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.
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.
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
That sounds like a good pond and will probably get better over time, glad about the Emerald damselfly.
ReplyDeleteLast week Red Admiral numbers picked up a bit and most looked freshly emerged and pristine.
Thanks for the info.
Looks like a great pond and what a great few visitors to it. take care.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderfully productive pond, Pete. Roughly how big was it? Well done with that flight shot - don't think that I've ever managed a Southern Hawker in flight. I enjoyed the video clip too.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you both - - - Richard
Ian/Marc/Richard....Thanks again for the contributions. I would say the pond is c.18ft circumference, but definitely out of my comfort zone with C=2πr Richard!
ReplyDeleteRegards to all....Pete
Hi Pete Thanks for your praise of the pond and rewilding area. Chris Winnock, Butterfly Conservation, was equally impressed on his visit last Friday. Painted Lady hanging around and 10+ Red Admirals daily at the moment. On Saturday a female Southern Hawker was laying eggs all over the garden including stone planters. At one point it was trying to get into the house! Pond is actually a bit bigger than that. It is 10m x 11m in new money. Steve
ReplyDeleteMany Thanks for this Steve. Anyone paying a visit cannot and will not be other than impressed. Thanks for the correction re pond size, mine was a bit of a wild guess, and measurements in 'old money' at that.
ReplyDeleteKind Regards....Pete.