Big Moor Dragons - 26th July 2025

Yesterday, Jayne and I had a walk up to Little Barbrook Reservoir on Big Moor. We went to look for dragonflies, and managed to see a couple of new species for the year.

The highlight, as always, was our first Golden-ringed Dragonflies of 2025. We saw two individuals, both males, including this one that had, unfortunately, damaged its body, presumably whilst emerging. Despite this, it appeared to be doing ok, and we got very lucky, when it perched by the main path eating a wasp!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Undamaged male!

Other odanata seen were: Emerald Damselfly (new for year), Black Darter (1) and Common Blue Damselfly (2 males).

A few butterflies were on the wing: Gatekeeper (8), Small Heath (1) and Red Admiral (1).

Birdwise, it was very quiet, but we did manage to see a couple of Reed Buntings, Meadow Pipits, a Common Buzzard, and a single, juvenile Stonechat.

Butterfly and Dragonfly Update - July 2021

I've been out and about quite alot recently, and have managed to see some lovely butterflies. 

First up, is my annual trip to Lindrick Common. I went here on 1st July. The flowers weren't very far on, but I still managed to see Dark Green Fritillary, Marbled White and Silver-studded Blue.

Dark Green Fritillary

Marbled White

Silver-studded Blue

On 10th July, Jayne and I visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where we had great views of Large Skipper and Black-tailed Skimmer. 

Last Saturday (17th) we travelled down to Cotgrave Forest in Nottinghamshire, where we had fantastic views of Purple Emperor butterflies. We also saw Small Skipper, Ringlets and a single Silver-washed Fritillary. 

Purple Emperor

Silver-washed Fritillary

On our last trip, to the Wellington Monument on 20th, we saw a male Golden-ringed Dragonfly, and a minimum of 4 Purple Hairstreaks!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Purple Hairstreak

Baslow Edge- 19th July 2020

Jayne and I had a walk from Curbar Gap up to Baslow Edge on Sunday. Bird wise, it was pretty quiet, with just the usual Meadow Pipits and a few Crows flying around, but we did enjoy some butterflies, moths and dragonflies.

We started out walk on Clodhall Lane and walked across to the small pond. Here we had a very brief view of a hawker dragonfly, possibly Common. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see it again, so couldn't clinch the id. We did, however, see a couple of Emerald Damselflies and a couple of Common Darter. Walking on from there, towards the Wellington Monument, we sat by a small stream to watch a fantastic male Golden-ringed Dragonfly that was patrolling a small stretch of water by the path. He also perched up on the rocks allowing us some superb views and  a photo.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

The butterflies seen were Ringlet (10+), Small Tortoiseshell (3), Small Heath (5+), Red Admiral (1), Gatekeeper (1), Small Skipper (3), Large Skipper (1), Meadow Brown (5) and best of all, a Painted Lady (our first record for 2020). 

Painted Lady

We also saw 2 species of day-flying moth, 3 Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet Moths and a Yellow Shell.

Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet Moth 

Trengwainton Gardens - Penzance

On 22nd July Jayne and I visited a National Trust property called Trengwainton Garden near Penzance. We enjoyed a lovely walk around the grounds, and recorded some great butterflies and dragonflies.

The first insect we saw was Beautiful Demoiselle, with a minimum of 4 males seen on the stream by the main path.

Beautiful Demoiselle

Also present on the same stretch of stream were 1 Large Red Damselfly and two Golden-ringed Dragonflies.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Walking up to The Terrace, the sun came out and so did the butterflies. A minimum of 6 Red Admirals were feeding on the Verbena, along with Small Tortoiseshell (2), Gatekeeper, Painted Lady (1), Comma (2), Large White and a single Common Darter dragonfly.

The final insect of note was a Hummingbird Hawk Moth that Jayne found feeding in the walled garden.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Now that I'm back in Derbyshire, I thought I'd have a day exploring the moorlands, looking, in particular, for a very attractive dragonfly species - the Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

The Golden-ringed Dragonfly, or Cordulegaster boltonii, is the only member of this family of dragonfly to live in Britain and it prefers to live on areas of high land in acidic rivers and streams. As a result, the larvae can take up to 5 years to develop into this stunning adult.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly (male)

The individual I saw today was a male, and it was patrolling a small section of the Bar Brook on Big Moor. I saw a female "ovipositing" in this area back in 2011. See here for details. See details on the British Dragonfly Society's website here for details of this species. 

Other dragon and damselflies seen in the area were: Large Red Damselfly, Emerald Damselfly, Common Hawker (2 males) and Common Darter.

Whilst looking for the dragonfly, I spotted several other insects, including Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper, Green-veined and Large White butterflies. 

Male and female Gatekeepers

Birds were thin on the ground, but 2 Common Buzzards were seen, along with a couple of Meadow Pipits and a Yellowhammer. 

I also came across a Water Vole, and its latrine.

Water Vole

Water Vole's latrine

Barbrook Dragons!

Every summer I like to visit a small area of moorland just off the A621 Baslow road to look for a few of my favourite dragonflies, namely Black Darter and Golden-ringed Dragonfly. The area that I call Barbrook Bridge is located by the junction of the A621 and a minor road leading to Cubar in North East Derbyshire, grid refernce SK278741.

Bar Brook Bridge

As you can see, the site is an area of moorland with the Bar Brook running through the middle of it. Just under the bridge there is a small, slow flowing pool, which then runs into a a shallow, much faster flowing stream. My visit today started at the bridge where the Black Darters as usually to be found. I say usually, because unfortuntaely I didn't find any today! What I did find, however, was this amazing spider.

Spider species

Moving further down the river I walked through the vegetation when I suddenly disturbed a large dragonfly species. It flew a short distance, before landing on the ground. I crept up and saw a beautiful Golden-ringed Dragonfly probing the ground with its rear end. I realised that this was a female egg laying or ovipositing! As I watched it I noticed that it had got its wings caught in the water, so I reached down and it crawled out of the water and sat on my hand vibrating its wings to dry off and warm up, before flying off again, when it was lost from view. What an experience!

       Golden-ringed Dragonfly

After this amazing encounter I walked up to a smaller pool where I managed to find a Common Darter, 2 male Emerald Damselflies and half a dozen "blue" Damselflies.

Common Darter

Emerald Damselfly

Apart from the dragons several other birds and insects were also  present in the area. Butterflies were Small Copper, Small Heath, Meadow Brown and my first Wall Brown of the year. 

Wall Brown

Birds present were Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Goldfinch and Blue Tit.