Black Darter
Black Darter, Sympetrum danae, is a declining British species and is not a common dragonfly in Lancashire but is probably more widespread than records suggest. Favouring acidic moorland pools of which there are a few, some of which can require a bit of effort to visit probably means Britain’s smallest dragonfly goes unrecorded at a lot of places from year to year.
I have a list of suitable sites to visit but haven’t been to many of them yet, however today I visited perhaps the nearest to me, being under 9km away as the dragonfly flies at Gannow Fell on the southern edge of the Bowland Fells. Hougher Fall Reservoir is completely hidden from view unless you look down directly from the fell above but is only metres from the road and is easy to visit, although the bankside is treacherously narrow and uneven in places and requires careful foot placement – something I’m not renowned for.
A two hour long Friday lunchtime in the continuing September heatwave with temperatures above 25°C for the fourth consecutive day saw plenty of insect activity and odonata were on the wing in good numbers. A late and rather tatty-winged Emperor, Anax imperator was terrorising the smaller dragonflies including at least one Common Hawker, Aeshna juncea. Many Common Darters, Sympetrum striolatum were seen, including a few ovipositing and the target species, Black Darter had also emerged in albeit smaller numbers. At least one female was observed with up to four males. I’ve not previously photographed Black Darters so I was pleased to get some decent images.
As always, the records have been submitted to iRecord. There were no previous Black Darter records at this site when the Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside was published in 2015, but since then one was recorded in August 2020, so my record is only the second for the site. However, as I said earlier due to under-recording this species has probably been present here and on nearby ponds unnoticed for a number of years
Common Darter
I saw many Common Darters around the reservoir and a few pairs were ovipositing. I managed a few shots of one pair and although slightly shooting into the light I got some reasonable images. I was trying to get a shot at the precise moment the female dipped into the water, but didn’t quite manage it. And due to the distance the images are not as sharp as I want, but there’s no such thing as the perfect image and I’m not unhappy with these as a record of events.
Red Admirals on the move
During the two hours I was on the fell, I noticed a steady stream of Red Admirals all heading south. I’ve seen this phenomenon before on warm autumn days when the species has had a good breeding year. Almost every time I looked up one was heading by. There must have been many thousands on the move during the afternoon. I was reminded that I haven’t yet seen a Painted Lady in the UK this year. I wonder if the poor weather in July and August halted their progress north? Even in poor years I usually seen one or two so hopefully there is still time while this fine weather continue.
Birds
There were over a hundred Swallows and House Martins feeding and drinking over the reservoir and perching up on the dry stone wall and bushes, clearly feeding up and flocking prior to heading off on migration.
Two other birds of note were a juvenile Little Grebe with no sign of an adult and a tantalising view of a distant raptor heading over the fell that look very much like a Goshawk, but I didn’t see it well enough to be sure.
Back home in the evening 100+ Meadow Pipits east over the house was the first notable vizmig I’ve seen this month although there has been clear increase in grounded Meadow Pipits both in the fields around the house and around Dean Clough in recent days.