On our way into Stratford this morning R and I called in at Cleeve Prior Mill, and walked the site in search of Demoiselles. We didn’t find any, but as we were leaving I thought I caught the merest glimpse of translucent wings, as something was put up from the depths of a bramble patch by a marauding Peacock butterfly, but almost immediately dropped back down again. So this afternoon I made a second trip to Cleeve, and searched the nettle and bramble patches more thoroughly – and after half an hour or so I got my reward in the form of this lone male Banded Demoiselle.
Personally, the nearest I ever get to gambling is crossing Stratford High Street in front of a fast-approaching idiot in a 4×4, but if you’ve ever seen someone hitting the jackpot on a fruit machine, you’ve got some idea of how I reacted to this discovery. Fear of putting him to flight stopped me from dancing about and punching the air, but Odonata have no organs of hearing, so there was nothing to stop me from giggling with excitement as I crept slowly closer, stopping every couple of steps to secure record shots. The Demoiselle was skittish – because, of course he was: imagine being the only one of you in an area thick with birds, and having to balance your urge to advertise your presence to the first female that shows up with your need to avoid being eaten, and then having to contend with the arrival of an absolutely humongous predator as well. So he skittered, and I stalked, and slowly he got used to me and decided that I wasn’t trying to eat him, and by the time I took this – the last shot of the day – he was posing quite calmly in a nice, upright stance. After which, having thanked him politely, I walked past this bramble without him even feeling the need to move – which I think was a good result for both of us.
My second photo tonight shows a pair of Brassica Shieldbugs in cop on a garlic mustard plant. This is only the second time I’ve ever run across this species, and the first time in the Shire – the last time I encountered them was a couple of years ago at Lower Moor in Wiltshire. Today while I was searching for Demoiselles I found around twenty, mostly coupled, and all on garlic mustard plants growing within the nettle beds. A little research has almost immediately turned up the fact that this species is no longer rare in the Shire, but that actually pleases me, because it means I’m likely to run across it more often in future. There’s more about its colonisation of the UK, and some good photos of its striking range of colour forms, here.
R: L2, C8, D15.
