Back To Shalfleet Stream.

A return visit to Shalfleet this afternoon resulted in two sightings of Beautiful Demoiselles.This doubled the number that was recorded on the 6th of this month.Still,the weather conditions today were not good in spite of the sunshine.Temperatures were much lower and there was a stiff breeze.Demoiselles it seems like a sunny,warm and sheltered spot with plenty of prey passing by .

In contrast  to the individual seen on Sunday the male pictured below has somewhat matured and despite his brown wings the eyes are darkening and the thorax is showing that metallic blue-green.

Common Blues Sign In.

A visit to the stream at Southford near to the village of Niton today did not produce any sightings.It seems that the Banded Demoiselles are not yet on the wing.However close by is a reservoir and a known spot for Common  Blue Damselflies.Happily I managed to find three individuals all immature/teneral.

The First Demoiselle.

A lunchtime walk along a local wooded stream at Shalfleet was made all the more enjoyable by the scent of wild garlic,lots of spring flowers, and plenty of Orange Tips hurrying by.The main purpose of my visit was to see the Beautiful Demoiselles and just one was on show.This immature male is perhaps the very first to emerge along this stretch of river this year. 

Broad-bodied Chasers Fly In.

Following a brief sighting of a Broad-bodied Chaser a couple of days ago in the garden, this morning another flew in and promptly took up postion in a sunny spot.It seems that she is here to stay for the time being in the hope of meeting a male as my pond is very close by.

Large Reds Take Centre Stage.

A visit to Bouldnor Forest at Yarmouth today discovered only Large Red Damselflies at the old and new ponds.Numbers are on the increase with many new emergents fluttering around the ponds and heading for the safety of the trees and bushes.

Garden Pond Produces First Large Reds.

The spring emergence is now under way with the first damselfies appearing at my garden pond.Around noon at least two Large Red Damselfies made their journey out of the water and onto the reeds.No doubt others will be following in due course.

First Large Red's of the Season.

After last week's short heat wave temperatures returned to the seasonal norm over the weekend.The first Large Red Damselflies to emerge did not take advantage  of the recent very warm weather,however today they decided to make their appearance.At the Old Pond situated next to the WW2 Bouldnor Battery there were around four individuals in the surrounding reeds and not too far away at least six more amongst the gorse.

Top Highlight of 2017

We enjoyed some excellent early summer weather this year and the dragonflies responded with plenty of sightings at the usual sites.Unfortunately the periods of settled warm weather did not continue through the latter part of the summer and activity was very disappointing.

The first  highlight of the season occurred on an earlier than usual holiday to the Greek Island of Thassos. We normally visit in August but this year decided on  May. The reed surrounded pools at the back of the beach at Chrissi Ammoudia always have a variety of odonata.However this time  I was treated to close views the Norfolk Hawker, Aeshna isoceles. This green-eyed hawker is not encountered much in the UK except in East Anglia as the name would suggest.

At a local garden pond site the Small Red-eyed Damselfly was once again out in good numbers after the aggressive cutting back of water lilies in the winter of 2015-16.In fact a sighting on the 20th June this year was the earliest record of this species on the Isle of Wight to date.Apart from the sight of an emergent damselfly on the pond weed, a mature male was spotted soon after this and therefore the date can be earlier by several days.

Exciting though these encounters were,the top highlight of 2017 by far must be the discovery of a breeding colony of Southern Emerald Damselflies here on the Island close to the town of Yarmouth. Prior to May this year the only records of  Lestes barbarus  in the UK have been in Kent,Essex,and Norfolk so it is quite an event to find this new species.The discovery may have gone unnoticed as the photographs of the several Southern Emeralds seen on that day were misidentified as  Lestes  sponsa. Thanks therefore must go the Odonata Records Officer for Migrant Dragonflies at the British Dragonfly Society for pointing out the error.I have now recovered from my initial embarrassment of making this basic mistake, as for some seasons prior to 2017 I have regularly seen Lestes sponsa  at this site. In fact it is thanks to another odonatist  trawling through the earlier posts of this blog that confirmed the photos taken in 2016 showed Leste barbarus and not Lestes sponsa  as I had thought.These earlier photographs  also proved that breeding had taken place on this site since at least 2015 as some individuals were immature.

Quiet at Bouldnor.

Dodging the heavy showers was the name of the game today although when the sun shone it was pleasantly warm.However a walk around the ponds at Bouldnor did not produce any great quantity of dragonflies.Most prolific were male Ruddy Darters and they could be seen every few feet along the banks of the ponds.There were also  several Common Darters but none of the larger dragonflies that I would expect to see at this time of year.This was also true of damselflies as I only encountered one male Common Blue Damselfly and a single male Emerald Damselfly. 

Busy at Brighstone Mill Stream.

I decided to make a brief visit the mill stream at Brighstone today as I was passing close by. The sun was shining and there were a few  hot spots along the stream,just right for sun loving dragonflies. Not surprisingly Common Darters were numerous as too were Banded Demoiselles. It was good to see a male Golden-ringed Dragonfly patrolling a short stretch of the stream and obligingly perching on any convenient reed stem. Another dragonfly also with the same intent, was a Southern Hawker that found an overhanging branch.