Wingates Quarry Durham

The end of last month we where down at Shotton Colliery  Durham there is a small airfield  that does Skydiving  we where there to watch someone do a charity jump , I must admit it did look fantastic as they floated down to earth from about 2 1/2 miles up, from above you would barely have seen the ground, several people where jumping for charities so well done to them all. While in the area we went to the nearby Wingates Quarry  LNR its easy to find on the map , this is the site for among other things the Marbled White Butterfly I think they where an unorthourised  introduction at some time , it was perhaps early in the year but with recent good spell of weather there is always a chance , Dingy Skipper was the first Butterfly seen also Orange Tip ,Small Heath and numerous Whites , but no Marbled, we did have a cracking view of a Broad Bodied Chaser which quite by chance settled near a very small pool that was teeming with Newts ,another pool nearby had the usual Damselflies and masses of Leeches in the water the most I've ever seen some looked 6" long . Well as the afternoon went on despite the warm weather the butterflies decreased , there where some notable botany specimens to be seen the best was Common Butterwort growing in clumps in the open , the site is well worth a visit , it's the furthest north for Marbled White introduction or not. 

 This would make a fantastic setting for some movie or other it must have been a very large quarry in it's day

 

Paths criss cross the whole area so it's easy to explore and being a quarry you can't get lost

 

 

 

C ommon Butterwort  a carnivorous plant the basal leaves are somewhat sticky  and so trap very small insect which are absorbed rather than eaten

 I could see any insects but  they are certainly sticky

 Common Blue but only one

 First Dingy Skipper seen but then they where all over the place  very common here

Female Broad Bodied Chaser the only actual Dragonfly seen this plantain was blowing back and forth about a foot each way , I was thinking I'm not going to get a photo before it goes , but if you use the take enough approach one or two will be OK

 

 

 

Female Broad Bodied Chaser on Ribwort Plantain and that's Cuckoo Spit below just to give an idea of size

 

 

 

 A few of these around Lacewings ? they just catch the eye being a nice shade of blue

 Dingy Skipper very common here I remember my first which took me ages to get a photo of

 Small Heath hard to get a photo with the wings spread

 Cinnabar Moth I was surprised to see for some reason I thought they where coastal ?

 Three Dingy Skippers where taking I presume minerals  from the bird dropping on the left

A strange landscape  now topped off with the ever increasing presence of wind turbines

Broad Bodied Chasers

Well with the recent find of a Broad Bodied Chaser at Big Waters that I went along to see I was determined to find my own and after much searching I did on a small flash which had already dried to a third size I had a Broad Bodied Chaser fly right past me after a bit of patrolling it flitted up and caught something bringing it to a perch to devour, no idea as to what it was because most of it was hidden by the Dragons wing so I moved around as best I could for a couple more shots . Suddenly it was off and chasing another Male and a few minutes later it chased something else and grabbed it but this was a Female they locked in a wheel as they flew and I frantically tried to lock the camera on to them but everything was a blur , damn I thought what a missed opportunity, another few minutes later the Female was back and again the Male chased after her and again grabbed her in a frenzied whirl I tried again to lock on getting some blurry images but at least I got something . Female appears  across the water this time ovipositing  by dipping the rear end  in the water so I spent the time trying to get some shots of this , it's very frustrating you just locate it focus and before your addled brain can send a signal down to the finger poised over the shutter button it's changed direction and you start over again , you might think you have quick reactions if you have ever played Wack A Mole (there was also a Thatcher and cronies version which I really liked ) but try photographing Dragons in flight. Well as the morning wore on with the occasional appearance of another Male , which in the end became annoying because the more dominate male would be perched  and I would try and get closer only to have it chase off after the interloper so I called it a day and headed off elsewhere well satisfied with what I had. 

 No idea what it's eating ,it's right rear leg at first seems missing but checking all the shots it's actually perfectly aligned behind the left leg and is visible on other shots but the prey item is not.

 Male and Female coupled in a wheel frantic and brief this is the best I got.

 Female starts to egg lay along the water edge

 Dipping her rear end in the water as she danced across the surface

 Eventually picked her out as she landed briefly

 And back to the task of egg laying legs well tucked up

 I just kept trying and trying to get some shots occasionally the Male would chase after her and they would disappear perhaps in another wheel which I did not see .

Fascinating flight action used to slow down the rate of forward flight and hold for a fraction of a second while she dipped into the water.

 Eventually turned my attention to the Male for some flight shots much harder to follow than the slower Female but I was moderately pleased with this one

 Again back onto the Female and again moderately pleased with this one ,good job it's Digital and not the old slide film .

And the last one as the Male starts to perch more but now tending to go much higher in the bushes and even out of sight . I did look back the next day the water is drying up fast,a single Male present  and only for about an hour and a further visit revealed no sightings as the water has all gone  but there must be more to be found

Broad-Bodied Chaser

Since I started to develop a passion for Dragonflies the weather for the past couple of years has not been on my side or more importantly in the favour of  Dragonflies, I have made a few outings this year  but not much activity so far the common species of damselfly are still in low numbers and I glimpsed my first Emperor of the year at East Cramlington . So the news of a Broad Bodied Chaser at Big Waters photographed by Alan J  had me up there the next day , a day of sunshine and cloud ,warm in the sun but cool in the shade John also keen to catch up with this  uncommon species at least to Northumberland ,was also present no sign of it at the small pools so we wandered around looking at the flowers till the sun reappeared and we headed back to the ponds and within a few minutes first a Four Spot then the male Broad Bodied Chaser which constantly chased the FSC if it came anywhere near its patch ,it gave cracking views as it posed on the overhanging vegetation but also disappeared rapidly if the sun went in . Alan J also arrived telling us how he first found and photographed it and getting the I.D. when he got home , also around my first few Meadow Browns of the year and a glimpse of a Small Skipper but some heavy cloud put and end to this and we wandered off for a walk. It was good to finally catch up with this species after about four years of trying .

Male Broad-Bodied Chaser

 Ragged Robin

 Broad Bodied Chaser ,I don't have a macro lens so can't capture all the detail I would like

 Again the sort depth of field leaves the tail slightly out of focus

 I find Dragonflies ever more fascinating and just love to preserve a moment frozen in digital pixels ,I'm sure they will become more common in the next few years.

 This had us puzzled at first , it was well over in the pond and I thought  fairly recently emerged and perhaps with a malformed wing or had it come into contact with the FSC as it definitely had pond water drops on it's wing . A Female Common Darter which just remained there

 The Four Spot Chaser one of up to three with a female ovipositing  briefly this is the only time it settled and in the grass and not on a Rush stem as is usual.