State of the Nation

carlj · #1 (**permalink**) 30-06-2006, 10:34 PM

I put up a thread earlier, regarding recording sightings of Banded Demoiselles. Now while I believe we've a couple of dozen on our stretch of river, I have yet to see a single dragonfly down there. In fact, to date, have seen only a solitary female Broad Bodied Chaser this year.

Has anyone else noticed a shortage of these beautiful creatures, or am I unlucky so far?

glsammy · #2 (**permalink**) 30-06-2006, 10:48 PM

I would say you've been unlucky. Certainly in my area, there is no shortage. Plenty of Chasers, Skimmers, Darters and Hawkers.

pxl8 · #3 (**permalink**) 30-06-2006, 10:50 PM

I was thinking the same thing today. I spent a couple of hours at my local ponds and saw only 3 species of dragonfly and only 7 individuals. I'm hoping they're all just late hatching, another 2 weeks would be ideal as I'm off on my jollies

Wild-Woman · #4 (**permalink**) 01-07-2006, 05:11 AM

Everything seems to be a couple of weeks out of wack this year, perhaps it was the late spring. Hope you see some dragonflies soon. Julie

harasseddad · #5 (**permalink**) 01-07-2006, 09:47 AM

Here in Norfolk we have plenty of dragons out at the moment. Some variations; Emperors seem slightly scarcer than last year, but 4 spots seem up, Norfolk Hawkers have had a very good year - they now extend from the coast right into Norwich, and Hairies seemed more plentiful. Brown and Southern hawkers seem down, but they've only just started emerging so they might just be late.

However some ponds have completely dried up due to the drought and all the others have reduced water levels - and that has had a local effect on populations. It's particularly worrying where the ponds had rarer species that might find it hard to recolonise. I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers next year.

On damselflies, Azure seem up but blue-tailed seem scarcer, and although banded are still present in all their usual locations I do think that there's slightly fewer of them at each site.

carlj · #6 (**permalink**) 01-07-2006, 10:44 AM

Interesting facts and figures here. Will no doubt be on the lookout again tomorrow. Anyone else with dragon sightings?

rlchew · #7 (**permalink**) 01-07-2006, 11:08 AM

I have been out on my local patch this morning (Wat Tyler Country Park) and the hot and sunny weather seems to have produced large numbers of Common Blue Damselflies, Azure Damselflies and Blue-tailed Damselflies plus a single Large Red Damselfly and a single Common Darter. Also 8 species of butterfly seen.

The "sightings board" now has records (in addition to the above) of Emerald Damselfly, Scarce Emerald Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Emperor Dragonfly, Hairy Dragonfly, Broad-bodied Chaser, Four-spotted Chaser and Black-tailed Skimmer.

This dragonfly and damselfly novice will also be out again tomorrow to hopefully identify some of those!

Richard

jennyb · #8 (**permalink**) 01-07-2006, 07:46 PM

I've been out photographing by my pond this afternoon. There were lots of damselflies and demoiselles (I think), but no dragonflies.

I know absolutely nothing about these creatures, but they are very beautiful.

BTW I was really wanting to upload some photos to check that my ID's are correct but with this new system, I have to upload them to the Gallery which I am not keen on doing. I don't have the right camera equipment nor the skill to get decent shots so I don't want them appearing in the Gallery, so not sure what I should do about this

Jenny

Tormentil · #9 (**permalink**) 01-07-2006, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jennyb

I don't have the right camera equipment nor the skill to get decent shots so I don't want them appearing in the Gallery, so not sure what I should do about this

Jenny

Up load them Jenny. I doubt anyone on here is going to deride them. In fact possibly the exact opposite; you'll probably be surprised by the encouragement and good advice you'll recieve.

glsammy · #10 (**permalink**) 01-07-2006, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jennyb

I've been out photographing by my pond this afternoon. There were lots of damselflies and demoiselles (I think), but no dragonflies.

I know absolutely nothing about these creatures, but they are very beautiful.

BTW I was really wanting to upload some photos to check that my ID's are correct but with this new system, I have to upload them to the Gallery which I am not keen on doing. I don't have the right camera equipment nor the skill to get decent shots so I don't want them appearing in the Gallery, so not sure what I should do about this

Jenny

Don't worry Jenny, after you've uploaded them to id them, if you don't want to keep them on, you can always ask me and I'll delete them. I don't expect that to happen though, I usually find those that are reluctant to post often have some of the best images.

Uploading to the Gallery is not really much different than posting them on the forums.