Norfolk Hawker

Dragonflies seem to be in short supply in Sussex. We had another look for the Club-tailed at sites on the Arun on Wednesday but could find no sign of that or of the White-legged Damselfly. Even a quick relocation up to Thursley Common left us distinctly underwhelmed.

Strumpshaw Fenn, however, was a different story. Our main target was the Norfolk Hawker, a large brown dragonfly, with green eyes, that is found only in a small area around the fen-lands of east Norfolk. It was all very quiet when we first arrived but as the temperature increased more and more dragonflies appeared. They are very territorial, so get too many close together and it is almost impossible to get a picture. They don't settle and are constantly in skirmishes to protect their space.

Fortunately we found one Norfolk Hawker that was very obliging and gave us some good picture opportunities.

Norfolk Hawker

The only Dragonfly that you are likely to confuse with the Norfolk Hawker is the Brown Hawker, but this flies mid to late summer and does not have green eyes or the diagnostic yellow triangle on the second abdominal section.

There have been a few sightings of this dragonfly in Kent where it tends to be referred to by its name of Green-eyed Hawker which is perhaps more realistic given its largely European distribution.

We would have gone home happy with just a sighting of this dragonfly so it was great to be able to get some reasonable pictures. Our search also gave us a number of other good finds.

Black-tailed Skimmer  Immature male Scarce Chaser

Hairy Dragonflies

Scarce Chaser (female)

And, the ever present Four-spotted Chaser.

Four-spotted Chaser

Dragons and Damsels found at Thursley Common on Wednesday include

Keeled Skimmer

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Small Red Damselfly

And this looks like a Downy Emerald. There were a number flying but none would put down to give a chance of a picture. In the low light levels this was the best I could manage.

Downy Emerald

With the exception of the Strumpshaw Fen visit, Dragon and Damselfly encounters have been very slow so far this year. Lets hope we have now turned the corner and the next couple of weeks give me sightings of the Club-tailed Dragonfly and White-legged Damselfly. Check back for more information.

Silver-studded Blue

We started the day off with a visit to Botany Bay Wood, just over the border into Surrey, to see if we could get Dave a Wood White. It was all a bit quiet when we got there but I think we were just a bit too early in the day. Eventually we found a couple and Dave got his pictures and a year tick.

Wood White

Wood White

It's difficult to see why there are so few colonies of Wood Whites around. They seem to have a wide range of nectaring and food plants and are not particularly temperature or geology sensitive. I know that we have lost a lot of coppiced woodland rides which will affect their numbers but there are many woods similar to Botany Bay across the south of England.

Our next stop was Iping Common where Silver-studded Blues had been reported. Its a small butterfly on a large common but we eventually found a small group. There were probably two or three females and and about eight males. I have had trouble photographing Silver-studded Blues in the past. Closed wing shots are not a problem but they often sit with their wings open at forty five degrees and it is very difficult to get the depth of field you need to get the whole butterfly sharp - that's my excuse anyway.

Note the silver studding in the black marginal spots

Female - colours vary from dark brown through to predominantly blue
This female is only a couple of days old and has not faded to this state.

Male

Wood White and Silver-studded Blue in the bag and we still had most of the afternoon left. A large moth distracted us for a few minutes on the way back to the car park. I had to look it up in the book when I got home, it was a Clouded Buff.

Clouded Buff  - day flying moth

We decided on a visit to Lords Piece on the way home to have a look for Dragonflies. It turned out to be a good choice. There were plenty of Blue Damselflies around the pond but they were not easy to photograph.

I think this one is an Azure Blue

We saw Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers but best of all were views of a Golden-ringed Dragonfly and a Downy Emerald. Both landed and gave us long enough to get a few pictures.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Downy Emerald

Golden-ringed (Female)

The only problem with a good day out is that you have hundreds of pictures to process when you get home. They are never as good as you want or expect but you just hope for a couple of good ones in there somewhere.

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.