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UK Dragonflies & Damselflies 2021 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter aeshna5
- Start date
The BDS Twitter account has published the photo. Very nice.
We have our first damselfly. Ridiculously early, to the extent I have to suspect it's been in someone's fish tank indoors over the winter, but it looks to be a normal female blue-tailed damsel. Somewhere in Nottinghamshire.
pdwinter
Paul Winter
My friend Jason watched a brown dragonfly hunting over a shallow flooded field for 2 minutes in Nursling on Saturday (27.02) lunchtime - most likely a Vagrant Emperor although he couldn't pick up a blue saddle at c.100m distance. I was a bit gutted as I had been watching the field for some time before Jason arrived but decided to have a wander a bit further along the Test Way!
BDS reporting that a Common Blue damsel was recorded in Cheshire on 29 March. Seems an odd place to get the first sighting of the year, so perhaps another one that's been accidentally accelerated in a fish tank? Or perhaps just a very odd local microclimate.
This is more like it! Large Red damsel, in Cornwall, 29 March. The 2021 odonata season is officially up and running.
pdwinter
Paul Winter
Looking back through iRecord in 2019 the site, Anderton Park, had a Common Blue on 8th April. It seems to be just north of a chemical works - probably a warm microclimate.
Added later: 5 Large Red and a Blue-tailed reported from the same site today (31.03)
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Yes, north of Swindon, just before you reach the boundary with Gloucestershire. It's the site of the famous snakeshead fritillary population. I see on iRecord that they were recorded there for the first time last year so perhaps spreading from the small population that's been in the Water Park for a while. So a great record both for the early date and the location.
Large Red emergences reported from Titchwell and Ynys-Hir in recent days, which seems to be about as far north as it's got so far.
Banded demoiselle in Hackney yesterday was a surprising one. Broad-bodied Chaser from Marc Heath's pond in Kent less surprising - something about the setup of that pond seems to result in a pretty regular supply of early records.
Banded demoiselle in Hackney yesterday was a surprising one. Broad-bodied Chaser from Marc Heath's pond in Kent less surprising - something about the setup of that pond seems to result in a pretty regular supply of early records.
pdwinter
Paul Winter
Broad-bodied Chaser at Teignmouth on 18.04 (FB UK Dragonflies & Damselflies group). Downy Emerald on 18th at Brentmoor Heath - photo on iRecord as well as on the facebook group. I looked for Beautiful Demoiselle yesterday (to equal my earliest ever) but failed - it was warmer last spring.
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Golden-ringed reported from Penzance on Thursday 22nd. According to the BDS Twitter feed this is the first ever UK record in April.
Large Red reached north Lincolnshire on the 21st and Yorkshire (Tophill Low) on the 22nd.
Edit: and the first Large Red of the year for Scotland today, at Knockshinnoch Lagoons in Ayrshire.
Large Red reached north Lincolnshire on the 21st and Yorkshire (Tophill Low) on the 22nd.
Edit: and the first Large Red of the year for Scotland today, at Knockshinnoch Lagoons in Ayrshire.
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Kevin Byrnes
Member
I had 2 Large red Damselflies emerge from my garden pond on 23rd April in Maesteg
Four-spotted Chaser reported from Whixall Moss, Shropshire on the 22nd. That's a very odd place to get the earliest record of a species for the year (other than White-faced Darter for which it's the southernmost site by a very long distance).
White-faced Darter on Sunday 25th. This year is just nuts.
Variable damselfly reported from Stodmarsh NNR, Kent, on 1 May.
Common clubtail reported from a garden somewhere near the Wye on 16 May (on Twitter).
Finally off the mark personally today. Until now my season's total was a lone emergent damsel on Saturday at Otmoor, which looked like a blur-tail but flew off before I got a good enough look at it. So a lunchtime trio to Lower Moor Farm, rewarded by a decent number of azures, a few teneral common blues and a couple of patrolling hairy dragonflies was very welcome.
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