Lincolnshire Dragon's.

Crowle and Thorne Dragon's......

2011-07-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Female Black Darter,Thorne Moors NNR.

A trip out to this brilliant dragonfly site today,resulted in far fewer numbers of the expected species as i had been hoping for.We managed to record a total of 11 species in all,with the highlights being my first Common Hawker's,Black Darter's,Ruddy Darter,Emperor and Emerald Damselfly with a late Four-spot Chaser being seen also.The numbers recorded were as follows:Male Emperor,7 Common Hawker,1 Southern Hawker,5 Brown Hawker,15 Emerald Damselfly,10 Common-blue Damselfly,58 Black Darter,4 Ruddy Darter,5 Common Darter,1 Four-spot Chaser and a male Black-tailed Skimmer.Not a bad visit,but perhaps another visit in a few weeks time may reveal larger numbers of Black Darter.

Fen Bog specialities.....

2011-06-27T03:03:00.000-07:00

Male Keeled Skimmer.

Teneral male Keeled Skimmer.

A visit to this superb area today with Colin,to do a bit of recording and photography,saw us not doing too badly.I had really wanted to try and get some better images of Keeled Skimmer than i already had and was pleased with todays efforts.Sightings wise,we managed 5 Golden-ringed Dragonfly,what a Dragon these are,stunning!,35 Keeled Skimmer,of various ages,but mostly tenerals,2 Four-spot Chaser and at least 10 Large-red Damselfly.So these sightings coupled with brilliant scenery and all the other wildlife and birds made up for a cracking day!.

Aeshna grandis etc....

2011-06-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Male Azure Damselfly.

Female Brown Hawker.

A visit today to MSQ in some good conditions at last,saw me seeing as the header suggests,my first Brown Hawker's of the year and also my earliest personal records,with 5 insects being seen,with all but 1 being mature insects and a female allowed me a close approach,with some superb photographic oppertunities.Other first records for the year included a couple of Southern Hawker,with one along the approach track to the reserve and the other a confiding male in the plantation and a single Female Broad-bodied Chaser,briefly seen before it shot into the tree canopy!.Also seen around the reserve,were 2 male Hairy Dragonfly,5 Four-spot Chaser and 3 Black-tailed Skimmer.A good day at last!.

MSQ Survey...

2011-05-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

Male Hairy Dragonfly.

Male Hairy Dragonfly eating Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Another visit to this dragonfly hotspot to again survey numbers of the resident species,resulted in,as on the last visit another significant increase in numbers of species.The counts were as follows:Damselflies,1020 Azure Damselfly,495 Common-blue Damselfly,312 Blue-tailed Damselfly,10 Red-eyed Damselfly and 3 Large-red Damselfly with Dragonflies being represented by 35 Hairy Dragonfly and 15 Four-spot Chaser.The Azure count has again broken all expectations and Hairy's are still being recorded all around the reserve,with at least 3 pairs being observed mating.It will be interesting to see how well they have bred in 2 or 3 years time,when this years nymphs emerge.

Blustery MSQ.

2011-05-17T00:50:00.000-07:00

Female Blue-tailed Damselfly of the form 'Infuscens'.

Female Azure Damselfly of the 'Green form'.

Male Red-eyed Damselfly.

Male Four-spot Chaser.

Another visit here today in not ideal conditions resulted in some impressive Damsel counts,but not many Dragons seen on the wing,no doubt sheltering from the strong North Westerly wind.The most abundant species with an amazing count of 706 individuals was Azure Damselfly and in some areas on the reserve they were in clouds,amazing!.This is the largest count i have personally had of this lovely species.Other species counts which have improved since my last visit were Blue-tailed Damselfly with 396 and Common-blue Damsel with 347.Dragon's were well down with only 10 Four-spot Chaser and 4 Hairy seen.A good visit,despite the weather with some superb counts.

Four-spot record,09.05.11.

2011-05-10T04:24:00.000-07:00

Female Four-spot Chaser,with prey.

Male Blue-tailed Damselfly,showing diagnostic spine behind the head.

Male Hairy Dragonfly with prey.

