Dragonfly Sortie

A day out looking for Dragons at East Cramlington  produced a Black Tailed Skimmer , Four Spot Chaser and Emperors along with Common Blue , Large Red and Blue Tailed |Damselflies.  The BTS always kept faithful to a small piece of flat wood that was on the edge of the  pond vegetation  but some way off a bit of interaction with FSC and Emperor but it held its ground , it was a sunny warm day so the Emperor flew most of the time occasionally flying high to chase off another then come back to the pond patrolling the edge looking for females it did eventually land a couple of times but mostly they will perch with backs facing the sun which is not always convenient for photographs. There was 3-4 Four Spot Chasers but most holding a patch away from me and the one nearest was just at the long range of my lens , it's amazing how they have spread so rapidly I remember my first a few years ago and now it seems they are present at most ponds and sometimes in very good numbers.

For Spot Chaser

 Blaqck Tailed Skimmer and it's favoured log

 Male Emperor looking as though it's sporting a metal ring

 And here a Common Blue investigates showing the huge size differance ,its amazing how some people describe to me how they have seen huge blue Dragonflies in large numbers which mostly refers to these Common Blue's

Black Tailed Skimmer

While at West Hartford looking for Dragonflies I caught sight of  a Black Tailed Skimmer that landed someway off trying to get a little nearer it took off I lost sight of  it for a few seconds till I heard the whirring of wings and saw clasping onto what I htought would be a female but no it was another Male which it had grasped by the back of the head and procceeded to tug it from it's perch . I took loads of shots but the action was so fast and furious most where blurred ,but what determination was invloved the other Male just seemed to sit there , how the first knew of the seconds prescence I don't know unless it witnessed it land , I have watched them chase each other in the air before and always the interloper will fly off to another part of the pond but never seen anything like this before . Saddly one drawback of the fine weather is the rapid drying of ponds  as at West Hartford which is now dried up ?

Common Blue Damselfly coupled with Female

 Black Tailed Skimmer alighted numerouis times but always to far off, you have to track  them vigerously as they fly if you want to see them land which they do frequently

Eventually the aggressor flies off leaving the other Male to it's perch

And that's how I left it ,as far as I could see non the worse for it's ordeal, they have a brief but tough live !!!

Kibblesworth

A visit to Kibblesworth Pools for Dragonflies found 2-3 Emperor Dragonflies, a Black-tailed Skimmer, and Common Hawker reported but I did not see it and some teneral Common Darter many of which lifted from the pool and headed over to the trees for cover ,numerous Grayling around the weather again changeable . Looking at my notes for last year Dragonflies where more abundant and out much earlier than this year , so what is the governing  factor the very good April and part of May seems to have had no affect on early emergence here in the North, yet in the South many species had emerged  earlier.  

Common Darter with cellophane wings 

 When in flight with legs help up  the stiff hairs  form a sort of basket which helps to catch small insects

 Just what can they see with those huge compound eyes.

 Grayling absorb heat by facing side on to the sun sometimes tilting over to get the most  from the sun

July drags on ..............................

14th spent some time at cresswell pond just in the hide 60-70 Dunlin, 2 Little Ringed Plover this with the yellow ring and No 5 on which has been mentioned by others not sure if there is any info on it yet , Whimbrel over and settled on the spit, also a Common Sandpiper .15th 2 Emperor 1 Male and this Female laying only shots I could get as they both disappeared.
17th Little Egret heading for the west end at Hollywell, 2 Dragonflies in front of the hide at first I thought both Four Spot Chasers but this female ovipositing by dipping in the water I think is a Black Tailed Skimmer. Adult Med Gull at the east end , preening on the shore .

This just fledging Herring Gull was in the street when I got home 2 pairs nesting nearby

Dragons & Terns....8-7-10

Thursday the 8th I again started the day looking for Dragons called at Summerhill lane pond , teneral Emerald , Four Spot Chaser keeping in shelter and out of the wind , a Black tailed Skimmer down on the road as was 4 Tortoiseshell .

Cresswell only had a Common Sandpiper but I did not go into the hide to check the sand bar, Druridge at the screen end my first Common Darter of the year .

