R and I both had eye tests this morning, which got us out to Stratford early, and after we’d finished at the optician’s and then had coffee, there was still time within our parking slot for a quick river walk. It was bright but cold, and there were no dragons out and about on the Avon, but by the time we got back home it was warmer, and I decided to go round to Cleeve Prior and take a look at the Odonata sites there.
There was literally nothing to be seen at the Community Orchard, where only three of the seven ponds now have any water in them at all, but I had better luck down at Cleeve Prior Mill. As well as maybe ten Common Darters, there were at least three Migrant Hawkers circling the fishermen’s car park between the mill pond and the River Avon, and to my great triumph I also found a male Willow Emerald Damselfly. A few weeks ago, at the start of the Willow Emerald season, I searched this site for them quite carefully but without success, but I remember commenting then that I still thought it was a promising site for the species, and it’s satisfying to have been proved right.
I’ve chosen this image because I’ve already posted several Willow Emeralds this season, and I don’t remember the last time I photographed a tandem pair of Common Darters in flight. But R and I both havered for so long over another possible choice for this post – a fresh Peacock butterfly, resting on the vivid yellow head of a tansy – that in the end I’ve decided to include that as well. It’s not exactly subtle, but it pleases me to know that the offspring of the numerous Peacocks who were dominating this site at the start of the dragon season are now reaching maturity, and feeding themselves up to prepare for their winter hibernation. By the time I’m back at Cleeve Prior Mill next spring, searching for demoiselles, they’ll be zooming around in their turn, looking to mate in order to complete their own life cycles.
