Since my last garden wildlife update (see below July 21st) Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) has been present on several occasions. A single darter was present in the back garden on Aug 10th. On the 17th a pair were in tandem flight in the front garden, shortly afterwards an individual perched on the hardy fuchsia, provided plenty of opportunity for photography. Suggesting three may have been present?
Common Darter 10th August
Common Darter 17th August
On the 23rd of August, a Common Darter was in the back garden.
Common Darter 23rd August
Today, the sightings went to another level, initially a single male Common Darter was staking out New Pond, as the morning progressed a second male appeared and much territorial posturing followed, with neither male giving ground.
I was then completely thrilled when two other Common Darters appeared, one all but briefly, the second was a female and mating and egg-laying quickly took place with one of the attendant males. I managed to capture some terrible video footage of the pair in tandem (and the second male), which I am more than happy to share!
Other recent highlights include a Median Wasp (Dolichovespula media) photographed on the 10th of August and a Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) which was present on the 15th of August. Singles of Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli) and Portland Ribbon Wave (Idaea degeneraria) to 25W Blacklight on the night of 26th August. All four species being “new for garden” (NFG).
Median Wasp
Convolvulus Hawk-moth
Portland Ribbon Wave
Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar
On the 12th of August, our neighbour knocked the door and presented us with an Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) caterpillar – the first time that we have ever seen the larval stage of this species.
Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) has been present almost daily with a maximum count of three on the 31st of August – with both Red Valerian (Valeriana rubra) and our neighbour’s Buddleja davidii providing plenty of nectar to attract this species along with a host of bees and butterflies.
A Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) is photographed in the garden, resting on the side of the water-butt pond. It will stay most of the morning. Later, I set about clearing the filamentous green alga from both ponds.
I remove the alga in small clumps. Wash it gently in a small tub of clear pond water, remove as many of the aquatic invertebrates as is possible, from the sticky algal grasp. Once washed the alga is left to drain on the side of the pond(s), prior to disposal.
It is encouraging to see how much motile life, exists within these ponds - aquatic worms; ramshorn and other pond snails; daphnia; chironomids; mayfly nymphs. Along with those critters that remain a complete mystery to me?
In one of the small wash cycles, I observe a couple of nymphs who are both touting three tails, they do not not look right for mayfly nymph?
Transferring them to the shallow top of a specimen bottle, we view them under the dissecting microscope, and confirm that they are damselfly nymphs.
To date we have only recorded two species of damselfly in the garden: Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella), and Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) - so it is likely that these nymphs belong to one (or both?) of these species.
damselfly nymphs 27th Aug 2022
Add to this the recent discovery of the dragonfly nymph (Sympetrum cf striolatum), and it bodes well for the water-butt pond as a wildlife habitat, if it is able to attract and support these predators.
Next year, I will be looking out for exuviae, in the hope that the ponds remain suitable to bring these species to maturity.
Bragging to R on Whatsapp about the damsel nymphs, the retort is a photo of Willow Emerald (Chalcolestes viridis), a LIFER that R has just seen, at a site in Hertfordshire. By coincidence this is the second time this week, that Willow Emerald had been drawn to my attention.
S had photographed a specimen at Buchan Country Park on Thursday. So I have decided to take a good long look for it, when next in the Park.
It has been a quiet year to date for Odanata in the garden. On the 8th of July a male Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) was noted resting on the Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) at the water-butt pond. It was only seen that once.
On the 1st of August, a Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) was holding territory using the back of the garden chair as a lookout post. This encounter transpired to be an all but brief affair too, with only a single day's activity observed, before it disappeared from the garden.
Throughout this heat-wave, both small ponds have required continous top-up and much attention has been given to removal by hand, of the filamentous green alga which threatens to completely cover the surface of the ponds.
During the course of one such clearing, I was delighted to find a dragonfly nymph (Sympetrum cf striolatum), in the water-butt pond.
Whilst the (new) garden list has been getting longer year on year since I first started recording in August 2016 my sightings of Odonata have remained few and far between.
It took nearly two years before I got my first record - a single azure damselfly (Coenagrion puella) on the 9th June 2018. Needless to say I was more than made up to break my duck! Then, by some natural coincidence I was to get my second record of this species exactly a year later on the 9th June 2019.
This sighting was swiftly followed by a new species record on 1st July 2019 - when a single blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) went to roost in the long grass of the "wildflower patch".
As if this wasn't excitement enough, by the end of August I was over the moon to capture the image of a male common darter (Sympetrum striolatum) as it patrolled the back garden looking for a vantage point / territorial perch .. first stopping on the handle of a hand fork, that had been pushed into the ground in order to hold down the edge of some wildflower turf .. then alighting on the blueberry bush .. where it posed obligingly for some time.
Three weeks later a second common darter has appeared , this time a female, who spent time on the miniature apple tree, allowing me to get close enough for some (almost) frame-filling shots.
