Common and Ruddy Darters

I was looking through the dragonfly pictures I took when I last visited Bank's Pond. You will recall that I spent quite a lot of my time there looking for Blue-tailed damselflies but I also took pictures of the Common and Ruddy Darters that were about. The first is of a male Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) ...


The following two pictures show female Common Darters, the first perching amongst Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) at the margin of the larger of the two ponds, the second perched in Hawthorn on the bridleway leading to the site ...



This final picture shows a male Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) ...

Common Darter Dragonfly

There were large numbers of Common and Ruddy Darter dragonflies at Bank's Pond during my visit last week. Many were flying in tandem and dipping repeatedly allowing the female to oviposit. Except for short periods perched on the ground or on vegetation, they were hardly ever still and spent most of their time darting off here and there no matter how carefully I approached. This behaviour might explain why they came to be called darters but it made them very difficult to photograph! My tactic, I think, during my next visit will be to sit still and let them come to me.

Obligingly, the pair below were joined in their copulation wheel for some minutes ...

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)
While I was photographing a male Emerald damselfly I noticed a dragonfly larvae on an adjacent rush. It was perfectly still and it was only when I viewed an enlarged image on my camera screen that I realised it was an empty shell, its back split at the point where the adult had emerged. As identification is notoriously difficult, it is probably best not to speculate on which dragonfly larvae this is; none-the-less it was interesting to observe. If the picture points a reader in any particular direction regarding identification I would be pleased to hear from you.

(Thanks to ST for his suggestion that the exuvia is that of a Common Darter. My field guide suggested this also but I felt unable to comfirm.)

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.

Falstone Moss

Falstone Moss is 825 feet above sea level and receives about forty inches of rain annually. The peat in its centre is about twenty feet deep and began to form about 8,000 years ago.

The Moss is rain-fed and sits in a shallow depression surrounded by forest that has been planted on drier ground. It is one of nearly sixty Border Mires in Kielder Forest. Because of their cool, wet climate, the British Isles contain much of the world's blanket bogs and, as a result, the Border Mires are of international importance. The Moss includes plants that can tolerate the combined stresses of a cool climate, a high water table, high acidity and low fertility.

The small lake at the centre of the Moss
The Moss is reached by following a wet and overgrown up-hill moorland path and a lengthy board walk which ends at, and surrounds, the lake shown above. I hoped that my visit would provide views of dragon and damselflies.

There were a number of common blue damselflies about; unfortunately none were near enough to photograph. I had a fleeting glimpse of one unidentified darter dragonfly, a pale brown species, but happily, Common Hawkers were about in good numbers; I counted ten together at one point, flying over the water or the Moss, either individually or paired in tandem mating.

I had not watched dragonflies in this setting or in these numbers before and it was an experience I very much enjoyed. I sat on the board walk for a good hour taking-in all of the views. At one point, a pair of meadow pipits flew in, settling amongst the rushes on the lake-side. Although it seemed unlikely, I wondered if they might regard the dragon or damselflies as a handy food source. However, their interest in the place was only as somewhere to bathe and they each spent a minute or two, splashing about in the shallows at the lake edge before flying off across the Moss.

I was particularly interested in the noise made when the dragonflies flew near to the vegetation on the banks of the lake and surprised they did not seem to damage their wings when doing so; I can only liken it to the annoying sound of someone rustling a crisp packet in a cinema. A pair of Common Hawkers did settle in the undergrowth near to me at one point, mating in a wheel.

Common Hawker (Aeshna juncea)
On my way off the Moss I stopped to photograph some of the flowers including cotton grass, cross-leaved heath and the heather which was starting to flower. I was also interested to see Bilberries in fruit.

Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)
I returned home via Sidwood and Black Middens of which more next time.

Sidwood

Sidwood is a large area of open-access woodland managed by the Forestry Commission and is part of the larger Kielder Forest. It is on the western side of the Tarset Burn, just over the water from the bastle at Black Middens, and can be reached by a walk through fields and a footbridge crossing the burn. Alternatively, a narrow lane from Redheugh, north of Greenhaugh, leads you directly to a small car park at Sidwood itself from where the whole area can be explored.

One of the attractions at Sidwood is a fine piece of mixed woodland running along-side the Tarset Burn which includes some ancient trees and ornamental species that remain from the old Sidwood estate.

The path through the burn-side woodland at Sidwood
Immediately beside the car park there was grassy a path leading away to what must have once been the ornamental pond on the old Sidwood estate. Here I watched Southern Hawker dragonflies beside a small stream and pictured one of them when it rested on a stinging nettle.

Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea)
The woodland walk was delightful, particularly the burn-side stretches, but it was finding large numbers of ringlets and meadow browns amongst the flowers on the verges of the lane leading back to the car park, that really made the day. After all the wet weather during the last week, they were taking full advantage of the bright, warm sunshine.

Ringlet (Aphantopus hypercantus)
Ringlet (Aphantopus hypercantus)
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)