A Trip to Rhodes.

The Greek Island of Rhodes,situated close to the Turkish mainland  is a very popular holiday destination for the British and is a unique area for dragonflies not seen in the rest of Europe.

A family vacation this last week to enjoy the town of Lindos in the south of the Island and hopefully encounter some of the Rhodes wildlife in and around our holiday complex.The countryside nearby is hilly with bare rock slopes and a scattering of scrub and herb plants baked dry by the hot summer sun.

However there is no shortage of water as the torrential winter rains fill the several large reservoirs across the Island.Thanks to regular irrigation of the hotel gardens there is usually running water around at some time which becomes a magnet for any passing dragonflies,as well as the two swimming pools which also attract the insects

My first encounter was a female Red-veined Darter right outside the ground floor balcony and more of these darters were seen along the dry track passing by the complex.

A great find was a mature male Small Skimmer which took up position on one of the hotel paths where water from a garden  trickled across.

Perhaps the best sighting was at the edge of the swimming pool where I closely observed a beautiful male Violet Dropwing. Sadly as I was in the pool at the time and not in the habit of taking the camera in with me I missed the opportunity to takes its picture.Not the first time that I have seen this species at the side of a swimming pool as last year in Lefkada I was lucky enough to get a shot of this handsome dragonfly.

The swimming pool was also patrolled by more than one large dragonfly at regular times of the day.

.
What laughingly could be called a pond for terrapins was the brief domain of a male Epaulet Skimmer.

A regular visitor outside our balcony was this immature male Blue-tailed Oertzeni's Rock Lizard.Another colourful animal on this Island.

Also a delicate Praying Mantis on the lookout for another meal.

As Blue as the Sky.

A visit to my local pond at Clamerkin NT on another hot and sunny afternoon and although there did not seem to be much dragonfly activity I was treated to a number of male Common Blue Damselflies.A colourful and beautiful damselfly.

Colourful Visitors.

After a wet start to the day the sun returned this afternoon and a couple of colourful visitors spent time at my garden pond.

A Blue-tailed Damselfly has been  resident for a few days now but a new arrival today was a female Southern Hawker.She returned several times and hopefully has or will oviposit at the pond.

At My Garden Pond.

At my garden pond Common Darters,Azure Damselflies and ovipositing Emperors are the main sights now.

Several male Common Darters are dotted around the garden while a female blue form Emperor seems to visit the pond every day to lay her eggs.

Great to see a Grass Snake in the pond today too.

One A Day.

The Emperor Dragonfly seems to be ovipositing almost daily at my garden pond.The blue form female pictured below was seen yesterday and yet another on the water today.

More Small Red-eyes.

A return visit to a nearby garden pond to see the Small Red-eyed Damselflies again.I was particularly hopeful of photographing the females,either individually or  while mating.As it was I was only able to find them while they did the latter.

Emergent Darters.

During the last week several Common Darters have emerged from my garden pond which has coincided with the appearance of the adults.

The individual pictured below took its first flight from the pond side this morning and ended up in struggling a spiders web not too far away.I managed to retrieve it and hopefully it will make a full recovery

.

A Little Red-eyed Stunner.

A garden pond in the village of Shalfleet has a good number of Small Red-eyed Damselflies.As mentioned in an earlier post these delicate damsels have only colonized the UK in the past few years but now seem to be well established here.

The males spend most of their time sitting on a lily pad awaiting a female, and also having territorial disputes with other nearby males.

Arrival of the Common Darter.

Over the last several days I have had at least three emergent Common Darters from my garden pond and with that adult Darters have arrived to take up positions around the pond.I would expect a lot of disputes between the males now as they vie for the best spot to attach the females.

Yet another Emperor Dragonfly oviposited into the pond plants today.this time a blue form female.

Hawking Hawkers.

Up to six Southern Hawkers this morning at Walters Copse,Newtown,all along the woodland paths.As well as several immature males and females there was also a colourful mature male.

.