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 Wood

 My wife and I had a walk through Twizell Wood today and as it is late in the season for dragonflies it is probably the last time I will visit. We saw only two male Southern Hawkers but there were still quite a few Common Darters on the wing however I did not expect to see any butterflies but a late Comma showed briefly.

Southern Hawker hunting for lunch.

Southern Hawker eating lunch.

There was quite a stiff breeze and this Southern Hawker seemed to prefer to hunker down in the grass rather than fly around.

Male Common Darter. I did not see any females.

This Comma butterfly landed briefly on a tree unfortunately it was blown off by a gust of wind and I could not relocate it.

We saw three Curlew in a field on the way back to the car and I managed to get a couple of them in flight as the flew off.

Cragside

My wife and I had our annual pilgrimage to Slipper Tarn at Cragside last week for the Damsels and Dragons. We were only there an hour because, apart from around five minutes, the, weather was dull and overcast and there were few if any Damsels or Dragons. When the sun did shine for that five minutes there were dozens of Black Darters mating and posing and it was these that I concentrated on I still however did not get many shots. 

Male Black Darter.

Nearly every year we go to Slipper Tarn a male Black Darter will land on my wife, here it is on her hand.

Immature male Black Darter.

A mating pair of Black Darter.

Another mating pair.

The same pair in tandem.

Southern Hawker. This is the only one that stayed still long enough for me to get some shots.

I think this is a Sericomyia silentis Hoverfly.

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.