Damsels causing distress

I don't know about damsels in distress, but sorting out the little blue ones has caused me some distress over the years. I got the hang of them many years ago but middle age intervened and I forgot more than I had learnt. The long hot summer has brought out the curiosity in me again though so with field guide in one hand and site guide in the other I set off to see some of the scarcer species to be found within striking distance of home in Dorset...

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly is on the GB red list - a new species for me

Note the tiny black marks on s9 (near the tail tip) which help identify this species

Finding water on its parched Dorset heathland home was the key to finding this one

Compare the Scarce Blue-tailed above with the 'regular' Blue-tailed Damselfly here

Another new species for me was this Southern Damselfly in the New Forest

The smallest blue damselfly and one of the rarest, it was busting some serious moves

Southern Damselfly can be identified by the 'mercury' mark on s2 (just behind the thorax)...

...and the spear-shaped marks on the abdomen. Compare to:

Azure Damselfly, with a 'beer glass' shape on s2, and...

...White-legged Damselfly - more black on the abdomen and white sides to the legs

A bit easier was this Small Red Damselfly in the New Forest - an all red abdomen compared to...

...Large Red Damselfly (also New Forest)

Longham Lakes was full of Common Blue Damselfly (which has a 'mushroom' mark on s2)

And after all those little blue jobs, something nice and easy to close: an impressive Golden-ringed Dragonfly in the New Forest

 

Star Terek

I was poised to go on news this morning if yesterday's Terek Sandpiper was still at Rye Harbour but unfortunately it had decided to boldy go somewhere else. A shame as this could have been my second British tick in consecutive weekends. I was so confident it would be there that, as you can see, I even had a blog post title ready prepared for my all-conquering return. It seemed a shame to waste it.

Hobby

Kestrel

Crossbill

This misplaced confidence may have been extra wishful thinking as twitching would have been a useful displacement activity to avoid knuckling down to a dissertation which I have to complete soon as part of a work-related qualification. I was up early anyway so made a half-hearted start on this. But then Steve Smith, who had offered me the putative lift to Rye, suggested a trip to nearby Morden Bog instead to search for odonata, which sounded like more fun than homework.

Male Downy Emerald

Downy Emerald - I think this is a female - the abdomen sides being more parallel and less club shaped than the male

Short, curved anal appendages help tell male Downy from Brilliant and Northern Emerald. But they don't occur in Dorset anyway. So the anal appendage close-up is just, well, gratuitous.

Downy Emerald was the main target and despite the efforts of three Hobbies to wolf them all down we managed to find a few. A couple of patrolling individuals on one of the main paths were difficult to pin down at first but eventually we did so - on a rhododendron bush to which they repeatedly returned to rest. The same area also proved attractive to damselflies and a few butterflies - Brimstone, Holly Blue and Green Hairstreak.

Brimstone

Common Heath

Common Heath underside

Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers were also on the wing, along with Large Red and Azure Damselflies.


Four-spotted Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

Green Tiger Beetle, I'm reliably informed

When I got home the laptop on which I am supposed to be typing my dissertation looked up at me accusingly. I ignored it and went for a nap. When I woke up it was still there, glowering impatiently. So I mowed the lawn. Now it's sighing despairingly while I type blog posts instead of critiquing academic theories of project management. Maybe tomorrow.

Large Red Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Azure Damselfly (male)