A trip out today to the superb Messingham Sand Quarries again(My second home in the summer months),saw me recording a couple of impressive counts again!.The first,was a personal best record for the reserve of 48 Four-spot Chaser,which included at least 11 in the heathy area,impressive stuff!,to be followed by another impressive count of 46 Hairy Dragonfly.At least 1 pair of Hairy's were seen mating,with at least 4 female's observed today,with several individuals seen with prey,making for some cracking sightings!.There seemed to be a mass explosion of Azure's today also,but i just didn't have time to count everything,but will on my next visit!.A nice couple of hours again.

Woodwalton Fen.....

2011-05-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

Female Scarce Chaser.

A visit out of the county today with Colin to this fantastic fenland reserve,saw us recording a total of 8 species and getting some superb views of our target species,the stunning Scarce Chaser.When we first arrived on site,the weather was far from perfect and it rained on and off for the first few hours,with us getting a bit of a soaking on one occasion,but by late morning it cleared up and we started seeing our first Dragonfly species including our first 3 Scarce Chaser's.These our possibly,our most stunning dragonfly,with the immatures and females literally glowing in the sun,cracking stuff!.We managed to record a total of 18 individuals in the end,pretty good for so early in the season.Other nice sightings comprised of a few Hairy Dragonfly's and several male Red-eyed Damselfly holding territory and my first Variable Damselfly sightings of the year.An excellent day out.

MSQ Re-visited......

2011-05-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

Male Four-spot Chaser.

Male Hairy Dragonfly.

Teneral male Red-eyed Damselfly.

A few hours at my favourite spring and summer haunt today resulted in me recording the largest count of Hairy Dragonfly i have personally encountered,with 50 insects being counted,not only is this an impressive feat,but at this early date it is pretty exceptional.Another species which broke my personal records today was Red-eyed Damselfly,not only were these my first records for the year,but an impressive 47 were counted,which included 20 along one hedgerow.Other counts today included 14 Four-spot Chaser,239 Azure Damselfly,238 Common-blue Damselfly,11 Large-red Damselfly and 35 Blue-tailed Damselfly.A very productive day,hopefully the rest of the season will continue with good numbers of species.

MSQ,23.4.11.

2011-04-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

Female 'Blue form' Azure Damselfly.

Male Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Teneral male Common-blue Damselfly.

A visit today to Messingham in the hope that the recent weather might have induced a few Large-red's to emerge,resulted in me seeing not 1,but unbelievably 6 species!.The first species was a female Hairy Dragonfly watched hunting along the edge of the first field down from the car park,a great sight,with a further 2 insects,both males,1 near to the plantation and 1 near the small boardwalk as you access the path down to the wader hide.After i had seen the first Hairy,i looked around the first field and amazingly found a single Teneral male Common-blue Dam,which i thought great,a superb early record,but this was about to be out done,with me eventually seeing a total of 64 insects!.I then carried on around the reserve encountering other first sightings of the year in the form of 11 Azure Damselfly,2 Large-red's,a single Four-spot Chaser and 5 Blue-tail's.This was beyond all my expectations and broke all my earliest records for all the species seen today,absolutely brilliant stuff and a great start to the season!.

Review Of 2010...

2010-12-04T03:59:00.000-08:00

Female Hairy Dragonfly eating Red-tailed Bumble Bee,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Female Willow-emerald Damselfly,Campsea Ashe,Suffolk.

Mating Hairy Dragonflies,Susworth,Lincolnshire.

Male Common-blue Damselfly,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Male Emperor,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Male Migrant Hawker,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Male Golden-ringed Dragonfly,Fen Bog YWTR.

