The First Week of August, 2022

Header image (while this post is current) ;- mating Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) - Thortit Lake on 7th August, 2022

This blog post gives an account of some of my observations and photography, in our garden and at a couple of local sites, during the 1st week of last month (August). 

Monday, 1st August                       New Lount Local Nature Reserve ; Our Garden

On this day I visited New Lount Nature Reserve. It's a place that I'd not not visited for a few years, but had memories of it having been good for dragonflies. In the event, I found that it had changed so much that it had me wondering if I was confusing it with another location. The lake, that was my main objective, was now closely surrounded by trees and shrubs, and was almost dried up. Previously, the surrounds to the lake had been a lot more open.

Little in the way of  wildlife was seen and the visit would have been disappointing if it were not for the charming and informative couple that I chatted with for quite some time near the end of my visit.

On my way to the lake the only odonate that I saw was a Common Blue Damselfly. 

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) - New Lount NR

The accessible end of the lake was totally dried up, with water just at the far end. There were a couple of dragonflies there, but they were too far away for me to confidently identify, but were probably Migrant Hawkers.

The camera saw no further action until I was nearly back at the exit. In a patch of rough grass, I saw a couple searching intently. They were looking for butterflies. We had a quite long, and very pleasant, conversation, and we also took a few photographs, including some of a Common Darter, spotted by the gentleman.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (female) - New Lount NR

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) (female) - New Lount NR

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) (male) - New Lount NR

Seven-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) - New Lount NR

If it hadn't been for meeting with this charming couple, it would have been a rather disappointing visit.

 

After a slow start to the season, the advent of butterflies to our garden has picked up somewhat. I was pleased to be able to photograph this Red Admiral.

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) - garden on 1st August, 2022

Sadly, I missed getting a shot of the Brown Hawker dragonfly that was flying around the garden for a short while!

Thursday, 4th August                  Our Garden

The return of the juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker on this day, made it a rather special day. Unfortunately, it has not been seen since.

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) (juvenile) - garden on 4th August, 2022

A Comma butterfly visited the buddleia.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - garden on 4th August, 2022

Sunday, 7th August                   Thortit Lake

 

Thortit Lake, by Willesley Woods, is very close to my home. It would be within easy walking distance if the road I'd have to take was not so dangerous for pedestrians - I once had to dive into a hedge to avoid a speeding BMW!

 

I had a quite rewarding visit there on this day. There were plenty of insects around in the scrub on the shores of the lake. This hoverfly is often referred to as 'the footballer' because, I guess, its striped thorax resembles a traditional football shirt.

hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) (female) - Thortit Lake

Common Blue and Brown Argus butterflies were in the same area allowing comparison between the two. On Brown Argus, there are no spots on the underside of the forewing that are closer than half-way to the wing-base.

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) (male)- Thortit Lake

 

Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) - Thortit Lake

Other common butterflies were Meadow Brown and Green-veined White.

Meadow Brown (Maniola Jurtina) - Thortit Lake

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) - Thortit Lake

There were a few day-flying moths around, but most of these were of the 'grass moth' type, in which I have little interest. However, this moth caught my eye. It is classed as a 'very scarce resident or rare migrant' in the county. 

Evergestis pallidata - Thortit Lake

It will not surprise those of you that know me that my main objective was the odonata. There were Common Blue Damselflies around, to which I did not pay much attention. However, as well as the shot shown below, I did get some shots of a mating pair, one of which I've used as my header image while this post is current.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) -Thortit Lake

My next photographable sighting was of  Emerald Damselfly, of which I have seen very few this year.

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) (male) - Thortit Lake

Blue-tail Damselfly were also busy, perpetuating the species.

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) (male + female) - Thortit Lake

Common Darter dragonflies were around, and mainly settling on the ground, which does not make for good photography.

 

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (male)  - Thortit Lake

The real delight came, however, when a Brown Hawker flew into the area and settled nearby. I get very few opportunities to photograph Brown Hawker as they're usually spotted flying around in an unpredictable trajectory, and ranging far and wide as they are not territorial. If I see one relatively static, it's usually an ovipositing female. This one that arrived was a male. I had to get quite close to get past intervening foliage, and it soon departed.

 

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) (male) - Thortit Lake

This brings me to the end of the first week of August. 

 

I'm still trying to catch up with my blog posts, and slowly getting there. Maybe I need to increase the frequency, and it might be only a short time before I come up with an account of the second week of the month?  In the meantime, take good care of yourselves and Nature.

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard