Date : 16/05/2012
Place : Stover Country Park, Little Bradley Ponds
Weather : unpredictable showers with intermittent sunny spells
Species positively identified! : 7
Pairs of eyes searching : 22 (three Smallshires and 19 members)
Pond dipping at Stover managed to produce one probable Downy Emerald larva, and two Hairy Dragonfly exuviae on Sue's Pond. There were numerous Large Red Damselflies resting, and a number of Broad-Bodied and Four-Spotted Chaser exuviae.
Little Bradley Ponds came up trumps by providing my best ever views of the very beautiful Downy Emerald - so called due to its metallic green colouring and hairy thorax. We saw three adults (one female, two male) that had recently emerged and hardened - two of which treated us to see their maiden flights off into the tree tops! We found a further 8 exuviae across the ponds which really made the day worth it in such on-off wet conditions!
Species
- Downy Emerald Cordulia aenea
- Four-Spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata
- Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula
- Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella
- Blue-Tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans
- Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense
- Broad-Bodied Chaser Libellula depressa
The group investigating!
Moorhen nest with 3 eggs
Downy Emerald
Downy Emerald
Downy Emerald
Great Diving Beetle
Larvae sp
Larvae sp
Larvae sp
Downy Emerald exuviae
Downy Emerald exuviae
Downy Emerald exuviae
Downy Emerald exuviae
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