Monday 5 July 2010

New Forest, Dragons & Damsels

A short break for Lisa and me in the New Forest last weekend saw me eagerly trying to find sites for all the rare and local insects and plants but just nowhere near enough time to do the place any justice. However I did manage to spend a fantastic few hours at a site near Crockford Bridge specifically for southern damselfly but there was just so much else on the wing, it was fantastic. The weather couldn’t have been that much better either, lovely and hot.

The heath was alive with silver-studded blues and we caught this couple upto a bit of mischief.
 10_07_03_new_forest_018-2_silver_studed_blue

In the heat the butterflies were extremely active and it was a job to get a shot of one at rest, but finally…

10_07_03_new_forest_007-2_silver_studed_blue

The dragon and damselflies were just amazing though, with the following highlights:

A new species for me was this small red damselfly with attached female.

10_07_03_new_forest_144_small_red_damselfly

Large red damselflies also occur at the site but are easy to tell apart from the smalls, at least in the males, with their black abdomen markings.

10_07_03_new_forest_119_large_red_damsel 

Another new species and a speciality of the site is southern damselfly and I managed to find this pair mating, with the male clasped onto the female.

10_07_03_new_forest_092_southern_damselfly


The beautiful demoiselle was also present along the stream in good numbers, what a cracker.
10_07_03_new_forest_049_beautiful_demoiselle

Then a very nice chap asked me if I was interested in dragonflies and directed me to a pair of golden-ringed dragonflies that were in a mating wheel. Just superb.
10_07_03_new_forest_025_golden_ringed_drag

We then went for a walk in a nearby piece of woodland and clocled up a few butterflies, namely silver-washed fritillary, large skipper, small skipper and marbled white.

Then tried a site called Latchmore Brook for scarce blue-tailed damselfly but couldn’t find any in the time remaining. All in all though a grand day out with my camera.

1 comment:

Greenie said...

John ,
Sounds like a magical visit , and your photos confirm that .
Very envious of your GRD pair mating , have only managed m & f separately .
Best way of IDing Red Damselflies is the legs , Large-Black ,
Small-Red . Sounds like a re-visit for the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly .
Read a report that Dainty Damselfly has been found recently by Kent Recorders , John and Gill Brook on Sheppey .