A walk round the pond - Week 24

Like most parts of the country we have had heavy rain this week.  It eventually stopped yesterday afternoon so I went to have look at the pond.  The water was higher than I have seen before, perhaps 20cm higher than last week.  The first dragonfly I saw was a female broad-bodied chaser hunting on the other side of a ditch but by the time I got round there she had disappeared, so no photo.  Then I spied a broad-bodied chaser.

It was one of only two flying - a big contrast to last year.  I wonder why there are so few.  Last year was hot and dry but I think chasers are larvae for two years so these are the 2017 cohort.  Perhaps something then didn't suit them.

I also saw several large red damselflies - this one is a female.

Lots of azure damselflies, mostly males.

A few blue-tailed damselflies.

And a few common blues.

Butterflies this week were painted ladies,

♀ common blues,

♂ common blues,

small coppers,

one small heath,

♀ large skippers,

and ♂ large skippers.

At one point this one had to share the flower with a common carder bumblebee.

I saw the first cinnabar moths of the season.

And several scorpion flies.

There are quite a lot of orchids in flower.  I suspect they are not all the same species.

With all the rain we have had the vegetation around the ponds and in the meadow is in much better shape than last year and is more able to sustain the damage from the Canada geese.  Next week should be sunny so maybe that will encourage a few more dragonflies.