Last Chance Saloon!

Not quite the last chance saloon for Odonata, but heading in that direction with the exception of Migrant Hawker being a certainty, and a few others possible.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly Male. Pete Woodruff.

A visit to Birk Bank Bog had me thinking I had probably seen my last Keeled Skimmer for 2024, and having not seen one this time this is even more likely to be the case. But there was a pleasant surprise when 2 Golden-ringed Dragonfly came obligingly close to the boardwalk, also 4 Black Darter were seen as 3 male and a female, with 2 Common Darter male seen.

Southern Hawker Male. Pete Woodruff.

On the same day, I readily took up an invitation to take a tour round a garden in the Lune Valley, here I enjoyed the sight of 2 Southern Hawker patrolling the impressive pond here, a few Common Darter were also seen and included a pair in cop.

Common Hawker Female. Steve Graham.

But the best of the tour came when a female Common Hawker was found basking on Teasel, not surprisingly this was a first for the site.

Butterflies.

Butterflies paid a major part of the day which was good news given the dire situation with Lepidoptera this year.

In this garden and surrounding meadow, 21 Red Admiral, 16 Peacock, a Painted Lady and Comma were seen.

At Birk Bank, 6 Peacock, 3 Red Admiral, and a Small Copper were around the bog. But best was to come, when 4 Purple Hairstreak were in a small Oak at the top of the path from the bog.

In my book, the perfect end to a perfect day. Last Chance Saloon....Are you having a laugh!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

The surprise of 2 Golden-ringed Dragonfly found at Birk Bank on 31 August, appears to be the latest in a search through up to 100 records of the species in West Lancashire, and certainly none to be found in September.

The earliest record of Golden-ringed Dragonfly in Lancashire, is of one found 37 years ago on the River Lune at Halton 28 May 1987, this record was regarded at the time as a site outside the range of Golden-ringed Dragonfly. Records show the species numbers peaking in July, before fading away in late August.

The Emerald Pond.

Privileged to receive an invite to visit a friends garden in rural Lancashire last week. I was pleased to accept the invite, and in doing so was able to share some quite amazing discoveries made mainly centered around what I have decided to call the Emerald Pond.

On 16 August I received a text message to tell me of a damselfly to visit the pond. This message triggered my interest in seeing the planning and hard labour needed to create what has rapidly become a haven for wildlife.

Emerald Damselfly 20 August Emerald Pond. Pete Woodruff.

Last Sunday I was able to see for myself a brilliant female Emerald Damselfly on Emerald Pond. This is a damselfly absent from much of the Fylde and North Lancashire, essentially absent from the whole of Bowland, but turns up in a rural garden a few miles out of Lancaster and commences egg laying on Soft Rush....WOW!

A short and shaky video of the female Emerald Damselfly, including some odd abdomen waving behaviour. 

A female Southern Hawker also graced the pond, and was seen ovipositing. Later, a male appeared on the scene, and appeared to be going to patrol the pond for evermore, making no contact with the female. A few Common Darter were present including pairs in tandem.

Southern Hawker Male. Pete Woodruff.

The best of my efforts at in flight photography! 

Butterflies to be enjoyed during the visit, 8 Red Admiral all pristine and freshly emerged, 2 Small Copper, Peacock, Comma, and Holly Blue. 

This was an excellent and interesting 2 hours spent on a pleasant Sunday afternoon in an amazing garden with an amazing pond and wild meadow which just gets better....you have to wonder what next? 

Regular updates from Emerald Pond and its surroundings since the first week in July.... 

7 July Barn Owl

15 July Golden-ringed Dragonfly

16 August Kingfisher

23 August Brown Hawker

23 August Emerald Damselfly a second female

25 August Painted Lady

Aqueduct Pond.

Aqueduct Bridge Lancaster. Copyright Johnathon Price.