East Chevington checked out the north pool numerous Terns collecting now , my first Common Tern juveniles, a single Little Tern and two colour ringed Arctic Terns both standing in water so not sure If I got the combos right they could be off an old scheme, will try and get some gen, apart from a few Dunlin with a couple of juveniles also that was about it.

Common Darter.........imm male would be my guess
More Five Spot Burnett's but still not in large numbers
Stoat checking the verge for Rabbits that had just been out sunning themselves

Four Spot Chaser

Holywell Pond 7-7-10

Wednesday started the day at East Cramlington the day sunny but again that fairly strong breeze, Dragons on the wing with Emperor & Four Spot Chaser but not wanting to play ball have get their pics taken I watched for over an hour and they did not land anywhere near me, plenty of Butterflies in sheltered spots , Blue & Lge Reds still around , but I saw little point in visiting further ponds for Dragons anyway. Holywell Pond I have not been for Awhile so I ended up there ,water level low at the East end 6 and later 9 Black Tailed Godwits , 3 Common Terns, and a Little Egret drifted to the west, Little Ringed & Ringed Plover , with House Martins coming in for mud.

At the west end hide 2 Emperor(F laying ,Four Spot Chaser, and a Black Tailed Skimmer, I looked up at one stage and a Little Egret coming right towards me , it stalled and started to gain height I had the camera in hand but it would not fire .........battery dead ....I should make a note of the power level, but thats the way it goes, later I went back to the east end and the BTG had increased to 9 with also a Common Sandpiper.

It was still a pleasant day and only about 17:30 so I headed to Castle Island for an hour or so, water level here also very low , but all I could manage was 11 Common Sandpipers , and mostly Black-headed Gulls.

Large Skipper

Little Egret
Black Tailed Skimmer ,took lots of this will put it on Dragonfly blog when sorted

Female Emperor laying about 20yds away

Magpie Moth I get many of these in the garden at times
Black-tailed Godwits
Little Ringed Plover

Sunny Days.........30-6-10

Not much new for me in the past few days spent a day along the coast Dragonfly activity was minimal checked a few sites which all takes time, Emperors at every location but always on the wing & 4 Black Tailed Skimmers at Woodhorn stopped on the way past QE2 lake single Common Sandpiper on to Cresswell & Druridge then ended up at East Chevington took my seat ,scope & tripod down to the south hide and was going to sit there for a few hours , just a single Roseate , amongst the Terns & 5-6 1st Summer Arctic, single wader in the form of Summer Dunlin, as I sat waiting for birds to drop in I could feel my eye & head pressing into the scope eyepiece , cripes !!! I was falling asleep shook myself and tried again but after a few more minutes I was nodding off again............. so if that Bridled Tern had dropped back in or anything else for that matter,I would have missed it

Betony
Black tailed Skimmer

My first Ringlet of the year but I saw many by the end of the day
Five Spot Burnett Moth only a couple but I'm sure by now there will be many

Bridled Ter....no !!!......22-6-10

Bullfinch now a regular visitor to the garden and here a pair taking a bath together, it never fails to amaze me how much birds enjoy a bath some come back 2-3 times for more.

22-6-10 With the news of Bridled Tern on the 21st at East Chevington, it was a long shot but worth a try, checked the spit at BlythEstuary , and a couple of places along the coast in the hope of gathered terns , but too early for that .

Only a few birders at EC scoped the Terns picking out , Sandwich,Arctic, Common and later a Little Tern, with also some Little Gulls Black Tailed Godwit.

Had a walk to look for Orchids at least a 100 spikes of Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Twayblade & lots of Common Spotted, no sign of any Bee sure I have had them in late June before, first Common Blue of the year, Small Heath, only a few Blue damsels on the small pool , but later in the day Four Spot Chaser(lots this year), and Emperor with a single Black Tailed Skimmer at Woodhorn.

Also called in at Druridge for the male Ruff, nice bird it sat fast asleep behind a rock and we had to wait till it decided to have a wander, difficult to capture a good image with it colouring.

The message of reported Bridled Tern at Budle summed up the day , but it was still a good day out.