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))

Savernake afternoon

I visited Savernake Forest with Wayne this afternoon in glorious golden sunshine. We visited the 'purple patch'[Purple Emperor country] near the column and the nearby pond, which has developed nicely since it was redug last winter. The pond held 3 male Southern Hawkers and a female which came in to oviposit. She was grabbed in the act by one of the males, forced to mate, but then broke away and escaped. There were also an in tandem pair of ovipositing Common Darters which took flight before I could get my lens onto them!
Other insects of interest were several larvae of the Pale Tussock moth on 'walkabout' getting ready to pupate underground; a robber fly with prey on a sunny oak trunk along with a female Oak Bush-cricket and an extremely well camouflaged Grey Shoulder-knot moth!
All it needs is a little sunshine to get things happening again. We may revisit again tomorrow earlier in the afternoon to get more dragonfly pics.

No dragons but.....

'Trapped' at head office today in Devizes, but coming back from the car mid morning I disturbed a Hummingbird Hawkmoth which was nectaring on a clump of Valerian by the office wall. It flew up just above the first floor window level and proceeded to sunbathe. Luckily I had my camera with me and got some distant [even for my zoom!] shots. Some interested colleagues saw it too. Unfortunately it flew off before giving the opportunity for in-flight feeding shots. Amazingly this is my first sighting this year! No repeat of the fly-by Southern Hawker there a couple of weeks ago.

Late dragons and predators

As you may or may not have noticed I haven't posted for some time! A combination of a torn shoulder muscle and crushed nerve, starting a new job and unsuitable weather when on my days off!
Anyway, today I managed to squeeze in a short 1 hour visit to a local pond I only discovered this year at the Woodland Trust's Warneage Wood at Lower Wanborough.
It's a small round pond approx. 8 metres across.
In the glorious Autumn sunshine [20degC!]I watched 3 male Southern Hawkers battling it out for territorial rights over the limited surface area while a lone female quietly sneaked in to lay eggs unseen and unmolested [but unfortunately too obscured by vegetation to provide a decent image]. These males quite often approached me so close that they were inside my closest focussing distance!
Also present was a lone male Migrant Hawker and two male Common Darters.
Another male had unfortunately become lunch for one of the bankside spiders!
While on the subject of predators; I was pondering the absence of any damselflies when what should drop in but a fabulous Grey Wagtail - the arch nemesis of all damselflies [and some dragonflies if they aren't careful...]. So I'm guessing that this bird may have 'hoovered up' all the remaining late damsels!?
A supporting cast of calling Buzzards overhead and a fly-by Comma made this a delightful short tranquil interlude in an otherwise hectic weekend.
Make the most of the sun - it's changing by the end of next week...