Saturday 14 May 2016

More species appear

After last week's hot weekend, things started to move along at quite a pace. On Monday, I visited Kinewell Lake in Ringstead to catch up on the Herons breeding in the Heronry island. I was surprised to find over 100 Common Blue Damselflies taking their maiden flights. This lake is not a great site for dragonflies as there are few areas with good marginal vegetation, but obviously hosts good numbers of Blues.

My car was in for a service on Thursday, which turned out to be a great day as the sun was warm and bright, a big change from the previous few days. I wasn't able to go far from work, so took a walk up the River Ise and found several Large Red Damselflies by the river. Judy & Terry Wood had more luck around Polebrook and Barnwell Country Park, recording Banded Demoiselles on the Nene, Common Blues, Azure, Large Reds, Red-eyes and a Hairy. At Polebook Airfield they saw a Broad-bodied Chaser.

Thursday marked a monumental change at Weetabix, with a new dress code that allows me to wear shorts all the time (I work in the offices not production, so my hairy legs won't contaminate your cereal) although I do visit the factories occasionally and therefore need work trousers just in case. Anyway, not only do I feel cooler, but shorts will help me on my lunchtime trips as I can now kneel to get shots and IDs without fear of going back with dirty knees. On Friday, I was able to visit Ditchford where I saw Common Blues, a few Azures, Blue-tails and Red-eyes as well as a few more Hairy exuviae.

Immature female Common Blue Damselfly

Immature female Blue-tailed Damselfly of the form Violacea

Immature Male Blue-tailed Damselfly

Immature male Red-eyed Damselfly

Broad-bodied Chaser (Judy & Terry Wood)

Male Banded Demoiselle (Judy & Terry Wood)