The Second Week of August, 2022

I had a quite rewarding second week in August, with four trips out to local nature hot-spots, and a few garden observations. 

Tuesday, 9th August             Croxall Lakes Nature Reserve ; Garden

Croxall Lakes NR, managed by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, is only about fifteen minutes from my home by car. In the past, I have had some good sightings here, but I had not been for a while and did not know what to expect.

I arrived to find that the dragonfly ponds near the entrance were completely dried up.

A Grey Heron was relaxing on the small island at the south end of the main lake.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Croxall Lakes NR

A little further on, I stopped to try and photograph a Common Tern that was flying around. I hoped that it would attempt to fish, but it didn't.

 

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - Croxall Lakes NR

I got to the far end of the site, close to where the River Tame joins the River Trent, before I saw my first odonate - just a Common Blue Damselfly.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) - Croxall Lakes NR

I crossed under the railway and took the path along the east edge of the railway to get to the hide that looks over the second, smaller, lake. From this path I photographed a Small Copper butterfly.

 

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) - Croxall Lakes NR

Close to the hide on the second lake, I saw a Common Darter. This was the first, and only, dragonfly I photographed that day.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (female) - Croxall Lakes NR

The water level at the second lake was very low, so the birds were quite a long way away. Little of interest was seen but I was pleased to get some shots of a Green Sandpiper - a species that I only ever seem to see at a great distance!

Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) - Croxall Lakes NR

It had been a bit of a disappointing visit and I do not feel the need to return any time soon.

That afternoon, in our garden, I was pleased to see a Painted Lady butterfly - my first for the year. We do occasionally see this species in our garden, but not every year. This one was showing signs of wear and I guess it had probably arrived from the continent.

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) - garden on 9th August, 2022

Wednesday, 10th August                Garden

Keeping my eyes open for the potential return of the previous day's Painted Lady, I was surprised when a pristine individual arrived. Perhaps she'd been to the paint shop for a touch-up coat overnight !!!

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) - garden on 10th August, 2022

Butterflies seem to have been the order of the day, as we were visited by a Comma - not rare, but one of our not so frequent visitors to the garden.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - garden on 10th August, 2022

An even less frequent visitor than the Comma is the Brimstone, and we had one of these too. I cannot make my mind up as to whether this was a dark female or a pale male - but I think probably the latter.

Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) - garden on 10th August, 2022

I was also pleased to get a record shot of the Brimstone and Painted Lady on the same buddleia flower cluster. I would be greatly surprised if I ever witnessed this again!

Brimstone + Painted Lady - garden on 10th August, 2022

Thursday, 11th August                     Drakelow Nature Reserve

Drakelow NR is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. It takes me about 15 minutes to get there by car, and a further 15 minutes to open the gate and close it behind me, and then to drive down the rough track to the car parking area over a mile (1.5 km) away.

Having parked my car, I walked the short distance to the River Trent, where a Migrant Hawker was patrolling the river. This gave me some opportunities for flight photography, although it was difficult to see what I was managing with regard to freezing the wing movement, due to the dark background of the river water.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male) - Drakelow NR

At one point, it settled briefly.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male) - Drakelow NR

Further on, from the viewing platform on one of the lakes, I spotted a red-eyed damselfly (lack of capitalisation intentional). At the time, I took it to be a Red-eyed Damselfly, as I rarely see Small Red-eyed Damselfly, but having found Small Red-eyed Damselfly on my subsequent visit to this location, I suspect it was this species, as the eyes are a bright red. Sadly, I cannot make out the markings on the tail-end of the abdomen, which would clinch the ID. I will, therefore, just call it a red-eyed damselfly sp.!

red-eyed damselfly sp. - Drakelow NR

Also from the platform, I photographed an obliging Common Darter.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (male) - Drakelow NR

Further into the reserve, I found a female Common Blue Damselfly in a photographable position.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (female) - Drakelow NR

I only had limited time available to me, but did take some shots of the Cormorants that were resting on their favourite island.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) (with Grey Heron) - Drakelow NR

Saturday, 13th August                 Saltersford Valley Country Park

A return to one of my favourite local locations came up with a pleasant surprise. The boardwalk yielded nothing of interest but, by the first 'stockaded' platform, I saw a damselfly land. I attempted to photograph it but it was behind a leaf. It was, however, definitely a damselfly of the 'red-eyed' persuasion.

red-eyed damselfly sp. - Saltersford Valley CP

Saltersford Valley is one of the few locations where I have found Red-eyed Damselfly, usually round at the platform that gives views over the second lake. I was, therefore, surprised to see that there were now Small Red-eyed Damselfly here. This being only the third location that I have found them at, and my first locally, I took rather a lot of shots. There were eight of them!

Small Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma viridulum) (male) - Saltersford Valley CP

I can't make my mind up about this next female specimen, which was close by the area with the Small Red-eyes. The short antehumeral stripe suggests Red-eyed, but the wing length seems more in keeping with Small Red-eyed. It's another one that I'll leave as just 'red-eyed sp.'

red-eyed damselfly sp. - Saltersford Valley CP

Back on the boardwalk I found both Ruddy and Common Darter.

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) (male) - Saltersford Vally CP

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (male) - Saltersford Vally CP

Finding a new site, close to home, for Small Red-eyed Damselfly had made this a very worthwhile visit.

Sunday, 14th August           Thortit Lake ; Garden

My third trip out in four days took me just down the road to Thortit Lake for a very brief visit.

The first photos I took were of an ichneumon wasp. That fearsome-looking ovipositor is used to lay eggs in butterfly and moth larvae.

ichneumon (Pimpla rufipes) (female) - Thortit Lake

The rest of my sightings were of common fare, a few of which are shown below.

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) (over-mature female) -Thortit Lake

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) - Thortit Lake

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

That afternoon we had another visit to the garden by Brimstone butterfly.

Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) - garden on 14th August, 2022

Thus ended my second week of August

 

It will probably not surprise you to learn that my next blog post is likely to feature the third week of August, and will probably be published in just a few days time. It will almost certainly be significantly shorter than this blog post!

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard