When we arrived Hairy Dragonflies were already cruising up and down the watercourse, not stopping to pose of course. An abundance of brightly coloured Banded Demoiselles were perching on the extensive nettle beds. The adjacent Wey and Arun canal was also providing some specimens - Large Red Damselflies and blues were in evidence.
My pulse quickened slightly as we found a recently emerged Banded Demoiselle, hanging under a dock leaf, its crusty exuvia nearby.
By the swingbridge Martin found a "bug" clinging to a reed stem, this one had me puzzled as it was quite large, 2cm at least. First thoughts were of a diving beetle but my experience is limited. Anyway, when we got home I put some photographs out on Twitter and Sean Foote came up with the goods - Notonecta glauca. - thanks Sean. I then gave myself a good kicking as we have them in the garden pond and I have photographed them before. However in my defence this one was clearly larger than any I had encountered previously, and out of the water which is somewhat unusual,
On towards the lock where we had our first real dragonfly - an extremely lethargic newly emerged Scarce Chaser, an immature male - a great find but sadly not the target we were looking for. My pulse returned slowly to its normal level.
The mill gave us very little, just a couple of Large Red Damselflies so we retraced our steps back towards the bridge. The rising temperatures had encouraged more insects to be active. First up was what I think is an Ephemera vulgata, a sub imago form with still opaque wings, just hanging out to dry.
A shield bug was trying to photobomb the scene so I duly recorded it - probably Coreus marginatus
A Noon Fly, Mesembrina meridian posed for the camera - the photographer reflected in the shiny abdomen.
Finally some Damselfly shots...
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| Male above, female below. |
Perhaps a visit to Goring-on-Thames railway bridge is called for.
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