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Tag Archives: Common Darter

A winking darter

29 Monday Aug 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British dragonflies, Common Darter, dragonfly

A fanciful post on this bank holiday Monday: of course, this Common darter isn’t really winking – I just happened to have caught it moving its head up and back again – but, with a healthy dose of my vivid imagination, the movement has transformed into a cheeky wink.

220829 winking common darter

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A darling darter

01 Friday Jul 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British dragonflies, Common Darter, dragonfly, Sympetrum striolatum

Common darters have been out and about in my locale for the past week, though they are still few and far between, and flighty. This little darling is the first I’ve managed to sneak up on for some reasonable photos.

220701 common darter

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Darters in the making

25 Wednesday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British dragonflies, Common Darter, Common darters mating, dragonfly

I think I can safely predict that there will be more Common darters at Casehill Woods next year after catching this pair procreating in today’s warm sunshine. The male had found himself the perfect perch on this Ash sapling and, as always with dragonflies, the female looks like she’s hanging on for dear life.

210825 common darters

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305/366 Insecting

31 Saturday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects

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British bees, British insects, Buff-tailed bumblebee, Common carder bee, Common Darter, Common earwig, Ivy bee, Ivy bee burrow

Despite the appalling weather – frequent heavy rain and occasional strong winds – we’ve been experiencing over the last couple of weeks, I have managed still to find a few hardy insects, persisting by cunningly finding sheltered places to avoid the worst of the inclement conditions.

201031 buff-tailed bumble
201031 common carder

These bees seem to have the right idea. On the left is a Buff-tailed bumblebee, which I watched emerging from inside the cosy, fluffy duvet of an Old man’s beard seedhead and, on the right, a Common carder that seems to have the same idea and be looking for a place to snuggle down.

201031 earwigs (1)
201031 earwigs (2)

Also looking cosy, these Common earwigs were huddling in the cups of umbellifer seedheads.

201031 common darters

Common darters have still been active in the more sheltered spots during the occasional sunny periods, these at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

201031 ivy bees (1)
201031 ivy bees (2)

The last of this year’s brood of Ivy bees were still feeding their grubs. They had made use of a rabbit scrape to excavate the underground burrows where their eggs are laid, grubs hatch and pupate and will remain until emerging as adult bees next autumn.

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211/366 Rhubarb and custard

29 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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British dragonflies, Common Darter, dragonfly, Sympetrum striolatum

From Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss’s Wonderland: A Year of Britain’s Wildlife Day by Day:
‘Common and widespread though it may be, this small, neat dragonfly is always worth a second look. The males are brick red and the females yellow, so I use the aide-memoire “rhubarb and custard” to remember this.’

200729 common darter (1)

Which dragonfly is being described? I’m sure many of you worked out it was the Common darter, which is flying now in my local parks and reserves, though in quite small numbers so far.

200729 common darter (2)

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192/366 Damsels and dragons

10 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Blue-tailed damselfly, British damselflies, British dragonflies, Broad-bodied Chaser, Common blue damselfly, Common Darter, Emperor dragonfly

Last summer was so hot and dry that many of the local ponds dried up completely, which may be why I’m not seeing as many damselflies and dragonflies as I have in previous years – perhaps their larvae didn’t survive that dry period. Here are a few I have seen in recent weeks …

200710 blue-tailed damselfly

Blue-tailed damselfly: though the females come in several colour forms, both they and the males, like this one, have the blue spot on their lower abdomen, which is how they got their name.

200710 common blue immature female
200710 common blue male

Common blue damselflies, here an immature female, a male and, below, a pair in classic mating pose.

200710 common blues mating200710 broad-bodied chaser

And the dragons: a glowing female Broad-bodied chaser

200710 common darter

I’ve seen my first two Common darters in recent days, which is late, as they can appear as early as May.

200710 emperor female ovipositing

A female Emperor laying her eggs (ovipositing) under the vegetation of a local pond. Let’s hope that pond retains enough water this year for her offspring to survive the winter months.

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231/365 Winning smiles

19 Monday Aug 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

British dragonflies, Common Darter, dragonfly

Common darters are the dragonflies I see most often at this time of year, and what gorgeous odonata they are! I think these are male and female – the problem is that immature males look a lot like females and my photos haven’t captured well the tell-tale bulge that the males have. I was more interested in their winning ‘smiles’.

