Author: Paul Ritchie

The reasonably dry summer has really taken it’s toll on our water bodies and associated odonata. Most of the New Forest heath ponds are critically low and a good number have dried out completely.

I’ve had to look long & hard for dragons & damsels over the past week. At least Higher Hyde Heath produced a few Ruddy Darters of both sexes along with a welcome Southern Hawker

On Tuesday I took a trip around a few favourite New Forest haunts including Crockford Stream which disappointingly only produced a few Beautiful Demoiselles, a few Southern Damsels, a few Small Reds and a lone Golden-ringed. Next stop was Hawkhill which only produced a few Keeled Skimmers and no Hawkers whatsoever. Even the stream which runs through the valley is completely dry.

At least Badminston produced a few damsels and plenty of Common Darters, although not near as many as there should be this time of year.

At least Wednesday saw a little rain and even a brief thunderstorm, but nowhere near enough to replenish the water table. I went out early – probably too early – on Thursday for a stroll around upper Ober Water and Duck Hole Bog. Again activity was almost non existent, although there were a few sightings a little later when the sun made a brief appearance.

Still only a couple of White-legged Damsels, a few Beautiful’s and a reasonable number of Keeled Skimmers patrolling the bog to the south of the main river.

Next stop was Holmsley where at least there was more activity with Common and Ruddy Darters, Small Red, Emerald and Azure Damsels and even a brief sighting of a Southern Hawker. A chat with a fellow enthusiast revealed there was more of the same along with a couple of Emperors and several Keeled Skimmers at the old Quarry.

With time to spare I paid a brief visit to Ramsdown Forest where I saw absolutely nothing! Not even a Golden-ringed or Black Darter was to be found among the heath. So all in all a pretty disappointing week. Let’s hope the weather improves with some heavy rainfall followed by more than just sunny spells.

On Sunday 11th July I paid a brief visit to Abottswood Common, near Romsey, in search of a small pond I had been told about. After scouring the common I finally found the pond, secreted behind a barbed wire barrier. The pond is shallow and completely covered in reeds with hardly any open pools of water. Nevertheless a quick scour around the reeds produced some Emerald and Blue-tailed Damselflies.

On Monday 12th I decided to visit Alder Hills again, but stopped off at Higher Hyde Heath in the hope of capturing some mature male Ruddy Darters

There was also a rather ragged Male Emperor perched among the undergrowth

Onwards to Alder Gully hoping for an opportunity to photograph the Brown Hawker. Several more missed chances, but a few opportunities including a mating pair of Blue-tailed Damselflies, a Male Scarce Chaser perched on a water lily and one of several Golden-ringed’s

The remainder of the week proved to be dull and rainy, so I decided to concentrate on visiting a few local sites for butterflies, however the dragonflies were determined to get in on the action too with several Emperors, a couple of Southern Hawkers and even more Golden-ringed made appearances at Whitely Pastures on Saturday.

The above female provided 15 minutes of entertainment feeding on no less than three butterflies, devouring the haed and body but leaving the wings. To watch her hunting and catching her prey mere metres away from us was a sight worth seeing.

Increasingly I have witnessed Hawkers and Emperors along forest rides well away from water. They appear far more prominent in areas where there is a lot of butterfly and other insect activity and this leads me to believe that they visit these locations for primarily for feeding.

On Tuesday and Thursday of last week I visited a reliable site for Brown Hawkers, high on my list and a species I had yet to see let alone photograph. The good news is I finally got to see them in all there majesty. A fabulous beast in flight, but an absolute nightmare to photograph!

On the way there Tuesday I popped in to Ramsdown Forest for a quick visit to see if there were any Scarce Chasers still around. One female was spotted and photographed.

There were a few Golden-ringed’s about and I was disappointed to disturb a mating pair. However I did manage a shot of a Common Darter and a perched Male Emperor

As activity was minimal I continued to Alder Hills where I was greeted by male Emperors patrolling the banks along with male Scarce Chasers and feeding Blue-tails in the bank-side foliage.

Once I reached the pond I was rewarded with my first sightings of the Brown Hawker, two flying over the water and I did manage a rather poor in-flight shot which would prove to be my only record

As the day cooled with a little cloud cover their activity on the pond ceased, so I searched the surrounding heath for perched individuals. I found four, but annoyingly didn’t notice them until the last moment when they took flight over the trees – a reaction which would repeat itself on many future occasions. I did console myself with a shot or two of perched Scarce Chasers and a welcome discovery of a young male Southern Hawker which was far more willing to be photographed.