There's a small pool/pond or whatever anyone might want to call it, it hasn't got a name as yet, it's below and in the shadow of the Aqueduct Bridge which takes the Lancaster Canal over the River Lune. For the sake of my own records, I have decided to name it Aqueduct Pond, who knows the name might stick like Conder Pool did all those years ago. 

Aqueduct Pond is quietly notorious as a rare site in our area to find the Emerald Damselfly, a still-water species, not recorded on any rivers or canals, and only scarcely on small streams. By coincidence, it wasn't until I looked through my records, that I discovered I had paid my first ever visit to this pool last year on the same date of 10 August 2022.

Emerald Damselfly Aqueduct Pond 10 Aug Pete Woodruff.

The image above of the male Emerald Damselfly barely reaches moderate level. Excuses are, it was some distance away and so small, but there's more to see in this image than in the video below, but both are acceptable as records of this brilliant little damselfly.

Also on the pond, 2 Southern Hawker female came to oviposit on vegetation at the side of the pool, they were still there 20 minutes later when I left the site. 

An unmistakable large and gaudy hawker, its dark body inlaid with bright nuggets of apple-green. The Southern Hawker female is my second most favourite dragonfly standing behind the Golden-ringed Dragonfly. Two Brown Hawker were seen, one of which was also ovipositing, and a few Common Darter were all male.

I had a pleasant stroll back to Lancaster via the canal towpath, to find another female Southern Hawker, and by the time I reached Lancaster I had counted 12 Brown Hawker, a lone male Common Darter, and 8 Speckled Wood.

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A is for Avocet....T is for Tern!

There's a little tragedy surrounding this tale about an error I made in my post of 6 August, when I made the claim that an Avocet nest was out of sight and still active on Conder Pool. In fact it was a Common Tern nest on a small rock pile at the west end of the pool. The nest held a chick which subsequently perished at the hands of a spring tide which submerged the nest and drowned the chick.

There was more bad news from Conder Pool, when I hear of road kills of 'a good few' Avocet chicks as the parent birds guide them to a richer and better food source in the River Conder, but are flattened by some of the muppets who speed along the busy B5290. 

But in the end there is some positive and joyful news from Conder Pool in 2023....Figures show there was a 36% success rate of fledged Avocet this year, compared to 13% success in 2022. 

Back In Business!.

I was back in business when the weather finally improved this week, and there was plenty of action on Conder Pool when I paid my first visit there following a gap of 11 days, to find the pontoon deserted of the 9 Common Tern chicks I had seen on 23 July. Amazing to think the progress they made in under a fortnight, to fledge and scatter around the pool.

The Common Tern has had the best year to date on Conder Pool in 2023, and my guess is that at least 15 birds have made it to fledging this year. Today I made an estimate count of 15 Common Tern adult and several juvenile, probably with as many out of sight as there was in view. 

I saw just one adult Avocet accompanied by a juvenile, but understand there is a nest out of view and still active. Up to 350 Redshank, c.20 Dunlin, and a Ruff were lined up at the back of the pool with an impressive count of 18 Greenshank. Just one Common Sandpiper seen, 9 Little Grebe, 2 Stock Dove, and a Collared Dove. 

I caught a glimpse of 2 Kingfisher flying together as they whizzed across the pool. A Sparrowhawk was patrolling high above the pool, and a few House Martin were around the now defunct cafe on Corricks Lane with one nest still active. 

Saltcote Pond.

In my last post, I made a comment that Saltcote Pond was an attractive little waterbody, but on a wander from Glasson Dock and back to Conder Green today, I looked in and was disappointed to find some badly timed management having been carried out....The Keep Britain Tidy gang had been at work.

Hopefully all the dragonflies will have now bred, maybe my concern was unnecessary, but it wasn't a pretty sight.

Along the canal towpath, 8 Brown Hawker were the only dragonflies encountered. Butterflies verged on abysmal, with 2 Comma, 2 Gatekeeper, 2 Meadow Brown, and a Speckled Wood.    

