Scarce Chasers still scarce

As ever, there were loads of Banded Demoiselles at Roxton this morning.

But only a handful of Scarce Chasers were to be seen

Four-spotted Chaser

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

They're not orange anymore

Another visit to the banks of the Great Ouse at Roxton. I nearly didn't go because it looked like it was about to rain. But...



Male Scarce Chaser


Female Scarce Chaser
(Well, there's only a little bit of orange on some of the females now)






Banded Demoiselles were frolicking everywhere

Along with

Blue-tailed Damselflies


Common Blue Damselflies


and a White-legged Damselfly


While butterflies included this Large Skipper


Painted Lady (a worn adult, from north Africa)


and Small Tortoiseshell


There were quite a few Harlequin Ladybirds getting busy, too...


Good to see this family still stands at a total of nine cygnets


Compared to the last couple of times I've been there this year, Scarce Chasers have now become harder to find. They're not orange anymore, and they weren't perching quite so prominently. Maybe they're busy with other things...

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, Extender EF 1.4x II or Canon Powershot A640

Hello!

Back to Roxton for a quick lunchtime visit. We didn't get far (didn't have time), but Scarce Chasers and Banded Demoiselles showed themselves magnificently.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Riverside

Scarce Chasers




Banded Demoiselles


Hairy Dragonflies mating


Mute Swan with nine cygnets!
Went back to Roxton today, in search of Scarce Chasers. I had rather grand plans to walk further south along the river, but in the end we walked about a mile in total!
It was very successful, however; the total number of Scarce Chasers seen was 45! All were orange (i.e. no mature males, which are bluish); females are supposed to have more black on their wingtips but I'm not sure how reliable that is.
We also bumped into a few Hairy Dragonflies, including two mating, plus Azure, Common Blue, Blue-tailed and Red-eyed Damselflies, and loads of Banded Demoiselles. And a family of Mute Swans with nine cygnets, which seemed a lot (BTO BirdFacts says 4-7 eggs, but 12 have been recorded).
photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Scarce? Pah

Wow. This was a surprise. I was minding my own business, waddling around the gardens at The Lodge after eating pie for lunch, when a dragonfly flew over. Thought, hmmm, that looked orange... what was that? Fortunately, it landed in the flowerbed a few metres away and stayed there.

I got some photos and then went to get one of The Lodge's resident insect experts, Ian Dawson. He was able to confirm my identification (I was pretty sure but it seemed improbable) and let me know that it was the first-ever record for the reserve! Perhaps this immature male had gone wandering in search of new territory, or maybe he just got blown off-course. But where did he emerge from?

Scarce Chasers only started breeding in Bedfordshire in 2003. I had a fantastic morning watching them along the River Ouse at Roxton last May, but now I don't have to go there this year. Only joking. Think I'll go back.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Dragonfest

I thought a stroll by the River Great Ouse at Roxton might be nice this morning. It certainly was...





Banded Demoiselles are probably my favourite insects. If I had to choose one species to watch all year, it would be this one.

I can remember seeing them for the first time along the River Nene when I was a kid, but I couldn't work out what the funny black-green-blue butterfly fluttering along the water's surface was. It all makes sense now...

They're beautiful, graceful, common, easy to photograph - but then they do things like this:

female demoiselle eating mayfly

There were a few other insects out and about, too:

Scarce Chaser: so scarce you have to have a license to handle them. We saw 20 today (and 250+ Banded Demoiselles) in less than a kilometre of riverbank vegetation

Hairy Dragonfly

White-legged Damselfly

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM. They didn't look this dark in Photoshop...

Woodwalton Fen NNR

Scarce Chaser


Four-spotted Chaser


Mating damselflies. I think they might be Azures (Coenagrion puella) but I'm not sure...


Ragged Robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi


Yellow Flag, Iris pseudacorus

Since it was a nice morning, I thought Woodwalton Fen NNR would be worth a try for some insect-watching. There were hardly any butterflies on the wing but plenty of Red-eyed Damselflies on the Raveley Drain and, further in, a scattering of Scarce Chasers and Four-spotted Chasers (dragonflies).

I digiscoped the insects - they were usually perched up by the side of dykes and it was easier than getting my feet wet. I sacrificed some image sharpness in the process but it was enjoyable enough. The weather conditions weren't bad - though it was breezy there was cloud cover on and off, which kept the dragonflies low and forced them to perch up.

There were also lots of damselflies about but they were a bit too much like hard work!

insect photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Macro at Houghton Mill

Gastrophysa viridula?

Went on an insect-hunting expedition to Houghton Mill, near Huntingdon. By the time we got there, it was very overcast and looked likely to rain, which I thought would work against us. But in fact the opposite was true.

Our chief quarry was White-legged Damselfly, Platycnemis pennipes, an uncommon species not present in the PBC area. I know next to nothing about insects so it was a good job that Steve was there to tell me what was what.

Since I bought my second-hand Nikon Coolpix 995 last year, I've become much more interested in insects because the brilliant macro function enables me, an unskilled idiot, to take excellent photos (even if I do say so myself). So please excuse me if I go over the top with my pictures in this post, because I'm delighted with them!












Female (top three) and male Banded Demoiselle, Agrion splendens




Male White-legged Damselfly, Platycnemis pennipes. The white legs are dangled in flight to attract females.




Freshly-emerged ('teneral') Scarce Chaser, Libellula fulva




Male (top) and female Red-eyed Damselfly, Erythromma najas


Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans

What's in my CD player: Grand Slang - City Slang label compilation.