Red Alert!

A wander along the Lancaster Canal about 10 miles south of Lancaster was one of the best decisions I've made this year, and if I'm honest I don't remember the last one to come anywhere near it in recent years.

For some reason I had Water Lilies on my mind, and as I soon came across large patches of them by the canal side, a feeling of excitement was beginning to build.

Blue-tailed Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

It was just the one male Blue-tailed Damselfly, but it was a precursor to something much better. In just a few hundred metres along the towpath, I came across large areas of Water Lilies, and soon remembered why they had been on my mind....

Small Red-eyed Damselfly Lancaster Canal 11 July. Pete Woodruff.

Within the 30 minutes I spent here, I had noted at least 30 Small Red-eyed Damselfly...A Mega for the little black book! 

Mating by the Small Red-eyed Damselfly usually occurs on floating plants, and in the case of canals, on floating Water Lilies. 

The Small Red-eyed Damselfly was first found in Britain 27 years ago, on the Essex coast in July 1999, and had become locally abundant in south-east England 3 years later in 2002. There appears to be a range expansion taking place today, and the species is now present at Middleton NR in North Lancashire, were there is a feeling of colonisation expressed by some observers there.  

The Bees That Weren't!

In my last post Thursday 9 July, I featured a photograph of supposedly Common Carder Bees pairing....well isn't that what they are? Well actually no, in fact this was an error which left egg on my face, but who cares, I'm not some know-all who never gets it wrong!

Merodon equestris. Pete Woodruff.

It's an image of a pair of the best bumblebee mimics in the land, the hoverfly Merodon equestris....Well who'da thought!