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Must Be June!

Well the weather couldn’t last and this past week has been a bit of a wash out to say the least. Now I don’t mind the rain – and we definitely need it with so many water bodies in the New Forest looking dry in much the same as last year.

The problem is all we have been getting are showers. Not enough to replenish our water supplies, and coupled with strong winds and dull skies, not good enough for dragonfly activity.

Such was the circumstances that I didn’t venture out again until Tuesday 7th. I went to Bentley Wood where I must admit my first priority was a hopeful spotting of the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly, but a good short and reasonably heavy shower put paid to that!

Nevertheless I continued on to the ponds knowing full well that I wouldn’t see anything, but was surprisingly rewarded with a freshly-emerged Southern Hawker.

Southern Hawker - Freshly Emerged
Southern Hawker – Freshly Emerged

Not quite believing my luck I stayed around long enough to watch him open his wings and crawl to the top of the yellow flag iris

Southern Hawker - Freshly Emerged
Southern Hawker – Freshly Emerged

Such were the dull conditions that a fill-in flash seemed the order of the day

Southern Hawker - Freshly Emerged
Southern Hawker – Freshly Emerged

Although there has been the odd sighting of Southern Hawkers around, I felt rightly privileged to witness this superb spectacle. Due recompense for getting a soaking earlier!

On Wednesday 8th I visited Blashley Lakes where I knew there would at least be some shelter from the rain which had been forecast. Not a dragon to be seen, but the foliage was full of Blue-tailed, Large Red and Common Blue Damselflies

Common Blue Damselfy - Teneral
Common Blue Damselfy – Teneral
Common Blue Damselfy - Male
Common Blue Damselfy – Male
Common Blue Damselfy - Teneral
Common Blue Damselfy – Teneral
Common Blue Damselfy - Teneral
Common Blue Damselfy – Teneral

On Friday 10th Sue & I had planned a day in Somerset to witness the Large Blue Butterflies at Collard Hill and a visit to Westhay Moor afterwards for dragonflies.

We were blessed with decent weather for the morning on the hill, but by lunchtime the clouds had rolled in with some threatening skies. Unfortunately this meant that Westhay was scarce on dragon activity although we did spot the odd Four-spotted Chaser and a few Black-tailed Skimmers

Black-tailed Skimmer - Female
Black-tailed Skimmer – Female

Despite the lack of dragons, damsels were in good numbers and nearing the pond we found a rather distressed Male Red-eyed trapped in a spiders web. Rescued with precision nails by my partner Sue, we hoped that at least he could enjoy a longer life

Red-eyed Damselfy - Male
Red-eyed Damselfy – Male

Towards the end of the track we encountered several Blue-tailed’s of various phases, including this rather beautiful rufescens with that wonderful blue tinge in the eyes

Blue-tailed Damselfly - Female - Rufescens Phase
Blue-tailed Damselfly – Female – Rufescens Phase
Blue-tailed Damselfly - Female - Rufescens Phase
Blue-tailed Damselfly – Female – Rufescens Phase

Continuing on towards the furthest hide alongside the fishing lake we had a chance to photograph a mating pair

Blue-tailed Damselflies - Mating Pair
Blue-tailed Damselflies – Mating Pair

By now the clouds were more than threatening and the temperature had dropped significantly. Reluctantly we decided to call it a day, but the day had been a major success despite the weather.

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More Delightful Days At Ober Water

After those delightful days at Ober Water, I decided to scout the area around Burley Heath on Thursday 2nd June. I returned to the recently discovered boggy pond on the far side of the heath which this time showed the the expected inhabitants – Emperor, Four-spotted Chaser, Broad-bodied Chaser, Keeled Skimmer, Large Red and Common Blue Damselflies.

Unfortunately the pond is not very photographer friendly – being wide and unforgiving along the shore.

During the walk back I checked for signs of Small Red Damsels but none were to be found. Burbush pond at least provided some activity with yet more Broad-bodied and Four-spotted Chasers and a patrolling Emperor

Emperor Dragonfly - Male
Emperor Dragonfly – Male

Long Pond was looking particularly sad with hardly any action. Not even a Red-eyed Damsel to be found on the minimal lily pads. In two years this pond has suffered much and is well beyond its former glory

On Friday 3rd I met Stephen from UK Dragonflies forum for a tour of Silver Stream and Ober Water. Silver Stream was buzzing with Southern and Large Red Damselflies, Beautiful Demoiselles, Keeled Skimmers, Broad-bodied Chasers and an Emperor

Emperor Dragonfly - Male
Emperor Dragonfly – Male

Our tour of Ober Water produced the widest variety of the day with a good 14 species spotted – including Black-tailed Skimmers and Scarce Chasers – two species not previously spotted at this location. However we were there for the White-legged and Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies

White-legged Damselfly - Male
White-legged Damselfly – Male
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly - Male
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly – Male

On Saturday 4th Sue & I had arranged to give a tour of Ober Water to Jerry & Mike from UK Dragonflies forum. We were joined by Phil Lord, an expert with over 20 years experience observing the dragonflies of the New Forest.

Despite a threatening forecast, the promised rain stayed away and we were greeted with decent sunny spells and reasonable temperatures and were rewarded with our first Scarce Blue-tailed as soon as we arrived at the spot – including this fantastic female in transition form the immature to mature phase

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly - Female
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly – Female

Further along the stream we had our first sightings of White-legged Damselflies, including quite a few tenerals

White-legged Damselfly - Teneral
White-legged Damselfly – Teneral
White-legged Damselflies - Pair in Tandem
White-legged Damselflies – Pair in Tandem

and even a teneral Small Red

Small Red Damselfly - Teneral
Small Red Damselfly – Teneral

There were a few dragons flying along the stream, including Black-tailed Skimmers, Broad-Bodied Chasers, Scarce Chasers, a Downy Emerald, an Emperor and several Keeled Skimmers

Black-tailed Skimmer - Male
Black-tailed Skimmer – Male

Unfortunately the Golden-ringed didn’t show itself on this occasion, but a Banded Demoiselle was spotted among the numerous Beautiful – again an unusual sighting for this location

Beautiful Demoiselles - Mating Pair
Beautiful Demoiselles – Mating Pair
Beautiful Demoiselle - Female ovipositing
Beautiful Demoiselle – Female ovipositing

Large Red Damsels were plentiful

Large Red Damselfly - Female
Large Red Damselfly – Female
Large Red Damselfly - Teneral Male
Large Red Damselfly – Teneral Male

and a good population of Azures and Southern

Southern Damselfly - Male
Southern Damselfly – Male

Afterwards we paid a short visit to Crockford Stream, which quite frankly was a huge disappointment after Ober Water, but then I have said on several occasions that Ober Water beats Crockford Stream hands down!

So a fabulous day and our guests returned home with 4 new species ticks – not bad for their first visit to the New Forest!