Derbyshire Damselflies and Moths

After the ringing session on Saturday I spent a short time at Cupola Pond and Wragg's Quarry on Beeley Moor with Jayne, looking for some dragonflies and damselflies.

The first species we saw when we arrived at Cupola Pond was Large Red Damselfly. There were at least a dozen individuals flying around the site, including 3 pairs ovipositing (egg laying).

Large Red Damselfly

We also saw 1 male Blue-tailed Damselfly and several Azure Damselflies, both male and female.

Azure Damselfly (female)

Azure Damselfly (male)

Whilst watching the damselflies, Jayne spotted a dragonfly exuvia on grass approximately 2m from the pond. This is the skin that a dragonfly nymph  sheds when it leaves the water to become an adult. I think it's a Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly. 

Four-spotted Chaser?

After visiting Cupola Pond, we drove about 2 miles to Wragg's Quarry, were we saw another 4 Large Red Damselflies along with single Common Heath  and Latticed Heath moths.

Common Heath

Latticed Heath

White-faced Darter

Today Jayne and I spent two hours in the sunshine on the Natural England Chartley Moss reserve in Staffordshire, looking for a very rare dragonfly called the White-faced Darter (see link here for details of this species). We were there as part of a guided tour with a Natural England site manager, and the British Dragonfly Society's conservation officer, as this is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), with access allowed on just one day a year.

The walk started at 2pm, and the first sighting was a Barn Owl (!) flying through the fields by the entrance to the site. It even sat and posed for a photo.

Barn Owl

We were soon out on the bog, where we spotted a male Brimstone butterfly and a male Green Hairstreak. We walked across to the two pools where the darters are seen, and spent about one and half hours watching and photographing them. Here are my best efforts.

Male

Teneral (newly emerged dragonfly)

Male showing white face

As well as the White-faced Darters, we also saw Four-spotted Chasers, a Large Red Damselfly and a couple of blue damselflies, which were unfortunately, too far out to identify to species. A couple of Common Lizards were also spotted.

Common Lizard

Bird wise, it was quite quiet, but we did see a male Mallard, and heard Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap singing.

Clumber Park

It was quite warm and sunny on Sunday, so Jayne and I had a drive out to Clumber Park. We walked around the main lake, and saw our first damselflies of 2016 and a new bird for the "year list"; Cuckoo.

The first damselfly we saw was a male Large Red Damselfly. He was sitting on a reed by the lake, and I managed a decent photo.

Large Red Damselfly

Close by we found the second species; Blue-tailed Damselfly. We had 1 male fly past and land on a reed, unfortunately, out of reach of the camera. More details about these species, and more, can be found on the British Dragonfly Society's website.

We carried on walking around the lake, finding young Coots, Canada and Greylag Geese along with 40+ Mute Swans, Great-crested Grebe, Swift, House Martins, Swallows, Moorhens and Gadwall.

Gadwall (male and female)

The best bird, however, was a Cuckoo that was heard calling a couple of times as we walked around the south side of the lake, near the weir.

Year List update:
150 - Cuckoo

Barlow Dragonflies

Barlow Fish Ponds are just a few miles away from home, and are a good place to see a few damsel and dragonflies. I spent a couple of hours there on Wednesday afternoon, and recorded Banded Demoiselle, Brown Hawker, Black-tailed Skimmer and Common and Blue-tailed Damselflies.

The Banded Demoiselles (4+), were all males, and were mainly seen around the first two ponds. As far as I know, they are relatively scarce in Derbyshire. This is my first record at this site, and only my second in Derbyshire.  

Banded Demoiselle 

Brown Hawkers, on the other hand, are a lot more common, and I saw at least 6 females ovipositing around the site, along with several males perched up.

Brown Hawker ovipositing

Black-tailed Skimmer is a species that prefers to spend most of its time resting on the ground, and the male that I saw was doing just that.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Common and Blue-tailed Damselflies were also seen during this visit, with many pairs "in tandem" and ovipositing.

Blue-tailed Damselflies "in tandem"

Common Blue Damselflies "in tandem"

More information about all these species can be found on the British Dragonfly Society's website here.

