In and around Southampton

When I posted the video I took of the beautiful demoiselles we saw at Crockford Bottom on the 'Dinosaur on your Window Sill' Facebook group, a former student of mine gave me information on where to find both banded and beautiful demoiselles in Southampton. With the weather being perfect for hunting butterdamseldragonflies today, we decided to visit a few places around Southampton, starting with Monks Brook.

Several species of damselflies active, including common blue, azure and blue-tailed.

And we did indeed see demoiselles! Mostly banded, but also a few beautiful. Thanks again for the tip; you know who you are!

Next stop was Wildern LNR, a green oasis right in the centre of Hedge End. We visited all three of the ponds, and Coltsfoot Pond proved most productive: literally clouds of damselflies, mostly azure, but also blue-tailed and large red. Plus a few broad-bodied chasers.

Final stop: Southampton Common. Lots of azure damselflies, plus several blue-tailed, at Ornamental Lake and clouds of common blue damselflies active on the Boating Lake. In terms of dragonflies, we saw a few hairy dragonflies, a few broad-bodies chasers, ...

... and a few black-tailed skimmers, both males and females; a new species for us!

Even though the weather was perfect for butterflies, we only saw a handful .... we're clearly in the June Dip ...

The usual tables again below (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+). Putting all three sites together, today was our best "odo" day ever, with nine species.