Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) Female

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) Female, originally uploaded by Rezamink.

Both Damian Pinguey and Rob Turner have now joined the exclusive club of 2010 odonata reporters ;o)
Rob found 3 tenerals at Swillbrook Lakes in the CWP today and Damians sighting was at the pond in Chippenham behind the Volvo garage. [Damians great shot illustrates this post].

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) ♂.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) ♂., originally uploaded by od0man.

Hot on the heels of Wayne Clinch's first county sighting for the year of an odonata in Swindon the other day, I found another Large Red Damselfly [my first for theyear]. This is the first odonata for South Wilts, VC8 as it was at the pond in Blackmoor Copse WWT reserve.

At Last!

The first odonata of the year in Wiltshire was reported today by Wayne Clinch. He found a teneral Large Red Damselfly on the North Wilts Canal at Mouldon Hill Country Park in Swindon. He also managed to photograph it for good measure!
If this warm spell continues [which it seems set to do for a few days at least] then more should be found at other sites around the county; with other species, hopefully, following hot on it's heels.

Still no dragons - yet!

Still probably a month away from the first Large red Damsels but the first insects starting to appear. As well as 3 species of Bumblebee [Buff-tailed; White-tailed and Red-tailed] the first of the Mining Bees [Andrena sp.] put in an appearance. With over 60 species in the UK most are impossible to ID from photos! Also several 7-spot Ladybirds crept out from their Winter hiding places to soak up the early Spring sunshine.

Mining Bee (Andrena Sp.).

Mining Bee (Andrena Sp.)., originally uploaded by od0man.

7-spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata).

7-spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)., originally uploaded by od0man.

A New Year - and what global warming?!!

Firstly, just to recap on last year; 25 species were seen [in order of first sighting]:
Large Red Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Common Club-tail
Beautiful Demoiselle
Scarce Chaser
Broad-bodied Chaser
Common Blue Damselfly
Azure Damselfly
4-spotted Chaser
White-legged Damselfly
Banded Demoiselle
Golden-ringed Dragonfly
Black-tailed Skimmer
Emperor
Red-eyed Damselfly
Downy Emerald
Southern Hawker
Brown Hawker
Ruddy Darter
Migrant Hawker
Common Darter
Small Red-eyed Damselfly
Common Emerald Damselfly
Small Red Damselfly
Keeled Skimmer.
The interesting thing to be discovered this year is whether the weather we are currently experiencing will have any adverse effect on our odonata fauna. Most species have adapted long ago to the prolonged cold and snow we are having - it is us who have short memories and forget this used to be the 'norm' not many years ago!
It is how the more recent colonisers will respond which will be facinating to find out.
This year is the International Year of Biodiversity and I am hoping to organise some guided dragonfly walks across Wiltshire to showcase how comparatively rich we are [within a UK context] in odonata. Once I have dates/venues confirmed I will post them here. First provisional date may be May 22nd at Lower Moor Farm. I hope it will look a little different then to how it looks now [see above]!!
A Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year to you all:o))