2010 was a funny year,with some species doing very well and others not so,there was also a large immigration of continental species into the South-east of the country which didn't really reach Lincolnshire.The following is a summary of what i observed coupled with a few reports from elsewhere.The season started later than normal with some poor weather in spring,but when species did start emerging,they did so in big numbers,with large numbers of the commoner damselfly species,with particularly some big counts of Blue-tailed Damselfly,especially at Susworth,with a huge count of 1978 insects on the 28th May.On this day also,a large count of 311 Variable Damselfly and 18 Hairy Dragonfly were also counted,the latter being the best count of the species for the year,with the maxima at Messingham Sand Quarries being 14 insects.A visit to Norfolk on 5th June saw Chris,Colin and myself visiting Strumpshaw Fen,How Hill and Catfield Fen and we enjoyed superb views of Norfolk Hawker,Variable Damselfly,Hairy Dragonfly and Red-eyed Damselfy,with my first Banded Demoiselle's of the year.Another trip out of the county on the 26th June to North Yorkshire with Chris,to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Fen Bog,saw us seeing all the target species which included superb views of Golden-ringed Dragonfly and Keeled Skimmer.Into high summer,good numbers of Brown Hawker were recorded at Messingham Sand Quarries,with a big count of 48 insects on the 2nd August and the peak count for Migrant Hawker was 44 on the 12th September.Southern Hawker also fared better than the last few years with 8 recorded at Messingham Sand Quarries on the 6th August,but it was a poor year for Common Hawker at Crowle,compared to previous good years with 14 being the peak count on the 3rd July.Darter species didn't fare particularly well either,apart from Black Darter,with the peak count at Crowle Moor being a good total of 374,with the peak count of Common Darter being at Messingham Sand Quarries of 47 on the 12th September.On the 14th August another trip out of the county again with Colin and Chris,saw us visiting the River Deben at Campsea Ashe in rural Suffolk to see the newly colonising Willow-emarald Damselfly.We hit the jackpot here with us finding at least 52 insects and we managed to get some superb images of this confiding species.This was my only new species for the year.Finally,the last dragon recorded for the year was Common Darter on my local patch at Worlaby Carrs,with 11 being seen on the 30th October.So,all in all,not too bad a year and iam looking forward to 2011 and some South-easterly winds to blow some migrant species in!!.

Common Darter..

2010-10-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

A visit around the local patch at Worlaby today resulted in me seeing 1 Common Darter hanging on after the recent cold temperatures,this species is usually the last species to be seen in the season and is sometimes seen into December in the south of the country.

Willow-emerald Beauties......

2010-08-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

Female Willow-emerald Damselfly

A trip out of the county today,with Chris and Colin to Suffolk,to a little village called Campsea Ashe which was situated near the River Deben,had us enjoying our first encounter with the newly colonising Willow-emerald Damselfly.When we arrived on site,there had been heavy rain overnight and it was overcast and breezy,but things soon improved and it was almost continuous sun for the rest of our visit.The first Willow-emerald we saw was fairly high up in a riverside Alder and was too far for any images,but as the day warmed up they became much easier to get to grips with,being observed down to inches away!!.In all,a very impressive 48 individuals were counted and we couldn't have asked for better views of our new addition to our dragonfly lists!.Other species observed during the day included Blue-tailed,Common-blue,Azure,Red-eyed and Emerald Damselflies,Southern,Migrant and Brown Hawkers,Emperor,Common and Ruddy Darters,so was a very good site for Odonata and it was a very enjoyable and productive visit.This was the first new Odonata species for myself since 2007!.

Crowle NNR.....

2010-08-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

Black Darter 3-some.

Teneral male Black Darter.

Female Common Hawker.

Female Common Hawker,eating what is left of a Common Darter.

A day to myself today as Trace was at work,so i decided to visit this cracking dragonfly site.The conditions today were not brilliant by no means,with variable cloud cover and a blustery westerly wind,but the sunny periods gave me plenty of chance to do some recording and photography,with me getting some great encounters with the moors speciality species.The commonest species recorded was Black Darter,with a good count of 374 individuals and they gave their usual great performances,with many mature males and an unbelievable sight of 2 males and a female in a trio instead of a tandem!.The other species which featured today and really was the highlight,was Common Hawker and i managed to find a female which i watched catch a Common Darter and proceed to eat it,which gave me a great oppertunity to get some photo's of my favourite dragonfly!.Other species observed today,included several Emerald Damselfly,8 Southern Hawker,a couple of male Ruddy Darter,1 male Azure Damselfly and about 10 Common Darter.A cracking day out again at this super reserve.

Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR....

2010-08-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Teneral male Migrant Hawker

Female Brown Hawker

Male Southern Hawker

A visit to Lincolnshire's premier dragonfly site today resulted in some cracking close encounters with 3 species of Hawker,Brown,Southern and Migrant.I think it was the conditions today,which was making the hawkers perch up,as it was fairly warm,about 22 degrees C,but pretty windy and i managed to get some great close up shots with the camera,with my best and closest encounters with Brown Hawkers to date!!.Also seen were fairly decent numbers of Common Darter,with some mature males starting to be seen.The species counts were as follows,13 Migrant Hawker,22 Brown Hawker,3 male Southern Hawker and 24 Common Darter,with still good numbers of Common-blue Damselfly on the wing also.A great 4 hours out at this super little reserve!.

Small red-eyed Damsel's.......

2010-08-04T02:12:00.000-07:00

Male and Female Small red-eyed Damselflies in tandem

Male Small red-eyed Damselfly

A visit to Gibralter point today primarily to look for any migrant dragons that may have turned up,failed miserably,but i did manage to see at least 30 Small red-eyed Damselflies on the excellent Mill Pond.They were watched ovi-positing and also some great territorial disputes between who's piece of algae was who's to perch on,excellent stuff!,i even managed a few record shots of them.Other species observed today included 6 male Emperor,11 Migrant Hawker(I checked every single one of these),2 male Black-tailed Skimmer,at least 9 Ruddy and 15 Common Darter,Common-blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies.A great day out,in not brilliant conditions.

Hawker Heaven.

2010-08-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Teneral male Migrant Hawker

Female Brown Hawker

Male Brown Hawker

A visit this afternoon to Messingham while Trace was at work resulted in good numbers of the larger dragons being seen around the reserve,with the commonest being Brown Hawker of which i logged an impressive 45 insects,this included 26 around 1 corner of the reserve giving superb close views.Other species were represented with the following numbers,1 male Emperor,11 Migrant Hawker,4 Southern Hawker,1 Four-spot Chaser and 8 Common Darter.A good few hours around this cracking dragonfly site.

Aeshna cyanea.....

2010-07-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

A visit today to MSQ,in fairly windy and cooler conditions than of late resulted in very few dragons being seen,but i did manage to find a female Emerald Damselfly and a cracking female Southern Hawker,see attached images.She allowed a really close up approach and i got some cracking photos,this species is never in big density here,unlike Crowle,but i still managed 3 insects today,2 males and this female.Not great today,but the Female Southern Hawker saved the day!.

Anax imperator......

2010-07-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

A visit to Messingham Sand Quarries today proved very fruitfull,with me finding a cracking male Emperor resting in long grass in the first meadow,no doubt getting some respite from the strong westerly wind.It gave superb views allowing a close approach for some great images,what a stunner!.I never thought i would get the chance to get so close to this species as they are notoriously difficult to get near normally.After enjoying this cracker,another good species was found and a personal first record for the reserve,a female Banded Demoiselle.She was watched on the edge of the heather meadow and gave excellent views,a lovely metallic beast!!.Other species and numbers recorded today included 22 Brown Hawker,27 Black-tailed Skimmer,2 Common Darter,a further 2 male Emperor,male and female Emerald Damselfly and 4 Southern Hawker.A great 4 hours enjoyed around this great place for odonata.

Crowle and Thorne Moors NNR.

2010-07-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

An all day visit today to this fantastic dragonfly site saw several highlights and first records of the year for myself,Adi and Dave,the best of which my favourite dragonfly Common Hawker,put on a cracking showing,with close encounters with one particularly photogenic female.We managed a good early season count of 14 individuals of this species,with all but 4 recorded on the Crowle side of the reserve complex.Other highlights included 1 teneral male Ruddy Darter,48 Black Darter,74 Emerald Damselfly,2 Southern and a single Brown Hawker all first records of the year.Lesser numbers of Four-spot Chaser and Large-red Damselfly where seen today,no doubt due to the 20 Hobby observed hawking them today!.A brilliant day out in cracking weather conditions again!.

