Black-tailed Skimmer

Apart from Thursday's trip to Ham Wall the past week has mostly seen me venturing out between showers to visit local butterfly and dragonfly sites. Returns have been poor, with numbers of both appearing to be down this year, and with clouds and cooler weather resulting in occasions when nothing much has been flying.

In previous years one of the ponds in Angmering has been good for Black-tailed Skimmers and Red-eyed Damselflies. My first visit coincided with a sudden cloud burst so I found nothing  but on the second visit a few Black-tailed were flying.

They usually favour putting down on the mud so, as below, it is not easy to get a good picture.

However, as the temperature goes above twenty five degrees they start to settle on low vegetation. I don't think we actually reached that on my second visit but I did find an obliging specimen and the pictures are in a different class.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any Red-eyed Damselflies despite seeing large numbers there in previous years. The pond now has a few very large fish although I doubt that these could have wiped out the colony completely.

Other Dragonflies seen. The one below is a bit confusing. It has yellow stripes down the legs so it is a Common Darter but I think it must be a freshly emerged male. The wings look pristine and the pterostigma are still white rather than the dark brown of a mature specimen. Picture taken at the Angmering Pond.

The next one is a Ruddy Darter (no yellow lines down the legs) and a much deeper colour than the specimen in one of last weeks blogs. This one taken at Woods Mills.

Early Commas have over wintered and usually look a bit tatty so these will be first brood having emerged early July. The closed wing shot showing the white comma that gives them their name.

Plenty of Skippers around. This one looks like an Essex.

The next a female Large

Male Large - note the large sex brands on the wings

Meadow Browns everywhere. This one a female

my first Gatekeeper of the year

Silver-washed Fritillaries in Madgeland Wood although no sign of the Purple Emperors. 

I also spent an hour or so watching Purple Hairstreaks in the top of a large oak tree at Tillets Lane Fields. No chance of a picture and this still remains on the top of my target list.

Brilliant Emerald

My last photograph of the day. It wasn't the Club-tailed Dragonfly that I had been looking for, but I was more than happy to find this Brilliant Emerald. It was on the northern side of the new Stopham Bridge and it wasn't in an easy location to photograph.  I tried a few flight shots but it was just too fast for me.

It did eventually land and I managed to get the shot above but this involved leaning out over some deep water to get the angle and in so doing putting some expensive camera gear at high risk. I would have liked more pictures but fortunately it flew before I had a chance to do something stupid.

The day had started at Pulborough Brooks with a stop to check the heathland pools. The sun had been forecast for 0900 but when I arrived at 11.30 it was still overcast and there were only a few damselflies in the air.

Azure Damselfly

I searched the bushes around the top pool and found a couple of female Darters resting up and waiting for the sun to appear. I wasn't too confident on the species at the time but checking the books at home these were Ruddy Darters.

Female Ruddy Darter

With the sun then putting in a brief appearance I managed to find a couple more on the Black Pool but this time with males in attendance. These are not showing the deeper red of a mature specimen so have probably only recently emerged.

They are easily confused with the Common Darter but commons would be showing yellow stripes along the legs.

Male Ruddy Darter

Black Pool also had a good quota of the Four-spotted Chasers, probably the easiest of all the dragonflies to photograph.

Back up the hill to the top pool and I was fortunate to find a pair of Emperor Dragonflies, the female ovipositing and the male appearing to be keeping guard on her.

Female Emperor

Male Emperor

 Or perhaps he had been a busy boy as a second female then appeared. This one with a notch in its left forewing and with different colouration, showing more green in segments one and two, and more extensive brown markings on the other segments. 

I am aware that the blue/green markings on both male and female are temperature dependant but this is the first time I have noted the colour difference on two specimens flying together.

Female Emperor showing green colouration

Other insects of interest on the day, a Large Skipper and a Silver Y moth, both of which were first sightings of the year for me.

Silver Y Moth

Large Skipper

I had only gone out for a couple of hours to try out a new lens so was quite happy to be going home with a decent selection of Dragonfly shots.

White-letter Hairstreak

I got up late on Thursday and had nothing planned. A quick check of my wish list showed that the target I was most likely to succeed on was the White-letter Hairstreak. I sent a text to Dave saying where I was going and then headed off for Preston Park in Brighton. The Hairstreaks were there but as before they were flying around the top of the tree. I waited a while but with nothing happening and I was thinking of moving on.

Fortunately I thought to check my phone and found three messages from Dave saying that he had gone out early and was also looking for White-letter Hairstreaks. Not only that but he had seen a dozen and had photographed at least three on the thistles. He was only just up the road in Hollingbury Park so it was a quick dash back to the car and across to Hollingbury.

Dave had his eye in by then and it did not take him long to spot another one for me to photograph. It was probably just as well that he was there because I did not see it come down and once down it did not move about, staying on one thistle head for about half an hour.

White-letter Hairstreak

White-letter Hairstreak

I was a bit disappointed with the images I captured. The butterfly was past its best (I have patched a hole in its wing using Photoshop), there was a lot of wind movement and the lighting was harsh. However, I should have done better. Seen the butterfly, got the record shot but it stays towards the top of the wish list until I get a better picture.

Still hoping to do some birding my next stop was Woods Mill where a Turtle has been showing well over the past few weeks. But not today, butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies but no Turtle Dove. There were a couple of red dragonflies in one of the pools and I though I had got my Common Darter at last, but on checking, it was a Ruddy Darter again.

