3 more species appear

Despite the misty morning conditions, today turned out really warm and sunny at lunchtime. I returned to Ditchford to see what was around and my first sighting was of a Red-eyed Damselfly taking its maiden flight. This was followed by several more, Blue-tailed Damselflies and Common Blue Damselflies. I was attracted by the two bright blue spots on the back of the eyes on the Blue-tailed, as you can see in the picture below. The male Common Blue was turning blue, so must be a couple of days old. There were also 6 emerging Hairy Dragonflies and another 8 new exuviae.  One of the Hairys had damaged wings, possibly due to the cool misty conditions. The damage wasn't as bad as I have seen before, so he may yet survive. I was surprised that there were no Azure Damselflies as they often emerge at the same time as these others.

Red-eyed Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly - note the blue spots on the top of the eyes

Common Blue Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly exuvia

Male Hairy Dragonfly

Hairy Dragonfly with damaged wings

Male Hairy Dragonfly with exuvia

Banded Demoiselles

John Showers reports 2 Banded Demoiselles on the Nene at Titchmarsh Nature Reserve.

Hairy Dragonflies emerging

I opted to visit Ditchford this lunchtime and promptly found 6 emerging Hairy Dragonflies, both male and female. They were quite low down, which is typical for this time of year, but it made photography rather difficult. I had to roll my work trouser leg up in order to kneel at the right angle. Within 10mins, I witnessed four of them take their maiden flight.

Female next to her exuvia



Male

Female

Close-up of female showing the hairy thorax

The 2014 seasons starts at last

The last few weeks have seen many species emerging down south and in local Counties, such as Warwickshire and Cambs, including the expected Large Reds, Hairys, but also Four-spotted Chasers, Broad-bodied Chasers and even Variable Damselflies in Cambridgeshire!

Today, at last, I found a single female Large Red. This next week should see more activity so keep your eyes open. It looks like April may be good one this year.