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.

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.

Turtle Dove

The Sussex Wildlife Trust Headquarters at Woods Mill is always a good place to look for Turtle Doves. They tend to favour  a couple of trees on the footpath down the west side of the site and often sit out in the open.

My first circuit of the site did not look very promising. There was very little moving and not much bird song. I sat for a while and enjoyed the view out over the lake and had just decided to move on to Pulborough Brooks when I heard a familiar purring coming from the other side of the lake.

The Turtle Dove was easy enough to find but it was deep in a tree and it was very difficult to find an angle for a clear shot.

Turtle Dove playing hard to get.

It called on and off for about half an hour and then flew away. It was probably about an hour before it returned. This time it found a more open perch but was left silhouetted against the sky so was still not easy to photograph. It also seemed determined to keep its back towards me for most of the time I was watching.

At last a front view but he doesn't look very happy

It's a pity he didn't want to pose for me but I'm just happy that he made it through the Mediterranean and ended up somewhere where I could see him. Lets hope he finds a mate and that the species starts to make a recovery.

There was not much else around, a few Whitethroats, a Sedge Warblers singing from deep in the reeds and a couple of Wrens singing their hearts out.

Wren

I had left the Macro lens at home so when a Dragonfly flew past me I did not at first think about taking a picture. However, on the second pass I noted more detail and could not immediately put a name to it. You can take Dragonfly pictures with a big lens but you have to stand a long way off. Vegetation tends to get in the way and its usually best to use manual focus unless they are really perched out in the open.

It took me a long time but I eventually got a few decent pictures. It looks like an immature Scarce Chaser.

The species is called a Scarce Chaser and it is scarce throughout its range in southern and eastern England. However, where it does occur it is usually abundant and West Sussex seems to be a good location for it.

An interesting days birding and it was good to see a Turtle Dove. Is it my imagination or have they become more common over the past couple of years?