Day: July 10, 2010

On Monday I paid a visit to Bentley Wood in the hope of catching a glimpse and maybe photographing the elusive Purple Emperor butterfly, but on the way I stopped off at Carsbrook Common near Romsey to investigate. This site had all but been taken over by a local authority tip, but the ponds are still there for now and relatively early in the day I was greeted with a Small Red-eyed Damselfly perched on the pond-side vegetation

This was one of the species on my list for this year and I had intended to visit Testwood if I had time that day for precisely that reason, so this unexpected sighting and photo opportunity was the first major highlight of the day.

While at Bentley Wood I made my usual pilgrimage to the two ponds where Downy Emeralds, Broad-bodied Chasers and Emperors were flying. However at the top pond there were spent exuviae on the reeds and on further searching, two freshly-emerged Southern Hawkers attached to the pontoon.

These opportunities were another highlight of the day and shortly afterwards I was even more lucky to encounter that elusive Purple Emperor butterfly. Photos of this encounter can be found on my Flickr page (see panel to the right)

Elated at my good fortune I almost forgot to visit Testwood, but remembered just in time and headed to the centre pond where indeed there was a Small Red-eyed on the pond as well as an ovipositing female Emperor

All in all a cracking day!

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On Sunday I met Doug at Badminston on a dull and very windy day. Pretty much the same as Thursday but the sheer numbers of fresh teneral Common Darters rising from the reeds was a wonderful sight! Nothing much on the common, but the fishing pond produced an opportunity to at least capture a Scarce Chaser perched on foliage rather than on the ground

The wind showed no sign of dropping and the day turned somewhat gloomier, but we paid a visit to Rushbush Pond regardless to seek out any activity. Absolutely nothing was flying over the pond but careful searching among the heather revealed some Emerald and Common Blue Damselflies, the latter providing some well-needed amusement.

While Doug was videoing this male Common Blue, we had plenty of time to observe some defensive behaviour. Every time we faced our quarry head-on, he would twist around putting the branch between us and him. Further experiments using our hands produced further evasive behaviour with the damsel choosing to hide but peering around to see if we were still there.