Blue-tailed Damselfly

I parked on the piece of rough road-side land near the entrance to Bank's Pond and reached for my dragon and damselfly field guide. Thumbing through its pages, I found the section describing the Blue-tailed damselfly, one of my targets for the day, and read it again to refresh my memory. "So that's clear: Smaller than an Emerald, glossy black abdomen with a bright blue section eight, top of thorax striped blue and black". My mind was focused ... or so I thought.

Helpfully, ST had left a message following my first visit to the Pond: "I have only found the Blue-tails around the larger pond, on the road-side edge", he had written, so that was where I headed first. After a short time, I came across one, was very excited, took lots of pictures, moved on, found another and took more pictures. Later, while having my picnic lunch back at the car, I opened the field guide to check the points against my pictures. I had taken many very nice pictures. Unfortunately, the Blue-tailed damselfly in every one of them was an Emerald!

How could I have been so confused? Who can tell? I was reminded of an incident many years ago when a very loud lady in a small bird-watching party shouted big white seagull coming towards us and everyone looked away from the rare-ish winter visitor we had been watching to see a Mute Swan flying westwards. I hoped things couldn't be that bad.

Despite this set-back, I started the afternoon in a positive frame of mind. Returning to the Pond, I followed my morning route and was soon rewarded with a male Blue-tail; an actual Blue-tail this time (I checked all the points). It was almost hidden amongst the pond-side vegetation and in tandem with a mature infuscans female. Stepping daintily upwards through the undergrowth, the two eventually perched on a rush and as I watched, they joined in a copulation wheel. The picture records the scene ... and this new tick on my D&D list.

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Bank's Pond

I had read about Bank's Pond on The Darter and visited the site last week. Bank's Pond is actually two ponds, one large and one small, set in rough pasture land near to Dinnington, a village on the northern fringe of Newcastle upon Tyne. The ponds appear man-made as opposed to being formed by colliery subsidence which is common in South East Northumberland.

I had read that Emerald, Common Blue and Blue-tailed damselflies and Emperor, Common Darter and Ruddy Darter dragonflies were present. I did not find Blue-tailed damselflies but Emerald damselflies and the two darters were present in very large numbers. There were lesser numbers of the Common Blues present and I saw only two individual male Emperors and a pair flying in tandem.

My recent quest to photograph a male Emerald damselfly was completed almost upon my arrival. The mature male in this first picture is perching with its wings half open, which is common for lestids ...

Emerald Damselfy (Lestes sponsa)
While the mature male in this picture is shown from the side ...


Here a pair are in tandem prior to mating ...


And then a copulation wheel ...


My visit to Bank's Pond involved a lengthy drive, but I made a day of it and the effort was more than rewarded. I hope to make another visit in the very near future.

Emerald Damselfly

A visit to Sidwood at the weekend failed to produce a male Emerald damselfly, which I would particularly like to see again, but another female was present. It was in the same location as the previous female, amongst the dense vegetation beside a small stream flowing from the former ornamental lake of the old Sidwood estate.

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa)
It is only when you come to process the picture that the real beauty of this tiny creature is revealed.

An Unexpected Meeting

After my visit to Falstone Moss, I travelled home by Sidwood and Black Middens. I had seen a male Emerald Damselfly at Sidwood on an earlier visit and hoped to find it again and take a better picture. There was no sign of the male but a female put in an appearance and made a very fine study on the grass she settled on ...

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes Sponsa)
Black Middens, as you will know if you have been following my recent pieces, is just across the Tarset Burn from Sidwood. I travelled up the valley towards Comb, at the end of the metalled lane where the forestry tracks begin. Someone had told me I might expect to find dragonflies in one of the lane-side fields. As I approached the field, my attention was distracted by animal activity at the side of the lane ahead of me. And then, after a moment and walking down the lane towards me, was a young badger. It was about five in the afternoon.

I stopped, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. Perhaps I should have just taken its picture through the car windscreen and hoped for the best. I reached for my camera, however, and gently opened the car door. By this time the badger was sitting at the side of the lane, its head raised as if sniffing me out. On putting a first foot outside of the car, it disappeared into the undergrowth and down the bank towards the burn.

There were no dragonflies in the field but the sighting of the badger more than made up for their absence. Later, I stopped to photograph a Small Tortoiseshell, basking in the sun ...

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
And this Pied Wagtail, standing on a fence post, finished off a good afternoon.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)