At last! It’s been a long wait. The first Large Red sightings have already been posted on the BDS website, with Dorset leading Hampshire by nearly a week.
However after a hopeful visit to the New Forest today I am pleased to announce the Large Reds are finally appearing! At Broomy Pond today there were at least 30 tenerals to be seen, desperately clinging to the heather in the wind.
After a long winter they were such a pleasure to watch, and a chance to get my eye in again for photo oppotunities.
Looking forward to the new season with a renewed passion, but then I always thought I would!
I’m a relatively new fellow Odonata enthusiast (2 years) and green with envy! I found your site by searching on “Thursley Common” to which I’m planning my first visit this week. Your location clues should prove helpful so thanks for those.
I keep checking my local patch (Bedfordshire) for the first Odonata but nothing so far, though a friend reports “a red damselfly” in Bucks. Maybe I haven’t found the right site here yet. It does seem to have been a long winter, doesn’t it?
As well as an interest in Odonata, we also seem to share an interest in photography and WordPress blogs. Maybe we could generate each other a little visitor traffic by cross-linking to each other?
All the best,