Walking along a very grassy forest glade today was rewarded with an encounter with this male Golden-ringed Dragonfly. He was so pre-occupied with hunting and feeding that my presence was partically ignored. Finding any suitable grass stalk the dragonfly would spend time devouring it's catch and after a short rest would continue the pursuit.
Cooler temperatures today and cloudy at times which curbed a lot of activity at Bouldnor Forest ponds. Just a few of the common damselflies to be seen along with one or two teneral Common Darters. However the one damselfly of interest was this male Emerald Lestes sponsa observed in the larger of the now dry scrapes formerly used by Southern Emerald Damseldlies. No sign of the latter so far this season following no sightings of it last year.
In my first post of 2023 I mentioned that my garden pond had become clogged with vegetation leading to a substantial decline in dragonfly activity. Therefore over the winter I performed a clearout of plants and now the pond boasts open water with marginal reed,cotton grass and frogbit Hydrocharis morsus-ranae. The latter is much used by ovipositing damselflies and I have noted a lot of egg laying by Large Red and Azure Damselflies over the last few weeks.
For the first time in some years this male Broad-bodied Chaser took up station at the pond today and over the last fortnight I have recorded several female Chasers ovipositing into the open water.
With the settled and warm sunny weather due to continue for another week at least,the dragonflies at Bouldnor Forest today were out and about. The damselflies seen at the ponds included Azure,Large Red,and Blue-tailed while dragonflies were two male Four-spotted Chasers, Emperor Dragonflies,one of which was an ovipositing female, Broad-bodied Chasers,and several teneral Common Darters. Close by, along the forest tracks were two Southern Hawkers.
A first seasonal visit to Bouldnor Forest ponds at Yarmouth today discovered a reasonable selection of species. Broad-bodied Chasers were of course very evident with several mature males flying over the ponds.However in the quieter spots just away from water one or two immature chasers were encountered and particularly this male starting to take on the blue abdomen. Competition was fierce at one of the ponds with not only Broad-bodied Chasers but also a male Emperor Dragonfly involved.This was too much for this male Four-spotted Chaser that took station over a small side pool away from all the action.
Recorded today at the site were 6 Emperor,7 Broad-bodied Chasers,Azure and Large Red Damselflies,together with a Blue-tailed Damselfly violacea, and of particular interest was a teneral Common Darter.
Several Large Red Damselflies have appeared in my garden, emerging not only from my garden pond but also from an established pond next door. The following photo shows one such immature that was seen today.
My pond was created in 2010 and over that time it had become clogged with many pond plants. It seems that this has led to much less activity regarding dragonflies as well as damselflies. Therefore over the winter most of the plants were thinned and cleared and now the photograph below shows a rather bare looking pond. However, several bunches of Hornwort have been added and the Frogbit has again returned. Both are good oxygenators and popular with the wildlife.
A first visit of the year to Bouldnor Old Pond at Yarmouth today produced my first damselfly of the season. I disturbed a teneral female Large Red Damselfly in the reeds at the edge of the pond and it fluttered past me into a bramble thicket. Not surprisingly despite a quick search I was unable to relocate it. This was the only sighting of the day but no doubt it will be the first of many Large Red's seen in the coming days.
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As I happened to be very near to the pond in Stag Lane,Newport this morning, I stopped for a quick visit and was rewarded with good numbers of odonata. As we are now well into a prolonged dry period with no substantial rain for nearly two months this large pond is well down on it's usual level. Emperor Dragonflies were patrolling the reeded margins and the open water and some Common Darters were also evident. Perhaps the most interesting sightings were several male Small Red-eyed Damselflies perching on reed stems in the sunshine.
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The first sighting of the year of the Emerald Damselfly was recorded today at Bouldnor Forest ponds. Initially a female and then a male. Other species were very limited despite a warm and partly sunny day.
