A Visit to Alvecote Wood - on 30th April, 2017

Alvecote Wood is a great place for, amongst other things, dragonflies and damselflies. It is only about 12 miles (20 km) from my home, but is privately owned, and has limited access. It is only open to the public on the last Sunday of each month (between 10h00 and 16h00) and every Wednesday evening (between 18h00 and 20h00).

As I had not yet managed to see a dragonfly or damselfly this year (first emergences in these parts tend to be way behind those in the south and south-west of England), I felt that a visit to Alvecote Wood on this day might give me my first sightings of the year. Although it was rather windy, the sun was shining brightly and it was quite warm if one avoided being in the wind.

I set off from home a little later than intended, so took fast route that I am not used to rather than the scenic route. The only problem was that, at the point where I intended to rejoin my customary route, I took a wrong turn and ended up on a Motorway with no exit for nearly 8 miles (12 km). In the event, this turned out to be an even quicker route, and I arrived ten minutes before opening time. Luckily the owners, Sarah and Stephen, were there and I was allowed in.

Having had a quick chat, I set off and immediately came across a Muntjac on the path.

Reeves' Muntjac Deer (Muntiacus reevesi) (male) - Alvecote Wood

Muntjac are not popular with the owners of Alvecote wood as they are not a native species, having been released from captive 'collections'. They are, however, present in considerable numbers, and they do damage to plant life, particularly plants of the primrose family - a delightful feature of Alvecote wood.

My stroll through the wood to get to the ponds was a pleasant one and the omens felt good.

path through Alvecote Wood

Having left the wood, there were a few butterflies about, but the wind was blowing strongly. The first two ponds yielded nothing, but the wind would have made things hopeless for photography anyway.

Fortunately the two lower ponds were in a sheltered position and I found my first damselfly of the year almost immediately - the hoped-for Large Red Damselfly. This is a very common species in these parts, and are reliably the first Odonata species to appear. I believe, however, that it's still relatively unusual for them to appear in April.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Alvecote Wood

 I soon found a second, more obliging, specimen.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Alvecote Wood

The shine on the wings, and the orange eyes, indicate that these males were relatively fresh. Those eyes will turn red with age.

More searching had me finding a female that had just emerged and was clinging to a reed just above the exuvia - the casing of the nymph that she had emerged from. I'd would dearly have loved to capture the actual emergence, but had to content myself with watching the newly emerged damselfly develop into a a fledged adult. Sadly this specimen was very low down, and to photograph it I had to kneel down on the soggy edge to the pond and bend over with my head nearly touching the water. As the process took over two hours, I found it necessary to abandon the position for a while every so often in order to straighten out the kinks in my arms, knees, back and neck - nearly falling over from dizziness as I did so. Please excuse, on these grounds, the somewhat dodgy photography.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

You can see in the above image that the abdomen is virtually colourless and not fully extended but the wings are forming nicely and extending just beyond the tip of the abdomen. In the next image, the abdomen has extended further, and the wings are longer, although still cloudy.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

In the next image, she has started to climb, the abdomen has lengthened further, and the wings are starting to become clearer. The pterostigma (spots towards the ends of the wings) are now showing.

She's now climbed a little further in the next image, and the abdomen and wings are at their full length. There's still a way to go, however!

In the next image, the wings are almost totally clear, and she's now taking on colour as she dries out.

All this time she'd been alert, and here eyesight was working - although how fully, I don't know. What I do know is that, from the start, if I approached her she dipped round to the rear of the reed. I did manage to get a shot of her from above, however.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

She now steadily made her way up the reed to the tip.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

Shortly after this she flew - she'll have gone somewhere safe, away from the pond, until she is fully settled and ready for her new life.

After she'd gone, I carefully collected the exuvia, and it is now with the small collection I have as souvenirs of such moments, stored in clear pots on my bookshelf.

As already stated, I'd had to have some breaks from this activity, and I used this time to search for other subjects. The Dandelions were attracting plenty of insects.

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - Alvecote Wood

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) - Alvecote Wood

It was, of course, the damselflies that got most of my attention at these times, however.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (female) - Alvecote Wood

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Alvecote Wood

I'd been too busy to fully notice that I'd overdone the sessions with my body in strange positions, but a short period of relaxation on a nearby bench brought it home to me rather strongly. I struggled on the way back to the car, but did manage to take a few more photos as I went.

Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) - Alvecote Woods

These are, of course, genuine British Bluebells. The Spanish Bluebells, found in so many British Gardens, are rather different. I've just read that the British Isles is home to around half the world's bluebells!

The next image is of a classic scene that changes dramatically throughout the year, and is always a pleasure to view.

from Alvecote Wood

Thus ended a highly enjoyable day - I'm still recovering!

My thanks to Stephen and Sarah for allowing access to this wonderful place.

I suspect that my next post might be on butterflies!

Thank you for dropping by.