Northamptonshire Dragonflies: Small Red-eye Bonanza

Wednesday 25 July 2018

Small Red-eye Bonanza

At the A14/A6 junction at Burton Latimer, a new warehouse complex is being built. Along with the road diversions and basic infrastructure, a new drainage pond has been built to take run-off. This is the only its second season and I finally made up my mind to visit and see what has colonised this new pond. The pond is accessible and is full of rigid hornwort - the Small Red-eye's favourite plant. Lo and behold, on the water I counted over 100 adults, including 1 emerging and many mating and ovipositing pairs. Water levels are quite low and you can get really close to them - probably the closest I've ever been to this species. There were also three Emperors, including an ovipositing female, a single Brown Hawker, a handful of Common Darters and and egg-laying pair. A couple of Black-tailed Skimmers were perched on the muddy margins with an egg-laying female. A single, old male Emerald Damselfly, small number of Common Blues and egg-laying Blue-tailed Damselflies made up the eight species seen. This is a great little pond, although as is usually the case it will inevitably overgrow over the next few years and change markedly. I was amazed how so many species found this pond, especially as it is so close to a very busy road and roundabout - it just goes to show how well dragonflies can colonise new sites.

Elsewhere in the UK, the rare Southern Migrant Hawker (see me blog on the Canvey Island trip) has invaded the country with records at many new sites in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and far away in Cornwall. It is therefore possible (and likely?) that some have at least flown over Northants. They like dried out ponds and ditches so if you know any like this it may be worth a look.

No Willow Emeralds at Finedon yet, although it wasn't until mid August that they appeared last year.