Crockford Bottom & Hatchet Pond

Despite the '100% cloud cover' forecast, we hopped over to Crockford Bottom today, hoping to see the four damsels/dragons that are typical for that stream (two of which, small red and southern damselflies, would be new for the year for us). 

By far the most common dragonfly was the keeled skimmer. Tons of them, chasing each other and anything else that moved. 

Golden-ringed dragonflies were hunting, but never settled, so no pictures of them ...

Several male and female beautiful demoiselles were fluttering over the stream, occasionally landing for photos.

Small red damselflies were present in abundance (never seen so many on one day!). 

And there were plenty of southern damselflies as well. 

As we left, stumbled across a silver-studded blue who had clearly been through the wars .... 

On the way back, we passed Hatchet Pond, and it would be rude not to check it out. 

Not many damsels and dragons, except for lots of common blue damsels.

For today's tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+), I've combined the data from the two sites:

Magdalen Hill Down

For some reason, we didn't go to Magdalen Hill Down last year. With the warm sunny weather upon us, high time to go there again!

Not that many butterflies, to be honest; maybe it was just a bit too warm? Several chalk hill blues, but not a single common blue .... Most of the small skippers we saw were simply too fast to try and photograph.

And this year's generation of brimstones was out in force!

Several painted ladies as well; warm sunny weather has clearly gotten them to our coast.

And then, totally unexpectedly, a few golden-ringed dragonflies hunting up and down the main path.

Still ten butterfly species, plus the golden-ring. Here are today's tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Hillier Gardens

For the health reasons mentioned earlier, we haven't been able to go butterflying this year, so a trip to Hillier Gardens yesterday was our first opportunity.

As we arrived, the weather was rather cloudy, and, for quite a while, our count was stuck on 'one peacock' ....

But then the sun came out more and so did the butterflies!

In all, we saw nine species. Not as many as we usually see at Hillier's (normally during the summer months we're in double figures), but still pretty decent, given the mostly cloudy day. 

As to odo's, we saw just a single azure damsel ...

Here are the usual tables (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

First time ...

Due to health reasons, we've not been able to go out looking for butterdamseldragons this year. Until this past weekend, that is!

Saturday gave a beautiful warm sunny day, and we decided to go to Eyeworth Pond to open our 2024 damsel/dragonfly account.

Lots of odo activity! We saw a total of 12 species, including both species of red-eyed damsels.

Really nice to see so many damsels and dragons, for the first time this year. Here are the usual tables for Saturday (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Sunday started overcast and windy, with some drizzle. We decided to go to Rushbush Pond at Ipley Cross, which is normally good for a range of odo species.

Walking through the heather on the way to the pond, we saw dozens of silver-studded blues, the first ones this year.

But arriving at the Pond, we saw exactly zilch, nada, zero odo activity ...

After about an hour and a half, the sun broke through the clouds, and it warmed up considerably! Didn't take long for a four-spotted chaser and a few emperors to make their appearance! As well as several common blue damsels.

A sole teneral blue-tailed damsels showed itself.

And then I saw a pair of damsels fly across the pond. One settled first in the grass ...

... and subsequently on a tree trunk. 

And it really stumped us! Posted the pictures on the British Dragonflies and Damselflies FB group, asking for help identifying this damsel. Turned out to be a teneral female emerald damselfly. 

And then the clouds closed in again, ending all odo activity ... walking back across the heather, among many silver-studded blues, we saw a large skipper!

Just as we got to the car, a male beautiful demoiselle flew over!

Because of the weather, not nearly as many species as yesterday; here are the tables for Sunday (one = 1; few = 2-4; several = 5-9; many = 10+):

Recap of 2023

Nearly the end of the year, butterdamseldragon season truly over, so time to recap 2023. 

In terms of butterflies, we saw a record total of 39 species (two more than last year), which included two new species: pearl-bordered fritillary and marsh fritillary

As to damseldragonflies, we saw the same number of species as last year: 26. One new species this year: scarce blue-tailed damselfly

So overall we saw 65 butterdamseldragonfly species, two more than last year and the highest year total so far!

In our front and back garden. we saw two more butterfly species than last year, and definitely higher  numbers than last year. The Buddleia bushes in both front and rear garden proved a big draw: 

And the 13 species included a purple hairstreak for the first time! 

Only a single dragonfly species, though it was one we hadn't seen in the garden before: a southern hawker female, seen twice.

And what about next year plans? Clearly, loads of new species, as in 2021, will never happen again. And obviously, the more species we have seen, the fewer are left to see, and the further away these occur. But we do still hope we'll be able to see one or two new butterfly species and one or two new damseldragonfly species. Time will tell!