Another new dragon for the year.

Paul Ritchie visited one of the sites in the New Forest bit of VC8 yesterday and found 6 Broad-bodied Chasers, the first reported for the year. The bright sun is deceptive as the wind is quite cool. I think it may be another week yet before more general activity is discovered. Here's one of the great images he got. Many thanks for the loan Paul :o)

Lower Moor comes up trumps!

After the initial Large Red Damselfly sighting there have now been several more spread across the county - but no other species. Until, that is, a last minute decision sent me out to the CWP on Wednesday 30th April when it became apparent the fog had burned off and turned into a lovely sunny day. On arriving at the boardwalk adjacent to Cottage Lake, which is a regular emergence site for Downy Emerald what should I find...a single Downy Emerald larva climbing up the edging board. I then proceeded to watch and photograph it's emergence - which took 4 hours!! It wasn't until I reviewd my shots that I realised it had emerged with it's front left had leg missing! Not sure if it lost it during emergence or it never developed in the first place?? I also had a walk along the track by Mallard Lake and it became apparent that a mass emergence of Common Blue Damselflies was happening. I counted at least 50 with new individuals flying up out of the lake margin all the time! In [administrative Gloucestershire but Wilts VC7] lakes nearby others reported at least 14 Downys emerging and other species seen too were Large Red, Red-eyed, Blue-tailed and Azure damsels. So it's all starting to happen; just need the sunny weather to continue....

CWP draws a blank

I visited the Lower Moor Farm complex today in the hopes of finding emerging Large Reds and maybe even an early Downy Emerald...but it was not to be :o( But it shouldn't be too long if it stays warm and sunny. I thought I ought to mention here that there was an unusual sighting of a hawker type dragonfly on the 7th March. No positive ID could be made as it was viewed from a car travelling along the M4 near Swindon where it flew across the motorway in front of the observer, Geoff Cox! Logic would dictate that it could only have been a Vagrant Emperor (Hemianax ephippiger) but we shall never know for sure...frustratingly as this would be a new Wiltshire species!

The Dragonfly Season starts early in Wiltshire!

On Tuesday 8th April, Damian Pinguey discovered several immature and teneral Large Red Damselflies (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) at his local pond behind the Volvo garage in Chippenham. These are the first reported odonata sightings in the county this year! Well done Damian :o) They were very skittish however and the only shot he got was of a poor unfortunate who got trapped in a spider's web and most of it's abdomen had been devoured! This site regularly produces the first sightings of the year [in VC7 at least]and I still await any sightings from the south.... 13th April 2014 Today I was passing the same pond on a visit to Castle Combe with my wife so couldn't resist a quick look-see! There were at least 7 individuals ranging from fresh emergents to almost mature. Yaay...my first odo's of the year :o)) Although I made a promise last year to keep the blog going right throughout the season I'm afraid I failed miserably again although mostly due to events outside my control - life can sometimes throw an unwanted spanner in the works!! However, I will endeavour to do better this year....but don't hold me to it ;o)

STOP PRESS!! New Wiltshire location for Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly!

I have just received news that Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura pumilio) has been discovered on temporary pools in the middle of Salisbury Plain Training Area [SPTA]. These were found on 29th June by Iain Perkins who is studying the biology and distribution of the rare Fairy Shrimp (Chirocephalus diaphanous) there. When I found out he was doing this I suggested that the habitat the shrimp utilises is very similar to that which is suitable to the damselfly. Iain agreed to keep his eyes open for this species...and my hunch proved correct!

Now Iain has his eye-in, the hope is that he might find Scarce Blue-tailed at other similar locations on the Plain forming some kind of meta-population perhaps. Watch this space!

June Update Part II

Playing catch-up yet again! Hopefully just before some actual summer weather in July may give a flurry of new sightings! On 18th June Adrian Bicker [the developer of 'Living Record'] was visiting Wiltshire and managed to find Beautiful Demoiselle in a new location in VC8; on the Blackwater river in the SE of the county! This species was also seen in it's regular haunts on the Bybrook at Ford and Box by Damian Pinguey and Chris Beard respectively [at the former in very good numbers - thankfully!]

