Scarce Chaser

Tuesday was a bit of a mixed day. Good in that for the first time this year we saw Dragonfly and Damselfly in decent numbers. Bad in that we did not find our target, the Club-tailed Dragonfly.

We spent most of the morning on a detailed search of just over a mile of the Arun river bank from New Bridge near Billingshurst up as far as the old mill. It was interesting, we found Hairy Dragonflies, various Damselflies, exuvia hanging from vegetation, and a variety of insects that I am still trying to identify. What we didn't find was any sign of the Clubtails. I have a bad feeling about this. Last year I spent at least five days searching various stretches of the river without even a sniff of a clubtail. Do they still survive on the Arun?

What did we find? A freshly emerged Scarce Chaser in lovely condition and fortunately for us reluctant to fly.

Large Red Damselflies - my first of the year.

Azure Damselflies

Male and Female Banded Demoiselle

Common Blue Butterfly - another first for the year

And finally a Mayfly, or what I have always known as a Mayfly, freshly emerged and hanging out to dry.

Reading up on them I see that Mayfly is the common name for the group of insects  Ephemera vulgata with fifty one species known in the UK. Facinating to read that these were one of the first winged insects. Fossils have been found dating back over 300 million years, well before the dinosaurs. Hmmm... - a little bit more research and this could be the start of another list!


But back to the Clubtail. I cannot face another year of dipping this Dragonfly so the next good day and it will be a trip up to Goring-on-Thames and a search around the railway bridge. Look out for the next Blog.

Damselflies

I had a late start today and ended up visiting a number of local sites. The objective was to see a Common Cuckoo. This was really driven by seeing the Great Spotted Cuckoo at Portland earlier in the week and then realising that I was yet to connect with a common this year.

For a bird that has such a distinctive call and often perches out in the open during the breeding season it is proving surprisingly difficult to find this year.

As far as the objective goes it was unsuccessful. I heard three possibly four Cuckoos but did not manage to see any of them. Nor were there many other birds around. Fortunately I had taken the macro lens with me and I did come across a few Damselflies although strangely not a single Dragonfly. 


Banded Demoiselles were the most common. Nature produces some amazing colours and the metallic blues and greens on these insects are truly stunning.

Banded Demoiselle - male

Banded Demoiselle - female

There were a few "blue" Damselflies around but the only one I managed to photograph was this Azure

Azure Damselfly

 and there were also a few Large Reds

Large Red Damselfly

Butterflies were much in evidence with Orange Tips, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Brimstones, Tortoiseshells, and a variety of whites on the wing.

Green-veined White

The Cuckoo will just have to wait for another day.

Dragonflies and Damselflies part 2

Out looking for Turtle Doves again on Monday. Tried the Arlington Reservoir area again but no luck and not many birds of any sort. My plan B for the day, was a visit to the Park Corner Heath Butterfly Reserve, but that proved to be a bit of a disappointment as well with just a couple Meadow Browns seen.

I headed for home with only a couple of pictures of Demoiselles from Arlington. These are both females. The first is clearly a Beautiful Demoiselle showing the brown tint on the wings being enhanced by sunlight. The second could be a Banded as it appears to have narrower wings and is showing a slight green tint, but this probably comes from the foliage around it and there were no other Bandeds about.

Beautiful Demoiselle Female

Demoiselle Female -  Beautiful or Banded?

 

It looked like a bit of a wasted day, but fortunately I used the lanes at the back of the Downs to get home and ended up at Woods Mills. I knew the pond had been drained to clear out the fish but thought it would still be worth a look. Better luck this time as there were  Dragonflies in the remnants of the pond and Demoiselles in some of the drainage channels.

Azure Blue Damselfly

Downy Emerald

Large Red Damselfly

Tuesday morning and I was sitting at home having decided that I was not going out unless I could find some birds to photograph. Then Dave called to say he knew of a pond with Black-tailed Skimmers and Red-eyed Damselflies and did I fancy a look. How could I resist such an invitation?

The Skimmers proved hard to photograph. They stayed still long enough but they favoured the muddy banks so were hard to separate from their background. We tried  putting out some perches but the Skimmers ignored them. When I got home I found that they will only perch on low vegetation when the temperature gets above 26 degrees. Another good example of the benefits of doing the research before you go instead of when you get back.

I did get one on a low perch but still could not get the separation from the background.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Most shots were on the mud or low rocks.

Black-tailed Skimmer

The Red-eyed Damselflies were a bit easier to photograph but they were in a very small area of Lilly pads and did not move about much.

Red-eyed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly

We also had a look for Golden-ringed Dragonflies on one of the commons. We had possible sightings but nothing definite and no picture opportunities. There were also a couple of Emperors about but both were very mobile.

On the way home we called in at Stopham Bridge. There were lots of Banded Demoiselles there and a single Dragonfly that looked like a Southern Hawker but it did not come close enough for a photograph.

Banded Demoiselle

A great day out and I am learning a lot about Dragons and Damsels but I really need some birds to photograph.

Dragonflies and Damselflies

I know very little about Dragonflies and Damselflies but I am keen to learn. They are one of the key indicators that summer has arrived. They are colourful, fascinating to watch, and great to photograph. They are also about on hot summer days when most of the birds are on siesta time.

These are a few pictures taken on a couple of days out when the birding was a bit slow. I must confess that until recently I only knew these as red, blue, or green, with perhaps a fat or thin descriptor to help differentiate between them. Although I could probably have told you the difference between the Dragonfly and the Damselfly. I have now invested in the "Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland" and will be attempting to put a name to all the species that I photograph. Please feel free to correct any mistakes I may make.

The following pictures were taken on the 19th June on Iping Common, Ambersham Common, and at Lords Piece.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

 

Broad-bodied Chaser

The Chasers are a fairly easy dragonfly to photograph. They patrols a small area of the pond bank to defend it against other males, but are happy to sit out on a suitable perch where they can observe their territory. This gives good opportunities to get close.

The blue looks a lot deeper in real life.

Four-spotted Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Large Red Damselfly with prey

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Azure Damselfly

The next few pictures are of the two species of Demoiselles in the UK. They were taken by the road bridge just below the weir on the Cuckmere River close to Arlington Reservoir. The two species should really be in different habitats with the Beautiful favouring fast flowing, clean, pebble or sand bottomed streams and the banded slow flowing, muddy bottomed streams or rivers. Previous years I have only seen the banded here but the river does seem to be running higher and faster this year.

Banded Demoiselle ( I think! )

Banded Demoiselle

 

Beautiful Demoiselle

Beautiful Demoiselle in flight

A great start to the dragonfly season. A life list, year list, and Sussex list are already starting to form and the Sussex commons provided some of the best habitats in the country. They will fill the summer months when the birding starts to slow and along with the butterflies I now have an excuse to put off all the DIY jobs for a bit longer.