190819 common darter male190819 common darter female

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Descrying dragons

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 3 Comments

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Black-tailed skimmer, British dragonflies, Common Darter, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, dragonflies, Emperor dragonfly, Lavernock Nature Reserve, Migrant hawker

I’ve not seen a huge number of dragonflies this summer, possibly because of the heatwave, which has seen water levels shrink to record lows and the pond at Lavernock Nature Reserve dry up altogether. Luckily, not all dragonflies spend their adult lives in close proximity to water so I have enjoyed some close encounters along field edges and pathways. Here are a few of those recent dragons.

180821 migrant hawker (1)
180821 migrant hawker (2)

These two are both Migrant hawkers; one was near the pond at Lavernock before it dried up completely, the other was just hanging around on vegetation beside the south Wales coastal path, a good choice as there are always an abundance of flying insects along the path’s hedgerows.

180821 emperor

This Emperor was hawking low over the tall wildflowers and grasses in one of the paddocks at Cosmeston. I had to wait quite a while for it to settle, then creep up very slowly and silently to get this photo, but it was worth the wait.

180821 Common darter male
180821 Common darter female

180821 Common darters mating

Last year at this time Cosmeston Lakes Country Park seemed to be swarming with Common darters – they sat like mini sculptures on every gate and fencepost, and there were so many sitting warming themselves on every piece of stone along the pathways that you had to be careful not to step on them. This year I’ve seen very few so it was a delight first to see this male (the red) and female in one paddock and then to spot the mating pair in another field. Let’s hope they return in numbers next year.

180821 black-tailed skimmers

Those Common darters weren’t the only mating dragonflies I almost disturbed at Cosmeston this week, as my stomping carelessly along the path homeward caused these two Black-tailed skimmers to fly up and away. Luckily, they didn’t fly far and I was able to get my camera out and take a few photos before leaving them to carry on their sterling efforts.

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November at Cosmeston

02 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, nature, parks

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British dragonflies, Common Darter, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, flies, fly, hoverfly, Mary Gillham Archive Project

I’ve only had a couple of visits to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park this month because my volunteer work on the Mary Gillham Archive Project has been taking up a bit more time as we try to get as much as possible done before the project effectively finishes at Christmas – though, having said that, I did spend four hours at Cosmeston last Friday trying to replicate, for the project website, photos Mary had taken in the early days of the park. These are a couple of those: Mary’s photo of the west lake in September 1987 on the left, and my photo from the same spot thirty years later on the right.

171202 Cosmeston west lake Sep 1987
171202 Cosmeston west lake Nov 2017

But I digress … apart from the berry-eating visitors, the Redwings and the Mistle thrushes, and finally managing to grab a couple of half-decent photographs of a Green woodpecker, I haven’t found anything particularly noteworthy bird-wise at Cosmeston during November. I have, however, been impressed by the numbers of insects still around, despite the fact that it has been noticeably colder, with daytime highs in the low teens and several overnight frosts.

171202 common darter (1)
171202 common darter (2)
171202 common darter (3)
171202 bumblebee

On 5 November, the ‘fireworks’ at Cosmeston were these lovely little Common darters. In an area shaded from the cool westerly wind but warmed by the bright sun, each had claimed itself a fencepost to bask on. And, nearby, a lone bumblebee looked like it wanted to snuggle for warmth into this seed-head ‘duvet’ of Old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba).

171202 fly (1)
171202 fly (2)
171202 hoverfly

On 24 November, though my focus was on finding the exact spots where Mary had taken her photos, I did still have one eye on the wildlife and noticed quite a lot of flies about. Like the dragonflies of two weeks earlier, these two flies and one hoverfly were favouring sheltered spots on wood to make the most of the sunshine.

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Sitting on the fence

12 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Black darter, Common Darter, dragonflies, flies, hoverflies, Myathropa florea, sitting on the fence

Have you ever noticed that some small beasties like to sit on fences?

171012 Common darter (3)

I guess fences are often a good spot to sunbathe, and to keep a look out, and they probably resemble logs and branches to the mini-beasts.

171012 Common darter (1)
171012 Common darter (2)

Common darter dragonflies are keen fence-sitters – they don’t even mind barbed-wire fences. And I was particularly delighted to find the Black darter dragonfly (below) sitting on a fence at Cosmeston the other day – my first sighting of this species.

171012 Black darter

Flies and hoverflies also enjoy a spot of fence-sitting and can often be found taking care of their ablutions in such places. So, the next time you decide to sit on the fence, make sure some other creature hasn’t beaten you to it! 

171012 fly (1)
171012 fly (2)
171012 Myathropa florea
171012 Pollenia rudis

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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