Ruddy Darter

The Beautiful Demoiselles were active

Beautiful Demoiselle - Female

Beautiful Demoiselle - Male

and there were also a number of White Admirals flying. These seemed to be far more territorial than others I have seen this year and each was protecting its own small patch. They were still very active but at least they kept returning to the same perch giving good picture opportunities. I could not get a good open wing shot but perhaps if I had waited until later in the day when they were nectaring I might have got the chance.

White Admiral

White Admiral

Birding on the next outing perhaps.

Emperor Dragonfly Oviposting

With the birding being a bit flat at the moment we decided on another day chasing butterflies. We still wanted to see a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary  in Sussex so we started off at the butterfly reserve at Park Corner Heath. It was my third visit over the past couple of months and so far had delivered just one Brimstone and one Speckled Wood. I had to go back to prove that I had just been unlucky. Well it was an improvement, I have now seen two Brimstones and two Speckled Woods over my three visits, somewhat short of expectations.

There may be some long term plan in place to develop the site and I do understand letting the bracken grow to provide the right conditions for the growth of violets, the Fritillary caterpillars food plant. However, this environment looks nothing like Bentley Wood in Wiltshire where we saw large numbers of the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries flying only a week ago.

Still the Speckled Wood was in good condition -

Speckled Wood

Fortunately the adjacent Rowland Wood proved more interesting with insects, dragonflies, moths and butterflies. The butterflies, mostly Large Skippers and Meadow Browns were very active, and in the heat I could not be bothered with chasing them. The moths were more interesting with a good specimen of Mother Shipton found.

Mother Shipton

The dragonflies were also entertaining. I thought Dave and I had both photographed the same dragonfly but looking at his blog  he has a Common Darter, yellow stripes down the legs and mine appears to be a female Ruddy Darter with black legs. It looks like we both missed an opportunity.

Female Ruddy Darter

Insects were also in evidence. I knew that this was a Longhorn Beetle but it took a bit more digging to identify it as Four-banded Longhorn Beetle (Leptura Quadrifasciata). Where would I be without the web?

Four-banded Longhorn Beetle (Leptura Quadrifasciata)

Having been a bit disappointed with our pictures of the Silver-studded Blues the other day we decided to head up to Old Lodge to see if they had put in an appearance there as yet. Butterfly wise it was a bit disappointing, we did see a few birds, Redstarts, Raven, Jays, etc. but neither of us had a long lens with us. Instead we made our way over to the ponds to look for more dragonflies.

There were plenty in evidence, Emperors, Broad-bodied Chasers, Four-spotted Chasers, and an assortment of Damselflies.

Slightly tatty Broad-bodied Chaser

and one in better condition

Four-spotted Chaser

Of most interest was this female Emperor Dragonfly oviposting in one of the ponds.

Female Emperor Dragonfly oviposting

Female Emperor Dragonfly oviposting

Female Emperor Dragonfly oviposting

The male Emperor was patrolling the pond for most of the afternoon. He did put down twice but only for a few seconds and he was flying again before I could get there. I always try for a flight shot but its very difficult. My best effort is shown below. I think I needed a bit more light and a faster shutter speed but I was happy to at least get him in the viewfinder.

Next time

Pectoral Sandpiper but mostly Butterflies

It looked like a Pectoral Sandpiper through the telescope, all the experts in the hide said it was a Pectoral Sandpiper, ergo, it probably was a Pectoral Sandpiper. So why am I unhappy. The answer - because I could not get a good picture, that convinced me 100% when I got home, that I had the identification right.

Pectoral Sandpiper - Pulborough Brooks

Pectoral Sandpiper

Both shots have huge crops and over sharpening and are at the limits of the cameras capabilities. They are also very similar to those that I managed to capture the last time I saw a  Pectoral Sandpiper. Looking at Collins I have; slightly de-curved bill, good demarcation between breast and belly with breast markings coming to a point, one side of white V on its back, neat scaly pattern on upper part feathers. I also have a pale based bill on another equally obscure shot.

I guess the confidence levels are better than 95% so I will probably count it.

Water levels were low around the reserve. Birds are starting to return but they need more rain and plenty of mud.

After seeing a report last week of Emerald Damselflies, Black Darters and Brown Hawkers on Black Pond I decided to have a look. What a difference a week makes. None of them there that I could see, but there were Emperors, Broad-bodied Chasers and Ruddy Darters present.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Ruddy Darter

The pond was drying up, but there were still four Emperors managing to patrol what looked like very small territories and without too much conflict. Even with it being easier to predict where they would be flying I still failed to get a decent picture of any of them and they seemed reluctant to move away from the pond to settle.

There were plenty of butterflies around Pulborough but I wanted to check out Houghton Forest and I thought it might be a bit cooler under the trees. I was also hoping to see a Purple Emperor which had been reported there.

Houghton did not disappoint, except for the Purple Emperor, with Small, Large, and Green-veined Whites, Silver Washed Fritillary, Comma, Peacock, Red Admirals, Brimstones and various Blues. I was feeling quite pleased and was even more so when I got home and found both Peacocks and a Painted Lady on the Lavender in the garden.

Comma

Large White

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

Common Blue on Birds-foot Trefoil

Brimstone

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Peacock

Peacock