The return visit on Thursday proved to be even more disappointing and a more than a tad hazardous, the concentration of heather and young gorse among the heath proving dangerous underfoot after a wet night. It wasn’t long before I took the first of two falls into the undergrowth and managed to collect more than my fair share of nasty scratches and bruises.

Those Brown Hawkers weren’t going to give themselves up easily. Another four missed opportunities and on returning home I noticed that I had caused some muscular damage in my left knee which would put me out of action for the next few days. The only consolations being my first shot of a fox (a cub) and a close shot of a Heron, along with a few more Scarce Chasers and a Golden-ringed.

So the hunt is still on and as soon as I am fit enough I will be returning to the hazards of Alder Gully where I will eventually bag my prize…

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.

I started July with a return trip to Badminston Common. The Gravel Pits threw up the odd immature Common Darter, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer while the common itself revealed more of the same along with a solitary Golden-ringed.

I walked down to the fishing pond which had a little activity from the odd Downy Emerald and Four-spotted Chaser along with the obligatory Azures and Blue-tails.

Landscapers were in the process of cutting down the back-side reeds and foliage, which is probably a great help to the fishermen but a nuisance as far as dragonflies are concerned. They had also cleared away a lot of the surface vegetation close to the bank where Red-eyed Damselflies used to congregate.

On the way back I finally called into the pond by the leisure centre to see what was about. Once again Black-tailed Skimmers were out in force along with Broad-bodied Chasers and a pair of Emperors

A quick call into Hawkhill on the way back saw Golden-ringed hawking the forest rides and Keeled Skimmers, Beautiful Demoiselles, Large Red and Azure damselflies along the stream

So many updates to complete here, but with the weather continuing to be glorious it would be a sin to stay attached to a PC instead of being in the field.

On the second day of Doug’s holiday we were joined by a couple of enthusiasts from Manchester who we gladly guided through some of the New Forest hot-spots. First call was Ober Water for White-legged and Scarce Blue-tails. Due to a gloomy start we didn’t encounter any of the latter, but did find the former perched among the heather.

From there we visited Burley Gravel Pits, a site which was new to me and a welcome destination with plenty of activity increasing as the sun finally broke through. Emerald and Small Red Damsels were found among the heather and on a sad note we found a female Emperor who had emerged in a precarious location preventing her wings from forming.

We removed her to a better position and she still had plenty of fight for survival despite her predicament. We knew that the lack of wings would prevent her from surviving long.

Another delight at the site was a rather vibrant and fresh female Black-tailed Skimmer

At that point we parted company and agreed to meet up at Hatchet small pond a little later, taking the time to explore the feed-in streams to the large pond where we had heard Scarce Blue-tails had been seen. No sightings and the unforgiving terrain only helped to exhaust our resources, so we moved on to Hawkhill where I knew we would encounter some Golden-ringed.

I maintain that you will encounter more Golden-ringed Dragonflies at this site than even Crockford Stream and a walk through the rides and clearings should be on the list of any dragonfly enthusiast. It is also a good site for the larger fritillary butterflies, Common Lizards and if you’re quiet and lucky – which we were that day – a sighting of a Red Deer or two.

All in all a good day with good company.

Monday was the start of Doug Overton’s holiday and I joined him for an exhausting day discovering some of Dorset’s delight. First port of call was Delph Woods on the Wimborne to Poole Road. I had visited once before and didn’t see what all the fuss was about, but with Doug as a guide I found the proper spot where activity was plentiful.

While Doug donned the waders to get close to the Red-eyed’s, I busied myself around the edge and among the heather stopping to help a freshly-emerged Common Darter find a less precarious place to finish drying out.

Next port of call where two Dorset Heaths where I had been introduced to the week previous, Kilwood Copse being first where we were rewarded by our first Southern Hawker of the season.

The ‘hidden’ pond provided several photo opportunities and plenty to keep Doug busy. Such is the diversity of flora and fauna in this little oasis that we were both bitten by horseflies while attempting to photograph a nicely camouflaged female Emperor.

From there we travelled the short distance to Higher Hyde Heath, a small and very diverse Dorset Wildlife Trust site north-west of Wareham. We were hoping to photograph a Downy Emerald or two at rest, but no such luck! However there were plenty of other opportunities including Emerald Damselflies and Ruddy Darters.

Next port of call was another county hot-spot, Morden Bog – part of Wareham Forest and the presence of Hobby’s hint at the dragonfly populations. Our main objective was the Small Red Damselfly.

Close to 5.00pm we were well and truly knackered, so called it a day!