Golden-ringed heaven!!.....

2010-06-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

A visit with Chris out of the County to the excellent Fen Bog in North Yorkshire today didn't disappoint with us cleaning up as usual.The highlight of the trip was the beautiful Golden-ringed Dragonfly,which we managed to record at least 8 individuals of,with one allowing close approach after it flew around our feet for several minutes,stunning stuff,these dragons really are a special species with their striking coloration!.Other species observed at this upland Bog site included at least 35 Keeled Skimmer,which were an absolute nightmare to get near and we saw several teneral males which where just aquiring their blue pruinescence on the abdomen,a lovely species,6 Four-spot Chaser and 10 Large-red Damselfly.A great day out with some great company in sweltering weather!!.

MSQ....

2010-06-13T03:44:00.000-07:00

A 9 hour visit today produced some great photographic oppertunities and my highest count of Hairy Dragonfly for the reserve this year,which involved a total of 14 individuals,with 1 pair observed mating and a male and female photographed eating prey,the female with a Bumblebee!!.Other highlights included my first local Black-tailed Skimmer's of the year,with a total of 10 seen and a good count for the reserve of 12 Four-spot Chaser.A great day out at Lincolnshire's premier insect site!.

The Norfolk Broads.....

2010-06-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

A trip today out of the county to this special area with Chris and Colin, mainly to see Swallowtail and Norfolk Hawker didn't disappoint with us seeing good numbers of Odonata at the 3 sites we visited.Norfolk Hawker and Hairy Dragonfly where the 2 commonest species with 26 Norfolk Hawker and 22 Hairy's being counted,with the former allowing some close approaches for photographs.In all a total of 11 species where observed throughout the day,with How Hill being the most productive of the sites of which we visited.Apart from the afore-mentioned Norfolk Hawker's,other first records of the year for myself included Banded Demoiselle and Black-tailed Skimmer.A superb day out and nice to catch up with some Norfolk Hawkers again.

Broad-body Overload.......

2010-05-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

A visit to Potteric Carr mainly to see the Iberian Chiffie with Chris today,saw us finding a massive 11 Broad-bodied Chaser(4 males and 7 females),these really are a stonking species and we enjoyed fantastic close views of several insects and also watched a male and female mating and then watched the female ovipositing,while the male guarded her,stunning stuff!!.Also observed around the reserve included large numbers of Azure Damselfly and smaller numbers of Large-red Damselfly,Common-blue Damselfly,Blue-tailed Damselfly and Four-spot Chaser.An excellent few hours around this gem of a reserve.

The River Eau....

2010-05-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

A visit today primarily to survey numbers of Variable Damselfly and to see how the species is doing in its northern outpost in the County,didn't disappoint,with me finding an impressive total of 311 insects and i got some excellent photographic oppertunities.Note how in the above photo,this particular male lives up to the species name,showing complete antehumeral stripes compared to the usually broken ones normally shown by this species.Another species which i recorded in good numbers was the Hairy Dragonfly with a brilliant count of 18 individuals,this included 4 mating pairs and 4 females watched ovipositing,excellent stuff! and the most i have recorded this year so far.Other species observed,saw a massive count of 1978 Blue-tailed Damselfly,an equally impressive count of 26 Red-eyed Damselfly,25 Common-blue Damselfly and 5 Four-spot Chaser.A really amazing 5 hours at a really good site for Odonata.

Common-blue explosion....

2010-05-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

A visit today for four hours revealed a mass emergence of Common-blue Damsels, with clouds of this species being seen at some parts of the reserve.And i managed a good count of 434 individuals.Also surprising,was my largest count of Azure's,with 104 being seen out shining the usually commoner Blue-tailed with only 103 being seen,this is quite poor,but no doubt will pick up if the weather stays settled.There was also a good number of Red-eyed Damsels with 12 individuals being counted,with at least 10 of these being mature males on the area of lily pads they use every year.The Hairy's still seem to be down in numbers with only 3 males and 1 female being seen today and only 3 Four-spot Chaser,but things may pick up yet.All in all some encouraging numbers at last,lets just hope the Hairy's breed well again!!.

