Late summer dragonflies

It has been a funny old season for dragonflies, warm and sunny in June, cool, cloudy and wet in July and August and hot in early September.  Good for early and late species, less so in mid season.  Even now it is still relatively warm and there are hawkers and darters on the wing.  Here are a few of my sightings in the past few weeks.

A male common hawker at Cragside.

An immature male migrant hawker at Gosforth.

A mature male migrant hawker at Gosforth.

A male southern hawker at Gosforth.

A female migrant hawker at Gosforth.

Migrant hawkers at Gosforth.

Common darters at Cragside.

Black darters at Cragside.

Male common darters at Hepple Whitefield.

A male ruddy darter at Gosforth.

A male black darter at Gosforth.

Younger and older emerald damselflies at Hepple Whitefield.

That's probably it for the season although common darters and migrant hawkers will be around for a while.  It will be six months before I see a large red damselfly next spring.

The spider wraps her lunch

The dragonfly had just landed in the spider's web and was struggling to get free.  I had already rescued two from apparently abandoned old webs but this one was active and the spider pounced. The dragonfly is a teneral common darter and the spider a female cross orb-weaver (Araneus diadematus).  In the first couple of photos the spider was subduing its prey with a venomous bite.  Then it proceeded to wrap it in silk.  When I came by half an hour later the dragonfly had gone, presumably carried into cover to be devoured at leisure.

Making a meal of it

I knew that larger dragonflies hunt smaller dragonflies but I have never seen it before.  It is now towards the end of the season for emperor dragonflies but they were still very active earlier this week.  While I was watching a male on patrol he suddenly dived into the reeds and there was a clattering of wings.  I thought at first he had found a female, which he had in a way, but not of the same species.  This was an ovipositing female common darter and was about to become lunch. He flew away from the water with his prize and I ran round the pond to find him.

He then flew a short distance away, right beside a path, so I followed.  I watched as he was devouring his catch until someone else came along and he flew off.

Most times emperor dragonflies catch smaller insect prey and eat it on the wing.  A catch of this size means he has to perch to eat.  It has been a very good season for emperors and they are still active in late August (and still hungry).  Later I saw an ovipositing female so they are not done yet either.  She had very blue colouration on the abdomen (unlike the normal green).  I think this is a colour variation rather than a sign of advanced maturity.

Dragons on a feather bed

It has been a marvellous Indian summer for dragonflies at my local nature reserve (I'll write a review soon).  The warm weather continues but I think the season will be over within a week or two.  Last week I found four male black darters at Gosforth Nature Reserve.  There seem to be no females so they spend most of their time sitting around in the sun.  (I think these were dispersing from breeding waters not too far away in the hope of finding new territory.)  There were lots of male common darters as well and they were also resting in between chasing each other and females. Another animal spends quite a lot of its time sitting around and made a very comfortable resting place.

The swan seemed irritated by the dragonflies and kept waking up and shaking or chasing them off.  Once it caught a common darter on its back but it was so quick I couldn't see whether it ate it or just got rid of it.

This one had the sense to keep out of range.

As did this black darter.

Common darters are common so I expect the swans will have to get used to them.  I hope there will be more black darters in future seasons as well.

Out and about in September

I saw this handsome male migrant hawker sunning himself a couple of weeks ago and took his photo.

When I returned about 10 minutes later I found a female migrant hawker on the very same branch about 3cm lower.  It is obviously a popular spot.

Here's another view of the male.

And another female, this one with blue male-type (andromorph) colouring.

I also tried some flight shots.

This rather shy female migrant hawker was ovipositing in Weetslade Country Park.

Southern hawkers are just about at the end of their season so I was pleased to see a male in Gosforth Nature Reserve. The only camera I had was in the phone which usually gives good quality photos but this pinched zoom was disappointing.  Just a record shot.

Common darters will be around for a few weeks yet if the weather is OK.  There were still newly emerged immatures.

This is a male.

And a rather mature female, almost grey.

These two, ♀ and ♂, were hoping to soak up a few rays of sun.

This was probably my last ruddy darter of the season.

Butterflies I saw included common blue,

green-veined white,

and speckled wood.

This was the only bumblebee I saw in the whole 1km transect on my monthly BBCT Bumblebee Walk.  It is obviously a cuckoo of some kind and is a bit faded but I wasn't sure which species.  After seeking expert advice it can only be narrowed down to Bombus bohemicus/vestalis so I don't feel too bad.

I also saw this ichneumon out hunting.

It is not easy to identify.  There are 2500 species in this country, many of which are very similar.  This page from the wonderful Natural History Museum Beginner's guide to identifying British ichneumonids illustrates the problem.

There seems to be more Robin's pincushion around than usual.  It is a gall on wild rose caused by a tiny wasp, Diplolepsis rosae, so that is one species that is doing well.

Two more swans have arrived at Banks' Pond and are throwing their weight around, trying to intimidate the surviving resident female and her two remaining cygnets.

The youngsters are several weeks away from being able to fly so at the moment they have no escape.  I hope it turns out well for them after all they have been through.

This young great spotted woodpecker in the garden is losing the juvenile red colour on top of its head in a very attractive chequered pattern.

And a wood pigeon on the "sparrowhawk" perch while the sparrowhawk was away.

Averaged out, the weather for September was fairly average, but it was a mixture of warm sunny days and wet stormy days.  October is starting off very wet.