On 19th June I met up, by accident, with Colin Pinchen at Lower Moor Farm where,as well as the already emerged species, we found several freshly emerged Black-tailed Skimmers (Orthetrum cancellatum)which we got shots. Also one possibly two male Emperors (Anax imperator) [which didn't stop flying], both species were new for the year!

Red-eyed Damselflies were now about on the dipping ponds in good numbers, including several mating pairs. At least 2 of the males had a heavy burden of mites on the undersides of their abdomens; looked pretty uncomfortable!

I also visited pit 95 where I found quite a nice example of the praenubila form of the 4-spotted Chaser:

On 25th June Paul Winter discovered the first Emerald Damselflies (Lestes sponsa)of the year at Cadnam Common Pond. On the same date Colin Pinchen found the first Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)of 2013 at the WWT's Langford Lakes reserve. Emerald Damsel also turned up at Kite Pool in Savernake for Ian McColl on 30th. Finally, as well as Emerald Damsel and Brown Hawker, Gareth Harris recorded the first Common Darters (Sympetrum striolatum) at Swillbrook Lakes in CWP; 2 freshly emerged individuals _ one near it's exuvia! So despite the slow start things are starting to pick up!

Mid May to Mid June update

Things have finally returned to some semblance of normality after being away on holiday [in Florida] until the beginning of June! So now I have been able to play catch up on the state of Wiltshire's Odonata. First of all, I'm delghted that Sherston Primary School, under the guidance of their Head, continue to monitor the pond and wildlife area in the school grounds. Large red and Common Blue damsels have been seen so far along with Broad-bodied Chasers - including an exuvia [great proof of breeding there!] Regarding exuviae; several more observers are now finding and recording exuviae at sites which is great news - also late instar larvae! Peter Sketch, Neil Pullen and Gareth Harris' CWP team are among those now doing so. There is an excellent photographic guide to identifying exuviae/larvae now so if anyone else is interested let me know and I'll provide details. Barry Watts is again keeping an eye on Stourhead ponds/lakes in the far SW of the county and, on 19th May, saw Large Red damsels and a teneral Downy Emerald - nice to know they are still present there.

Mike Hamzij reported the first Banded Demoiselles at Whaddon on the Bristol Avon on 22nd May and also 2 Beautiful Demoiselles [strays from the Holt colony possibly?]; then on 8th June he recorded the first Scarce Chasers of the year there - along with the first White-legged Damselflies and some Blue-tailed damsels. Lorraine Blakey visited Langford Lakes on 26th May recording Common Blue and Blue-tailed there; but also a male and female Broad-bodied Chaser on the new reedbed/scrape area. The first record of odonata I've received from this reserve extension!

Rod Stowell reported the first Red-eyed Damsels on 3rd June from CWP - but I'm sure they have been present since well before then! He observed 2 of them harassing a male BB Chaser 'guarding' an ovipositing female - a dangerous game to be playing!! The regular Hampshire crew have been visiting VC8 New Forest area [Cadnam and Plaitford Commons] Where, in particular, Paul Winter [on 5th June] saw Small Red and Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies plus Keeled Skimmer! On 11th June, Chris Beard walked a 1 mile stretch of the Salisbury Avon from Old Sarum to the 5 Rivers Leasure Centre...but only found 3 male Banded Demoiselles in that stretch - not a good sign!? On14th Damian Pinguey visited the Bristol Avon at Mortimore's Wood and found very few Banded Demoiselles and only one White-Legged Damselfly; a worrying trend? Fortunately, on a visit a few days later, he saw many more freshly emerged Banded's - so hopefully they have just been delayed rather than absent.

To reinforce this I visited the River Cole at Roves Farm [by the scrape] and saw over 20 Banded Demoiselles [breathes a sigh of relief] plus large numbers of Azure Damselflies, 3 mature Large Reds and about 20 Blue-tailed - but no Anisoptera!

With the weather hopefully warming up tomorrow there will be a chance to go out again looking for new species for the year - even if it is a short break from the dreary weather!