Hatchet Pond & Crockford Bottom

The idea this bank holiday was to use the Monday for either butterflies or damsel/dragonflies, depending on what we saw on the previous two days. Given that we saw 12 butterfly species on Saturday, and two damsel/dragonfly species on Sunday, it was pretty clear what we would focus on on Monday.

We decided to visit two sites, Hatchet pond, which was the last site we visited for damsels and dragons last year, in the morning, and Crockford Bottom, which was the first site we visited after we decided to get 'into' damselflies and dragonflies, in the afternoon.

So Hatchet Pond first. 

Several common blue damselflies and large red damselflies close to the pond. 

And when we ventured away from the pond a bit, we saw a single four-spotted chaser, a new species for us!

Then on to Crockford Bottom, just a few miles down the road.

Interestingly, while all the blue damselflies we saw around Hatchet Pond were common blues, all those we saw at Crockford Bottom were southerns. At least, all those we could identify. 

We also saw several broad-bodied chasers patrolling the various ponds, and one keeled skimmer among the gorse bushes a bit further away.

But the highlight for us, without a shadow of a doubt, was seeing several beautiful demoiselles, males as well as females. After seeing a dead female yesterday, we really wanted to see them alive, and they didn't disappoint! They really are gorgeous, changing from metallic blue to metallic green and back, depending on the angle of the sunlight. They wouldn't settle, but these two males kept dancing more or less at the same spot for several minutes, so I tried to capture them on video.

And we did see a few butterflies as well. The usual tables, combining what we saw at the two sites (one  = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+; large red damselfly was the only species we saw at both sites):