Common Hawker and Friends

Every summer I like to visit Wragg's Quarry on Beeley Moor to look for the Dragon and Damselflies that live and breed there (see here for details of my last visit) There is a small pond in the bottom of the quarry, which is home to several species.

Pond in Wragg's Quarry

I popped up on Wednesday, and recorded 4 species: Large Red Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly and Common Hawker.

The Large Red Damselflies were all males, and were seen basking on the stones around the pond.

Large Red Damselfly

The Common Blue Damselflies were also flying around the pond, but several were also "in tandem" and ovipositing (egg laying) into the water. I didn't manage to get a photo of this, but I got one of the males sitting on a stone by the water,

Common Blue Damselfly

The Emerald and Azure Damselflies were also busy mating and egg laying. There were quite distant, but I managed to get photos of each species.

Azure Damselflies ovipositing

Emerald Damselfly "in tandem"

The final dragonfly seen was the Common Hawker. This dragonfly is a lot less common than the other species, being more restricted in the type of habitats it likes to inhabit. It prefers acidic waters, so the pool on the moors is perfect. There were 2 females present during my visit, both of which were "ovipositing" for the whole time I was there (nearly 2 hours). A male made a brief appearance, but unfortunately he didn't land, so no photo this time. Here are a few photos of one of the females.

Common Hawker (female)

The British Dragonfly Society has lots more  information about all these species. Here's a link.

Swallowtail Caterpillar

Back in June I visited the RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen reserve to look at, amongst other things, the Swallowtail butterfly (click here to see how I got on). At the time, it said that the caterpillar of this species could be seen feeding on the Milk Parsley plants in July and August, so as we were in the area, we decided to have a look.

We did manage to spot one caterpillar, but it was quite distant, and I only managed a very mediocre shot. Here's the original and a heavily cropped version.

Swallowtail caterpillar

Whilst searching for the caterpillars, we also saw several species of dragon and damselfly, namely Migrant and Brown Hawker, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common and  Ruddy Darter. The hawkers wouldn't sit still, so I couldn't get a photograph, but the Darters played ball, and I got a couple of decent photos.

First up the Common Darter. Here's a photo of an immature male that was soaking up the sun on the boardwalk. See the British Dragonfly Society's website here for more details about this species.

Common Darter

Ruddy Darters were also present in good numbers, and I managed to get this shot of a male. Note how red the body and eyes are compared to the Common Darter, and the obvious narrow waist. More details here.

Ruddy Darter

Walking back to the centre, we spotted a Speckled Bush-cricket - a new species for me. I think this is a youngster. More details here. 

Speckled Bush-cricket

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Small Red-eyed Damselfly is a species that was first recorded the UK in 1999, and, as far as I know, hasn't been recorded in Derbyshire yet (see the British Dragonfly Society's website here for more details about this species). I'd heard that the National Trust's Felbrigg Hall estate had a colony, so whilst visiting there I had a look for them. I couldn't find any on the main lake, but I did manage to find 3 males on the Lily pads  in the Walled Garden.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly (male)

 As well as the adults, Jayne spotted this young dragonlfy, which looks like one that has just emerged and has yet to "dry out". As you can see, it has yet to attain the colours of a full adult.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly (newly emerged)

Derbyshire Butterflies and Dragons

The sun was shining today and the temperature got up to 16 degrees, so I was out and about with Jayne enjoying the weather and the insects that are starting to appear here in Derbyshire.

First stop was a small pond called Cupola Pond near Stanedge, Chesterfield. This small pond is found on the edge of the moors, and is a very good spot for a range of Damsel- and Dragonflies. On today's visit we spotted 2 species: Large Red Damselfly and Four-spotted Chaser, both of which are common species here in Derbyshire. See the Derbyshire Dragonflies website here for more details of these and other species present in the county. The website of the British Dragonfly Society (here), is also worth a look for details about all the British species.

Here are a couple of pictures taken today of both species.

Large Red Damselfly

Four-spotted Chaser

After this we drove across to Cromford Canal, where we spotted this female Orange Tip butterfly. Not quite as showy as the male, but still a very nice butterfly to see. See the excellent Butterfly Conservation webite here for more details about this species.

Female Orange Tip