A walk round the pond - Week 29

I had company for a visit to the pond on Tuesday.  Liz, Denise & Phil joined me to prove that eight eyes are better than two.  The find of the day was Liz's, an over-mature female broad-bodied chaser (Libellula depressa) resting in the afternoon sunshine.  It was bright yellow in its younger days.

I think my companions were surprised by how many photos I had to take to end up with two that were worth keeping. For this particular dragon it was 125(!), which is unusual but not exceptional.

We also saw several four-spotted chasers (Libellula quadrimaculata) patrolling, ovipositing or resting.

Denise spotted this male ruddy darter (Sympetrum sanguineum), the first I have seen with mature colouring this year.

There were also plenty of common darters (Sympetrum striolatum).

Phil found an ovipositing female emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator) out on the pond but it was a long time before I could pick it out to get a photo.

We also saw several patrolling males and this one at rest.

We saw common blue, azure and blue-tailed damselflies but no large reds.  This male emerald damselfly (Lestes sponsa) shows pale blue pruinescence - a new word for Phil.

The female's colouring is more subtle but equally beautiful.

Butterflies included a common blue, lots of small skippers, ringlets and meadow browns, plus several small heaths, a new species for Phil.

We saw several shaded broad bar moths after I had seen my first last week.

The whole site was humming with insects, most of which we couldn't name.  This is one of 18 UK species of lacewing. Having looked it up since I got home I think it is Chrysopa perla.

And the best news of all - no Canada geese.  Maybe the greylags will feel it is safe to return.