Here Be Dragons

Beautiful Demoiselle

Four-spot Hawker

This summer has been a fantastic season for all sorts of invertebrates.

In particular, and following a Dragonfly workshop organised by ERCCIS in June at Wheal Seaton and Red River Valley, my recognition skills have  improved somewhat and have helped me identify some of the large numbers of odonata that I have come across this year.  

Although we saw the rare Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly in its remaining habitat in Cornwall, I was unsuccessful in capturing a decent photograph.  However I was luckier with Large Red Damselfly and Keeled Skimmer.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

A surveying walk in later in June around Bude Marshes and Canal enabled me to positively identify Common Blue Damselfly and later in the year a multitude of Common Hawkers in singles and copulating, ovipositing couples.

Common Hawker

Other species were seen along the newly re-watered section of Bude Aqueduct at Dunsdon Nature reserve Four-spot Hawker and Common Darter along with Beautiful Demoiselle and Common Blue Damselfly.

Keeled Skimmer

Later in the year, and nowhere near water, I saw a female Southern Hawker in a woody glade in Tiscott Woods between Bude and Kilkhampton.

Other walks and my developing identification skills have added Golden-ringed Dragonflies and more Southern Hawkers.

Southern Hawker

Large Red Damselfly