Thursley Dragons

Tuesday was a trip out to Thursley Common to top up the Dragonfly list for the year. It was hot and sunny as we left the south coast but by the time we got to Thursley it had clouded over and there was a cool breeze getting up.

We did make a quick stop over on the way to try and get Dave a Sussex Common Clubtail but we could not find any. Having first seen them just two weeks ago this suggests that the mating period when they are to be found by the river is only a couple of weeks long.

Thursley may have been cooler than we had expected but there were still a lot of Dragons and Damsels to be seen. In particular the wooden boardwalk had warmed up early and a lot of the Dragonflies were using it as a place to  bask and absorb the heat.

The pond was a bit of a disappointment though, with nothing flying around the edges. So no sign of the Downy and Brilliant Emeralds that we had been hoping to see.

First target was the Black Darter. There were a lot of newly emerged specimens to be found in the grass and reeds and a few more mature examples out on the board walk.

Black Darter - freshly emerged male

Black Darter

Black Darter

Black-tailed Skimmer

Black-tailed Skimmer

Common Blue Damselfly

Emerald Damselfly

Emerald Damselfly

Probably an immature Emerald Damselfly

Rather tatty Emperor

Female Emperor oviposting

Keeled Skimmer

Keeled Skimmer

Small Red Damselfly

And a couple of Butterflies. Nice to find a Painted Lady in good condition.

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Small Tortoiseshell 

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.