Large Reds on the River Ise

Popped down to the River Ise at Finedon this lunchtime to see if there were any Banded Demoiselle around. There weren't, but I did see 5 Large Reds, including one emerging. The recent heavy rains have caused the river to swell and have badly damaged the vegetation along the margins here, fortunately prior to the beginning of the main emergence period here (the river is always later than other areas).

Banded Demoiselle

Richard G. has reported this year's first Banded Demoiselle on the Nene at Wadenhoe (13 May).

Azure Damselflies Appearing

At Wicksteed Park fishing lake, Darryl reports seeing immature Blue-tailed Damselfly, Azure Damselflies and Red-eyed Damselflies.

Hairy Dragonfly Emerging at Ditchford

Managed to catch this Hairy Dragonfly at the hanging stage at Ditchford this morning. There were also many Red-eyed Damselflies emerging too. Looks like this things may be starting to move a bot quicker as the weather warms up.

Still slow out there

I had great hopes for today, with glorious warm sunshine, however it was not to be. Activity was very low and the hoped-for mass Hairy Dragonfly emergence failed to materialise. Still, I managed to see y first Large Reds of the year, but only after some considerable searching. The cold April and May is still having an influence on adult numbers, presumably because the water hasn't wrmed enough to stimulate emergence to any great extent.

More Activity

Immature Red-eyed Damselfly

Immature Common Blue Damselfly

At Ditchford this lunchtime, I saw emerging Common Blues, Red-eyed and Blue-tailed Damselflies along with a single Hairy. It looks like all is go now after the poor spring weather of recent weeks.

Common Blues emerging

6 May saw three more Hairys emerging at Ditchford along with 2 Common Blues.

Hairy Dragonflies at Ditchford

A break from decorating my daughter's bedroom allowed me 30mins at Ditchford from 1330hrs. I hunted hard and eventually found two emerging Hairy Dragonflies. The temperature was 9-10 degrees C, and felt cold. The Hairys had emerged successfully, however this female appears to have collected some debris on her wings. I hope this doesn't hinder her flight.

Frustrating Weather

After the wettest April on record, today (30 April) had some promise for sunshine, The weather didn't disappoint so I took a walk along the River Ise to Southfields Farm Marsh, this being the only Large Red Damselfly site I can reach on my lunch break. The River was higher than I have ever seen and was in danger of flooding the footbridge to our carpark at Weetabix. Towards the Marsh it had broken its banks and it waqs hard to tell where the riover ended and the footpath began. Needless to say, I abandoned my walk and headed back to the office. So frustrating - this April is the first one I have not seen any Large Reds since I began active Recording!

Chris is having more luck, having seen two more Large Reds around Greens Norton.

The 2012 Season gets off to a start

Chris Emary reports seeing the Counties first Large Red Damselfly at Kings Sutton Station on 21 April. I have visited several sites so far and seen nothing, so this coming week looks set to see more Large Reds emerge.

Mid November Activity

Walking over a bridge over the River Ise yesterday, I disturbed a pair of Common Darter in cop. This is a good late date to find a mating pair, so I set off to Ditchford this afternoon with the sun nice and bright and temps hivering around the 13 degrees C mark. At this time of year, any remaining Darters hunt our reflective surfaces to bask on and collect as much sun energy as possible. A common site is to see them on tree stumps and fence posts. Well, I managed to find three this way in amongst a lot flies also absorbing the sun's warmth. If this warm weather continues we may even see some Darters into December. The photos show a male and female (top).

Recent Ovipositing Action

The Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers are busy ovipositing at the moment, and when a group of Darters get together it is quite mad! Here are pictures of a Migrant Hawker and a close-up shouing the ovipositor inserted into the plant stem. Capturing tandem Darters ovipositing is very hard as they move quite jerkily and quickly, so the images here are the result of over 500 shots.

Migrant Hawkers Ovipositing

Another trip to Finedon Pocket Park found this female Migrant Hawker ovipositing into dead plant stems some 1.5m from the pond margin. This is a protective measure to keep the eggs safe until they hatch in the spring, when water levels have risen.

Migrant Hawker Frenzy

As we enter late summer, early atumun, Migrant Hawkers start to appear in large numbers. At Ditchford this lunchtime I saw about 30 including ovipositing females and mating pairs. I managed to capture these males hovering searching for females. Also seen were a few Common Blue Damselflies, a single Red-eyed Damselfly, lots of Common Darter and a few Brown Hawker.