more female Broad-bodied Chasers to seek some warmth in my garden.One at least was a teneral  but I cannot say for certain that these recent Chasers emerged from my pond as there is a more established garden pond close by.With fine weather predicted for tomorrow I am hopeful that further dragonflies or damselflies will be seen.