Libellula quadrimaculata....

2010-05-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

A short visit to Messingham with Trace today saw us finding a freshly emerged Four-spot Chaser and the resulting pictures are of the distinct exuvia,some interesting detail when observed up close.There also looked like a big increase in numbers of Damsels,so i will go back on Saturday to do a proper count.

Crowle Moor NNR...

2010-05-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

A visit to this cracking reserve today primarily to survey numbers of Large-red's resulted in a very good count of 708 individuals and i also managed a decent count of 26 Four-spot Chaser,numbers of both species being down on last year,but may still increase yet,due to some species emerging later this year after the cold weather we have been experiencing.A great day out!.

Kirkby Moor LWTR...

2010-05-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

A visit to this cracking reserve today on the way back from seeing the Oriental Pratincole,resulted in me seeing my first definite Red-eyed Damselflies of the year(all teneral males) and some decent numbers of the ubiquitous Large-red's.The counts where as follows:57 Large-red Damselfly,4 Red-eyed Damselfly,5 Azure Damselfly,2 Blue-tailed Damselfly and 3 Four-spot Chaser.Not bad numbers considering the weather again!.

Hairy D,MSQ....

2010-05-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

A visit to MSQ with Dave today resulted in my first definite sightings of Hairy Dragonfly for the new season,with 3 insects being seen,2 males and 1 female and i even managed a decent shot as well.One was seen along the path to the wader hide,with a male and female in the plantation,near to the small pond.Other species today included 2 Four-spot Chaser,3 Large-red Damselfly,19 Common-blue Damselfly,16 Blue-tailed Damselfly and finally 14 Azure Damselfly.I also had a possible Red-eyed,but it soon disappeared into the heavens when i inadvertantly flushed it!.A decent day,but we are still waiting for some warm settled weather to get some good numbers on the wing.

A Good Day At Last.....

2010-05-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

A visit to where else but MSQ this afternoon for a few hours while the mrs was at work,revealed some decent numbers of species at last and several firsts for the year.The commonest species recorded lived up to it's name,with at least 23 Common-blue Damselfly being seen along with 5 Azure,10 Blue-tailed and 2 Large-red's.Only one species of dragon was recorded,a solitary Four-spot Chaser.The weather still needs to improve and we need to get rid of this easterly breeze before numbers will really pick up.

A good few hours at last seeing my beloved dragon's on the wing now!.

Four-spot....

2010-04-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

A visit to Messingham this morning for a few hrs in not too ideal conditions produced my first Four-spot Chaser of the year seen along the sheltered pathway down towards the wader hide.Unfortunately i flushed it before i saw it perched and it flew up into some tall Willows,missing the chance for any pic's.This is my earliest record of the species to date.The only other species observed was a single mature male Large-red Damselfly in the same area.

Pyrrhosoma nymphula....

2010-04-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

A visit to Messingham in the hope of finding our first Odonata species for the year today,struck gold with us finding 2 teneral female Large-red Damselfly sheltering in the lee of 2 hedgerows in the warm sun.I had a feeling the first sightings of the year were imminent after the fairly sunny days we have been experiencing over the last week or so.I also managed to get some decent images,see above,showing this female to be of the form 'Typica'.A great start to the new season and it won't be long before the first Hairy D's and Four-spot's are on the wing also!.

The New Season Approaches...

2010-04-07T01:24:00.000-07:00

As the new season is approaching upon us i have decided to design this blog to illustrate the diversity of Dragonfly and Damselfly species in Lincolnshire and to promote the Counties status further as there is hardly any up to date information on Odonata in Lincolnshire.

Here are a few photographs from last year of one of Lincolnshire's more scarce species the cracking Hairy Dragonfly,which occurs in fairly good numbers at Messingham Sand Quarries Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reserve where i took these photographs.It is also found at Rimac on the Lincolnshire coast and alongside the River Eau at Susworth,but may also occur at other suitable sites around the County.