Crockford Bottom & Hatchet Pond

Final day of the May bank holiday, and another gorgeous one. Given that we went butterflying the day before yesterday, it's only right that we go damseldragonflying today, isn't it?

We decided to combine two sites that are close to each other, just like we did two years ago, but with the order reversed now. 

So Crockford Bottom first!

Plenty of water in the stream, and the beautiful demoiselles didn't disappoint. I never get tired of trying to take pictures of them!

A few keeled skimmers were flying around on the heath.

And we saw a fair few southern damselflies along the stream, exactly where we saw them two years ago. They really are smaller than azures and common blues (neither of which we saw; all 'blue damsels' we could identify were southern).

And then up the road to Hatchet Pond!

Broad-bodied chasers, a hairy dragonfly, a black-tailed skimmer and a downy emerald were seen, as well as azure and common blue damsels.

Thirteen damseldragonfly species across the two sites, so not a bad day at all. As to today's butterflies, we only saw a few brimstones around Crockford Bottom and a single green hairstreak near Hatchet Pond. Today's tables combine the two sites (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):