I paid two visits to Conder Pool, one before and one after the high tide, it took me 2 hours for 3 Little Ringed Plover juvenile to show, which actually made my day when they did. There was a bonus attached to the sighting, through a conversation with Ian Hartley, I am aware of 2 juveniles being seen here recently, and I agree with the opinion, that this third juvenile is a visitor to Conder Pool from elsewhere probably on the Lune Estuary.

Food For Thought!

Camera's had been in place on the Conder Pool raft to monitor fish species being brought in for the broods as research for the RSPB. Sprats were the main fish with smaller numbers of Sand Eel and the odd fresh water fish such as Roach and small Pike, probably taken from the canal where I had recently seen the terns up and down the length of the canal Glasson - Conder Green.

An excellent image of an adult Common Tern bringing in food for the chicks stood in line to get to the front of the queue with anticipation....It's my turn next please!

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the info and camera footage. Also for the header image of one of two of this years Little Ringed Plover.

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And Finally.

Southern Hawker. Ian Stephenson.

A dragonfly came to rest on a window box at a house in Brookhouse yesterday. Identified as a Southern Hawker female, and photographed on a Smartphone, with thanks to Ian for alerting me and sending me the image.

A Little Nostalgia....With Big Surprises.

A walk east along the route known as Millennium Park, a footpath along the old railway line running alongside the River Lune to Caton, brought about some memories for me, and a surprise....Well three actually! 

Mediterranean Gull. Pete Woodruff. 

At the start of my walk by Sainsbury's, an adult Mediterranean Gull was roosting in the muddy shingle on the River Lune. The store stands on the land where the old Green Ayre railway station and locomotive shed stood, where at the tender age of 16 - not long after T.rex became extinct - I stepped onto the ladder taking me towards the dream of becoming an engine driver when the traction was steam powered....Halcyon days. 

Banded Demoiselle. Pete Woodruff.

About a mile further along the path, a surprise came as a Banded Demoiselle on a Sycamore, the sighting came as my second of the species by the River Lune, the first equally surprising was at Bull Beck 16 June. 

Leucozona glaucia Pete Woodruff.

Lots of insects on the path side vegetation, included this hoverfly, which I noted for its blue'ish bands. I also counted 25 Large White, 3 Small White, 3 Green-veined White, 2 Red Admiral, and a Holly Blue.

Emerald Damselfly Pair. Pete Woodruff.

Now came the biggest and best surprise....Primarily, the purpose of the walk was to find the Emerald Damselfly which I succeeded in doing. Terrible image, but an excellent record of a pair in tandem. Then to follow as a close second best, a female Southern Hawker, followed later by a female Emperor Dragonfly oviposting on three ocassions.

Blue-tailed Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

 

Also seen, a female Blue-tailed Damselfly form rufescens-obsoleta, 3 Brown Hawker, 6 Common Blue Damselfly, and 4 Common Darter including a pair in tandem.

Returning to Lancaster via the canal, 6 Emperor Dragonfly included a female ovipositing on the opposite side of the canal. Not the most glamorous section of the canal with debris floating, but a good record video. Also 2 Common Darter seen.

Emerald Damselfly.

Emerald Damselfly Male. Marc Heath.

With the exception of the rare Red-eyed Damselfly, the Emerald Damselfly is the least widespread of Lancashire's breeding damselflies, where it is strictly a still and shallow-water species, with extensive emergent and marginal vegetation. 

The Emerald Damselfly is absent from much of the Fylde and North Lancashire, and essentially absent from the whole of Bowland. When you can find the report of a peak count like 310 Emerald Damselflies on in-bye field ponds near Belmont in August 2012, I feel blessed to have seen one at all in our area....The Damselflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside. Steve White and Philip Smith 2015 

Thanks to Howard for his header image of the current local star bird at Conder Green.  

....And The Sunday Brents

Bowland Best Bits. 

Confined to barracks this past week, but I managed to keep myself occupied, including stitching some footage together to create a compilation of a few of the best bits to come out of Bowland in the past twelve months.

