Cragside part one

 Our annual visit to Slipper Tarn at Cragside was once again fruitful if you like Dragonflies with loads of Black and Common Darter hawking around the tarn. As you can see by the title of the Blog, I have split it into two again (I seem to be doing it a lot lately) because once again I have too many images.

Male Black Darter.

Female Black Darter.

A tandem pair of Black Darter.

Another tandem pair.

There was pairs of Black Darters all over the place.

Male Black Darter in flight.

Female in flight.

Female Common Darter.

Male Common Darter.

A tandem pair of Common Darter.

I saw only one Southern Hawker however I managed to get it in flight.

Twizell Ponds

Another visit to Twizell Woods to visit the ponds and this time the water levels were a little higher which was great to see. Good numbers of dragonfly, damselfly and butterflies around the ponds made it a canny afternoon out. 

Southern Hawker.

Female Southern Hawker laying eggs on a bulrush.

She tried a few different locations.

Male Black Darter.

Male Ruddy Darter.

Common Darter.

A pair of Emerald Damselfly.

Two pair of Emerald Damselfly.

Hairy/Sloe Shieldbug. This is one of only two I saw.

Large While Butterfly

Comma Butterfly. 

Dragonflies

 

Images of Dragonflies from various sites over the last few weeks. Kibblesworth was predictable I knew what I was going to see however I didn’t see a lot. Twizell Woods was surprising I didn’t expect to see what I found there. Cragside was disappointing I say that but it was the weather that was disappointing (the BBC weather app got it wrong) not the Dragonflies however I have never seen so few Dragonflies in all the time I have been visiting Slipper Tarn.

Mating Black-tailed Skimmer.

A poor record shot of an Emperor Dragonfly.

I didn’t expect to find a female Brown Hawker at Twizell Woods.

Hopefully looking good in a couple of years.

Common Hawker.

Female laying eggs.

The same female laying eggs in a different spot.

She was still laying eggs when this male tried to mate with her. All the wrong settings on the camera.

Southern Hawker.

The reason I went to Cragside Black Darter. This male seems to be looking at his lunch.

This one took a fancy to my wife even leaving a little gift.  

Female Black Darter.

I watched this newly emerged Black Darter crawl up this stem to dry out.

Common Hawker.