I met up with the County Odonata Recorder this morning, to survey a closed reserve where the local Wildlife Trust wants to encourage dragonflies. It was a very hot, dry walk, and largely odonate-free because the three big pools established there in the late 1980s have completely dried out: we walked right through the middle of one of them without the ground even yielding under our boots. After two hours of this I looked like an over-ripe tomato, but M kindly didn’t ask me if I was feeling OK.
After the survey we headed separately to Croome, where I started at the visitor centre with an iced latte, and a very pleasant chat with a couple of dog owners, en route between last weekend’s Game Fair at Ragley Hall and another upcoming fair near Trowbridge. They do a kind of “Meet the dogs” thing at these events with their two spaniels, a Clumber and a gorgeous Welsh Springer, and I have to say that both were excellent ambassadors for their breeds.
By the time I got to the lake M was already standing half-in the cleared reed channel, tracking one of the Southern Migrant Hawkers. Another member of the local Odonutters WhatsApp group was also there, and we were quickly joined by a Herefordshire-based dragon fancier as well. At one point three of us each managed to have a different male in sight, proving my count of Monday, but sadly none of us caught sight of that elusive female. Unexpectedly (Ha!) I took far too many photos, and I haven’t yet had time to go through them all, but I’ve plucked this one out of the barrel because it’s not always easy to get these guys in flight, and having had a rather torrid time on that front on Monday, I’m happy to have done better today.
I’ve agreed with the County Recorder that I’ll send him good shots of all the Southern Migrants I manage to get on camera, because he knows someone who has the skill and patience to check all their markings, and thus give an accurate count of how many individuals were actually present at Croome this season. It sounds like quite an interesting project for the winter months, but not quite interesting enough for me to volunteer any assistance.
R: L2, C10, D69.