 

The Marshaw Wyre at Marshaw

Grey Wagtail towards Tower Lodge on the Marshaw Wyre

Common Sandpiper at Marshaw on the Marshaw Wyre

Catshaw Grieve falling down Hawthornthwaite Fell

Wheatear on Hawthornthwaite Fell

Barn Owl hunting the foot and surrounds of Hawthornthwaite 

Dipper at Stoops Bridge, Abbeystead

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Brent Geese.

View Full Screen

A walk along the promenade Sandylands to Heysham gave excellent views of 58 Brent Geese.

View Full Screen

Unfortunately there was much disturbance from the 'walkies fraternity' but my delight in seeing them overrode my annoyance. 

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Aberrations in Dragonflies.

Migrant Hawker. Pete Woodruff.

Taken on the Lancaster Canal at Conder Green in September 2021, despite viewing this image of the male Migrant Hawker several times, I've not noticed until recently, it has blue markings missing on S4.

Southern Hawker. Copyright John & Carol Hurd.

I was given a link to another aberration, this male Southern Hawker has a blown headlight.

Gulls, Dragons, And Flutterby's.

I had other plans on Thursday, but they fell apart and I ended up at Heysham to check the gulls on Red Nab as the tide came in.

When I arrived at Heysham the tide was around 2 hours short of high and there was c.500 gulls on the seaward edge of Red Nab, so plenty to keep me interested for a while I thought. But the birds were restless and a few soon started to disperse and were flying off south, it soon became obvious they were not going to be pushed towards me by high tide at 1.00pm and there was only c.50 gulls left now. But I did manage to find 12 Mediterranean Gull including three juveniles. Worthy of note, a staggering 107 - possibly up to 117 - Mediterranean Gull were recorded at Heysham on 27 July. 

There was some added interest in the gull search, as one bird bore a green darvic ring and was probably the previously seen individual in July marked in Germany as an adult in 2012, and seen at Heysham in 2017/18/19, the bird was too distant for me to read the ring today. A second gull was also ringed, but frustratingly was again too far off to be read. This bird had a white darvic ring, and is established to have been marked in the Netherlands as a nestling in June 2019, it was seen in Wales later that year, and again in Wales February this year, before being seen again on the Heysham outfalls in mid-August.

As I came away from Red Nab, on the pond I saw, 2 Emperor Dragonfly, also a male and female Common Darter, and 2 Migrant Hawker. Though the weather was suitable, an hour at the west end of the reserve gave a small number of 7 species and 20 butterflies, 5 Common Blue, 4 Small Tortoiseshell, 3 Meadow Brown, 2, Red Admiral, 2 Speckled Wood, 2 Gatekeeper, and 2 Small White.    

The Southern Hawker.

Southern Hawker Male. Pete Woodruff.

I watched a male Southern Hawker flying around the trees on the reserve, it appeared to never be going to settle, but it eventually did come to rest at the height of about 6 meters on a not very healthy looking conifer. I managed to locate the hawker with my camera steadied on a tripod and got a half decent shot. 

The Southern Hawker was first recorded in Lancashire in 1940, although it appears that they were not recorded for another 50 years in North Lancashire in the 1990's, and in fact not in East Lancashire before 2000.

The Spotted Flycatcher.

Spotted Flycatcher. Pete Woodruff.

I hear from a reliable source....The Spotted Flycatcher appears to have had a poor season this year at regular sites visited in Bowland including the area around Tower Lodge which is a stronghold in my records for the Spotted Flycatcher. 

I was concerned to hear the compound at Tower Lodge has been cleared of up to 60% of the trees, as a consequence the Pied Flycatcher nest boxes have suffered a near death, with little if any more than four now left from at least ten originally put up. The small woodland has been developed into some sort of mini safari and picnic area, with ducks, an odd looking turkey, hens, a trampoline, and table and chairs.