A pleasant stroll along the Glasson Arm of the canal to Galgate resulted in a disappointment at not seeing a single dragonfly. So no points scored in this department this year as yet, but I was compensated by seeing - and photographing some - large numbers of Blue-tailed Damselfly, and a male Large Red Damselfly along the length of this nice stretch of the canal.
The taxonomy of the Blue-tailed Damselfly is quite complex, making life too difficult for my liking. Some variation was found, this example is of an immature female of the form Rufescens.
An immature male Blue-tailed Damselfly....
....and a teneral male Blue-tailed Damselfly.
All these damselfly records are up for debate, and the one above has already attracted a comment regarding the complexities of the Blue-tailed Damselfly, and which offers the opinion that 'this is a mature female of the rufescens obsoleta form which is what the pink 'rufescens' ones mature into'....Now I'm even more confused!
Common Blue. Pete Woodruff.
Butterflies were scarce too, with 8 Large White, 2 Orange Tip, a Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, and Speckled Wood seen.
I started the walk at Saltcote ponds where I saw a male Azure Damselfly. A Raven came to ground and hung around the lock at The Mill at Conder Green, also a Buzzard seen overhead. Along the stretch of the canal, 5 Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, a pair of Reed Bunting, a lone House Martin, Reed Warbler, and Song Thrush. Three pairs of Mute Swan had 4-5-6 cygnets.
Tadpoles Early June.
I'm told I didn't need to be so surprised to see tadpoles in the canal first week in June....But they did have a kind of calming effect, and the singing Chiffchaff in the background added to that.
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Conder Update.
Avocets Conder Green 8 June. Howard Stockdale.
Not for the first time, 13 Avocet young have crossed the busy B5290 to go into the creeks on the River Conder. The bad news is, that one has been recorded 'lost', it being one of the five ringed birds.
Thanks to Howard for the news and image, gratefully received.
I've enjoyed seeing that you've found some damselflies, Pete. Those female Blue-tailed Damselfly forms can be quite confusing - in fact, I find that the females of the various 'blues' are generally far more difficult to ID than the corresponding males, and it doesn't help that the females are usually somewhat harder to find than males in the first place!
ReplyDeleteThose dragons will be with you very shortly I'm sure. I had my first here in Leicestershire just on Tuesday, but in quite good numbers.
Best wishes - stay safe - - - Richard