Emerald Damsel and Black-tailed Skimmer

With all 58 UK mainland butterflies in the bag and reasonable photographic evidence to back it up I began to wonder what I should do next. Just going out into the natural world is not enough for me, as I have said before, I have a latent trainspotting gene, there has to be a list .

 

 

 

So I decided to wipe my records of dragonflies, well they were a bit untidy and not meticulously kept. In one fell swoop and a click of the mouse, my life list returned to zero  and I had a new aim, to see the British List of dragonflies. The list itself is a bit vague, containing species that have been seen only once in the UK and others whose migration to these shores is erratic, in fact totally random. I have a feeling that this may take some time!

 

So Tuesday found me out on Coates Common or Lords Piece as it is otherwise known, the pool just in from the car park has a healthy population of dragons and damsels. First life tick was an Emerald Damselfly, not easily seen but a nice specimen to kick off the new list. Next, an obliging male Broad-bodied Chaser followed by a Black-tailed Skimmer, I felt that I was on a roll.  Common and Ruddy Darters became numbers 4 and 5.

 

 

 

 

The sun was getting stronger and those unpleasant inhabitants of heathland pools the Clegs had appeared, unfortunately I get a pretty strong reaction to their bite so it was sleeves rolled down and a reduction in exposed flesh.

 



 

I think this is a Cleg Fly....

 

 

... whatever it is, there will soon be more of them.

Lords Piece is a picture at the moment - the heather putting on a real show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way out this caught my eye - not a usual species at this location.

 

 

 

Just because they are all photographed it doesn't mean they can be ignored. These shots from Pulborough Brooks on Monday, I thought I had the Small Copper perfectly framed, subsequent viewing at home revealed that I hadn't taken enough care with some intrusive blades of grass, I'll just have to do it all over again.

 

 

 

First Clouded Yellow is the 48th species this year.

Small Pearl-bordered and Marsh Fritillaries

Sadly today's outing would have been much better had we made it at least a week before. Both subjects were past their best and although numerous, the quality of freshly emerged butterflies was not there. That said, we still had a great day at two different venues capturing shots of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Marsh Fritillary.

First up was Bentley Wood, a well known butterfly venue just to the east of Salisbury. We parked up and made our way to the Eastern Clearing, unfortunately I made an error in navigation and we ended up at the wrong entrance. No matter, just two minutes later we spotted our first Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Finally, we found the right area and located lots of specimens, most of them nectaring on brambles. As the temperature rose in a clear blue sky they were joined by Large Skippers which were a minor distraction. During the search I managed to capture a Golden-ringed Dragonfly,  which, as I tried to alert Martin, did the Houdini trick and vanished.

 



Brown eyes indicate immature specimen

 Having taken sufficient photographs of the SPbF we wandered along the ride going north from the car park. A small clearing was reported as having Marsh Fritillaries present, alas nothing found. On our return we came across another obliging dragonfly, this time an immature male Black-tailed Skimmer (subject to confirmation)

Second venue for the day was Cotley Hill near Warminster, home of numerous Marsh Fritillaries. Martin had secured sound advice from another butterfly enthusiast and yet again the information was perfect. Within minutes a Marsh Fritillary landed in front of us. During our stay we probably never ventured more than 50 yards from the original sighting, the butterflies were everywhere, unfortunately most of them showing signs of age, faded and missing bits of wing indicative of the hard life they had endured.

"I've had a hard life" -  most specimens were worn...

....or faded....

...but still photogenic.

 

 

As the afternoon progressed more and more came out to nectar on the brambles and we made a conservative estimate of 40, just in the immediate locality. Lots of other butterflies present, we noted Small Tortoiseshell, Common Blue, Small Blue, Dingy, Large and Grizzled Skippers, Green Hairstreak, Whites and Small Heath.

On the Commons

A jaunt around West Sussex taking in Lord's Piece, where ,at the pool by the car park, I managed to photograph a Black-tailed Skimmer.  The Broad-bodied Chaser population has diminished, to be replaced by other species. I identified Southern Hawker and Brown Hawker but none settled in the heat of the day. A family of Pied Wagtails are taking advantage of the insect abundance and whilst I was there two Grey Wagtails dropped in for a short time.

BBCs are looking worn

On to Ambersham Common where I managed to snap a Common Hawker, very little else was active save for a single Yellowhammer perched on the gorse.

I ventured over the road to Heyshott where a couple of locals warned me of a very active adder population on one of the paths. Arming myself with two cameras and three lenses I set forth on the dreaded footpath determined to get some decent shots of active adders, you got there before me, no sign of ophidian activity whatsoever! Here bird activity was also minimal, just a Green Woodpecker and a pair of Linnets. Having hacked through the jungle by the stream I expected at least one dragonfly, a big zero again but at least this Brimstone gave me something to photograph.

On the way back I was going to drop into Houghton Forest but amazingly it was raining so on home for Tea!

More Dragons

With the weather set fair how could you stay indoors? A swift phone call to Martin asking if he would care to go on a hunt for Black-tailed Skimmers and Red-eyed Damsels? Within 45 minutes we were on the road. First stop - an undisclosed location in deepest Sussex. As soon as we arrived the Black-tailed were obvious, lower numbers than last year but plenty of buzzing going on. We put out perches but they seem to prefer the pondside rocks, definitely territorial as the males returned to the same rock time after time, great for shot preparation.  We observed several mated pairs but I only managed to locate a single ovipositing female.

The Red-eyed Damsels were tightly located on only one patch of lily pads, most of the time keeping their distance, occasionally perching close enough for a shot.

Mission accomplished - as we made our way back to the car to go in search of Common Goldenrings out on the commons, this beetle posed well enough for a shot, not sure what it is but will conduct some post blog research and update.

Well it turns out to be a Spotted Longhorn or Harlequin Longhorn beetle, Strangalia maculata,  a new one for me!

I had located 5 Goldenrings on a previous visit but today they were absent, However, eagle eyed Martin spotted a couple of Emperors circling at a higher altitude, a single Banded Demoiselle female flitted through the woods at the edge of the common and that was it.

On the way home we called in at Stopham Bridge where we found plenty of Banded Demoiselles in the bankside vegetation, any females that showed were chased mercilessly by the males. Just below the bridge a single Southern Hawker? patrolled the river but did not come close enough for any sort of photograph.

Mobbed!

Genteel

Perfect harmony!

Thanks Martin - another great outing.