Anglian Adventures, Day 4 - 17th June, 2023

This blog post will cover the last day of my four-day adventure which was, primarily, to find and photograph dragonflies and other wildlife. If you missed my accounts of the previous three days you cand find them here;- https://peglerbirding.blogspot.com/2023/06/anglian-adventures-day-1-14th-june-2023.html      here;- https://peglerbirding.blogspot.com/2023/07/anglian-adventures-day-2-15th-june-2023.html and here:- https://peglerbirding.blogspot.com/2023/07/anglian-adventures-day-3-16th-june-2023.html

Yardley Chase, in Northamptonshire, is a fascinating place which I had the privilege of visiting way back in June, 2018. Yardley Chase covers nearly 900 acres (360 hectares) and is an SSSI. It has an interesting history, which largely centres around its use by the military who still own it today, resulting in much of it being left in pristine condition.

Originally it was mainly a Norman Hunting Chase with woodland and unimproved grassland, although much of the ancient woodland has been replanted or modified, creating a range of woodland types including plantations of oak, mixed broad-leaves such as ash, and conifers. 

Yardley Chase contains some large concrete huts on two sites. The huts are about 12 metres long, and about 6-8m wide, and were used during World War II to store bombs. They continued in use after the war as a bulk explosives depot, until the 1970s when the Ministry of Defence shut them down.

The eastern munitions site, is larger than its western neighbour, and the bomb storage buildings are mostly surrounded by water-filled moats. The storage buildings at the western site are surrounded by earth banks.  

The site is currently used as a cadet training ground for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Territorial Army, and is closed to the public. However, there are occasional group visits arranged, and my visit in 2018 was arranged by The British Dragonfly Society as the place is home to a good population of Downy Emerald dragonflies.

I had arranged my 2023 Norfolk break at the beginning  of the year, and intended to to spend the last morning locally in Norfolk before heading home in the early afternoon. Later in the year, I noticed that The British Dragonfly Society were offering a return visit to Yardley Chase on 17th June. My initial reaction was one of disappointment as I would be away in Norfolk at that time. It was a few weeks later that it dawned on me that coming home from Norfolk via Yardley Chase would not be a major diversion, only adding 35 miles (56 km) to my journey, so I applied for a place on the visit. I was disappointed to be informed that the visit was now full, but that I was in first position on the waiting list. 

The call came through just two days before my departure to Norfolk to say I'd now got a place.

 Saturday, 17th June                    Yardley Chase

After a quick early breakfast, I left the Travelodge in Acle at 07.15 and, after an uneventful journey of 125 miles (201 km), arrived at Yardley Chase at 09.55 - five minutes early. Happily, our group leader, Mark Tyrrell (who is the County Dragonfly Recorder for Northamptonshire) was already on site, as was another participant.

As the last participant arrived (I think that there were ten of us), it started raining - not exactly the best weather for dragonfly hunting, but it was a light drizzle rather than heavy rain and we were only getting a little damp, rather than soaked!

Undaunted, we made our way to the first pond, taking a route that a casual visitor would never find. 

The first find was a Four-spotted Chaser which clearly showed a forewing that had not developed on its emergence. It did not, however, seem greatly incapacitated by this.

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) (male) - Yardley Chase

In spite of the weather, there were still butterflies around as well as day-flying moths. The Brown China-mark is a moth that always seems to land in the grass and hang onto a blade upside-down!

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Yardley Chase

Brown China-mark (Elophila nymphaeata) - Yardley Chase

Green Oak Tortrix (Tortrix viridana) - Yardley Chase

 To my mind, this Tachnid fly looks as if it's dressed for combat.

Tachnid fly (Tachina fera) - Yardley Chase

We were seeing the occasional damselfly, but no dragonflies.

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) (male) - Yardley Chase

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) (male) - Yardley Chase

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) - Yardley Chase

One of our group spotted a dragonfly perched just above water level at the edge of the pond that we were investigating. Our leader went over and found that he was able to pick it up without it resisting - it was a female Emperor. It seemed somewhat moribund, although it did 'shiver' its wings from time to time, and was also able to cling to a branch when placed there. It was, however, subsequently found to have a large hole in the underside to its thorax.

Emperor (Anax imperator) (female) - Yardley Chase

There were lots of exuviae being found round the pond. I failed to make a note of the identity of this one and my exuvia ID skills are sadly lacking.

dragonfly exuvia - Yardley Chase

As we were about to leave this pond, one of the group spotted a fine-looking beetle.

Spotted Longhorn (Rutpela maculata) - Yardley Chase

We than moved on to another area and, as we did so, the weather changed for the better. En route to the second location, I was delighted to get some shots of Wood White butterfly. This small butterfly is considered to be a declining rarity in English woodlands.

Wood White (Leptidea sinapis) (male) - Yardley Chase

The County Recorder for butterflies was with us, and drew my attention to a Meadow Brown butterfly that had an aberration on the wings on its right hand side. I'd have taken it to have been scale loss!

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) (male) - Yardley Chase

The second location we visited was more visibly at one of the old bomb storage units. The building was virtually intact and surrounded by a high mound which, in turn was surrounded by water. With the sun now shining, this proved to be a good spot for dragonflies. 

I spent a while exploring the perimeter, and photographing a few items.

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) (female) - Yardley Chase

The Four-spotted Chaser, below, seems to be enjoying a large meal!

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) (male) - Yardley Chase

Orchid sp. - Yardley Chase

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male + female) - Yardley Chase

I then had two sessions, broken by a short break to eat my picnic lunch, at a point where a Downy Emerald dragonfly was habitually visiting. Unfortunately, this was also an area where two Four-spotted Chasers held territories, and every time the Downy Emerald arrived, it was seen off instantly by the Chasers. 

Here are the Chasers:-

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) (male) - Yardley Chase

Eventually, I just managed a couple of 'record' frames of a Downy Emerald in flight - I never saw one land!

Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) (male) - Yardley Chase

By now, I was getting more than a little worn out after four rather busy days. I did a quick, but relaxed, mop-up of a few more items in the area. I think that the exuviae are problably that of Emperor, but I am uncertain enough that I will not label them as such.

dragonfly exuviae - Yardley Chase

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) (male+female in cop) - Yardley Chase

Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) (male) - Yardley Chase

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) (immature male) - Yardley Chase

The event was scheduled to finish at 16.00 but, by 14.30, I was flagging and, having about 70 miles (110 km) cross-country to travel home, decided it was time to go. I said my goodbyes and thank yous and departed.

It had been a fascinating visit, and I hope to be able to visit again next year. My thanks, again, to Mark Tyrrell for arranging and leading this visit.

 

I have recently returned from a week's stay with family in the New Forest where I took nearly four thousand frames, so there's work to be done. I'll try and have a blog post prepared for about a weeks time, but no promises!

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard